Excerpted with permission from Very Good: What the Bible Says About Being a Woman Bible Study by Jen Oshman Copyright 2026, Lifeway Christian Resources.
When it comes to humans’ place in the world, it’s easy to fall into two ditches, or two opposing and wrong ways of thinking. One ditch is seeing ourselves as the center of the universe. In this ditch we read Scripture and view our circumstances with ourselves at the center. This is an aggrandizing and self-centered perspective. The other ditch is the opposite—we see ourselves as less than we are. This view minimizes the value of humans. In this ditch, perhaps in an effort to revere and honor God, Christians often speak of themselves as only sinners and only wretches, ignoring the reality that we are unique and special amongst all the creatures. Our goal is to avoid both ditches and to see ourselves rightly.
In the very early chapters of the Bible, God firmly establishes the sanctity of human life. Humans are the crown of creation, made in His image (Gen. 1:26-27). God’s image is passed on to each and every one of us (Gen. 5:3), without exception. And finally, we see in Genesis 9:6 that God considers human life so valuable that implicit in murder is violence against God Himself. If you take a human life, God says, your own life will be required. (Please note that we don’t have space here to explore the principle of life-for-life or capital punishment. But know that the Old Testament law had significant safeguards in this area. For now, I want you to see how valuable and special God deems human life. He is serious about protecting all humans.)
26 "Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.
27 So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female."Genesis 1:26-27 CSB
Scripture tells us God called His creation of humanity “very good.” This fact and our image-bearing remained true regardless of how humans chose to use their God-given rule on earth, even when their choices displeased God. The flood in Genesis 6–8 demonstrates this reality. Prior to the flood the Bible says, “the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5). The flood was justice for an overwhelmingly wicked human population. And yet, even after that global judgment, the Lord said all humans still bear His image. It’s worth noting that Genesis 9:6 was given after the flood, which Noah and his family escaped in the ark.
No amount of sin can remove the image of God from anyone. There is nothing you or I could ever do to remove God’s image from us. To be human is to bear the image of our Creator. No exceptions.
"No amount of sin can remove the image of God from anyone. There is nothing you or I could ever do to remove God’s image from us. To be human is to bear the image of our Creator. No exceptions."
Jen Oshman
It may feel like I am majoring on a minor theological footnote, but this is key in how we relate to God and others. Every person you see—every person you and I respect or ignore, like or dislike, love or loathe—is made by God and in His image. There is not one human on this planet or ever in history who was not made carefully, with intention, and with immeasurable love by God.
C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”1 Humans are special. God’s image in us is immeasurably valuable. Every single human life is eternal and important. And that includes you.