Created To Lead: Paradigm for Humanity

The Imago Dei and Human Fulfillment - Part Two

Part One: Human Possibilities

Previously Published

This a three part series based on a seminary doctoral paper that I wrote in the early 1990s. It was one of the works of inquiry that ultimately led me to create the Circle of Impact model of leadership and the book of the same.

Part Three will be stories that I used from the New Testament that illustrates how leaders can be persons of impact in their relationships with people.

CREATED TO LEAD

Part Two: Paradigm for Humanity

THE IMAGE OF GOD AS PARADIGM

In his book, GOD IN CREATION, Jurgen Moltmann writes extensively about what the image of God in humanity means.  He says, " the fundamental concept of theological anthropology has been Imago Dei: human beings have been created to be God's image on earth."[7]  He points out that traditional approaches to this doctrine have tended to focus on humanity in its pre-fallen, ideal state.  Moltmann takes the doctrine and expands its scope to include the active life of men and women as representing God on earth.  He makes this distinction by altering the traditional "archetype" language of "according to" the image.  Moltmann states that "God created human beings 'to be' his image.[8]  The position changes the Imago Dei doctrine from a static, all-but-lost reality to a dynamic, developmental one through which persons grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ.  The likeness to God is not first anthropological or descriptive of human characteristics that are similar to God's, but rather theological.

"Likeness to God means God's relationship to human beings first of all, and only then, and as a consequence of that, the human being's relationship to God...The nature of human beings springs from their relationship to God....So human likeness to God consists in the fact that human beings, for their part, correspond to God....So as God's image and appearance on earth, human beings are involved in three fundamental relationships: they rule over other earthly creatures as God's representatives and in his name; they are God's counterpart on earth, the counterpart to whom he wants to talk, and who is intended to respond to him; and they are the appearance of God's splendor, and his glory on earth."[9]

This implies that humanity as Imago Dei has far richer meaning than ordinarily accepted. It is not a list of characteristics, such as creative rationality, but the totality of a person's life. The implication should be clear. The course of a human life is the span of the developing reality of the image of God implanted in that life. It grows in significance and effect as the person comes to a deeper experience of Christ's likeness.

According to Moltmann's description of how the image of God in human beings is understood, it is realized in three ways.  First, the image of God is the original designation of human beings, the Imago Dei.  Secondly, the image of God is conceived as "the messianic calling of human beings: imago Christi."  And finally, the eschatological glorification of human beings, the gloria Dei est homo.[10] 

These conceptions provide a framework for understanding the purpose and scope of human life, from its beginnings as created in God's image, through the years of life growing ever more closely into the likeness of Jesus Christ, with its culmination in the glorification of God in them at the consummation of history.  This perspective opens up a way of understanding the source and purpose of leadership in human society.  The reason for leadership comes out of the purpose of humanity to live out the progressive nature of the Imago Dei in each person. The fulfillment of life is not found in specific achievements but in the eschatological fulfillment of being a human being as the image of God on earth.  To find greater clarity about this perspective of leadership, it is necessary to interpret how each of Moltmann's understandings applies to the questions of leadership.

IMAGO DEI

One of the central existential questions of the modern age is whether there is meaning to life.  Why are meaning and personal achievement so closely linked? Is there any reason for being that rests apart from the preferences of human beings?  For many people, there is no inherent meaning, only values that groups of individuals share. These traditions of meaning hold no claim to universalized truth.  This is at the root of many modern approaches to human existence. Human values are treated as more or less self-created ideals.  The foundation for human society from this perspective is the utilitarian prospect of providing the greatest peace and prosperity for the greatest number.  Organizations, communities, societies and even individuals are means toward the realization of this end.  But what is that end?

The Judeo-Christian tradition has affirmed that the end or telos of everything is found in the purpose for which God created it.  The meaning of human existence is found not through an interior search of one's particular values but in the author and creator of life.  This belief implies that there is order and meaning that precedes human entrance into the world.  It means that the presence of humanity as a distinctive part of creation points to a purposefulness of human existence which is greater than the sum total of all human lives who exist or have existed.  The question, though, is how the Christian tradition has come to have this perspective and what the implications are for human life.

