My midwife told me my adopted son would look like me.

I gave birth to him through embryo adoption—which means he’s biologically unrelated to me or my husband. Still, my midwife seemed certain: “He’ll look like you,” she said, “not in physical features but in so many other ways.” I’m inclined to believe her. Through nature or nurture, children often grow to reflect their parents in a myriad of ways. This is true of God’s own children. God, too, is a Father by adoption—and He shapes His children to look like Him, to bear His image. Still, you might ask: Who exactly is an image-bearing child of God? After all, aren’t we all image-bearers of the Creator?

Yes, all humankind bears the image of God. This is true regardless of one’s age, ethnicity, religion, identification, status, or ability. Genesis 1:27 is plain: “God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” Humans are distinct from all other creatures. We carry inherent dignity and capacity as stewards of the created world (Genesis 1:28). Each of us bears the imago Dei, the image of God, but not everyone reflects the imago Christi, the image of Christ. The Bible doesn’t teach universalism. We all bear the image of God, but those who come to God through faith in Christ Jesus are being conformed to the image of Christ. God’s adopted children are those who resemble the only begotten Son—the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Everyone is an image-bearer of God—but Christians alone, God’s adopted children, reflect the image of the Son.

God’s Children Resemble Him

My husband and I have two sons by adoption. One came to our family as an embryo, and the other became our son at eighteen months of age. These boys didn’t choose us. We pursued them. We prayed for them. We chose them. We adopted them. And we now delight in them. In Christ, we are adopted as God’s beloved children. If you are embracing God as your Father today, it is because He loved and pursued you first. By His grace, He calls out to us, opening our eyes and hearts to realize our deep need for Him. It was through the regenerating work of His Spirit that you first called Him “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15). God has chosen you, and He has predestined you to look like His family: “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29). God’s children are growing to look alike. We share a family resemblance!

C.S. Lewis describes the essence of Romans 8:29 beautifully in his satirical novel, The Screwtape Letters. Listen to how Screwtape, a senior devil, describes Christian sonship to Wormwood, a junior temper:

He [God] really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons.¹

Looking Like Jesus Matters Today

Dear Christian friend, the imago Dei is who we are by creation. The imago Christi is what we’re becoming through sanctification. This is a beautiful theological truth, but why does it matter? How does it show up in my life? How does this truth help me as I struggle to love God and neighbor? Friend, this truth means everything for your encouragement today!

Like me, you will fail to display Christ’s image perfectly today. Your patience will fall short, your self-control will fail you, you will not love God and neighbor with all your heart. Like me, you might be tempted to despair. But here’s some good news: You didn’t obey God to become His child. You didn’t have to earn your place in His household—you were simply claimed. Our Father has delivered us from our enslavement to sin to become “a people for his possession” (1 Peter 2:9). We were redeemed for adoption, and God’s adopted children will grow to look like His Son. The Spirit is using our ordinary—imperfect and repenting—life of faith to transform us more and more into the image of the Firstborn, Jesus Christ. We will look like our Brother, and therefore truly like our Father, in the end!

Notes

1. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Letter VIII.

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Author Bio

Nana Dolce, MTS, is the author of The Seed of the Woman and You Are Redeemed. She is a guest lecturer at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, and a Charles Simeon Trust instructor. Nana lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and four children. Find her on Instagram @nanadolce1.

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