As Denise and I travel around Rome we are amazed by two observations!
First, according to verse Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image; in the image of God,” the “us” and “our” of verse 26 must refer to God, not some angelic being, as some suppose. But what exactly does this mean?
•“Image”: The root of the word means to “carve out” and speaks of the dignity of man. Man is not only made with deliberate purpose and plan; he is patterned after God. Now this does not, as the Mormons maintain, mean that God has the same physical characteristics as we do. Their famous line is, “As man is God was once, as God is man will become!” The context of this passage makes it plain that it is us who have been in the image of God, not God who has been made in our image! Whenever God is being described in anthropomorphic expressions in scripture, you can’t take them literally; otherwise, in Ps. 17:8, God would have to have wings. Thus there is a human likeness that is “carved out” in man that is like the triune God. As we have seen in the animal kingdom, they have:
•Body: Just as mankind does
•Soul: They have a varying ability to think, feel, and decide.
There is something here that makes mankind unique in all of God’s creation, and it’s that mankind is a spiritual creature. Jesus told the women at the well,
•“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.” Based upon what we have seen thus far in Genesis, we can see three things that appear to be unique in God’s nature that we too possess.
•Creativity: The ability to imagine, conceptualize, and then fashion whatwe imagined. We cannot create something out of nothing, as God did, but we can take that which is existing and fashion it into what we desire. No other of God’s creatures can do this.
•Communication: God speaks or conveys ideas and discusses matters. Animals cannot communicate as we do. They make noises or even mimic our sounds, but they are unable to pass on ideas in which they have discussed information. None of the animal kingdoms has been able to advance its civilization through its communication.
•Conscious choice:We call this free will, and we alone have the free moral agency to distinguish and then act on things that are good and evil. Just as we have seen God in this chapter declare that what He created was good.
Second according to this same verse we read:
•“According to our likeness”: The word here implies resemblance or similarity to the ideal. We have been given everything necessary for us to function properly to God’s character and nature. Thus we are told to be holy, for He is holy. In 2 Peter 1:3, we are told that“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Adam not only had the capacity to be godly, he was creative, communicated rightly, and prior to the fall, he made godly conscious choices. He was functioning as God had created him to in His likeness.
Clearly something has happened to mankind by which he has lost the ability to consistently function as God designed him to. Even though he still possesses the image (creativity, communication, consciousness, and choice), he can no longer function according to God’s likeness or if you function as God Himself would.
It was in this sphere that God gives mankind “dominion,” or mastery over the rest of His creation. Nothing points so vividly to mankind’s fall as does the fact that we have become so much like that which we were designed to master!
* If you are blessed by the devotions and Scripture Supply website ministry, we would ask that you pray and consider supporting Scripture Supply by giving a donation either one time or monthly. Any donations supports the maintenance cost of the website and associated costs as well as the global ministry. This can be done on the main page drop down menu.
Important: We are not a 501c3 organization so any donations are not tax deductible. Any giving should be compelled of the Spirit. Reach out with any questions. Thank you!