Are Unbelievers in God’s Image?
Rev. Angus Stewart examines whether unregenerate unbelievers retain the image of God, arguing they do not based on Scripture and Reformed confessions. The article identifies four parties truly in God's image (the eternal Son, pre-fall Adam and Eve, the incarnate Christ, and the regenerate) and explicitly engages the Common Grace Controversy by showing how the doctrine of imago dei in all humans is misused to support erroneous teachings.
Rev. Angus Stewart (1) The Nature and Number of the Image of God Introduction There is one thing in the Scriptures that the ungodly call an “image” of God but is definitely not: idols (e.g., Ex. 20:4-6; Isa. 44:9-20; Rom. 1:23; Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 35)! There are four parties who are spoken of in Holy Writ as truly being in God’s image. Here they are arranged in a sort of “chronological” order: - The Second Person of the Holy Trinity (cf. Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3; Belgic Confession...