The Image of God in the Fight Against Injustice

It is clear from observing current events that our country is in conflict right now. One of the major issues we are currently dealing with is racism. The questions we face are not whether racism is bad or even if racism exists. The questions we face as Christians tend to revolve around the extent of racism and how we fight against it. There is no shortage of responses to these questions. All forms of media have responses that are all over the map.

This reality creates challenges for us as we seek to sift through all of the different opinions and points of view to come up with answers. As followers of Jesus, we are to filter everything through our biblical worldview – and the Bible has plenty to say when it comes to matters of racism. From Genesis to Revelation, you can find God exhorting his people to work towards accomplishing justice in the world. Some of these passages include: Leviticus 19:33–34, Amos 5, Micah 6:8, Matthew 25:31-40, Galatians 3:28–29, James 1:27.

The foundational truth on why matters of justice are important to God can be found in Genesis 1. 

Genesis 1:26–27 - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

This means that every human being, born or unborn, images God and is created after His likeness. God didn’t say this about anything else he created. We marvel at the beauty of other created things, but even as beautiful as these things are, they are not made in God’s image. The Bible tells us that none of these things compares to a man or woman created and designed by God.

The primary reason we are different isn’t found in what we do, but in who we are. We were uniquely crafted and meticulously designed by God to image himself. We have souls. This is why every human being should be treated with dignity. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, you reflect God. There is a deep significance about you. You have worth and value just because you are a human being – period.

One of the primary ways we know we are being conformed into the image of Christ is caring about the things he cares about. This causes us to be people who fight on behalf of other image bearers of God. We should desire and work towards seeing all human beings flourish. This means we get involved in fighting racism, protecting the unborn, caring for orphans, widows, refugees, the poor, and many other groups of people.

When it comes to the sin of racism, if we start with a biblical worldview, it forces us to deal with the issue. We are not allowed to exempt ourselves and move on with statements like: “Well, I’m not racist.” We must be willing to learn about systemic racism because it is getting in the way of other image bearers experiencing equality, simply based off of the color of their skin. 

We have a long way to go and a lot to learn regarding matters of injustice. My prayer is that we would be a people whose formation and convictions are shaped first by the Bible rather than what people on either side of this issue are saying. 

For further reading, read John Calvin’s claims “that considering the image of God in our fellow man is a sufficient motivator for doing justice.”