Genesis 1:26
And God said,” Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion . . .
Man, God’s highest and most crowned creation, was made above all other of God’s creations. Even though man disobeyed God, choosing to sin, thus marring that image, his God likeness was not totally destroyed. The effect of sin did not make man less than human.There is still a huge gap between all other created beings and human beings. He still has a place far above all of the rest of creation. Human life is far more valuable than that of a dog, cat or any other of the life forms that are found on the earth. In the creation of mankind, God did something that uniquely laid a permanent and lasting foundation for human dignity and worth. God separated man from all other created beings when He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion.”
The fall of man may have marred the image of God, but it did not totally destroy it. This image is what constitutes the sacredness and value of human life. It should be noted that although the fall of man separates man from God, it does not remove his original differentiation from other things. Fallen man is not less than man.
Jesus alluded to this difference in the gospels when He said that God watches over the birds and feeds them, are ye not more valuable than these? Don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.
Martin Luther said, “ God does not love us because we are valuable, We are valuable because God loves us.” Lest we be misled into thinking that we are OK in our sin, let us revise the last part of that by saying it like this, “We are valuable because God loves us and has expressed His love for us by creating us in His image and then by recreating us in Christ.
Recreating us in Christ has given us something better than the original unflawed imaged of God. He took the sinless Christ and poured into Him all our sins. In exchange, He poured His goodness into us to make us something of great value.