Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

image of God belongs to the very essence of man, Reformed theology does not hesitate
to say that it constitutes the essence of man. It distinguishes, however, between those
elements in the image of God which man cannot lose without ceasing to be man,
consisting in the essential qualities and powers of the human soul; and those elements
which man can lose and still remain man, namely, the good ethical qualities of the soul
and its powers. The image of God in this restricted sense is identical with what is called
original righteousness. It is the moral perfection of the image, which could be, and was,
lost by sin.
2. THE LUTHERAN CONCEPTION. The prevailing Lutheran conception of the image of
God differs materially from that of the Reformed. Luther himself sometimes spoke as if
he had a broad conception of it, but in reality he had a restricted view of it. 23 While there
were during the seventeenth century, and there are even now, some Lutheran
theologians who have a broader conception of the image of God, the great majority of
them restrict it to the spiritual qualities with which man was originally endowed, that
is, what is called original righteousness. In doing this they do not sufficiently recognize
the essential nature of man as distinct from that of the angels on the one hand, and from
that of the animals on the other hand. In the possession of this image men are like the
angels, who also possess it; and in comparison with what the two have in common,
their difference is of little importance. Man lost the image of God entirely through sin,
and what now distinguishes him from the animals has very little religious or theological
significance. The great difference between the two lay in the image of God, and this man
has lost entirely. In view of this it is also natural that the Lutherans should adopt
Traducianism, and thus teach that the soul of man originates like that of the animal, that
is, by procreation. It also accounts for the fact that the Lutherans hardly recognize the
moral unity of the human race, but emphasize strongly its physical unity and the
exclusively physical propagation of sin. Barth comes closer to the Lutheran than to the
Reformed position when he seeks the image of God in “a point of contact” between God
and man, a certain conformity with God, and then says that this was not only ruined
but even annihilated by sin. 24
3. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW. Roman Catholics do not altogether agree in their
conception of the image of God. We limit ourselves here to a statement of the prevailing
view among them. They hold that God at creation endowed man with certain natural
gifts, such as the spirituality of the soul, the freedom of the will, and the immortality of
23 Koestlin, The Theology of Luther II, pp. 339-342.
24 The Doctrine of the Word of God, p. 273.
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