The concept of humanity created in the image of God provides the starting point for understanding the significance and meaning of a person's life.  The imprint of God's image points to a distinctiveness which implies that the human creation is special. The implication is that this uniqueness is neither arbitrary nor individually determined.  It is a uniqueness determined by God, which serves a higher calling than mere membership in the created order.  The imago Dei imprint on human life implies that the meaning of human existence is integral to understanding the nature of God.  How this image is expressed through human life is an important key to understanding the purpose of individual life and, ultimately, the basis of the human responsibility to leadership in the created order.

Jurgen Moltmann describes how the Christian tradition has understood what it means for humanity to be made in God's image.

 "As his image, human beings represent God on earth; as his similitude, they reflect him....1. According to the analogy of substance, the soul (which is the human being's  reasonable and volitional nature) is the seat of human likeness to God, for it is immortal, and similar to the divine nature.  2. According to the analogy of form, it is the human being's upright walk, and his upward glance.  3. According to the analogy of proportionality, the likeness is to be found in man's lordship over the earth, since this corresponds to God's general lordship over the world.  4. According to analogy of relation,...it consists in the community of man and wife, which corresponds to the fellowship of God within the Trinity. 

We find the starting point for all these answers in 'the phenomenon human being.  They all begin with characteristics which distinguish the human being from animals, and interpret whatever is specifically human about men and women in religious terms as their likeness to God.  Likeness to God then means the human being's general relationship to God, which distinguishes him from animals.

But this point of departure is based on a false inference.  The human being's likeness to God is a theological term before it becomes an anthropological one....Likeness to God means God's relationship to human beings first of all, and only then, and as a consequence of that, the human being's relationship to God."[11]

The imago Dei, therefore, is descriptive of humanity's relation to God, which directs and constitutes their relation to all of creation.  To live life bearing the likeness of God is to live both purposefully and circumspectly.  It is incorrect to assume that because of this special relation, particularly as described in the first chapters of the book of Genesis, humanity is permitted to view creation anthropocentrically.  To bear God's image in the world as the representative lord of creation does not also mean that the creation is to serve humanity's interest primarily.  The implication is that humanity serves at the bequest of God, with the divine intention being the mandate for action rather than human intention.  It is at this point the significance of human leadership emerges.

Human action, ultimately, finds its direction, motivation, and reward in the purpose and intention of God.  Leadership, consequently, is focused on the fulfillment of that divine purpose.  That purpose carries an eschatological importance that transcends human endeavors.  God has given to humans, through his creating them in his image, an important role to fulfill in the consummation of his will for his creation in the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  Men and women have been given responsibility for the care, nurture, and progress of the earth.  This position of responsible leadership is what distinguishes the actions of human beings from those of animals.  Therefore, human leadership finds its origin and ultimate fulfillment in living out the reality of being imago Dei.

IMAGO CHRISTI

Just as human beings as imago Dei establish the mandate for leadership, it is the process of becoming imago Christi that provides the character of leadership.  The New Testament writers were very explicit that the calling to faith in Jesus Christ meant that the believer would become a follower of Jesus Christ.  In following, it was held that the disciple would grow into the likeness of Christ.  The character and actions of Christ would become the believers'.  The individual would experience a re-creation of their life through repentance of a self-centered existence and the acceptance of a God-centered one.  The person of Jesus of Nazareth, as described in the Gospels and interpreted in the Epistles, is the exemplary person of God who lives to follow the will of his heavenly Father.  To be a leader like Christ is to learn what it means to be a follower of God.  It is the change in the content and substance of the person's character into that of Jesus Christ that equips the person for leadership.

The leadership implied by being created imago Dei is not automatically actualized. It requires a process of development. This lifelong process diminishes the effect of human sinfulness while strengthening the natural gifts endowed by God. As gifts and character mature in their Christ-likeness, the value of the God-given leadership role increases.

