Genesis 9:6—“… for in the image of God made he man …”

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. (Gen. 9:5-6)

COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:

Genesis 9:6 is often referred to as proof that fallen man is still God’s image-bearer.

“Murderers are to be killed because they shed the blood of a man who was created after God’s image” (so it is interpreted).

What has all this to do with common grace? Well, if fallen man retains the image of God, even in a measure, he remains like God in certain respects, even though fallen. And it is easy to make the jump from saying that man, even in his fallen state, because he is still image-bearer, is still under grace, is less than as bad as he can be, and is capable of doing good things. And so the retention of the image becomes the avenue to introduce common grace as a restraining inner influence in fallen and unregenerate man.

    

But if the image is truly lost in the fall, in its entirety—as Scripture teaches—then man is truly depraved, incapable of doing any good and inclined to all evil. Then he is not the object of grace, but of wrath. And grace comes to him only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(I)

Prof. Herman C. Hanko

[Source: Another Look at Common Grace (2019 edition), p. 159]

[A careful] scrutiny of the [text], and the [context] in which [it is] found, will clearly show that the reference is to the original creation of man by God. Man is unique in God’s world. He alone, among all creatures, was originally created as image-bearer of God. That unique character of man remains even though he fell. The image does not remain in the sense that man still bears the image, but it remains in the sense that he is still unique and still capable of being an image-bearer, because he is rational and moral.

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(II)

John Owen (1616-1683)

[Source: The Works of John Owen, vol. 12, p. 162]

They cannot prove that man, in the condition and state of sin, doth retain any thing of the image of God. The places mentioned, as Gen. ix. 6, and James iii. 9, testify only that he was made in the image of God at first, but that he doth still retain the image they intimate not; nor is the inference used in the places taken from what man is, but what he was created.

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(III)

Homer C. Hoeksema (1923-1989)

[Source: Unfolding Covenant History: An Exposition of the Old Testament (RFPA, 2001), vol. 2, p. 25]

Man was made after God’s image. Notice that the text does not say that fallen man still possesses that image of God. This is not true. He has lost it and has become the image-bearer of the devil. But God made man in his image in the beginning. God made man so as to resemble himself. God made him in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. In man’s whole nature, with heart and mind and will and all his strength, when God breathed into man the breath of life, he so formed him that man would resemble God and reflect his perfection in a creaturely measure. Such, briefly, is the idea of the image of God.

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(IV)

Cornelius Hanko (1907-2005)

[Source: The Standard Bearer, vol. 56, no. 19 (Aug 1, 1980), p. 445]

[When] God created man at the dawn of history, He did not create an image in the narrower and in the broader sense, as if after the fall man retains the image in the narrower sense, but loses it in the wider sense. A far better distinction is the distinction between man as image bearer and as possessing the image of God. When we say that God created man as an image bearer, we mean that man was created in such a way that he was capable of bearing the image of God. He stood upright with his face directed toward God. He had an intelligent face, a dexterous hand; a body capable of functioning as king of the earthly creation. Man was a rational, moral, intellectual being, who could desire, will, think, speak his thoughts, and act consciously, deliberately, according to the purpose of God. Besides, the image bearer was created in the image of God, which consists of true knowledge of God, righteousness, and holiness, so that He could consciously and willingly devote himself to God in love in all that he did. At the fall man’s image was perverted. Actually this is worse than the mere loss of God’s image, for the image is perverted into spiritual darkness, hatred against God, and an unholy walk of life. The friend-servant of God became a child of Satan in open rebellion against the living God. Yet he remained man. He is still a rational, moral creature, who thinks and wills, speaks and acts deliberately. And therefore man is accountable to God for what he does all the days of his sinful life upon the earth.

When we turn once more to Genesis 9:6, we notice that the statement “for in the image of God made he man,” appears in a context in which God pronounces His just judgment upon the evil doer, in this case the murderer. Verse 5 reads, “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.”

Verse 6 adds to this that “by man shall his blood be shed.” The punishment of the murderer is committed into the hands of “man,” that is, of the magistrate. The magistrate is ordained of God to be the minister of God’s justice in an evil world (Romans 13:1-5). And the reason why this execution of justice is entrusted to man is the fact that “in the image of God made he man.” Man stood in paradise as friend-servant of God and king of the earthly creation, ruling over all things in God’s Name. Already in this original creation of man lay the institution of the office of the magistrate. Therefore, the fall did not change God’s calling that man should rule in God’s Name, and thus also execute justice in an evil world. The fact that the magistrate is evil, and therefore does not carry out this divine mandate also makes no difference whatever. His calling and responsibility remain. The person who makes himself guilty of murder must be punished by death according to the justice of God, and that by the magistrate which God has appointed for that purpose.

Of course, the guilty, unrepentant murderer is worthy of everlasting punishment in hell for his sin. As a rational, moral creature he remains responsible, even though he may appeal to a moment of insanity, or make some other excuse to cover up his offence.

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(V)

More to come! (DV)