WHAT IS YOUR IMAGE OF GOD?
Robert L. Johnson

Some of us who were students of R. C. Bell, at Abilene years ago, remember his facetious, yet somewhat serious quip, "Orthodoxy is my 'doxy' and heterodoxy is your 'doxy'." He was illustrating how common it is for all of us to assume that our particular interpretation of an issue must surely be the correct one. We might try to pride ourselves on being "open to the facts," but more than likely we are not wide open to them. We have all been conditioned by parents, friends, politicians, teachers, preachers, and editors to see things from certain perspectives or prejudices. We try to be objective in our studies but we are still limited by our frame of reference. This paper is no exception. Even in a discussion of the nature of Deity, without constructive criticism, there is always the danger of fashioning God according to our own liking, if not to our own likeness.

Our interpretation of scripture has much to do with our mental image of God, and our mental image will in turn influence our interpretation of scripture. Any faith or religion will always be determined by the character of the God worshiped. And whenever we have a distorted image of God there is going to be some distortion of the faith that we present to the world. Whenever we stop quoting scripture and make our observations about it, any special emphasis we give to the passage may well reveal our own theology of God.

Graven images were prohibited early in the Mosaic era. But even before Moses, Abraham was already constructing mental images of God. In his dialogue with the Lord about Sodom, Abraham reasoned, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" Justice, fairness, and faith-keeping were part of this image of God. Moses reasoned with God and prevailed upon him to moderate his wrath. Yet he found himself one day expressing a very human longing when he said to God, "Show me your glory." Job agonized with his image of God. The writers of the Psalms often shared an exalted view of God. Solomon knew that the heavens could not contain God, much less the temple that he had built, but he prayed that the eyes of God might "be open night and day toward this house, the place of which thou hast said, 'My name shall be there"' (1 Kgs. 8:29).

Isaiah wrote, "To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?" (Is. 40:25). Isaiah went on to stress the holiness of God, "Holy, Holy, Holy, ... the whole earth is full of his glory" (Is. 6:3). God was likened to a king, a judge, a shepherd, a husband, a father. He was a majesty to be adored, a refuge, a rock, a fortress. In his frustration Jeremiah thought that God had deceived him (Jer. 15:18).

For many of the Jews God remained remote and transcendent. During the exile they wondered how they could worship him. They were far from him and believed that he was far from them. But some of the prophets were painting a different picture. Their God was concerned with injustice and social problems. He was not impressed with ceremony and ritual, nor with those who gave him only lip service. He wanted men to have a humble and contrite heart and a brotherly concern for one's neighbor. As Micah puts it, "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

The Lord through Jeremiah projects this image of himself, ". . . but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord" (Jer. 9:24).

The New Testament reveals that many of Jesus' contemporaries had images of God that were contrary to his own. Each of the Jewish sects believed themselves to be the orthodox interpreters of scripture. The Judaizers in the Galatian churches, the factions at Corinth, and the Gnostic teachers were all persuaded they had the correct understanding of the scriptures and the teachings of Jesus. Long before the first century ended Paul was having to correct some of the distorted images of God and of the Son of God that were creeping into the church. Through the centuries thousands of Christians lost their lives because they would not affirm the authorized image of God. Luther's and Calvin's image of God not only differed from that of the Roman church, but they differed from each other.

How have we acquired our image of God? There are voices that seem to say, "You should receive only what I clearly receive." Persecution is often the result when one group attempts to force "their" God upon others. Whether we admit it or not most of us by our own bias have arrived at our own "orthodox" image of God. And then we are disappointed when our image doesn't satisfy everyone else.

Over 300 years ago John Locke, in an essay entitled "Error," made a penetrating analysis of orthodox Christianity in his day. He wrote as follows:

The great division among Christians is about opinions. Every sect has its set of them and that is called orthodoxy; and he that professes his assent to them, though with an implicit faith and without examining is orthodox and in the way to salvation; but, if he examines and thereupon questions any one of them, he is presently suspect of heresy, and if he oppose them or hold the contrary, he is presently condemned as in a damnable error, and in the sure way to perdition. Of this one may say, that there is nor can be nothing more wrong. For he that examines and upon a fair examination embrace an error for a truth, has done his duty more than he who embraces the profession of the truth. . . without having examined whether it be true or no.

For if it be our duty to search after truth, he certainly that has searched after it, though he has not found it, in some points has paid a more acceptable obedience to the will of his Maker than he that has not searched at all, but professes to have found truth when he has neither searched nor found it; for he that takes up the opinions of any church in the lump, without examining them, has truly neither searched after nor found truth, but has only found those that he thinks have found truth, and so receives what they say with an implicit faith, and so pays them the homage that is due only to God.

Let's be grateful to those who are able to clarify obscure texts, but let's never equate someone's opinion with the verities of scripture. As Locke says, let's not pay them the homage that is due only to God. Distorted images are often created and perpetuated through a misplacement of trust. As someone has said, "Every man is a captive of some loyalty. He is only free to choose his bondage." — 2208 W. Granite, Siloam Springs, Ar. 72761