Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:26, 27
Recently, a caller asked about the image of God. He wanted to know what exactly the Bible means when it says that people are created in His image. Does it mean that God looks something like human beings?
I appreciated his willingness to ask the question, because this is an important concept that forms an important basis for our understanding about God.
To start with, since God is a spirit we can eliminate the possibility that God’s image has anything to do with the physical appearance of Adam or anyone else. So what then does it mean?
First, it means that God’s nature is reflected in human beings.
The Hebrew word translated image refers to something that has been carved or cut off like a statue. It is used 16 times in the Bible, and 5 of those refer to the creation of man in God’s image. The text goes on to say that man was made in the likeness of God.
Man bears both the image and likeness of God. This is a word that describes the similarities between two things in the same way that an artist will recreate the image of a living person in another completely different medium like marble or brass. The medium that God used to reflect Himself is the human spirit. We are an accurate representation of what God is like.
We resembled God’s image structurally, the way in which he was put together – body and spirit, glory, and His likeness in qualities that make us what we are in personality.
Secondly, God’s image is reflected in man’s dominion over nature.
Man was given complete control over the earth itself and everything living in it. The extent of man’s dominion included fish, birds, cattle and wild animals.
“Over all the earth” means more than just that man had control over things in other parts of the world, but that he had control over all the different parts of creation that include things like laws of nature, electromagnetism, chemistry.
This is God’s explanation of what it means to be created in His image – dominion. Adam was not a Neanderthal, but was a man with amazing intelligence and abilities.
That’s why we have the ability to manipulate and control nature. And it’s also why we have a responsibility to care for the environment as good stewards over God’s creation.
Thirdly, God’s image is reflected in man’s creativity.
The Hebrew word ‘created’ refers to making something out of nothing. The emphasis is always on starting a new thing, and you’ll notice that Genesis mentions it three times in this text. Why a triple account? To emphasize the significance of this truth. Our God is a creative God.
Just as verse 26 related the image of God to man’s dominion, verse 27 related God’s image to man’s creativity
We should not be afraid of creativity. In our jobs, art, music, worship evangelism, in all areas of life, creativity is one of the ways in which we are like God. We should use and develop our creativity to the glory of God.
I understand that you may not be convinced at this point that the Bible is truly the word of God, but your thinking about God can start with what you know best – yourself. There is something about you that doesn’t quite fit with everything else. Yes, it’s true that human beings are composed of a collection of fairly common chemical compounds. And yet there is something different about you. You have the capacity for self-consciousness and self-determination. You have a capacity for love and self sacrifice. These are all qualities that we can’t observe anywhere else. They can’t be produced with any combination of chemicals, and yet they clearly are there and are an important part of what it means to be human.
It’s only the Bible gives us a cogent explanation for those qualities when it affirms that we have been created in the image of God.
