Jesus and the Divine Image: Humanity as God's Reflection
One of the most quietly revolutionary ideas found in the teachings of Jesus is not only that he embodied divinity, but that all human beings are intrinsically connected to the Divine. Jesus implies a spiritual unity with God and encourages others to recognize the same connection within themselves. This idea—that humanity reflects the Divine—is echoed in several religious traditions around the world. The concept that the human being is more than flesh and blood, that we carry the spark of the sacred within, is a unifying spiritual theme. Jesus’ teachings reflect an understanding that humanity is not separate from God but rooted in divine origin. “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, English Standard Version (ESV) This foundational scripture from the Hebrew Bible affirms that being human inherently means bearing the image of God. The word used in Hebrew, tzelem , implies not just resemblanc...