Image of God
From Eco-Bible 1
These are notes for an incomplete "Concept" page.
- Information is being added as the Bible Pages are added. In the end, everything will be compiled, further information added (as necessary), broken links connected, etc.
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[TO ADD: Some of the characteristics that set us apart from other creatures, and cause us to be more "like" God than they.]
Being "in God's image," man (male and female) are as much like God as is possible, for a created being. This last phrase ("for a created being") is very important, because being in God's "image" does not imply that humans become (or are) deity! The distinction between Creator and creature is never blurred!
Genesis 1:26-28
Being "In God's Image" Involves Dominion or Ruling
- Being "made in God's image/likeness" is linked to the concept of dominion over the other living creatures. Genesis 1:26 shows this:
- "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
- and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
- "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
- Since this creature ("man") is a created being, there will also be points in common with those living creatures over which he must rule:
- Gen 1:28a - "God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, ..."
- However, since he is also made in God's image, there will be additional responsibilities:
- Gen 1:28a - "... and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Being "In God's Image" Involves Unity and Plurality
- This passage seems to suggest that God is both "unity" and "plurality." (It is more clearly affirmed elsewhere in Scripture.)
- Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man..." In v. 27, we read three times that "he" (singular) did it . "God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them."
- In neither verse do we find any reference to anything else that God could talk to, or that could work with God to accomplish something.
- Though heavenly beings could have been created by this time, there is nothing in the context that introduces us to any such creature. They are not a part of this account, nor are the details of their creation mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. (We are given the information we 'need', not what we may 'want'.)
- This passage very emphatically declares the "image of God" to be both "unity" and "plurality."
- Genesis 1:26 may suggest some form of unity-plurality: "Let us make man (singular)... let them have dominion (plural)..."
- Genesis 1:27 is a verse of Hebrew poetry, comprised of three lines. Typical of Hebrew poetry, the concepts in these lines parallel each other.
- "God created man in his own image.
- In God's image he created him;
- male and female he created them."
- The parallel concepts are:
- (line 1) God created man = (line 2) he created him = (line 3) he created them
- (line 1) in his own image = (line 2) in God's image = (line 3) male and female
In Genesis 2 ...
- In Genesis 2, we see this further expanded, in the relationship between male and female, in marriage.
- Though animals also reproduce, they do it as a biological process (incapable of conscious reflection on the significance of it). Though we may be able to say that animals somehow reflect the nature of God (as all creation does), humans reflect the nature of God in a way that is unique in all of creation.
Genesis 5:1-3
The Situation When Adam Was Created / The Unity-Plurality Concept Restated
- In verse 1, repeating the fact that man is created in God's likeness: "In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness."
- In verse 2, unity and plurality both stated:
- Plurality (yet paralleling the statement in verse 1) - "He created them male and female, and blessed them, ..."
- Unity - "... and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." (The name "Adam" can also be translated as "man" - same word for both.)
When Offspring Are Born, Something Has Changed
- Though man (male/female) still bears the "image of God" (and this is affirmed elsewhere in Scripture), sin has marred things. Man's reflection of God's nature is not what it was prior to sin entering the world. Because of sin, man now bears the "image of God" in an imperfect manner... and this characteristic will be passed-on to all of Adam's offspring.
- Genesis 5:3 - "Adam ... became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth."
Genesis 9:5-6
The Mandatory Punishment for Killing an "Image-Bearer"
- (The context: Permission has just been given for killing animals for food. But humans are different.)
- Capital punishment is not a human invention; nor is it required for human-centered reasons. Rather, it is a decree given by God, and it is required for God-centered reasons.
- When an animal kills a human:
- Genesis 9:5a - "I will surely require your blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it."
- When a human kills a human:
- Genesis 9:5b - " At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man."
- Reason:
- Genesis 9:6 - "Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image."
- God's requirements haven't changed, even though human opinions have. The reason that killing humans is different from the killing of any other species isn't because humans don't like being killed (or some other human-centered reason). Rather, it is because humans bear the image of the living God. Because of this, even animals who habitually kill humans are to be put to death. Though people have chosen to reject this command, it hasn't changed!
- Further details, and the distinction between deliberate and accidental killings, are explained in the Law, which God gave to Israel through Moses.
Additional Comments
Atheists and Agnostics
- Even atheists and agnostics bear the image of God. Simply pretending it's not true doesn't cause it to stop being true! This is one of those facts of life that they deliberately suppress from their thinking.
- This is one of the reasons that it is normally a waste of one's efforts to try to "prove" to them that God exists!
Scripture Pages that Link to Here
- Basic statement about man (=male/female) being created in God's image/likeness
- Restates the concept found in Genesis 1, but also describes Adam's offspring as being in Adam's image.
- Life is sacred because of being made in the image of God. This is the reason that the killing of other humans is forbidden.
- This passage focuses on the rule and dominion that humans are to have over the rest of creation. (This is a part of what it means to be the "image of God.")
- Praising God comes naturally to nature, each creature honoring God by doing what it created it to do (other than the ways that the effects of sin in the world have complicated matters, Genesis 3:17-19 and Romans 8:22). But people were created in the image of God; and one aspect of being an "image bearer" is the ability to make the choice to praise God.
- (Comment about why people must willingly choose to praise God.) For humans, praising God is a moral issue. Since humans bear the Image of God, it must be a choice, rather than an involuntary, unconscious act (as with many other entities of creation). This is the way humans were created to function; and to not praise God from the heart is to sin.
- Because we must someday die and be judged, God makes us aware of our mortality - the fact that we will someday die. (It's also a reminder that this injustice - v. 16 - will not occur forever.) In this matter of death, we are no better than the animals. Though we bear the Image of God (which animals don't), our bodies will return to the dust just like theirs do.
Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.
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