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What Is the Image of God?

One of the most important questions we can ask is what does it mean to be human? Answering this question helps us understand our identity and place in the world. Do we have value? Are we just the result of random events?

From a biblical perspective, this question is wrapped up with the question of what it means to be created in God’s image. In Genesis 1:26-28, God declares that he will create humanity, male and female, in his own image.

But what does it mean to be made in the image of God? To answer that question, we can start by examining the two words God uses in Genesis 1:26 to describe the creation of man. God creates man in his image, after his likeness. In many ways, these words image and likeness are synonymous. But while they have a large overlap in meaning, they each have a slightly different nuance.

The word image (tselem) often refers to a statue that represents someone or something. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is used for statues of false gods. It carries the idea of representation. The image represents what it resembles.

The word likeness (demuth) usually indicates a thing that looks like something else. The focus is often on the resemblance of one thing to another. It can also be used to refer to a model of something else.

Anthony Hoekema helpfully summarizes the meaning of the words:

“The two words [image and likeness] together tell us that man is a representation of God who is like God in certain respects.” 1

In other words, that God made humanity in his image means that God created humanity to be like him and represent him as his royal sons and daughters in creation.

1. God created humanity to be his likeness in creation.

 To be made in God’s image means that in some sense, we are like God. There are many different views about what that means and what the image of God is. Some views pick out one specific aspect of humanity and say that is the image of God, what makes us God’s likeness. But notice that God doesn’t single out one part of man and call that his image. God creates humanity as his image, to be like him, and we cannot reduce the image of God to just one part of us.

Our whole person, body and soul, was created by God to be like him in certain ways, to show creation what the Creator is like. This doesn’t mean that we are little gods or god-replicas. It means that God designed every part of us so that it images him in some way.

We can focus on at least three ways humanity is God’s likeness in creation.

First, the image of God sets humanity apart from the animals, birds, and sea creatures.

Humanity is distinct from the animal kingdom in our rational, spiritual, moral nature. Unlike the animals, God created us with an eternal soul that images his immortality. We also can reason and communicate in a way that mirrors God. Furthermore, we have the capacity for righteousness, for language, and for creativity. God is God who speaks and creates, and he made people who can speak and who use his creation to create new things. We have a sense of beauty, art, and aesthetic taste that is distinct from animals

Second, God also created humanity with a unique capacity for relationships.

In verse 27, the image of God is related to the reality that God created humanity male and female. God created us for relationship with one another and with himself. We image God in that we were created for relationship. God himself is the Father who loves his Son by the Spirit (notice that the Trinity is hinted at in the phrase “Let us create…” in Gen 1:26). He made us to be like him in that we have the capacity for relationships with each other and with him, relationships rooted in love. We have fellowship with one another and with God that is beyond anything the animals or even the angels experience.

Third, God created humanity as a body-soul unity.

Even our bodies reveal truth about what God is like. The image of God doesn’t just include not our spiritual nature that. Our bodies are not just a shell to hold our souls. God created us with a body-soul unity that together images him.

This does not imply that God is material or has a body like we do. The point is that our bodies reveal certain qualities that image God in certain ways. Our bodies are a marvelous unity that point to the unity of God, and they are the way we experience the senses. It is through our bodies that we speak, hear, and see. God performs all these actions, though without any material form.2 In our physical, material form we experience the world in a way that mirrors qualities that God possesses in perfection.

Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck reminds us:

“The body is not a prison but a marvelous piece of art from the hand of God Almighty, and just as constitutive for the essence of humanity as the soul.”3

God created us, body and soul, to be like him, to be his likeness in the world. We were created with mental, moral, spiritual, relational capacities that image God.

2. God created humanity to represent him in his creation.

The language of image has royal connotations. In Ancient Near Eastern cultures, the king was depicted as the image of a god. Kings themselves would also set up images of themselves across their lands to represent their authority and status. Here in Genesis, though, God creates all of humanity in his image, not just the king. All of humanity was created to represent God in creation as royal image-bearers.

Image language is also connected in Genesis to sonship language, specifically in Genesis 5:1-3:

This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”

This is the only other passage in the Bible where these two words image and likeness are used together like this. In Genesis 5:1-3, Seth is seen as a son in his father’s likeness and image. The key point we derive from this parallel is that image language is connected to sonship language.

To be created in God’s image, then, means that we represent him as his created sons and daughters. When God created humanity in his image, he created us to be his children. We are God’s children created to show the world what our God is like. God created humanity to be his royal sons and daughters who represent him in creation.

