Theologians have an interesting question. Does Scripture teach that man is no longer in the image of God? Or does it suggest that the image remains but has been grossly defaced? In many ways (the latter) is an even more tragic prospect. We might well be justified in thinking that there could be no greater disaster than that the likeness of God should be exterminated. But in fact there is. What if the image of God, in which His greatness and glory are reflected, becomes a distortion of His character? What if, instead of reflecting His glory, man begins to reflect the very antithesis of God? What if God's image becomes an anti-god? This, essentially, is the affront which fallen man is to God. He takes all that God has lavished upon him to enable him to live in free and joyful obedience, and he transforms it into a weapon by which he can oppose His Maker. The very breath, which God gives him thousands of times each day, he abuses by his sin. The magnitude of his sin is also the measure of his need of salvation.
Sinclair Ferguson
The Christian Life, 1997, p. 12, Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
