What is the value of human beings?
Human beings possess absolute, unchanging value because we are created in God's image as His children and unique, irreplaceable object partners of love. Our worth flows from the absolute God, not from achievement or approval, and is confirmed by the price of redemption — Christ given for us. Every person, therefore, is to be treated as a temple of God.
Few questions matter more for human dignity, ethics, and self-understanding than this one: What is a human being actually worth? Modern societies debate whether value comes from achievement, productivity, or social contribution — standards that leave the weak, the unborn, and the elderly vulnerable. The Bible and the Divine Principle reveal a far deeper foundation: human value is intrinsic, absolute, and rooted in our origin as children of God.
The Biblical Foundation
Scripture grounds human worth in creation itself: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27). To bear God's image is to possess an unalienable dignity that no circumstance can erase. Humanity is crowned "with glory and honour," made "a little lower than the angels," and given dominion over creation (Psalm 8:4-6). This is why the shedding of innocent blood is so grave: "for in the image of God made he man" (Genesis 9:6). Furthermore, as Psalm 139:14 proclaims, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."
The value of a person is measured most dramatically by the price God was willing to pay for redemption: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16). Christ died for us "while we were yet sinners" (Romans 5:8) — meaning human value does not depend on human performance. Even the hairs of our head are numbered, and we are "of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:30-31). To God, each person is precious, known, and sought after like a lost coin or a lost sheep (Luke 15). Indeed, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
The Divine Principle Perspective: Partners of the Infinite
The Divine Principle provides a framework that explains why human value is absolute rather than relative. Value is determined within relationship — an object partner has value in relation to a subject partner. A painting's value depends on the one who appreciates it; a song's value emerges when someone hears it. If this is so, then the question of human value becomes: in relation to whom does a human being stand?
If humanity stood only in relation to other finite beings, our value would always be relative and negotiable. But human beings were created as the object partners of God — the infinite, absolute, eternal subject of love. The value of an object partner is determined by the value of its subject partner. Therefore, as the partner of the absolute God, each human being possesses absolute, unique, unchanging value. No human being can ever be replaced, because God relates to each person as a unique object of His love — there will never be another you in all of eternity.
Moreover, human beings were created to be God's children and the visible, substantial embodiment of His nature. God is the invisible subject; humanity is His visible form. Just as the body has value because the mind dwells in it, human beings have supreme value because God desires to dwell in and work through each person: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). We were created to experience God's joy directly, to create goodness and beauty as co-creators, and to exercise loving dominion over all creation (Genesis 1:28).
Essential for God's Joy
A profound truth is that even God cannot feel joy alone. God created human beings because He needed object partners of love. This means each person is not an accident or an afterthought — each one is essential to God's own experience of joy. A single perfected human being has such value that the entire cosmos cannot equal it. This is why heaven itself mourns over one lost soul and rejoices over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7).
Living the Principle
Knowing your absolute value calls you to live accordingly. Reject every lie that measures your worth by appearance, achievement, or others' approval; your value was fixed when God created you as His child and eternal object partner of love. Then extend that same recognition to every person you meet — the unborn, the elderly, the difficult, the stranger — treating each as an irreplaceable being whom God loves absolutely, and becoming a subject partner of truth, beauty, goodness, and love toward them.
These answers explain the Bible in the light of the Divine Principle, the teachings of Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Read about the author, Sun Myung Moon.
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Sources and further reading
- The Holy Bible, King James Version — Scripture quoted and referenced throughout the answers.
- The Divine Principle (full text) — The complete text of the Divine Principle, the teaching of Reverend Sun Myung Moon that these answers explain.
- Unification texts library (tparents.org) — Large online library of Unification texts, sermons and collected speeches, including the Cheon Seong Gyeong.
- Short video lectures in English — Playlist of short English video lectures presenting these same principles.