2. God Created: Roles & Responsibilities as Image-bearers
- Josiah Orluck
- Jun 5, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Dec 24, 2025
"And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
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." - Genesis 1:25-27
Created in God’s image. What a privilege it is to be made in the likeness of our God! But what does that mean? The idea of being made in God’s image is a beautiful deep expanse that deserves to be studied deeply. However, for the purpose of this series, we will focus on how the idea of imago dei lets mankind know their role and how it impacts our relationships (including our most important relationship).
Our Role as Image-bearers
This last year, I coached basketball and track and there were several times I found it beneficial to have conversations about roles people had on the team. People need to know their role and purpose if they are going to be successful at what they do. If there is no guidance, people are left in a state of chaos, frustration, and feeling of dissatisfaction. Some people believe deciding your own role is true freedom. However, true freedom only comes from knowing who God made you to be and living it out. Sometimes, my athletes would want to step out of their roles which they thought was best, but they didn’t have the big picture in mind.
AW Tozer described this yearning to find purpose well when he wrote,
"In the deep recesses of man’s soul lies an overwhelming yearning toward the Creator. This is a common thread through all humanity, created in the image of God. Unless and until that desire is fully met, the human soul remains restless, constantly striving for that which is ultimately unattainable."
Knowing that we are created in God’s image brings purpose to life. It results in mankind knowing their role in God’s master plan. It is critical to know the principle of being made in God’s image so we can understand the rest of life correctly. Without knowing our role as God’s image-bearers, it leaves an unmet desire in the human soul that one cannot fill on their own.
Our Role For His Glory
So what is our role? As image bearers, our role is to glorify Him.
Throughout the scriptures, it is obvious that God wants His glory to shine through His people.
"I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” - Isaiah 43:6-7
"Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. " - Ephesians 1:4-6
These are just two examples of many passages that state that our very existence is to the glory of God. Now there are many ways that our very existence points to and glorifies God (human reasoning, authority, honor, morality, and many more). I’d encourage you to dive into these other aspects of being made in God’s image and how it points back to Him, but this article will go back to our Genesis passage and look at how God uses relationships to point back to Himself and His glory.
Image-bearers in our Relationships
In verse 26, God says let us make man in our image. The words “us” and “our” point to God’s relational attribute even before mankind is created. The idea of a Triune God reveals His relationship nature. One of the most important aspects of being made in God’s image is being created for relationship.
In this passage in Genesis, God reveals our role in our relationships to nature, man, and to God. God reveals His glory in the pinnacle of creation, mankind. All creation reveals His glory, but as image bearers we reveal His nature in the distinct way of relationship.
One distinction God makes in this passage is the role of mankind having dominion over the creatures of the earth. Just as God has dominion over everything he has created, God granted mankind the role of having dominion over the creatures of the earth. God didn’t have to give us dominion over the animals, but He did to show His glory, to point back to His dominion over the universe, and the dominion He is to have over our very lives. To reflect His dominion, God gave His image-bearers dominion over the creatures of the earth to glorify Him.
Another distinction is how God demonstrates His relational attributes in mankind. In the rest of scripture, God gives mankind guidelines for how to relate to one another, showing that God created us for relationships. Since sin entered the world, how we relate to one another has been tarnished, but that’s why God gave us His word and became man to redeem our fallen state. Even in our flawed state, the relational aspects of being made in God’s image shows in civilizations that do not acknowledge God. Every civilization makes rules on how humans should relate to one another, but one should always look to God’s rules to know how best to live out our relational role. The relational role that indwells us glorifies God and points to His desire to have relationship with mankind.
While this passage does not specifically state that God wants relationship with mankind, the rest of scripture screams this message. Scripture itself is a testimony to the fact that God wants to reveal Himself to mankind. The gospel message of Jesus coming to take away the sins of the world and redeem mankind back to Himself shows God’s heart for relationship with His people.
Our Relationship Roles in Masculinity and Femininity
The last part of verse 27 states that God created us male and female. Since this is a series on Biblical masculinity and femininity, I would be at fault if I skipped over this section. God creating us male and female is a beautiful design that will be explored more in depth in future posts. However, in relation to being made in God's image, God's design for us being created male and female points to His making everything complete. In chapter 2 of Genesis, God states that it is not good for man to be alone. Then God made woman.
The relationship between man and woman and the roles they are to fill points back to mankind's God-given need for relationship. The most important relationship being with God Himself. Creating us male and female points to His infinite wisdom in creating a beautiful relationship, which throughout Scripture, God uses as an example of how He desires to relate to us. One example would be in Joel where God compares Himself to a husband chasing after His adulterous bride. Another would be in Revelation 19:7 as a spotless bride.
"Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;"
As God’s image bearers, God gives us dominion over the creatures of the earth and has put His communicable, relational attributes in us, as male and female, to point back to Him. To point to the God who rules and wants relationship with us. So how do we apply this knowledge of being made in His image to our lives?
Closing Thoughts and Application on Role and Relationship
Since He is the Creator and has all authority, we are to obey His commandments. As image bearers designed for relationship, we are to love God with everything we are and follow Him. When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, He responds,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” - Matthew 22:37-39
Relationship and obedience is what God desires most from us as His image-bearers.
The book of 1 John (specifically chapters 4-5) is a great book that encourages believers to live as God designed His children (image-bearers) to live with the focus of course being on love. Towards the end of the book, John writes,
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” - 1 John 5:3
Since mankind’s fall into sin, the commandments of God often seem burdensome and unnatural to us. But that is not how we were created to be. The atoning work of Jesus Christ cleanses His children from all sin. When we submit to God’s design for our lives (love God and keep His commandments), we will live in the freedom of the role that God designed for us as His image-bearers: men and women designed to live in loving relationship with the Father.
May this encourage you to not only know what it means to be made in His image, but to personally get to know and have an intimate relationship with the one who loves you and created you in His image.
Works Cited
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) ESV Text Edition: 2016
© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.
Tozer, A. W. “Striving Toward God’s Presence.” Experiencing the Presence of God, Regal From Gospel Light, Ventura, CA, 2010, pp. 1–1.