There is a utilitarian value to this growth.  It is not primarily understood in terms of effective and efficient human development.  John Polkinghorne has said that,

"...religion is not what one does with one's solitariness, why it can only be pursued within a community and following a tradition, with the correctives they apply to private judgement."[12]

This growth within the structure of human society is rather the calling to live Christ's life in all the fullness of his messianic glory.  The individual grows, not for personal fulfillment, as modern human development programs promote.  But to realize their relation to God as imago Dei, through the messianic mission of Jesus Christ on earth.  Simply put, the development of Christians into leaders is their taking on the character and actions of Jesus Christ.  This character can be described through two aspects of his earthly ministry.

Jesus' exemplar life demonstrated what it means for a human being to live their life according to the command and power of God.  This followership of Jesus led him to the cross of Calvary, where through his death and resurrection, the power of sin and death over creation was broken.  The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that transforms lives into imago Christi.  But it is not just this aspect of sacrifice and following of God that is instructive for our understanding of leadership.

Jesus understood the effect of his messianic calling in very specific terms related to human society and creation.  In Luke 4:14-21, he reads from Isaiah 61 of the Messiah's calling. 

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NIV)

These are tangible actions that reflect the glory of God in Christ.  They serve to define the all-encompassing reach of Christ's mission.  The importance of this statement is strengthened by the recognition that these same activities by Christian believers are part of what it means to be the likeness of Christ.  They are direct signs of how the grace of God is present in the actions of Jesus and of the church.  Leadership in this sense, must therefore have a socially transformative character.  It is not restricted to the individual's relationship to God, but extends to incorporate the outreach of God's grace to the poor, oppressed and afflicted. The mission of Christ in the world confronted the power of sin, which affected the structures and institutions of human society.  The cross of Christ was not a mere moralized economic transaction between God and his people but an eschatological event whose effects penetrate the very marrow of the history of creation.  The imago Christi empowered leadership of God's people is a realized expression of this eschatological reality.  Leadership founded upon the reality of Christ's messianic mission is the true reflection of the imago Christi.  Jurgen Moltmann has eloquently said,

"The prophetic mission brings it into conflict with society, in which it lives, and evokes conflict between the powers of the past and the forces of the future, between oppression and liberation."[13]

As with the mission of Jesus Christ, so with the work of Christian leadership, its concern is not just for the sins of the past but for the social structures and human potential of the future.  To bear the likeness of Christ is to live out that life seeking to transform people and human institutions to be a reflection of imago Christi.

GLORIA DEI EST HOMO

Human beings are God's glory on earth, as Irenaeus said centuries ago.  To be the embodiment of God's glory is to bear his image in both similitude and transformative action.  It is a reflection that is not superficial but penetrates into the relationships and structures of human society to recreate it in accordance with its purpose.  The telos of human life, and appropriately of human institutions and the whole created order, and consequently, the basis for leadership is to bring glory and honor to God.  This is done through the fulfillment of the created purpose of every being.  For men and women, it is to serve as imago Dei in the earthly realm, carrying out the responsibility to rule over all that God has created.  Therefore, to be truly human is to live as Jesus lived his messianic mission, to be both a follower of God and to bear responsible leadership for the care and progress of the whole creation.  And this can only happen as the human society is imago trinitatis, realizing the unity, equality and giftedness which is true of the Trinity.

