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The IMAGE and LIKENESS of GOD


The Relationship between GOD, JESUS CHRIST and MAN



14. Hebrew definitions - words in the Genesis passages


Verses are quoted from the World English Bible (public domain).

 

Genesis 1:26-27

God said, "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." God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

 

Genesis 5:1-3

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness. He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

 

Genesis 9:6

Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.



The definitions given below are from Strong's Concordance (public domain).

 

Image

tselem, Hebrew 6754, [tseh'-lem]; from an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, i.e. (figurative) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol.

 

Likeness

demuwth, Hebrew 1823, [dem-ooth']; from Hebrew 1819 (damah); resemblance; concrete model, shape; adverb like.




Comparable Greek words (applies only to these specific Genesis verses)


In the Septuagint (an early Greek translation of the Old Testament), here is how these words are translated. The numbers in brackets identifies the word group where we studied the New Testament use of the word.

 

The word "image" is always translated by the same Greek word:

                          It is always εἰκών (eikōn) [1A].

 

The word "likeness" is translated differently each time it occurs in these passages:

                          In Genesis 1:26, it is ὁμοίωσις (homoiōsis) [6E].

                          In Genesis 5:1, it is εἰκών (eikōn) [1A].

                          In Genesis 5:3, it is ἰδέα (idea) [5B].


Dennis Hinks © 1983, 2006

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