The Importance of a Biblical Definition of Imagination

by Byron L. Spradlin

It’s important to have a biblical definition of imagination and imaginal intelligence. We know from Genesis 1:26, 27 that humans are made in God’s image. As such, we possess imaginal intelligence. Dogs, for instance, have instinct; people have imagination. 

The Hebrew term used here is YATSAR / YETSER or “to fashion in the mind before forming something in time and place.” This is the term that is often used to describe the work of a potter. We see this in several verses, including: 

You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
    “He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
    “He has no understanding”? Isaiah 29:16

“Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:2-6

God imagined humankind in His mind, like a potter with a lump of clay, and then actually created us in time and place. Here we see two capacities: To see what can be before it is and to look through real and observable realities into what is deeper and transcendent. This capacity of imaginal intelligence involves the ability to look at some sort of metaphor or symbol (as we do in any Christian liturgy) and then actually look through these expressions into the underlying reality.

In the Hebrew Scriptures the sacrificial system was filled with metaphors, symbols, and expressions – all of which allowed Israel to express their faith in and commitment to the real and living God and His provision and purposes. In the same way today, when we take communion, we look through the observable bread and cup and into the deeper reality of Jesus Christ and the giving of His body, the pouring out His blood, the covering over of our sin, and the purging of our guilt.