The eschatological fulfillment of God's will for his creation is realized through the community of human beings who form the Kingdom of God.  The complex interplay of relatedness between the individual, God, and others is a reflection of the social reality that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of the Trinity.  This aspect of the imago Dei is frequently missed through the Western church's emphasis upon the meaning of the individual's representation as God's likeness.  The Orthodox perspective emphasizes the community which exists as the Trinity.  Anthony Ugolnik writes,

"The Trinity in the West often emerges as an intellectual category, the subject of doctoral dissertations in Christian philosophy and panels at theological society meetings. ...In an Orthodox context, however, the Trinity is a central manifestation of divine life.  God manifests himself as divine community; Jesus himself is incomprehensible except within the context of the Trinity.  Each complete Person of that divine wholeness gives of himself unto each other Person in total love.  Thus the very manifestation of God among us is the perfect exemplar of that Love which God is.  The very thematic structure of the liturgy, with its "thrice-holy" theme, continually reinforces that realization for the Russian orthodox, and the Trinity as a concept resonates with the communal vision of personhood."[14]

This approach emphasizes the interrelatedness of the three persons of the Trinity, reinforcing the communal nature of human leadership of the created order. The Russian Orthodox historian Georges Florovsky has affirmed this truth which Eastern churches have understood.

"Christianity is essentially a social religion.  There is an old Latin saying: unus Christianus nullus Christianus.  Nobody can be truly Christian as a solitary and isolated being.  Christianity is not primarily a doctrine or a discipline that individuals might adopt for their personal use and guidance.  Christianity is exactly a community, i.e., the church."[15]

The complementary nature of the Eastern and Western doctrines affirm the truth of the unity in diversity of the Trinitarian perspective. 

The Orthodox tradition has also understood the imago Dei as including the idea that human beings are the priests of creation.  This implies that the calling to serve as God's representative ruler functions in a mediative capacity.  In other words, there exists a social environment between God and creation in which humanity is the mediator.  The responsibility as priest incorporates a theme of protection and nurture of nature and the celebration of God as creator.  Reformed theologian Thomas Torrance, through his writings about the interaction of theology and science, has affirmed a similar understanding.

"To all this, theological science presents a complementary account, for this universe of space and time explored by natural science - far from being alien - is the universe in which God has planted us. He created the universe and endowed man with gifts of mind and understanding to investigate and interpret it....Science properly pursued in this way is a religious duty.  Man as scientist can be spoken of as the priest of creation, whose office it is to interpret the books of nature written by the finger of God, to unravel the universe in its marvelous patterns and symmetries, and to bring it all into orderly articulation in such a way that it fulfills its proper end as the vast theater of glory in which the Creator is worshipped and hymned and praised by his creatures. Without man, nature is dumb, but it is man's part to give it word: to be its mouth through which the whole universe gives voice to the glory and majesty of the living God."[16]

The whole of creation, both humanity and its non-human counterpart, exists and lives to bring glory to God. They reflect the beauty and sublimity of his creative nature. From this perspective, human existence is modeled after the social economy of the Trinity, whereby the Son and the Spirit function to bring that same honor and glory to God the Father. The focus for humanity is on God in the context of this world. The fulfillment of human nature is realized through the leadership function as the priest and ruler of creation.

The activity of leadership, in this understanding, is not an individual responsibility.  It is shared with the community of God's people.  The eschatological fulfillment of God's desire for his creation comes principally through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and subsequently through the leadership that results from believers bearing the imago Christi in their lives.  For just as this eschatological promise is realized through the Triune God, so it is through the corporate life of the church that its fulfillment is realized.

Leadership, therefore, is not a title or office a person holds but how a person functions in the totality of their life.  Ron Heifetz and Riley Sinder have characterized this idea in their description of the distinction between organizational authority and leadership.

"The tendency is both to equate authority and leadership, and to use the expectations of the group as the frame of reference for defining leadership....From this perspective, 'doing what is expected' outlines the exercise of formal and informal authority, but not leadership....The functions of leadership, in contrast, are never defined by a position....whereas authority can be described in the domains of both function and position, leadership can be described only within the domain of function.  To equate leadership with a position is once again to equate leadership with authority."[17]

In other words, leadership has to do with influence and effectiveness rather than the fulfillment of the requirements of the position and group expectations. Leadership's aim is to enable individuals and organizations to fulfill the responsibility for growth and productivity, which is inherent in their God-given nature. And to bring glory to God in the context of transforming people and human institutions is to fulfill the nature of human leadership.  For leadership as the priests and rulers of creation is not primarily about the efficient management of the earth resources.  It is rather the greater goal of enabling all the created order to express the glory of God as the fulfillment of their God-given telos.  Questions of the future of human societies and economies and the sustainability of the earth's resources will be understood and answered as people lead through the service of God.

