dignity and the value of all people

There is a lot of talk in the news today on the role and dignity of people: men, women, and many different races. We witness a lot of confusion and suffer a lot of hardship when it comes to this topic. What does the Bible say about dignity and the place of respecting and valuing men and women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities?

All humanity is made in God’s image, with status, significance, dignity, and respect. However, all humanity is tainted by the stain of sin, through birth and by choice, because of Adam and Eve’s first sin. God’s wrath, anger and judgment rest on all humanity, and all humanity needs a Savior. In love, compassion, grace, and mercy, God provided salvation from sin through His Son, Jesus, the Christ, King, and Lord. If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” you will be saved. God is progressively working towards restoring and repairing man’s image, through Christ, and one day it will be perfected.

Until then, salvation or not, there is dignity, significance, and sanctity of all human life, because of creation, from conception and fetus to old age. Black lives matter, as well as red and yellow and white, dementia lives and deaf and blind lives, Down’s syndrome lives, men and women’s lives, all human lives. Particularly, God takes a high view of women, as wives, mothers, daughters, and leaders. Lydia, Phoebe, Deborah, Mary, Naomi, and Ruth are only some women from the Bible who exemplify strong womanhood. We know from Proverbs 14:1 and 31:25 that a wise woman builds her house and is clothed with strength and dignity. God values women and men of all colors, shapes, sizes, ages, and abilities. In Christ, we share equally in the blessings of salvation in Him, and women especially can play a unique, important, God-given, and needed role of supporting and complementing men, whom God has designated as leaders of a marriage, family, and church.

Much brokenness and sin has distorted God’s good design and needs to be accounted for in the world. We can set things right as best we can, and God will exercise right judgment in His time. The church is called to be “one new man” in Christ, united through the shedding of His blood and payment for sin. He alone is the supreme authority on these matters, and in Christ, today, through His Word, the church can be the fulfillment and picture of value and dignity to all men and women who are young, old, red, yellow, black, and white.