In 01 Introduction to General Revelation, there are a few questions asked
Q4: Are the moral values implanted in us through conscience a result of being created in Gods Image? A: Yes, Christian theology affirms that bearing God’s image gives humans intrinsic moral worth and grounds our apprehension of moral duties, particularly the fundamental value of other persons.
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Q5: Was this moral sense (“knowledge of good and evil”) created in Adam and Eve from the beginning, or did they gain it by eating from the tree?
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A: Adam and Eve, created in Gods Image, would have had an implanted moral sense and conscience from the start, knowing the difference between right and wrong and that disobeying God was wrong. Eating the tree gave them experiential knowledge of evil.
Here is the full transcript:
Student: Is it accurate to state that these moral values that are implanted in us are the result of being created in God’s image?
Dr. Craig: I think that Christian theologians would affirm that and would say that is what sets us apart from the rest of creation. Because we are made in the image of God and bear his likeness we have intrinsic moral worth in the way that mere animals or non-sentient beings (rocks and trees and so forth) do not. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t an environmental ethic. Indeed, as bearers of God’s image, we should treat nature and the oceans and the forests in certain ways, but not because they have intrinsic moral worth. They are not persons in the way we are. Rather, it is because we are persons, we are in God’s image, that we bear certain moral responsibilities to the rest of creation as well as to each other. So, yes, I would say that this grasping of moral duties and values would, at its most fundamental level I think, be grasping that other persons are intrinsically valuable. Therefore, they are to be treated as ends in themselves and not just as means to your ends. That fundamental grasping of the intrinsic value of other persons would lie right at the heart of this apprehension of the requirements of the law.5
Student: Do you think that that conscience was created in Adam and Eve? Created as God’s image? Or did they kind of apprehend it for all humanity when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Dr. Craig: If I understand your question correctly, I would say quite definitely that as created in the image of God, as I said earlier, Adam and Eve would have this implanted moral sense and proper functioning conscience so that they would know that what they were doing was wrong.
Student: So what opened their eyes? The knowledge of good and evil sounds to me like they wouldn’t have known the difference between good and evil before that.
Dr. Craig: Oh. All right. It would seem to me there one is talking about an experiential knowledge of evil. As innocent persons, they didn’t have that kind of experiential knowledge of what is evil. But they certainly knew the difference between right and wrong.
Student: They consciously decided to disobey.
Dr. Craig: Yes, right. They chose to go against God, and then they had this experience or the knowing experientially good and evil.
Dr. Craig holds some view of the Image of God which sees it more as traits (trait, function?), though there is some nuance. It is a view that contrasts with the (job, calling?) model that Heiser holds.
Heiser explains his view in a lecture at Grace Church of Bellingham 🌱
Heiser and Swamidass discuss the different views of the Image during a conversation about the theology of Neanderthals 🌱
These views need to be understood and reconciled. 🌱