Pg. 35 and following:
“In Eph. 4:24 we read: “Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,”; and in Col. 3:10 ‘you have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.’… These two utterances show what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us with regard to the true meaning of the image of God in man. We can draw from them two basic teachings.
The first is this: The Apostle teaches that those who are born again are renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Therefore the image of god cannot be in man unless he is renewed by the Holy Spirit. Now, that which is supposed to be acquired through a renewal cannot be possessed previous to the renewal, and that which is obtained through the gift of regeneration cannot be possessed through carnal generation. …
In conclusion, the essence of the living soul is one thing, and the image of God which is in the soul is another.
The other teaching is this. According to Col. 3:10, the image of God, according to which those who are born anew are renewed by the Holy spirit, is restored through a renewal in knowledge.” Therefore the image of God cannot consist of those things which are essential also to the soul of men who are not born anew. “
So there you have it. The image of God is not identified with that which we see in the mirror, but in the knowledge of God that was lost in the fall. It follows from this that the image of God was lost in the fall, so that it must be restored. Man before regeneration does not have the image of God, even if man was created in the image of God.
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