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 TOPIC 6
THE HUMAN PERSON, AN IMAGE OF GOD

References: Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 355-368

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 66-72

Supplementary reading: https://opusdei.org/en/article/topic-6-the-human-being-image-of-god/

 THE HUMAN PERSON,
AN IMAGE OF GOD

Nature of Man
as an image of God

Man's ultimate end Man's call to image God

as an image of God as a body-person
 Nature of Man as an image of God

MAN IS CAPABLE EVERY HUMAN BEING CAPABLE CAPABLE

OF KNOWING & LOVING
HIS CREATOR FREELY
• he is the only creature on earth
God has willed for its own sake
• through knowledge and love,
God calls man to share
in his own divine life
HAS THE DIGNITY OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE
OF A PERSON • aware of what he is doing
• a some-one, valuable for his own sake
• of why he chooses this
• not a some-thing, rather than that
valuable only for its utility
• aware that he must do good
and avoid evil (conscience)
OF SELF-POSSESSION,
OF LIVING AN INNER LIFE
• capable of self-mastery:
a life centered around truth
and goodness (not like an animal)
• capable of freely giving himself
and entering into communion
with God and other persons

CCCC 66: In what sense is man and woman created “in the image of God” (cf Gen 1:26-27)?
 Man's ultimate end
as an image of God
For what purpose
did God create man and woman?
CCCC 67

◦ God created everything for them;

but He created them to know, love and serve Him
◦ and offer all of creation in thanksgiving
back to Him
◦ in a word:
to be happy with Him forever in heaven

◦ only in the mystery of the “Word-made-flesh”

(cf Jn 1:14) can man know the full truth about himself
◦ man and woman are called to reproduce
in their hearts the image of Christ,
the “image of the invisible God” (cf. Col 1:15)
Man's call to image God as a body-person
CCCC 68:
Why does the human race
form a unity?
• all share a common origin (God Himself),
• a common ancestor,
• a common human nature (cf Acts 17:26),
• a common Savior (Jesus Christ),
• a common end (to eternally share
in God’s life and happiness)
CCCC 69: CCCC 70:
How do the soul and body Where does the human soul
form a unity in the human being? come from?
• man is a unitotality • not from one’s parents
of body and spiritual soul • but created immediately by God
• a composite of spirit and matter
• is immortal: does not perish
• man’s spiritual soul is the “form” when separated from the body in death
of his material body: a co-constitutive principle of
man’s inner structure • will be reunited with the body
at the resurrection
• the human body participates
in the dignity of the image of God
• man is called to be an image of God
in and through the body
 “God created man in his image and likeness.”
Gen 1:26-27

The mystery
of God’s inner life:
“God is love.”

As made unto God’s image,

Man as a body-person, is called to live
man is called by nature to live
in communion in and through the body
in communion with other persons
 The mystery
of God’s inner life:
“God is Love”
◦ deepest mystery about God:
1 Jn 4:8.16: God is Love
◦ God’s inner life: the eternal self-giving
of the Father to the Son in the love of the Holy Spirit

◦ Jn 17: “All that the Fr has is mine,

and all that is mine is the Father’s.”

◦ Col 15:17: “Christ is the image

of the invisible God.”

◦ God’s inner life:

life of communion between Father and Son
in the Holy Spirit
◦ The Blessed Trinity:
mystery of one God in 3 distinct Divine Persons
◦ Someone who loves (the Father)
◦ Someone who is welcomes love by loving back
(the Son)
◦ Someone who is the Living Bond of Communion between the
two” (the Holy Spirit)

◦ Jn 10:30: “I and the Father are one

(in the living communion of the Spirit)”
 The mystery of man
as created in God’s image
Created by God with intellect and free will
• called to live in communion with God,
who is Truth and Goodness Itself
all the other creatures in the material world
have been created for the sake of man
• so that man make use of them to grow
in communion with God and with other men
Man is called to a supernatural end:
to share in the inner life of the Trinity
(Life in the Spirit)
• to love with the same love with which the Father
and Son love each other
• the Holy Spirit has been poured out into men’s hearts
as fruit of the Passion and Death of Jesus.
each person has a unique dignity:
he is the only creature in the material world
that God has wanted for its own sake
• Jn 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten
Son, that those who believe in him may not perish but may have
eternal life
• God calls each person to communion with Himself
as someone loved by God for his own sake,
man can only find himself
but through the sincere gift of himself to others
•to God in the first place, and to others
for the sake of God’s love
•Mt 20:28: “The Son of Man has come, not to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Christ is perfect God and perfect man.
• It is only in the mystery of Christ that man can discover
the full truth about himself as someone called
to perfect himself in God’s image and likeness
• Jn 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
 Man
as a body-person,
is called to live
in communion
in and through the
body
 TOPIC 6
THE HUMAN PERSON, AN IMAGE OF GOD

References: Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 355-368

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 66-72

Supplementary reading: https://opusdei.org/en/article/topic-6-the-human-being-image-of-god/