IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
B'tzelem Elokim comes from Genesis 1:27, ''So God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.''
B'tzelem Elokim teaches that every human being, regardless of race, gender, status, or belief, is created in the divine image and carries inherent worth, dignity, and spiritual potential.
Like God, humans can think, create, choose, and reason.
We are capable of good and evil, and responsible for our choices.
Just as God creates, we can build, shape, and give life through words and actions. We are not driven only by instinct; we can rise above and choose a higher path. We are meant to be in a relationship with God and reflect His compassion and justice.
B'tzelem Elokim is the foundation for compassion for the poor, strangers, and the oppressed. When we see someone suffering or degraded, the cry of B'tzelem Elokim is that the person is also in God's image. How can I help restore it?
There is a literal spark of divine light within each person, like a fragment of God's essence. Every soul contains a divine spark. Our spiritual mission is to uncover, awaken, and elevate that spark.
Acts of kindness, prayer, studying Torah, and repentance restore the shattered sparks to their divine source. Yeshua (Jesus) often seems to allude to the divine spark:
"The Kingdom of God is within you'' (Luke 17:21). ''Let your light so shine before men'' (Matthew 5:16). These reflect the idea that the B'tzelem Elokim and spark are already present, waiting to be revealed.
Yeshua (Jesus) didn't use the Hebrew phrase B'tzelem Elokim directly, but His entire way of teaching, healing, and loving people reflected and expanded the core truth of it: That every human being bears the image of God and holds worth, no matter how broken, forgotten, or sinful.
"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.'' (Matthew 25:40)
Yeshua identifies Himself with the hungry, the stranger, the prisoner, the ones society often ignores. That is pure B'tzelem Elokim. Seeing the divine in every soul. In the parable of the good Samaritan, the Samaritan is the true neighbor, the one who sees a wounded man not as an enemy, but as a fellow image-bearer, worthy of compassion and care. The priest and Levite walk by. The Samaritan draws near. B'tzelem Elokim is not just theological, it is practical love.
"Love your enemies'' (Matthew 5:44). Only when we see the divine imprint in every human, even those who hurt us, can we begin to love beyond what is natural. Yeshua (Jesus) reveals: To bear the image of God is to reflect God's radical mercy.
Yeshua (Jesus) died to redeem the image of God in humanity, distorted by sin but never erased. In doing so, He doesn't just show love, He shows us who we truly are: Beloved, valuable, worth dying for.
All humans bear God's image: "Love your neighbor as yourself'' (Matthew 22:39).
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