"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them"? (Genesis 1:27).
Genesis 1:26-27 has served as the locus of most theological anthropologies in the central Christian tradition. In this commentary, Richard Lints argues that 'idol' language in the Bible is a conceptual inversion of the 'image' language of Genesis 1. He shows how the 'narrative' of human identity runs from creation (imago Dei) to fall (the golden calf/idol, Exodus 32) to redemption (Christ as perfect image, Colossians 1:15-20). The biblical-theological use of image/idol is a thread through the canon that highlights the movements of redemptive history.
"Begin with the imago Dei... Work that out across the canon, and you discover that light shines on many topics, not least the nature of idolatry. This book manages to blend some elements of systematic theology with careful biblical theology to produce a study that is wonderfully evocative."
- D.A. Carson
NSBT Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion is in the following collections:
