Christian Llave

16
The Authentic Christian Life by Imago Dei as Exemplified by Jesus Christ
Authentic experience starts with the subjects being in the world. One of
the main questions of life is the question of purpose in life. The question
eventually leads to the question of identity, existence, and place in the world.
For those with a certain religion, the inquiry is supplemented by the question of
faith and direction. For the Christian, the question of faith must not be defined as
Why am I here? for that currently is beyond us, but Being here, what am I
supposed to do? because the subject most likely assumes existence.
Having a sense of awareness of existence, the Christian subject is
immersed in a pool or vocations and calls from everywhere leading to
somewhere, but not all will make the subject authentic. Authentic, from its
etymology, means self being. Commonly, the ultimate Christian self is to fulfill
Gods will and be in the likeness of God and to follow Jesus Christ, who is the
main image of Christianity. Both aspects of the ultimate Christian self are valid,
but another fundamentally human aspect of life is overlookedcommunion of
persons.
Basic Christian teaching includes the Creation story, which emphasizes
man and his relationship with God as Creator and creature. This relationship is
highlighted with the concept of Imago Dei, which pertains to the image of God.
The Creation story emphasizes man mainly because of Imago Dei playing a role
in the creation of man being made in the image and likeness of God.
The Old Testament described man being little less than a God and
having dominion over the Earth. Being little less than a God, man is given the
honor, unlike the other creatures of God, to be closer to the likeness of God.
Having that level of honor, the corresponding primary notion is to work the way
up to be in the likeness God. Being in the likeness of God is inheriting, as much
as possible, Gods qualities displayed and given to man, such as being oriented
to the good, being rational, being free, and being loving. Being oriented to the
good inclines man to the mindset of doing whatever may be characterized as
morally good because man is assumed to be good as God is good. Being rational
defines man as a creature of self-knowledge, and being the only creature to
possess self-knowledge, man is the best choice for God to appoint as stewards of
His creation. Being free is to be self-possessed. Man is assumed to be selfpossessed in a sense that man will do only what man can do, being still bound by
the limitations of man being a creature of God. Being a loving creature paints
man as a social being and to not just be a man for his own self, but to be a man
for each other as God loves all.
Imago Dei gives man more than enough reason to be the steward of God;
however, looking back further into the Creation story reveals the story of Adam,
who embodies all of humanity, and Eve, who is the mother of all. Adam and Eve,
embodying humanity, were given the characteristics as described in the concept
of Imago Dei; consequently, having Imago Dei pushed them toward continued
creation and stewardship. Adam and Eve were the stewards of God, but they did
not work their ways separately, because it is not natural for man to be alone in
life. In fact, part of the creation story is the loneliness during the time when
Adam was still alone, and that the creation of Eve gave him a sense of happiness
because he was no longer alone. This simply displays mans need for communion

with others, hence the phrase go forth and multiply which calls man to both
sexual union and stewardship. In this sense, stewardship is also the invitation to
live in the life with God. In a sense, it is an invitation to live in the call to the
authentic Christian life.
The response to the authentic Christian life is best exemplified by Jesus
Christ in the New Testament, displaying what Christians truly live for. Jesus Christ
is man in the nature of God. He was both God and man, but He is the ultimate
man for Christians, because He fully experienced the life of man during His time
and was able to live authentically as the Son of God.
Jesus Christ is described as The Word Incarnate, being the will of God
manifest in the world. He took on the form of a limited being, but he displayed
His freedom extensively by pursuing what is morally good even in the height of
temptation, such as the rejection at Nazareth incident and the temptation in the
desert. He was rational enough to be able to be aware and know His place.
Although He might not have known what was ahead, He had a sense of
awareness of what He is, and maybe bits of understanding of what He must do,
but all those bits of understanding are still based on his sense of moral good.
Obviously, Jesus is indeed social from the number of followers He had alone, He
must have had characteristics that made Him worth the effort to follow. Even
man has doubts, so reasoning out that it was because He was God is not enough.
Jesus must have been social. He was not just social. He redefined the scope of
social interaction as the most authentic level of social interaction best described
by the parable of the Good Samaritan. Transforming the question of Who is my
neighbor? to Who acted like a neighbor? because the being of the neighbor
defines how the neighbor is considered to be a real neighbor, not just the label of
a neighbor. Taking the transformed question subjectively, the point of social
interaction is to be a neighbor for others.
Imago Dei as lived out by Jesus makes Him worthy of the title of the Last
Adam, as Jesus has maximized Imago Dei in His time and redeemed humanity of
the problems caused by the initial Adam. Jesus being the Last Adam, the end
stage and final height of the authentic Christian life is the best model and basis
of Christians to experience the authentic Christian life. He left humanity a
guideline for it: to be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. Perfection in this
sense is fundamentally fullness and completeness from its etymology. He calls
humanity to be full and morally perfect. Striving for moral perfection can only be
by means of doing the maximum of what humans can do, but not being too
conscious of the limit as to reject an idea because of mans being man. Striving
for moral perfection is maximizing Imago Dei as Jesus did, remembering God and
His love by living out His image while keeping stewardship and communion as
His creation. Therefore from this, Imago Dei leads to the authentic Christian
humanity and meaning in the communion with others using Jesus as the ultimate
example.
Personally, being a Christian, attaining the authentic Christian life is still
far from me. I may possess Imago Dei but I have not yet maximized its true
potential. Temptation and all other evil are still my weak points, unlike Jesus in
the temptation in the desert. For me, life today has become rather worldly and
complicated; however, considering Jesus Christs time, life was also difficult and
complicated. It is only a matter of ability to maximize the gifts bestowed by God
upon man to maximize Imago Dei. I believe the said complications are merely
temporary, and I think I can focus more on living the authentic life in the future
when Im already a stable human being. For now, maybe I am tired, maybe I get

worn out, but theres no stop to life. The thought that there is something better
than complications gives me more of a reason to keep going than otherwise.
Falling into depression again wont help me. Maybe love will, as God is love and
Jesus is. The authentic life calls for love, not sadness nor excessive concern.