The word “spirituality” denotes many things to many people, including well-meaning Christians. For some, it is about a person’s prayer life, spiritual power, and gifting; for others, it is about the godly value and deep faith in God; for some others still, it is about doing good things such as social service and ministry, etc.; for many others, it is a summation of all these. What, then, is spirituality? Can it be defined? It may be difficult to define spirituality through a straitjacketed formulae or proposition. Still, it is possible to determine the foundation of spirituality, which, we suggest, is the image of God in humanity. Put simply, spirituality comes into existence in the real meaning of its term when humanity bears the image of God or becomes like him. To explain this point briefly and generally, I shall read Moses and Paul together. I shall briefly discuss God’s image in humanity (Gen. 1-3) and relate it to Paul’s writings.

The word “spirituality” denotes many things to many people, including well-meaning Christians. For some, it is about a person’s prayer life, spiritual power, and gifting; for others, it is about the godly value and deep faith in God; for some others still, it is about doing good things such as social service and ministry, etc.; for many others, it is a summation of all these. What, then, is spirituality? Can it be defined? It may be difficult to define spirituality through a straitjacketed formulae or proposition. Still, it is possible to determine the foundation of spirituality, which, we suggest, is the image of God in humanity. Put simply, spirituality comes into existence in the real meaning of its term when humanity bears the image of God or becomes like him. To explain this point briefly and generally, I shall read Moses and Paul together. I shall briefly discuss God’s image in humanity (Gen. 1-3) and relate it to Paul’s writings.

The idea of spirituality as becoming like God begs the following primary questions: Who is God, and what/who is humanity? Alternatively, what does it mean to say humanity is the image of God (Gen 1:28)? Although many proposals have been put forth since humanity began questing for its meaning, I base my discussion on Richard J. Middleton’s argument which says humanity bearing the image of God means that it functions like him: “let us make humanity in our own image and likeness and let them rule over….” For Middleton, God’s image in humanity means that it rules or becomes a co-ruler with God simply because God is portrayed as king in Genesis 1: God speaks, and it happens just as things come to pass by order of a king in Ancient West Asia.

We shall further expand Middleton’s argument and suggest that the functional dimension of God’s image (that humanity rules like God or co-rules with him) is predicated on the moral attributes of God and his life that are shared with humanity. God is not only the sovereign king in Genesis 1, as Middleton suggests, but also the source of light and life, good and holy. Therefore, he creates life and gives life to humanity, including the fruit of life; he evaluates his own command and the creation as good; he makes the seventh day holy following the six days of creation. Note that the significance of the seventh day is not inherent but contingent upon God’s special act. This means humanity can function like God only if it anchors itself in the moral attributes of God and his life, or to say differently; humanity can co-rule with God only if it keeps up with God’s goodness (his value system and moral standard) and his holiness (submitted to God as sanctified) by living out the life God has given to them. All three (the co-ruler ship, co-sharing of moral attributes, and co-sharing of life) stand or fall together.

Unfortunately, all these collapses in Genesis. 3. Humanity does not act like a co-ruler. Instead of acting like the owner and master of the serpent and thus commanding it to behave under its authority, it is swayed by the value system proposed by the serpent. It thus fails to measure up to God’s standard. In other words, humanity surrenders its authority and shatters God’s moral attributes endowed upon it and thus invites death.

What does the above theological reflection mean for our spirituality? Years later, Paul returns to all these issues in Romans 5 onwards. First, he recalls Gen. 3 (although in a different language–the first Adam and the last) and then speaks of restoring ruler ship for humanity in theological-spiritual terms. According to Paul, sin ought not to reign over our bodies; rather, as children of God, we should reign over our body and mind by the spirit of God. All these, he speaks, will culminate in the restoration of the entire creation that humanity failed to rule over (Gen. 3). In his writing to Galatians (5:16), Paul seems to recall the Genesis story, the life of God and the attribute of God, as the fruit of the spirit.
So, spirituality is all about bearing the image of God or becoming like him in his power and authority, in his nature and life.

Since Jesus is said to be the image of God and the exact representation of his being (Heb.1:1-3), bearing the image of God would mean becoming like Jesus daily. All spiritual activities must be founded upon and flow from this premise and praxis.