The Irish Articles of Religion, A.D. 1615: The image of God Consists in the Wisdom of His Mind

 

Man being at the beginning created according to the image of God (which consisted especially in the wisdom of his mind and the true holiness of his free will), had the covenant of the law ingrafted in his heart . . .   Irish Articles of Religion, A. D. 1615

 

 

 

According to Dr. Gordon H. Clark, man is the image of God. But what is the image of God? Since God is Logic and man is God's image, it logically follows that man is a spiritual soul, not his physical body.  (John 4:24).  Animals have bodies but are they the image of God? 

In reading the Irish Articles of Religion, A.D. 1615, this morning I found that Dr. Clark got his view of man as God's wisdom and logic from the Irish confession. The Irish Articles were primarily the work of Bishop Ussher.

This remark is made under the doctrine of providence:

Of the Creation and Governance of All Things

21. Man being at the beginning created according to the image of God (which consisted especially in the wisdom of his mind and the true holiness of his free will), had the covenant of the law ingrafted in his heart, whereby God did promise unto him everlasting life upon condition that he performed entire and perfect obedience unto his Commandments, according to that measure of strength wherewith he was endued in his creation, and threatened death unto him if he did not perform the same.

Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes: The Evangelical Protestant Creeds, with Translations, vol. 3 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1882), 530.

Notice that the image of God, according to the Irish divines, "consisted especially in the wisdom of his mind and the true holiness of his free will" and "had the covenant of the law ingrafted in his heart." (John 1:1, 9; Romans 2:14-16. Need I remind anyone that the Bible says the heart thinks and is basically equivalent to man's soul. (Proverbs 23:7).

It should also be noted that "free will" does not mean "libertarian" free will. Instead it means that man is not a robot or a biological machine in slavery to brain chemistry, the sociological environment, or to physiology. No, man has a genuine will that is capable of making genuine choices. The fact that God governs all things and that all things are predetermined does not override man's free will in the sense that man is a free moral agent and man will be held fully accountable by the Creator for everything he says and does in his lifetime. (Romans 1:18-21; Deuteronomy 29:29; Isaiah 8:20).