THE IMAGE OF GOD

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings All,

I do not know if this subject has been brought up before, but I thought it should be and will appreciate your comments:

Most Christians remain confused as to what exactly is the "image of God" as used in this verse:

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

I think everyone agrees it cannot be "physical". God is Spirit, and man a created "creature" made from the dust. So I do not see how anyone even Mormons could come to that conclusion.

So is it "spiritual"? How can this be determined? 1 Cor 15 says there is the "natural" and there is the "spiritual". Adam is certainly seen as the "natural", so I don't believe we can determine that Adam was created in the "spiritual image" of God.

Let's first define image:

06754 tselem {tseh'-lem}

from an unused root meaning to shade; TWOT - 1923a; n m

AV - image 16, vain shew 1; 17

1) image

   1a) images (of tumours, mice, heathen gods)

   1b) image, likeness (of resemblance)

   1c) mere, empty, image, semblance (fig.)

I don't think this gives us what we are looking for, but I do believe it gives us some indications as to what to look for in the scriptures.

Well let's compare a couple verses:

Gen 1:26-28 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

02416 chay {khah'-ee}

from 02421; TWOT - 644a

AV - live 197, life 144, beast 76, alive 31, creature 15, running 7, living thing 6, raw 6, misc 19; 501

adj

1) living, alive

   1a) green (of vegetation)

   1b) flowing, fresh (of water)

   1c) lively, active (of man)

   1d) reviving (of the springtime)

n m

2) relatives

3) life (abstract emphatic)

   3a) life

   3b) sustenance, maintenance

n f

4) living thing, animal

   4a) animal

   4b) life

   4c) appetite

   4d) revival, renewal

5) community

COMPARE THE ABOVE WITH THIS:

John 20:22-23 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

AND CONSIDER THIS:

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Have you caught the similarity in the verses yet?

ALSO CONSIDER:

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

So God took the DUST of the ground and made it "lively, active, life". He gave the dust POWER to reproduce and to HAVE DOMINION.

This was the TRUE IMAGE OF GOD in which Adam was created. But Adam did what? He FORFEITED his God given AUTHORITY, DOMINION, POWER to the Serpent.

So now we see:

Gen 3:14-15 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

As with the "seed" of Abraham pointing to Jesus, so is the SEED of Eve ALSO pointing to Christ.

From the Fall of Adam to the Cross, man did not have the God given power to defeat the Serpent. But come the time Jesus gave the command to go to the 70 we see:

Luke 10:17-20 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

So through the SEED of Eve - Jesus, we can receive back the POWER that Adam relented to the serpent.

So is that enough to convince you? Well let's take a look at one more example:

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Hebrews 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Notice that Jesus was made IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN FOR THE SUFFERING OF DEATH.

Angels DON'T DIE, and Adam, if He had remained in the Garden of Eden and continued to EAT OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE would have LIVED FOREVER. He would have been as God!

Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

So we come to the last:

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

3153 mataiotes {mat-ah-yot'-ace}

from 3152; TDNT - 4:523,571; n f

AV - vanity 3; 3

1) what is devoid of truth and appropriateness

2) perverseness, depravity

3) frailty, want of vigour

So Adam was NOT created PERFECT, but in fact NEEDED the Tree of Life if he were to maintain VIGOUR and avoid the FRAILTY of death.

STILL NOT CONVINCED?

Read carefully each of the days of creation. As you go through the days of the creation week, you will see God pronouncing the deeds of each day as GOOD! Then you get to the SIXTH day, and HE DOES NOT PRONOUNCE Adam GOOD, but He declares that:

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

AND SO IT WAS GOOD FOR THE PURPOSES WHICH GOD CREATED IT! It wasn't perfect as noted in the Roman verses above, but it would serve God's purposes well.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[tsth]

Dear DE,

I believe that man was created good, but with freewill to choose to disobey.

[martyr]

One way  that we show we are created in God's image is our very feelings.  God gets angry, happy, jealous, etc...  

This is a very detailed study.  Good subject.

[OneAccord]

I've been interested in this word IMAGE lately, because we also must wonder about the 'image of the beast'.  

