PAPER • The theme of “sonship” offers a conceptual framework for ordering three key dimensions of the divine image: humans are constituted to resemble God, relate to God and creation, and represent God’s rule in creation as image-sons. This biblical-theological analogy unfolds from Adam to Christ to redeemed humanity.
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Abstract
This paper argues that “sonship” is a central and unifying lens for understanding the meaning of the imago Dei. While historical and contemporary accounts of the divine image emphasize either one or various combinations of structural, relational, and functional dimensions of image-bearing, this study demonstrates how sonship provides a biblical-theological framework for locating each dimension within a coherent account of the imago Dei without reducing the image to any one of them. First, the paper traces the relationship between image-bearing and sonship from Adam to Christ to redeemed humanity. Genesis 1:26–28 and 5:1–3, read alongside Luke 3:38, establish an analogical correspondence between humanity’s creation in God’s image and its filial identity. This association develops through Israel and the Davidic king before reaching its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the incarnate image-Son and last Adam, in whose image adopted believers are renewed. Second, the paper engages the three classic models of the imago Dei and argues that filial resemblance accounts for the structural dimension, filial relationship the relational dimension, and filial representation the functional dimension. Sonship thus provides a coherent theological framework for humanity’s created constitution, relationship with God and creation, and royal viceregency under God’s authority. Finally, the paper addresses three objections concerning the ontological grounding of sonship, its integrative adequacy, and the problem of gender-inclusivity with “sonship” language. By distinguishing humanity’s analogical creational sonship from Christ’s divine and incarnate sonship and believers’ saving adoption, the proposed framework preserves essential theological distinctions while illuminating the unique dimensions of the image. ❖
Cite this Paper
Footnote: Timothy J. Harris, “Resemblance, Relationship, and Representation: Sonship and the Meaning of the Imago Dei,” Practical Theologian, November 14, 2026, https://www.practicaltheologian.com/blog/paper-sd9hp.
Bibliography: Harris, Timothy J. “Resemblance, Relationship, and Representation: Sonship and the Meaning of the Imago Dei.” Practical Theologian, November 14, 2026. https://www.practicaltheologian.com/blog/paper-sd9hp.