After the book of Genesis, no other Old Testament book explicitly mentions the concept of being created in God’ image. But we do read more about how God’s people relate to God as his son. We read about how God chooses Israel to be his son to represent him among the nations. God’s people were to live as those restored to their purpose to image God, to represent him in the world as his children. This culminates in Jesus, the Son of God, the Image of the Invisible God who makes God known.

God makes this royal function of his image-bearers explicit by stating the purpose for which he created man in his image. God created humanity to fill the earth and rule over it The second part of verse 26 shows the purpose of the first part: The NIV translates the verse this way:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”

God repeats this purpose in verse 28 when he calls his sons and daughters to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with his image and rule the rest of creation. The image of God has a royal function. God created man and woman to rule his creation with him and under him. God summoned Adam and Eve to fill the earth with his image by having children so that all of creation would clearly be seen as under God’s dominion. All of creation was to be filled and ruled for the glory of the Creator by those who bear his image, his royal sons and daughters.

To be human means to be made in God’s image. We are unique and set apart from the rest of God’s creation. God created humanity with the capacity for righteousness, virtue, language, rationality, culture-making. He created us for relationships with each other and with himself. Finally, God created us to reflect his holiness and glory in creation and to rule his world as his royal sons and daughters.

Even after Adam and Eve rebelled against God, this image has not been erased. It still defines us even though it is often very blurry and cracked. The image does need to be healed and restored in us. But even still, every human person today remains a person created in the image of God.

The image of God reminds us of the good givenness of our identity. It grounds the worth and dignity of every person. Ultimately, it is only restored and healed in us through the work of Jesus, the Image of the invisible God.

This article was adapted from a recent sermon. You can view the video below:

  1. Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, 13. ↩︎
  2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1st ed., 448. ↩︎
  3. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, 559. ↩︎

Genesis 1:3-31 Digging Deeper

This past Sunday, we studied Genesis 1:3–31 and the six days of creation. In these six days of creation, we saw that God is the one who created the world in six ordinary days with order, according to his plan. He created all things by the power of his word in his gracious sovereignty. We saw how our God is the God who names, blesses, gives, and commands. He created everything very good.

To help us continue to meditate on this chapter of Scripture, here are three more observations.

First, after God created light, he declares that it is good.

The light was good. This should encourage us and remind us that God is the source of all that is good and life-giving. Light is good, but God never calls the darkness good. God does not delight in darkness. He delights in the light.

Throughout Scripture, light is a powerful image for how God works in the lives of his people. He speaks light into the darkness of his people as he rescues, saves, comforts, and even convicts.

When Jesus came into the world, he is called the Light, the Light of the world. Notice how Jesus is described in the following verses in John.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5 ESV)

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12 ESV)

When we follow Jesus, we know we have light in the darkness. We know that our God is light and “in him is no darkness at all,” (1 John 1:5). When God created the world, he spoke light into existence, and he declared that the light is good. He continues to give us light today, most fully and clearly through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world.

Second, God creates the great sea creatures (Genesis 1:21).

We can speculate about what the text is talking about, maybe dinosaurs, whales, or sharks, but if we look at the word elsewhere in the Old Testament, we see that it sometimes referred to as a “sea dragon.”  In Ancient Near Eastern cultures, the great sea creatures or sea dragons became a mythic and feared reality in the sea.

Even in the prophets, the sea monster is sometimes used as a symbol of evil and the enemy. In Isaiah 27:1, the prophet declares,

“In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

The word “dragon” in Isaiah 27:1 is the same word used in Genesis 1:21 to refer to the great sea creatures. In Isaiah, the point is that God defeats his enemies, and the prophet uses a cultural image to depict that.

But in Genesis 1, there is none of that. The great sea creatures are just another magnificent creation of God, and God’s people don’t need to fear them as some mythic monster. God is sovereign over what we fear. God is sovereign over what we dread. God created even the great sea creatures. We can look at what our culture might view as fearful and know that God is sovereign over all of it. Even in a fallen world, he is sovereign, and we can trust Him. 

Finally, God is a God who speaks to his people.

God created the world through the power of his Word. He is a God who speaks. In Genesis 1:28, we see that he is also the God who speaks to the people he has made.

God speaks to humanity. He gives us his Word. We don’t have to try to go to all these different places to try to figure out what God is saying. God has revealed himself to us. God has spoken to us. We don’t just have to piece things together to try to figure out who God is. He’s a God who speaks and who has told us who he is and how we are to live. God has spoken to his people

The preeminent example of how God has spoken to us is through the Word who became flesh, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word through whom God created the world, and He is the Word through whom God has revealed Himself to us.

We can know God’s blessing. We can know his love. We can know how he calls us to live. God has not left us on our own to try to feel things out and figure out what he wants from us. He has spoken to us. God is a God who speaks to us through his Son. We should listen to His Word so we can know our Creator and our God.

