LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
St. Irenaeus and the Imago Dei
Submitted to Dr. Dennis McDonald
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
THEO 510 – D05
Systematic Theology
by
CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3
Brief Summary… ............................................................................................................ 3
Critical Interaction .......................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 4
Bibliography… .............................................................................................................. 5
Introduction
An introduction of St Irenaeus’s concept as a Christian writer to expand upon the Biblical con-
cept. God left people to develop their image in Him by using prayer and seeking Him in Biblical stud-
ies. St. Irenaeus began developing the concept of the image of God, Imago Dei in Latin. He looked
into why there was a difference between the Imaged and Likeness of God in man and how they could
be different, and if they can be regained.
Brief Summary
Examine St. Irenaeus’s understanding of what it means for us as human beings to be made in
the imago Dei, in the image and likeness of God, and in so doing demonstrate its relevance for our con-
temporary daily lives. He wanted to dig deeper into the theological anthropology for a central concept
of the image and likeness of God. The Bible teaches “the image of God” yet it does not provide what it
means by this. Irenaeus tried to provide an understanding of this extremely important concept as our
first post-biblical writer. The central tenant of the holy Scripture was his theory about how a person
can regain their likeness through the call of holiness and sanctification from a Christian’s daily life.
Critical Interaction
The Bible says in Genesis says that humans are made in the image of God. To all mankind, an-
cient Gods were in the form of humans and created by man. Culture created religion, not a God who
could not be seen, yet Scripture was how their religion was revealed.
Weinandy approached the subject of the image of God was a bias approach from the non-Chris-
tian teaching, as found in his contemporary Gnostics.1 For Irenaeus, the image of given to Adam was
reason and free will, one may ask why would Adam and Eve have sinned in this paradise? Ire-
naeus makes the point that Adam and Eve (and, in a sense, all human beings) were infantile and child-
like in their likeness to God and needed to mature in and acquire, through discipline and faithfulness to
1Weinandy, Thomas G. “St. Irenaeus and the Imago Dei: The Importance of Being Human.” Logos 6 (Fall 2003): 16
God, God’s eternal perfection and nature. This immaturity was a moral one.2 Weinandy wanted to try to
show us that Irenaeus did prove what God had meant by the image of God. While at the same time
Weinandy was able to prove his thesis in a logical manner while proving his arguments.
We are not merely an evolutionary breakthrough of a random universe but a created being loved by
God and created with a purpose to live in relationship with Him. Human beings, in the totality of who
we are, body and soul, are images of God, and were created so by God himself.3
Weinandy was able to bring some things into the article front and center about humankind being the
pinnacle of the Father’s good creation4 and our very bodies must manifest the Son’s image.5
Conclusion
Weinandy was able to show how well St. Irenaeus influence apologists to forge a path in Chris-
tian theology. Here we have Weinandy showing how Irenaeus was the authority of Gnosticism and
was a substantial influence in the church staying on the right path of being orthodox. We can say that
Irenaeus identified that the image was lost after the fall.
2 Ibid. 21-22.
3 Ibid. 17.
4 Ibid. 18.
5 Ibid. 21.
Bibliography
Weinandy, Thomas. “St. Irenaeus and the Imago Dei: the Importance of Being Human.” Logos 6, no. 4
(Fall 2003): 15-35.
