Singled Out: Do Singles Bear God's Image? Or Only Married Couples?

Our status as human beings, created in the Image of God, is not defined by our relationship status. Jesus, a single man, said: He who has seen me has seen the Father. Colossians 1:15 declares: He is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1:3 proclaims The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature.

I have heard many teachers make claims such as "Marriage is the Image of God." They claim that human beings only bear the image of God when a man and woman are joined together in marriage. I have heard some go so far as to say that we are only half a person until we are married. As a single man, the first time I heard that, it was a nasty sucker punch to the gut to be told that I am not an Image bearer of God. Marriage was used as a metaphor to represent God's covenant relationship with Israel and it is used symbolically to represent Jesus' covenant relationship with the Church, a bride which has accepted his proposal, but for which He has not yet come. Marriage is never used as a symbol for the Image of God. Scripture clearly and irrefutably says that JESUS, a single person, was the perfect image bearer and reflection of the Father. To say that a married couple in any way more perfectly reflects or more fully represents the Imago Dei, is a false and divisive teaching and an egregious theological error.

I realize that good men and well-respected leaders hold to this unfortunate point of view. I have encountered this teaching in many places from the organization "Marriage Today," to Pentecostal Equip classes, from Baptist Seminary classes to the Catholic Pope in Rome. We've even discussed it in Sunday morning Bible study. This is not an attack on any specific teacher. I have no interest in tearing down a godly teacher for making a mistake. Good men and close friends that I deeply respect and love as brothers in Christ take this position. But the notion that marriage is the Image of God is an ill-conceived and poorly considered statement which you are unlikely to read within the pages of any Systematic Theology text, study in a Biblical Anthropology class or discover in any legitimate, refereed, scholarly journal. This teaching disenfranchises single believers and disrespects our status and standing before God.

Matthew 24 says that there is no marriage between individuals in heaven and all Christians agree that we will be perfect, fully restored Image bearers of God in heaven. That's the whole point of the glorified body. The doctrine that redeemed man bears the image of God is not negotiable. Colossians 3:10 declares that we:

...have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the Image of its Creator.

Because of Adam and Eve's sin, we lost a crucial part of the Imago Dei, our connection with God through the Holy Spirit. That connection is re-established through salvation in all believers, single or married.

Certainly, marriage is a wonderful thing: He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from God.  But marriage does not define our position before God. Adam was created in God's Image, BEFORE Eve was made. She was also created in God's image. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. Both men and women are created in God's image as individuals and together in marriage they show a picture of God's relationship with us, not a picture of God Himself.

This inaccurate teaching devalues and polarizes single Christians. The Greek word for such a divisive teaching is Heresy. We generally use the term "theological error," because it is more polite and reserve the term heresy for situations of serious Christological error, where someone is teaching wrongly about the nature, person or work of Jesus Christ. Because, as we've read, Jesus, a single man, is the perfect image of the invisible God, because all Christians both married and single are being conformed to that image, because we will all bear this image for eternity and because this teaching is so divisive, I believe that heresy is an accurate and appropriate term to use to describe this particular theological mistake. 

All believers, both single and married are, without doubt, created in God's image, sons and daughters, children and heirs and fully accepted as a valuable part of God's Kingdom. Marriage is a wonderful and God-ordained union between a man and a woman. There are many ways that family honors God and throughout Scripture, the family is highly honored and something to be sought after. It is not, however, the source of one's value or worth as a child and Image bearer of God. Paul, who encouraged us to be filled with all the fullness of God and to reach full maturity as believers, actually encouraged singleness for the sake of the Gospel and viewed it as favorable in certain situations.

Various resolutions by the Southern Baptist Convention have recently been put forth, which recognize the Image of God in all people as a non-compromiseable value. It is unfortunate that teachings persist which further disenfranchise singles from the church. This is one of those areas where we must draw the line in the sand and firmly say NO. The belief that God's image is in all people, and in particular, believers, is not a doctrine to be trifled with. All Christians, both single and married are equal, priests, filled with the Holy Spirit, ambassadors for Christ and Image bearers of God.