The question begs other questions. Who is God? What is a
humanitarian? What is a human, for that matter? And what difference do these questions make to the humanitarian community anyway?

We could fill this space by listing all the titles and descriptions
of God. We may even be able to draw some deep academic or
theological conclusions from our list. But would we know God?
There is a world of difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone. Knowing anyone is based on a relationship of trust, understanding and listening. So, how does a human being living in a three-dimensional world get to “know” an infinitely dimensional God? How do we get to really know a God who is beyond a concept?

The answer is in God’s own nature. And in this answer we get a
glimpse into human nature and the heart of humanitarianism.
God chooses to communicate aspects of God’s own being. Theologians call these the “communicable attributes of God”. There are aspects of God that cannot be imparted to humans,
though we benefit from them: aspects like omniscience (knowing all things), omnipresence (being in all places at the same time) or omnipotence (being all-powerful). But there are aspects of God that we do share. In fact, they are the very things that define our humanity and mark us out as humans – different from the rest of the animal world.

Whatever we believe about the beginning of human existence,
something marks the human as different to the rest of the known universe. To people of faith, the human being is different from other animals because breathed into us is something of God’s own being, nature and personhood. “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.’ ” (Genesis 1:26)[1]

God is not contained by physical form. So, what does God’s image or likeness look like? In what way are we like God? In Genesis 2:7 we read: “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” We could explore a number of attributes of God that come through this creative breath. But four of them help us see how this works in practice: God is love. God is creator. God is sovereign. God is truth/light.

Love
God is a social being, who discusses among the persons of God: “Let us make man in our image.” God saw that it was not good that the man be alone. Alone, humans do not reflect the social and loving nature of God. God is love (1 John 4:7–21) and breathed into humans the nature to love, not only those who love in return, but also the outsider, the widow, the orphan and the oppressed.

To be truly human is to love and be loved. We are persons,
designed to relate to other persons. We know the stories of
children (and adults) deprived of love…what it does to their
personhood and sense of meaning and value. Without love we are dysfunctional beings – less than fully human.

Creativity
The Bible says that one of the first human tasks was to name the animals. Genesis 2:19: “God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called the living creature, that was its name.”

God is creative and has given us something of this creative spirit. The ability to find new solutions to old problems; develop new and more meaningful ways of seeing things around us; or even to see things we have not seen before. We are designed to be creative. Human creativity is God-breathed.

Sovereignty and responsibility
The first humans were charged to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the earth.”(Genesis 1:28). We are not charged to be dictators over the earth, to destroy as we wish, but rather to work with God in bringing it under the rule of harmony…to set it in order.

God is sovereign and breathed something of this sovereign nature into humans. We are designed to be in charge of our own destiny, not victims of others’ whims and fancies or even our own frailties.

As Victor Frankl’s classic Man’s Search for Meaning explores, even in the Nazi prison camps there were those who psychologically and spiritually allowed themselves to become victims of the oppressors, destroying their very essence. And there were those who chose not to be victimised, and somehow rose above the dehumanising oppression.

It is in our nature to harmonise with God in continuing the work
of creation. We have been granted sovereignty over both our
own lives and the world in which we live…to bring it under divine order. Too often, we destroy it, and ourselves.

Truth/light
Man and woman were placed in an open and transparent relationship with God and with each other. There was no defensiveness or furtiveness because there was nothing to hide.

Then they were seduced by the lie that they themselves were god, and thus separated themselves from God’s true nature and stepped into darkness and shame. Humans are meant to live in truth and light. Instead, we distort the truth to fit our own comfort zones, destroy trust in each other and seek position and power, rather than transparency and truth.

We are only truly human when we are being loving, creative, responsible and truthful. The more of God’s grace we accept, the more fully we are created in the image of God, the more human we are.

What does this mean for humanitarians?
Here we find both a driver and a framework for humanitarian endeavour. Our success in saving and building lives and livelihoods is ultimately measured by what of God has been breathed into our programmes, policies, partnerships and more particularly the communities we seek to support.

We can do three things with this framework: