Were Satan, Angels, And Other Heavenly Host Created In The “Image Of God”?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, October 17, 2025 (Donate)
With such an intriguing question, one may quickly dismiss it without much thought by saying that the
Bible doesn’t say that they were created with the “image of God”. However, a quick dismissal may not be wise.
After all, the Scriptures do not say they weren’t
created with the image of God either.
The Bible though isn’t written about the heavenly beings and so doesn’t
give us extensive background about them.
The Image Of God
Consider for a moment that being made in the image of God is
what distinguishes mankind from the animals and other physical entities during
Creation Week. In Genesis 1:26-27, it says:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in
Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own
image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis
1:26-27, NKJV)
Adam was created with the image of God and the Woman (Eve)
was created from Adam, hence she was also made in the image of God. All of
mankind, therefore, has been made in the image of God as we are all descendants
of Adam.
What sets mankind apart from animals and plants and so on is
that mankind has a spiritual aspect.
Plants have a “body” or at least a physical aspect but no soul. This is why creationists often point out that
plants are not living in the biblical sense.
Animals, for example, were created with a body and a soul
(Hebrew: nephesh) per Genesis
1:24-25. Unlike animals, man has a spiritual aspect as well. Recall Paul’s
letter to the Thessalonians:
Now may the God of peace Himself
sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NKJV)
Mankind has a spiritual aspect and this spirit is uniquely
made in the image of our spiritual God. Contextually, this stands as a unique difference
against animals and plants. We should expect this image to be spiritual since
God is spirit (John 4:24). This image was first placed into Adam when God
breathed life into him.
And the LORD God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7, NKJV)
The Hebrew word for “breath” here is nashamah and is often translated as breath or spirit. Often Christians describe the image of God
as superior intellectual ability such as reason and abstract thought, worship
of God, language and communication with God, power of contrite choice, emotions
such as love, sadness and anger, compose music and write through creative
means, immortality, and so on.[1]
This is done to show how separate man is from beasts and
other physical entities. Though true in
comparison to these things, when we look at angels, Satan, demons and other
heavenly host, many of these same attributes we have in common!
Attributes Of Spiritual Beings
Consider a few claimed attributes of the image of God and
see where they appear in Scripture with regards to spiritual beings. There are many examples found in Scripture
but a couple should suffice for each.
- Superior
intellectual ability such as reason and abstract thought
When the serpent, which was influenced by Satan, deceived
Eve in Genesis 3, there was considerable intellectual ability even being termed
“clever/cunning”. Satan speaking of Job in Job 1:9-11 and Job 2:4-5, used logic
and forethought to say that Job would turn if he lost his possessions and
became diseased. Many people in such a situation probably would have turned
from God but God knew Job would not. But Satan was trying to reason and think through the
situation.
- Worship
of God
Hebrews 1:6 points out that angels worship the Lord. Luke
2:13-14 indicates that the heavenly host worshipped and praised God.
- Language
and communication with God
Satan was able to converse with God in Job 1 and 2. Satan
was also able understand Christ (get behind me Satan—Mark 8:33). The legion of
demons was able to converse with Christ (Mark 5:9). Paul points out in 1
Corinthians 13:1 that there is a tongue(s) of angels. Angels in rare appeared
form often spoke to people, e.g., Mary, the mother of Christ, and John in
Revelation.
- Power
of contrite choice
Satan and the demons obviously fell from grace when sinning
against God.
- Compose
music and write through creative means
The Four Living
Creatures (whom are among the heavenly host) in Revelation 5:8-10 played
harps and sang a new song. Harps are again used in Heaven in Revelation 15:2
with heavenly being. With the extensive amount of praise and worship to God by
the angels and heavenly host, it is expected that much music is created. There
is even a hint that Satan may have been involved in music before his sin and
subsequent fall from Heaven in Ezekiel 28:13 “the workman of your timbrels and
pipes was prepared for you”.
- Immortality
Like humans, eternal life and eternal death will be the
outcome of angels who did not fall and angels and Satan who have fallen
respectively (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
- Emotions
such as love, joy, desires, sadness, pride, and anger
Luke 15:10 indicates that angels are joyous when one person
repents. The devil had great wrath in Revelation 12:12. Angels and the devil
have desires (1 Peter 1:12; John 8:44).
Conclusion
Since the Bible doesn’t tell say whether or not spiritual
beings are made in the image of God, it is really guesswork that could go
either way but since man is unique, then it makes sense that angels and Satan
are not made in the image of God. But instead, they have some aspects that
reflect God’s nature because they are spiritual beings and God is a spirit.
Of many of the things that Christians often cite as
distinctions between mankind and animals as evidence that man is made in the
image of God, these same attributes are found in heavenly beings.
Even so, there are difference between man and angels and
Satan. For instance, man was given a dominion to rule over. Man is made in
the image of a ruling God. Satan for instance had no dominion and tried
to take the dominion of man and is now dubbed the prince of the power of the
air (Ephesians 2:2).
God also became a man to save man, and God did not become an
angel to save angels. Angels and Satan who sinned had direct tastes of the
glory of God being in His presence. This kinship was necessary for Christ to be our kinsman redeemer.
Dominion and kinship are just some aspects. Is it that we
simply do not understand what the image of God fully entails? Perhaps since in
a fallen state, we may never fully grasp what encompasses being made “in the
image of God”. Recall that God is infinite and simply trying to comprehend
God’s attributes can sometimes seem overwhelming.
But on the flip side, should it be a surprise that spiritual
beings have attributes of their Creator who is spirit as well? Scripture reveals that humans are made in the
image of God and are distinct from animals by having an eternal spiritual
aspect.
I’m not aware of any major theological problems if one
considers spiritual beings as being made in the image of God but since they are
not denoted that way and there are distinctions between man and heavenly beings
(e.g., dominion, kinship) then we need to be cautious.
□
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer,
and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He
was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015
as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3).
He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches,
colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.
Originally at Answers in Genesis; Edited; Republished
by permission.
[1]
E.g., Grigg, Russell, Made in the image of God, Creation ex-nihilo 16(4):42-45,
September 1994; Rendle-Short, John, Creation
4(1):21-29 March 1981