We know and worship the God, the Creator of all things, who is light, who is the source of all that is good. He is sovereign over the dragons of the sea. He is the God who speaks to us through his son, Jesus Christ. So may we find light in him, trust him in the darkness, and listen to all that he has spoken to us.

Video version of this post:

Full Sermon from Sunday, August 24, 2025:

Praying for Our Church

Throughout Paul’s letters, we find many prayers for the church. Paul had a pastor’s heart and prayed for Christ’s people constantly. We can learn from his example the kinds of thanksgivings and prayers that should be on our hearts when we pray for our church and other churches.

In Colossians 1:3–14, we find an example of a thanksgiving and prayer that Paul prayed for the church in Colossae. Here are seven key points that can inform our prayers for our congregation.

1. Thank God for the faith and love of his people (Col 1:3–4).

We should constantly be thanking God for those among us who have truly trusted in Christ and are loving his people. Each believer is a reason for thanksgiving. The gospel has so worked in our hearts that we have trusted in Jesus for life and salvation. We should thank God for his work in us that has produced faith and love.

2. Thank God for those serving faithfully in the church (Col 1:7–8).

Paul mentions that the Colossians heard the gospel from Epaphras and considers him a faithful servant. Our prayers should be filled with thanksgiving for those who serve faithfully for the sake of the gospel.

3. Pray that our church would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that we would live in a way pleasing to him (Col 1:9–10).

When Paul prays for a knowledge of God’s will, he’s not so much asking for wisdom for major life decisions. He’s asking that God would give them a knowledge of his revealed will in Scripture that would enable them to live godly lives in Christ. We should pray that God would give us a deeper knowledge of his will so that we can live holy lives that match what we say we believe. By God’s grace, we can live worthy of the Lord. Not through our own efforts or merits, but because of his Spirit working in us. We should pray for one another that we would grow in our knowledge of God’s will so that we might please God in our daily lives.

4. Pray that our church would be fruitful in good works (Col 1:10).

Another result of knowing God’s will is bearing the fruit of good works. When we do what God says, we obey him. Good fruit looks like good works. So, we should pray that our church would be zealous for good works that are the fruit of our faith.

5. Pray that our church would grow in our knowledge of God (Col 1:10).

When we know God’s will, we also grow to know our God. One of our chief desires for ourselves and one another should be that we would know our God more and more.

6. Pray that our church would be strengthened according to God’s power for patient, joyful endurance (Col 1:11).

Another aim of being filled with a knowledge of God’s will is strength to endure with joyful patience. We all face challenges, trials, and temptations. We need strength to endure joyfully and patiently. We should pray for those going through challenges that God would strengthen them with his power that they might endure with joy.

7. Pray that our church would be ever thankful to God for his grace in saving us from the darkness and bringing us into the kingdom of his Son as heirs with God’s people (Col 1:12–13).

The final aim of knowing God’s will is thankfulness for our new identity as saints in Christ’s kingdom. We have been delivered from the darkness! We are redeemed and forgiven through Jesus! We should pray that our church would never lose our sense of deep gratitude for who we are now in Jesus. We should pray that the amazing grace of God would never tire us or bore us. We should pray for hearts brimming with thankfulness for what God has done among us through Jesus.

This prayer of Paul is a powerful jumpstart to our own prayers for each other. We would do well in returning to these kinds of prayers again and again and praying them for our church.

Praying for Revival

Especially since the First Great Awakening in Britain and America in the 1700s, Christians have discussed and prayed fervently for revival. Back in 2023, many of us heard about the revival that drew thousands of people to Asbury University. I’m sure that if we were asked, all of us would probably say that we would desire to see more revival in our day.

But what is revival? And how should we pray for it?

Let’s start with the first question. In short, revival is the pouring out of God’s Spirit in an amplified way that leads to a powerful work of grace in a church, community, or nation.  

We should pay attention to the following three principles about revival:

First, revival is a sovereign work of God’s grace. True revival is never the work of man. Revival cannot be coerced from God’s hand, earned, or manipulated. Revivals come and go according to God’s good pleasure.

We see God’s sovereign work in the few revivals that occur in Scripture, including the reforms of King Josiah (2 Kings 22–23) and the special work of the Spirit in Acts (e.g., Acts 2; 8:4–8). In the first example, God did a surprising work in Judah through King Josiah at a time when there were few good kings in Israel. By God’s sovereign grace, the Law was rediscovered, idolatry put down, the Passover holiday restored, and the tenor of the nation changed (for a time).

