Stephen W. Hiemstra. Image and Illumination. T2Pneuma, 2023.

Image and Illumination is a profound book. I was recently given this book to read and am already starting to reread it. I am a wide reader and used to work in a Christian bookstore, but I have never come across a book quite like this.

The book basically and simply discusses what it means to be created in the image of God. He tells us:

Probably the most inconvenient verse in the Bible is this: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) (91)

The “inconvenience” of this verse is that we are meant to be “joined with our spouses to accomplish God’s mission.” God Himself is triune, Father, Son, and Spirit. His nature is that like a loving family. So the family is God’s main instrument on earth for carrying on His mission and fulfilling His covenants.

So Dr. Hiemstra very slowly and deliberately takes us through the significance of what it means to bear the image of God. Obviously, since the Fall, that image has been marred, but as C. S. Lewis reminds us, every human being is an eternal being. That means both a blessing and a responsibility.

A recurring theme is what Hiemstra calls the Deuteronomic Cycle. We are reminded that whenever man tries to create an accomplishment outside of God, it eventually will wane. Our world is presently faced with many utopian schemes. They are bound to fail if they do not acknowledge what God says about the nature of mankind.

Moses anticipated the course of human development in Deuteronomy 30:1-3. You (plural) will sin; be enslaved; and cry out to the Lord. God will send you a deliverer and restore your fortunes…This pattern, called the Deuteronomic Cycle, outlines biblical history and with it the rise and fall of nations. (105, emphasis in original)

So Illumination, the second part of the book’s title, begins with the discussion of light. The first thing God created when He was creating the universe was light.

What is God’s first act of creation after creating the heavens and the earth? The Bible reads: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” (Gen. 1:3) Then, God declares the light to be good. Goodness and light are equated as God begins by creating a moral universe. (111)

So there is “a moral mandate even before human beings are created.” Interestingly, the book notes that after God created humans, God said things were not merely good but “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Now, since the Fall, God’s main mission, if you will, is one of restoration.

Faith matters; right now it matters a lot because God in his mercy delivers on a familiar promise: “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Ps. 91:7) At this point in time, lost opportunities are a pattern. Life expectancy in the United States is falling due to preventable causes—suicide, drug overdoes, and refusing to be vaccinated. Fertility rates and living standards are also falling, all indicators of a society under stress and underperforming. (133)

So the book is a study of what it means to be a human being, created as a moral being in the image of God. What can we learn from history? What can we learn from God’s Word? How do we see ourselves? Part of understanding the meaning of life is understanding who we are.

Image and Illumination is formatted almost like a devotional book. The chapters are fairly short, usually under ten pages. At the end there is a prayer to pray or at least to meditate upon. Then there are a few, usually four, questions to consider.

It is clear Hiemstra wants us to think. That is why I am rereading this book.

There is so much. Yes, there is the Deuteronomic Cycle, but there is also the image of God. That means relationships. So, yes, while some of the book is about how we relate to God and how God relates to us, much is about how we relate to other people, beginning with the family.

Being created with our spouse in the image of a Triune God, who is in relationship even within himself, suggests that our own identity is revealed in relationship. (170)

The ideal relationship would be that of a husband and wife. But he does not slight those who are single, even using the example of Catholic priests and nuns. They, he notes, are ideally bringing a heavenly lifestyle to earth since in heaven people will not be married to each other (see Matthew 22:30) but are part of the Bride of Christ (see, for example, Revelation 19:7-8).

God continues to test us to see ourselves the way He sees us. Hiemstra uses the example of Moses quite a bit, perhaps because more is written in the Bible about him than any other person apart from Jesus. Moses committed murder because he wanted to free his people. That clearly was not God’s way, so Moses spent forty years in exile. Finally, after being a shepherd on the edge of the desert in Midian, God called him.

God first created in Moses a desire to free his people from bondage and then God called Moses to honor that desire. While the burning bush served as a Rorschach test, it did not project Moses’ attributes on God. Rather, God used the burning bush to teach Moses about himself, laying bare Moses’ own desires. (184)

Now the people of God under Moses had much to learn. “The forty year curse incident (Num. 14:34) demonstrated the power of fear to hold back those unwilling to trust in God’s promises” (201).

Yes, one may argue that in the New Covenant under Christ, we live by grace. But it was God’s grace that delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

Christians live under grace, but those resisting God remain subject exclusively to law. Even for Christians, the temptations of secular society are real, ever present, and hard to resist. But we have the image of Christ given in scripture to guide us during trials and tribulations when we have no alternative but to rely on God. (205)

There is so much more. One simple example is the author’s take on the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).

In the parable, the younger son thinks only of himself asking for his inheritance and leaving home for a faraway country where he squanders it. What is unique about this story is that suffering that the young man goes through draws attention to his sin and allows him to see the error of his ways. He grows up and learns to love his father. Unlike Moses’ Deuteronomic Cycle, the cycle of sin is broken and his life transformed. (258)

The book points out that the father did not try to dissuade the son. The son had to learn on his own. Indeed, “The difference between the two brothers arose because the younger son proved teachable and his older sibling proved unwilling to learn” (1994).

Hiemstra is writing from much study and experience. He freely uses the Bible. He also refers to many Christian authors including Aquinas, Augustine, Calvin, Luther, as well as a number of contemporary authors. He served as a counselor or chaplain for hospitals and street ministries, so he got to see people in all kinds of situations, many down-and-outers. He sees the need for transformation, not only for the drug addicts and street people, but for the many of us who tend to look down on them, like the older brother in the Prodigal Parable.

At the same time, he is direct and clear. What God calls sin is sin. Part of the transformation is turning away from sin, even sin that may be acclaimed by some as liberating. He takes the casting out of demons seriously, not mere “first-century psychology.” It gets back to the question of light and darkness.

He also deals with the question of establishing righteousness “to be proved righteous and blameless under the law.”

You hear a variation on this pharisaic argument today when people reject the applicability of original sin and argue that people are basically good. The implication is that we have no reason to ask for forgiveness and, by inference, we have no need for Jesus to have died for our sins. (326)

Much then involves the idea of restoration. Yes, the Prodigal Son was restored to his father. How then do we restore the image of God in our lives?

Restoring the image in which God created us requires that the original sin that tarnished the divine image in us must be accounted for and overcome. The cycle of sin and death must be overcome because human progress is fleeting. It is not enough to condemn the sin or to console the brokenhearted because our hearts need to be transformed. Divine intervention is required because we cannot do it on our own. This is why Christ needed to pay the penalty for sin on the cross and we need the intervention of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. (351)

I could go on quoting the book to demonstrate how realistic and honest and clear it is. Read it for yourselves. You will be glad you did—or perhaps you will be offended. Either way, it will be worth it.

N.B.: Citations are Kindle locations, not page numbers.