What the Bible says about God creating man in His own image, pt. 4

MAN WAS CREATED BY GOD IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
The pattern for man’s creation was determined by God, “…Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” The Hebrew word here for image is defined as a representative figure; it is used in the sense of essential nature.

In Genesis 5:3 we are told, “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Here human nature and external characteristics is what is meant rather than an exact duplicate. Likewise, God made man reflecting some of His own characteristics, possessing similar elements of personality to that of Himself – specifically, thinking, feeling, and will.

God created man, “…a living being,” Genesis 2:7. The same distinction is used of animals; Genesis 1:21, “…living thing;” Genesis 1:24, “…a living creature…;” Genesis 2:19, “…living creature.” However, since man was created in the image of God, there exists a clear distinction between the animals and man. One example is found in Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 where it is declared that the spirit of the animal returns to the dust, whereas the spirit of the man goes upward returning to the One who gave it (see also Ecclesiastes 12:7).

MAN WAS CREATED BY GOD IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, ACCORDING TO HIS LIKENESS
The Hebrew word for likeness used here for likeness means, resemblance and is translated, likeness, shape, figure, form and pattern. The following passages declare that God has indeed created man according to His likeness. I Corinthians 11:7 declares, “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.”

However, while God made man in His image and in His likeness, that nature became corrupted when man sinned by rebelling against God. The Christian, the one who has received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, is a new creation and is being made into the image of Christ. Romans 8:29 declares, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” I Corinthians 15:49 declares, “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” II Corinthians 3:18 declares, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Colossians 3:10, “and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” I John 3:2 declares, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

God created mankind male and female. Genesis 1:27 is a statement of generality, an overview of God’s creation of mankind. Genesis 2:7 details the creation of the man. Genesis 2:21-23 details the creation of the woman. Just as with the man, the woman was also created in the image of God. She is no less that the man and the man is no greater than the woman. God created her to be a helper, not a doormat or a slave. In Christ she has been elevated to equality with the man, Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

To be created in the image of God also means to be a living being. This was Paul’s message on the Areopagus, Acts 17:28-29, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.” Paul was declaring that inanimate objects could not represent the living God; and since man is the offspring of God, and since man is a living being, God therefore must be a living being.

Further, man is not only a living being, he also has intelligence and will, that give him the ability to make decisions that enable him to have dominion over creation (Genesis 1:28).