In the same way, although the experience of the apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2) is a unique, unrepeatable event, it is a model of what we long for in revival: a sovereign outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.[1] The apostles did not coerce the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, but they did wait, pray, and then preach when the Spirit came. Multitudes were saved, the church grew, and the gospel went forth.

The church should pray for these kinds of experiences, while realizing that we cannot schedule revivals or manipulate the outpouring of God’s Spirit. Revival is a work of God’s grace in pouring out his Spirit. So, we pray, and we wait (cf. Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1–4).

Second, revival is an extraordinary experience of the Spirit’s ordinary work. Revival is a heightening or amplifying of what the Spirit of God is always doing: drawing sinners to the Son and growing believers in the Son through the preaching of the gospel.

We shouldn’t think of revival as a different kind of work the Spirit does. What is extraordinary about revival is the degree of the Spirit’s work, not the essence of the Spirit’s work.[2] Revival occurs when the work of the Spirit is seen in an extraordinary degree. An increasing number of people see the glory of Christ and the depravity of their hearts through the preaching of the Word. They repent and believe the gospel and devote themselves to the gathering of the saints.

We see this at Pentecost in Acts 2. How did over three thousand people come to saving faith in Jesus? Peter preached the gospel to them, and they repented, believed, were baptized, and then gathered together as a church (Acts 2:14–47). All through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Our desire for revival should not lead us to downplay the ordinary ministry and experiences God has given us (Zech 4:10). Revival flows out of the ordinary ministry of the Word that the Spirit blesses in extraordinary ways. Revival may be accompanied by more tears, more fervent worship and prayer, deeper confession and repentance, more soberness and more joy, and more anointing in the preaching of the gospel. But the core essence remains the same: people respond to the glorious news of the gospel and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, revival centers around the faithful preaching of God’s Word. Church historian Michael Haykin writes, “Genuine revival is always attended with faithful preaching of the scriptures.”[3] Revival happens as the church obeys Christ’s command to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” (Matt 28:20). Revival will only occur where believers are faithful to preach the Word faithfully, in season and out of season (2 Tim 4:2).

The Word of God is living and active (Heb 4:12–13). The Holy Spirit works through the Word of Christ. Revival can never be separated from the faithful preaching of the gospel. It is not merely about an emotional response or spiritual high flowing from crowd dynamics. One mark of counterfeit revival is a counterfeit gospel. True revival will only come where the true gospel is preached.

Based on this understanding, here are several ways we can pray for revival:

(1) Pray for the faithfulness of God’s people in the ordinary days and the ordinary means of grace. If we want to see revival, we should start by paying closer attention to God’s Word and living all of life by faith in Christ and the power of the Spirit. Remember: revival isn’t something completely new; it’s an extraordinary measure of what the Spirit is already doing among us if we are faithful. So, pray that we would be faithful now.

(2) Pray for an ever-deepening understanding of the good news of Jesus. Revival is all about the cross of Christ becoming more precious and glorious to us.

(3) Pray for a special work of God’s Spirit through the preaching of the Word. Make Psalm 119:25 your prayer: “I lie in the dust; revive me by your word.” When it feels like the church lies in the dust, we pray for God to breathe new life into us by his Word just as he did when he breathed life into Adam.

(4) Pray for a deeper conviction of sin in our churches. Revival begins when we confess our neediness and seek the Lord through his Word. King Josiah tore his robes when he heard the Law read for the first time (2 Kings 22:11). Are we praying for that kind of response when the Lord exposes our sin through the powerful working of his Spirit?

(5) Pray for a church-wide, community-wide, nation-wide, worldwide glimpse of the glory of God. That is true revival. British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones described the heart of revival as a large multitude of people beholding the Lord pass by in his glory. “The prayer for revival is ultimately a prayer for the manifestation of God’s glory.”[4]

When we behold God’s glory, we behold his Name, who he is: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation,” (Exodus 34:4–7).

When we truly see who God is in his Son through the work of the Spirit, our hearts are wrecked with the glory, the joy, the conviction of sin, faith—and revival happens.

(6) Pray for a deeper passion for and experience of

  1. The knowledge of God and his Word. When revivals occur, God’s people are revived in their delight in God through his Word.
  2. Holiness. Revivals lead to a deeper passion to be holy as God is holy.
  3. Love. The fruit of the Spirit is love. If we have all other spiritual manifestations but have not love, we are nothing (1 Cor 13).
  4. Good works. The work of the Spirit in revival leads to a renewed passion to follow Christ and do good to all people, especially the household of faith (Gal 6:10).