CONCLUSION

Leadership that is the function of God's image in humanity is the path to human fulfillment.  This is so because human nature is created to serve God and bring him glory as the priests and rulers of nature.  There is much that is out of the hands of human beings, but conversely there are rich opportunities to fulfill this fundamental part of human existence.  Men and women have been created imago Dei to represent and symbolize the presence of God on earth.  This happens through individual relationships of love and compassion, as well as through the institutional structures of the church.  Wolfhart Pannenberg has summed it up this way.

"The responsibility of the Christian is, in short, to assist other persons...in their realization of their human destiny, in their becoming human beings in the full sense of existing in the image of God."[18]

The imago Dei distinguishes humanity from the rest of creation.

This reality is only realized as the individual matures into the imago Christi. 

It is as the likeness of Jesus Christ that human beings are able to function as leaders according to their God-given nature.  This likeness is less a snapshot, which only gives a vague glimpse of God's image, than it is a living portrayal of the character of God in words, deeds, and actions. 

To be imago Christi is to live as Jesus did as a follower of his heavenly Father, bringing healing, hope, and wholeness to people, institutions, and communities. 

Jesus Christ is the exemplar leader, for his influence was born from his attention to the calling of his messianic mission.  His example is not just in HOW he lived, but FOR WHOM he lived. Jesus' life as the supreme follower of God could only be the result of his love for God and the desire to bring him glory.

         To be imago Dei is to live so that Gloria Dei est Homo. 

This is the fulfillment of human life.  It is the mission of leadership in human society.  Utilitarian leadership schemes confuse means and ends.  Effectiveness and efficiency are only important when there is a high calling to fulfill.  That calling is to enable all beings of creation to reflect the beauty of God's design and the glory of his love and power.  This is the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God's mission in this world.  Its consummation will herald a new heaven and a new earth, where the human lives of creation leadership will reach their complete fulfillment. 

         This foundation provides hope for contemporary leaders. Until leadership's focus and goal are as great as its purpose, it will fail to meet the expectations of those who long for the eschatological world to come.    

Part Three: Relationship Impact - Coming Soon.                                                         

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Reference notes (cont.)

     [7]Moltmann, God in Creation, p.215.

     [8]IBID, p.217.

     [9]IBID, p.219.

     [10]IBID, p.215.

     [11]IBID, p.219-220.

     [12]Polkinghorne, p.59.

     [13]Jurgen Moltmann.  The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology. (San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1977.), p.76.

     [14] Anthony Ugolnik.  The Illuminating Icon.  (Grand Rapids:  Wm.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1989.), p.101.

     [15]   Georges Florovsky.  Christianity and Culture. Vol Two in the Collected Works of Georges Florovsky.  (Belmont: Nordland Publishing Company, 1974.), p.131.

     [16]Thomas Torrance.  The Ground and Grammar of Theology: The Richard Lectures for 1978-79, The University of Virginia. (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1980.),p.5-6.

     [17]Ron Heifetz and Riley M. Sinder.  "Political Leadership: Managing the Public's Problem Solving," in The Power of Public Ideas, Robert B. Reich, ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990.), p.192-193.

     [18]Wolfhart Pannenberg.  Human Nature, Election, and History.  (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1977.), p.35.

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CREATED TO LEAD:

THE IMAGO DEI AND HUMAN FULFILLMENT

Part One: Human Possibilities

Part Two: Paradigm of Humanity

Part Three: Relationships of Impact

1 - Jesus Meets a Woman at a Well

2 - Resolving Institutional Conflict

3 - The Source of Meaning

4 - The After-Dinner Untold Story