Grentz on Imago Dei

Stanley Grentz presented a paper on the imago Dei as a Christological title, and along the way offered some observations on the relation of anthropology and Christology. One of the most revealing things he said was that when imago Dei is confined to anthropology (as it often is in evangelical theology), we end up with an anthropologically controlled Christology rather than a Christologically controlled anthropology. We end up letting the first Adam serve as the model and standard of the Last Adam rather than vice versa. We need to read Gen 1-3 not as pure anthropology, but as the beginnings of Christology, and see that the imago Dei notion is fulfilled in Jesus and the new humanity united with Him. The protology of Gen 1-3 needs to be read from the eschatological perspective of the gospel.

He also argued that the imago Dei theme in NT Christology makes it clear that Christ is not merely a solution to the problem of sin but the fulfillment of human life. A nicely supralapsarian sentiment, and one that suggests the likelihood of incarnation without fall.