The Expression of Life

How we bear the image of our parents and the Lord

Welcome to another Still in the Storm Substack article.

Today, I want to talk to you about something that blows my mind both as a follower of Jesus Christ and a scientist.

The expression of life in the human body and how it reveals the same thing in the spiritual body of Christ.

Note: I may not have this exactly right but the point of this blog is to inspire thought and discussion. I’m simply trying my imperfect best to connect a few dots that I feel the Lord has revealed to me.

Have you ever wondered how a child can look so much like their parents?

This is a job for genetics.

In most contexts, Genetics refers to a branch or sub-discipline of biology that seeks to study the heredity and variation of organisms.

Heredity has to do with passing on traits, via genes, from parents to offspring.

Through genetics, we have studied and understand what is responsible for the remarkable resemblance between children and their parents.

Essentially, each parent dispenses their life or genetic code into their offspring.

As the developing child expresses it they begin to resemble the parent.

I see this very strongly not just in my children but, also with many of my friends and their children.

In some cases, the resemblance is simply amazing. The children look like little versions of their parents.

That is the result of what the parents gave them which they have now expressed in their bodies.

And, by expressed I’m largely referring to the idea of gene expression, which is the process of making proteins in a cell.

A gene is a specific DNA nucleotide sequence that encodes a particular protein.

The process of gene expression takes that DNA sequence and transcribes it into mRNA which is subsequently translated into a protein.

Each cell contains two (2) copies of each gene, known as the genotype.

When a protein or series of proteins are generated from that genotype we can realize the physical and visible manifestation of the genetic code which is referred to as the phenotype.

What we see when we look at someone whether it’s their hair or eye color, the shape of their nose or chin, or something else, is the phenotype being expressed.

It’s also known as a trait and perhaps that may be more familiar to you.

Before moving on, I want to stress what an incredible process and feat this is.

As I’ve said before we are fearfully and wonderfully made by the hand of God.

But, let’s not stop there.

The physical is but a parable of the Spiritual

Thus far we have talked about physical expression of life imparted into an offspring via the genetic code.

I want to take this further, beyond the physical into the spiritual.

That God and the spiritual world are invisible should not come as a shock to anyone. This is one of the hardest challenges many of us face in our faith.

Fortunately for us, God has given us a way to make the invisible visible.

All that He has made in His creation reveals His nature.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. - Romans 1:20

What we see in the created, physical world is a parable of the real thing in the spiritual world. What is true of human life is simply a representation of something much higher, Divine life.

Thus, the human body and all that it is made up of speaks to a greater reality, the spiritual body.

To be clear, I’m looking at this from an individual and a corporate perspective.

Think about what I just explained regarding the expression of a gene. It’s all about a visible manifestation of the genetic code.

What if I told you that God has a Spiritual genetic code too and it works similarly?

Yup, it’s true. When we believe and accept the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s life is dispensed into us.

That includes His genetic code and we receive it when we are re-born in Him.

As we develop and He can gain more ground in us, we express His genes and begin to resemble Him.

You might even say that we bear His image.

To be sure, we don’t start to physically look like Him but rather in the way we live our lives we act out His will in place of our own.

Now, we can’t do this fully as individuals. This is why we have the church as the body of Christ.

Still, it is a remarkable thing to think about. This is what God desired from before He even created.

That in His infinite love His life will be dispensed into humans, making us His children and giving Him a family.

By expressing Him in our bodies we can make visible the invisible God.

How incredible is that?

In an upcoming article, I will explore this more and look at why it is that we do not see this being manifested very often in our time. And yes, I’m going to use science to try to explain it.

Let me know what you think in the discussion below.

Talk soon,

Mike

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