We are told to conform to the image of Christ somewhere in the NT (too lazy to look it up right now).  Therefore if the church, or the Christians are conforming and being perfected in the image of Christ, could it be that the image of the beast is also a body of people conforming to the anti-christ.....just thought I'd throw a little more into this topic

[tsth]

Dear DE,

I realize this topic can take many directions, but I am very compelled to go in this way:

So through the SEED of Eve - Jesus, we can receive back the POWER that Adam relented to the serpent.

I would like to go further on the discussion of "the Power" afforded to us now as believers.  It is the essence of grace!

Care to go down this road?  

In His Love,

Suzanne

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings tsth,

Please, be my guest, but it should probably be in another thread. I look forward to it. I have done -some- study of the Greek word "dunamis". I agree with your first post.  

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[godrulz]

We are like God in some of these ways: (and unlike mere animals)

Personal being: will (free choice), intellect, emotions

Character: love, holiness, faithfulness, etc. (moral image)

Spiritual being (Spirit and spirit)

Relational

Experience duration and sequence (time)

We are not like God in some of these ways (attributes):

Eternal, uncreated, infinite

Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent

Sovereign

Creator

Triune

It is not a flesh and bone physical image, but moral, character, and spiritual image.

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Godrulz,

We are like God in some of these ways:

Personal being: will (free choice), intellect, emotions

Character: love, holiness, faithfulness, etc. (moral image)

Spiritual being (Spirit and spirit)

Relational

Experience duration and sequence (time)

I'm not sure I understand all you are saying here, so the only thing I can agree with you here is "will (free choice)" and even that is suspect. God, being perfect, never chooses willy-nilly to do anything, whereas man never has ALL the knowledge necessary to make the PERFECT choice.

As for character, this is what God says man is:

Psalms 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Romans 3:10-18 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[godrulz]

Those verses are a judgment of ungodly man before salvation. As a believer, we can and should grow in godly character with the Holy Spirit's help to conform us to the image of Christ through obedient choices. We do not share God's unique essential attributes (infinite, eternal, omni.). Rather, we share qualities of personality (God and us can reason=intellect and experience emotions and choose=will and have moral character = after conversion= sanctification). This is what it is to be in the image of God, as opposed to a physical likeness. God is perfect, whereas we are in process. Someday we will be glorified, but now are in a fallen world.

To further clarify (please email me with specific questions so I can edit for better communication, even if you disagree):

e.g. relational just means God and man can be reconciled and experience a loving relationship, rather than Him making us robots. Animals do not have the same spiritual relationship with God that we do.

e.g. personality just means God, man, angels, devil, demons are not impersonal forces; by definition, a person has will, intellect, emotions (does not necessarily need a physical body).

e.g. character means we are to be potentially moral, loving, faithful, wise, etc. (fruit of the Spirit) and can be because we are similar to God (though not perfect in these qualities as He is).

e.g. free will...God commands us to be 'perfect', mature, obedient, holy, loving, etc. ... these commands are reasonable, loving, and possible. He would be unjust to command something and judge us if we could not choose to obey with His help and our free will. Reward, punishment, justice, and responsibility only make sense and are reasonable if we can obey or disobey with our God-given gift of free will. The will is the seat of moral choices/responsibility, and not some nebulous so-called 'sin nature' back of the will (literally translated as 'flesh' vs spirit). If a sin nature or Adam's sin fatalistically made us sin, we would not be responsible. Virtue would not be possible either.

[Ovedya]

Why can't image mean lietral image?

Just riffing here...If God is eternal, omnipresent, and omniscient, then that means that He is in all places and all times at once, right?  Therefore time is not linear to God like it is for us.  So if time is not linear to God, then He need not have created man according to a faceless, formless image.  He could have created man according to the image that He Himself put on, which is Christ.  In linear time God became a man with a man's image and form.  Yet since God is not limited to linear time, He could have created man according to the image which He would have eventually become in linear time.  Make sense?

And in fact, it would not be a far stretch.  Consider the fact that according to Genesis everything was made after its own kind.  But when it came to forming man, it was according to God's kind - His image and His likeness.