The third part of a four part series by Father Gerard Beigel, S.T.D.
Sin Disfigures the Splendor of the Divine Image in Man:
By creating man and woman in His image, God endowed them with all the gifts they needed to remain in His love and to deepen their union and likeness to God. All that man had to do was to use his freedom always in accord with God’s Commandments. It was precisely the misuse of human freedom that brought about the first sin. Tempted by the devil, Adam and Eve preferred to trust the serpent’s deceptive promises rather than cleave to God and trust in His goodness. This sinful choice could not fail to have profound consequences upon man’s relationship to God. Think of the vast difference between trusting God and trusting the devil! The original sin of Adam and Eve truly involved a radical turning away from God and this turning also distorted the presence of the divine image in man. As the Catechism teaches, the divine image was “disfigured in man by the first sin” (1701).
In our description of the divine image in the first part of this essay, we already noted some of the ways that human beings do not live in conformity to the presence of the divine image within them. The account of man’s fall into sin in Genesis 3 gives almost a point-by-point description of how the divine image in man is disfigured by sin. The Catechism offers a sobering summary of the tragic consequences of sin that are portrayed in Genesis 3:
“The harmony in which [man and woman]had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject ‘to its bondage to decay.’ Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will ‘return to the ground,’ for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.” (Catechism, 400)
The above list indicates that ever one of the four marks of God’s image in man is corrupted by sin. The original communion between man and woman is distorted and “becomes subject to tensions.” Man’s peaceful exercise of dominion over the earth is altered and “harmony with creation is broken.” Man’s and woman’s acceptance of the great gift and responsibility of fertility is marred as “their relations [are]henceforth marked by lust and domination.” Finally, man’s deep desire to worship God, to return to Him, and to rest in Him must now contend with the presence of fear and shame in man’s attitude towards his Creator. Paragraph 399 of the Catechism simply notes that Adam and Eve “lose the grace of original holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image.”
We cannot fully understand the tragic consequences of sin upon human beings unless we consider Scripture’s teaching about the divine image in which man was created. By comparing the condition of the divine image in man before and after the first sin, we can begin to grasp how deeply man has been wounded through sin. Simply put, human beings were created to reflect the glory, the love and the truth of God within the visible world. If the divine image in man were still shining forth in its splendor, we would not see in our world the human pain and suffering, the alienation, fear and assertive pride that is all too apparent in human relationships. Nonetheless, despite the tragic effects of sin, the divine image in man has not been completely lost. As the Catechism notes, the image of God in man has become “disfigured” through sin, but the image is not completely lost. Every human being who has ever lived is created in the image of God. And although that image is tarnished by sin, God remains faithful to His original plan for man. That plan is for the divine image within man to move him to eternal glory and life with his Creator. To accomplish this plan, God freely chose to refashion the pristine beauty of the divine image in man. How did God do this? Precisely by sending His own Son into human history. In Jesus Christ, the true Image of God, “the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God” (Catechism, 1701).
Father Gerard Beigel teaches at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, Colorado, and writes regularly for The California Mission.