The Imago Dei Weltanschauung as a narrative motif in New Testament ethics : a focus on Pauline Theology

Abstract

God created humankind in his image and likeness, and this means that all human beings have an inherent capacity to know the difference between good and bad or right and wrong; thus, all human beings have an innate ability to be ethical, as the God who created them is good, and so becomes the source of their ethics. The writers of Scripture have drawn us to this insight of the ethical God in many different ways, as they encouraged their hearers to make reference to God in their attempt to be ethical. This research draws from the writings of Apostle Paul, particularly from his Corinthian Correspondence and the book of Philippians, as he instructed his hearers on how they ought to relate and what would be their roles within the broader scope of God’s original intention for humanity. In this attempt, he made reference to the anthropological identity of the imago Dei, and he shows that the perfect expression of the imago Dei is Christ Jesus; thus, this is the image they ought to emulate. Therefore, the title of this research is: “The imago Dei weltanschauung as a narrative motif in New Testament ethics: a focus on Pauline theology.” This notion of the imago Dei is presented in the New Testament as the framework of understanding how to form ethics, as it appears within the formation of an anthropological horizon; ethics is, in some way, an extension of who we are. Thus, the notion of the imago Dei is an adequate account of explaining the source of human dignity. In relation to accepting the message of the New Testament, this research shows how the imago Dei worldview underpins Pauline ethics and can serve as a framework of understanding the source of sustaining an ethical paradigm.This hypothesis attempts to prove that one’s identity – which is underpinned by a worldview – affects one’s ethics and conduct. The identity of New Testament believers must be understood in light of the framework of the imago Dei. Therefore, this theological view, to some extent, seems to be providing an anthropological horizon that opposes most ethical theories that begin their investigation with human nature. So this research proposes that an ethical theory or worldview which has a universal character is a theistic worldview referred to as imago Dei, which draws its formulations and perspectives from a theological perspective, and Christ himself is the perfect representation of the imago Dei, and appears as the content and constant theme of Pauline ethics.