Let us pray for revival. Let us long to experience “a special season of mercy” where God breathes new life into the dust.[5] Let us yearn to behold more of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let us not be content with a tame Christianity but boldly seek the mighty power of God in our midst. Let us take prayer of Moses on our lips: “Lord, show us your glory!” (Ex 33:18).


[1]Michael Haykin, “8 Qualities of True Revival,” Reformation Heritage Books Blog, accessed July 10, 2025.

[2]Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism, 23.

[3] Michael Haykin, “8 Qualities of True Revival”.

[4] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Revival Sermon: The Glory of God,” MLJ Trust, accessed July 10, 2025.  

[5]Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism, 22.

Praying for Our Nation

Amid the fireworks, parades, apple pies, and barbecues of this Fourth of July weekend, we should take time to pray for our nation, the United States of America.

Christians ought to pray for the lands they live in, to seek what is good for their earthly cities. We should praise God for his blessings, confess our faults and sins, pray for peace, pray for our leaders, and pray for the advance of the gospel in our land. We care deeply about our nation, while also remembering that we are exiles, citizens of heaven, who seek first the kingdom of God.

Below are several ways we can give thanks and pray for our nation:

Give thanks for the blessings God has bestowed upon our land. Every nation experiences blessings from God. Every good gift comes from above, from our Sovereign Creator. As Christians in America, we give thanks for the religious liberty we experience. We give thanks for the ways our country has promoted justice and peace in the world. We give thanks for the relative prosperity and peace we enjoy. We should thank God for the ways he has blessed us as a nation.

Confess that we are an imperfect, sinful people. We look out at our nation, and we also see many things we are not proud of. We confess the evil we see in our land. We look back at our history and confess the failures of our past.

America is not the promised land or the Kingdom of God. Sometimes, we are more like Babylon. There is injustice here, selfish ambition, sinful excess and luxury, murder of the unborn, disastrous confusion regarding marriage and gender, abuses of power, and countless other vices. As we pray for our nation, we acknowledge that our nation is full of evils we should repent of.

Pray for the peace of our nation. When Jeremiah wrote a letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, he wrote, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare,” (Jeremiah 29:7). The word translated welfare in this verse is the Hebrew word shalom, the word for peace and wholeness. Though we are not literal exiles in Babylon, we too pray for the peace and the success of our nation in all that is good. We live in this land as citizens of a heavenly city, but we also seek what is good for our earthly city.

We pray for the healing of divisions. We pray for the protection of all that is good, just, and true in our land. We ask God to oppose all who would pursue the ruin and downfall of our nation. We ask God to tear down all wickedness and evil that would lead to the utter corruption of our land.

As you pray for America today, pray for true peace that seeks what is truly good and just under God.

Pray for the leaders of our nation. Paul instructs us, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way,” (1 Timothy 2:1–2). If first-century believers prayed for Caesar, we surely can pray for our president, governor, and other elected leaders, regardless of how we feel about them and their policies.

According to Paul, the goal of praying for our leaders is the opportunity to live peaceful, quiet, godly, and holy lives. In other words, we pray for our leaders so that our nation might enjoy stability and security. This provides a context for us to live peaceful, Christ-exalting lives free from the constant fear of national crisis and chaos. We pray that our leaders would promote justice and peace in our land, which gives us ample opportunities to reach our neighbors with the gospel. 

All leaders exercise authority as those under the sovereignty of God (Prov 21:1; Dan 4:17). They will give an account to God for how they use their authority. We ask that God would grant them wisdom to pursue peace and justice. We pray that they would see and confess the Lordship of Christ and that they would lead in the fear of the Lord.

Pray for the advance of the gospel within our nation. Our mission as God’s people is to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18–20). We look forward to the day when people from all nations will stand before God’s throne and praise the Lamb (Rev 7:9–10). But that should not lead us to ignore the cause of the gospel here at home.

We live in a land with many churches and many who profess the name of Christ. Yet there are more and more around us who have never heard the true gospel. We pray that God’s people here in the United States would be faithful to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. We pray that God would be pleased to send an awakening in our land that would lead many to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Pray as an exile and seek first the kingdom of God. We give thanks for our nation, and we pray for our nation. But we must never lose sight that no earthly nation is the Kingdom of God. We are citizens of that Kingdom first. Christ is our King, and he owns our highest allegiance. We care about things like the latest Supreme Court decisions and executive orders, but we also remember that they are neither our hope nor our downfall.

Even as we celebrate all that is good here in America, we remember that we await something better. We pray for God’s Kingdom to come. We live as strangers and exiles who are seeking a homeland.

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come,” (Hebrews 13:14).

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Praying for the Unreached

There are three billon (3,000,000,000) people in the world who have never been exposed to the good news of Jesus. Entire ethnic groups have no