The Ethics of Human Dignity
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” – Gen. 1:26
Christian ethics. – “The study of how humans ought to live as informed by the Bible, Christian tradition and Christian convictions. Christian ethics attempts to describe how Christian convictions and teachings regarding God’s relationship with the world and particularly with human beings ought to inform the conception of the moral life and influence moral choices.” [1]
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” – Psalm 139:13-14
The concept of human dignity lies at the heart of Christian ethics. Unlike modern society and philosophy that often root dignity in autonomy, productivity, or social usefulness, the Christian tradition locates human worth in creation itself: every person bears the image of God (“imago Dei” – Gen. 1:26–27). This theological truth has real implications for the ways that we live, think, and speak about other people. If human dignity is received from God rather than achieved, then compassion toward the weak, marginalized, and forgotten is not optional—it is a moral obligation rooted in faithfulness to God. In the same vein, extending dignity and worth to all people is not a matter of preference but a requirement of fidelity for Christians.
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” – Job 33:4
We might be tempted to think that this theological conviction and ethical requirement is a feature of modern Christianity, but it isn’t. The conviction of human dignity was strikingly embodied in the early Christian communities of the Roman Empire. In a culture that routinely glorified violence and death, abandoned unwanted infants, and accepted sharp hierarchies of honor and shame, Christians practiced a radically countercultural ethic. Pagan observers noted that Christians rescued infants left to die, cared for the sick during plagues, and treated women, the poor, and slaves as moral equals within the worshiping community. Remember how Paul reversed expected social dynamics in marriage and church worship settings in 1 Corinthians? He countered the established and assumed thinking of the Greek Household Codes by coming back to the Biblical truths of personhood and human dignity because of the imago Dei found in Genesis. Again, for Christians, this fueled compassion not by optimism or social gain but by a theological conviction: every human life mattered because it belonged to God. As Dionysius of Alexandria described, believers “heedless of danger… took charge of the sick, attending to their every need.” Such practices gave tangible expression to a moral vision grounded in dignity rather than utility. That moral vision was distinctively different from Roman society in the first three centuries. It should still be just as profoundly and distinctively different in our society today.
“In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’” – Acts 17:28
Our denomination, The Evangelical Free Church of America, articulates this same ethical framework in our Statement of Faith. The EFCA affirms that all people are created in the image of God and therefore possess inherent dignity, value, and worth. At the same time, we recognize the devastating effects of sin on individuals and societies, reinforcing the need for redemption rather than mere moral improvement. Importantly, the EFCA grounds human dignity not in human achievement but in God’s gracious action in Christ. Our doctrine emphasizes that the incarnation (Christ taking on flesh) and atonement underscore the truth that God does not abandon humanity in brokenness but enters into our suffering to restore what has been damaged. This theological posture should naturally lead to compassion, where love for our neighbors is not an abstract principle but a lived response to God’s received love.
“For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” – James 3:7-9
The Roman Christians’ example and our EFCA doctrinal commitments converge on a clear ethical mandate. Christian compassion is not driven by sentiment alone but by conviction. To uphold human dignity means advocating for the vulnerable, caring for the suffering, and resisting cultural narratives that measure worth by strength, success, or usefulness.
In every age, the church is called to embody an alternative moral vision—one in which dignity is affirmed because God has declared it so. As in Rome, such compassion may appear costly or irrational. Yet it remains one of the most powerful witnesses to a truth of Christianity: that every human life, no matter how fragile, is worthy of dignity because they bear the image of almighty God.
The Christian ethic of human dignity should cause believers to…
- Grieve with those who are grieving… no matter the reason for their grief. – Rom. 12:15
- Have compassion on those who are hurting… no matter the perception of the source of their pain. – Col. 3:12
- Rejoice in the truth and long for justice that restores. – Matt. 5:6
- Have hope in the midst of fear because we know that a greater kingdom is coming. One where there is no violence, no sickness, no pain, and no death. – Rev. 21:1-4
These were the ethical marks of our earliest Christian brothers and sisters. May we also bear them today.
[1] Stanley J. Grenz and Jay T. Smith, Pocket Dictionary of Ethics, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 19.