“And God created man in His own image” – this sentence marks the beginning of the dignity of every human being. It underlies many fundamental convictions, even the first article of the Basic Law. Here you will find 18 Bible verses about man as the image of God.
Created in God’s Image
The basic messages of the Bible.
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And God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in the image of God we will make them, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over the livestock and over the entire earth, over all that creeps on the ground.”
Genesis 1:26Animals
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So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; and He created them male and female.
Genesis 1:27WomenSelf-worth
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And God saw everything that he had made; and behold, it was very good. Then evening and morning were the sixth day.
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And God the LORD formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And so man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7Life
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This is the book of the genealogy of man. When God created man, He made him in the image of God.
Genesis 5:1
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Whoever sheds human blood shall have their blood shed by human hands; for God made man in His own image.
Genesis 9:6Blood
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What is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you care for him? You have made him little lower than God, and crowned him with honor and glory. You have made him lord over the work of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.
Psalm 8:5-7
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For you formed my inner parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it well.
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And God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28
Christ, the Image
The New Testament sees in Jesus the true image of God.
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Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Colossians 1:15Jesus
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In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the bright light of the gospel, the clarity of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4Devil
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Who, although he is the radiance of his glory and the image of his essence, and carries all things by his mighty word, and has made the cleansing of our sins through himself, has sat at the right hand of majesty in the heights.
Hebrews 1:3
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For he saw them beforehand, and appointed them to be like the image of his Son, so that he himself should be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 8:29
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Now the clarity of the LORD is reflected in all of us with an unveiled face, and we are being glorified into the same image from one clarity to another, as from the LORD, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18GloryTransformation
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And put on the new, so that you may be renewed into the knowledge of the image of him who created you.
Colossians 3:10
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And just as we have borne the image of the earthly, so we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
1 Corinthians 15:49
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Through them we praise God, the Father, and through them we curse mankind, who are made in the image of God.
James 3:9
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And put on the new man, who is created in God according to righteous justice and holiness.
Ephesians 4:24Identity in ChristClothing
Bible texts: Luther Bible 1912 (public domain), carefully adapted to modern spelling.
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What does “Image of God” mean?
The Hebrew word tzelem means “image,” “statue.” In antiquity, kings placed their images in conquered territories to show: Here I rule. The Bible applies this idea to all people. Every person – not just the king – is an image of God on earth, a sign of his presence and commissioned to preserve creation (Genesis 1:26-28). From this follows a dignity that cannot be earned and cannot be lost. Even after the flood, it is reaffirmed: Whoever sheds human blood violates God’s image (Genesis 9:6).
Dignity in everyday life
Because every person carries God’s image, this has consequences for how we treat one another. James critically notes that we praise God with the same tongue and curse people, “who are made in the image of God” (James 3:9). The New Testament goes even further: In Jesus, it is shown what the image of God actually means. He is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), and Christians are being transformed into this image (2 Corinthians 3:18). Find out more about Bible verses about creation, Bible verses about self-worth, and Bible verses about identity in Christ.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does it say that man is the image of God?
In Genesis 1:26-27: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; and He created them male and female.”
What does the image of God mean for human dignity?
Because every person is created in God’s image, everyone has an irretrievable dignity – regardless of origin, health, or performance.
