In The Image Of God

“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 heavens and over the livestock and 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]

“May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:23b]. [1]

Reading the initial account of the creation of mankind, you will note that on four separate occasions in two verses the Word of God says man is created or made in the image of God. One would suspect that there is more than a little emphasis in this repetition in but two verses. Nothing is said concerning the specifics of how mankind bears the image of God. Then, seemingly out of the eternal ether, and centuries after the initial revelation of man’s origin, we see the Apostle to the Gentiles deliver a statement that severs the gordian knot and gives us clear insight into the question of how mankind bears the image of God. Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. It is as though the Lord wants us to know how we reflect the image of God.

The Trinity (or more properly the Triunity) is sadly misunderstood and is therefore subject to misrepresentation. Consequently, the word “Trinity” lends itself to grave distortion. The nature of God is revealed and not assumed; no mortal could discover God through his own effort or considerations. God must reveal Himself to us. As God reveals Himself through His Word, we are amazed to meet one God, but in three Persons. We do not meet three gods—that is sheer paganism. However, we do meet God in three Persons, comprising the Godhead.

The passage under consideration does not conclusively teach the truth of the Triunity, for our understanding is retrospective. We have the advantage of looking back with knowledge and with understanding. Were we to have only this passage by itself we would no doubt draw some of the conclusions that others have drawn in times past. Looking back, the full revelation of God has been accomplished and we are able to see the nature of God in the degree He has chosen to reveal His nature to mankind.

CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD — Man was created in the image of God. Our culture mandates that we cannot omit naming any sex because the concept of the word “man,” or “mankind,” embracing all has become passe. Both man and woman were created in the image of God. Throughout the remainder of the message, use of the term “man” when speaking of humanity will include both males and females.

That man and woman were created in the image of God clearly involves the fact that both men and women are beings possessing personality, a sense of morality, and spirituality. The fact that man is created means that he bears responsibility to the One who created him. If man were his own creator he would owe allegiance to no one. If man is the product of blind chance operating over vast periods of time, he is not responsible to anyone. Man, if he has no Creator, has neither responsibility for the environment nor stewardship over the creation.

Man is created, however! Moreover he is created by God who calls all things into being. Therefore, man is responsible to God as a created being, just as he is responsible for the environment, bearing a stewardship over that which God has created. The statement of the Living God as He prepared to create man imposes this awesome responsibility. Our text states that “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…” Man was created and as a condition of creation he was specifically appointed to rule, and the realm over which he was appointed a regent was the realm of creation. The realm over which man was appointed to exercise his reign embraces the earth, including the sea, the air, domestic animals, and all wild animals.

When God had created man He blessed the couple He had created and commanded, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over … the earth” [GENESIS 1:28]. Again, man is appointed to exercise dominion over the entire realm of the creation, especially the creation as it relates to this earth. Dominion of a scope such as detailed here implies responsibility for the creation.

Despite the protests raised by outsiders to the Faith, it is the believer in the Word of God, and in particular the Creationist who is submitted to the Creator, who is most likely to bear responsibility for the creation which God made. Bible believing Christians who understand the mandate of God cannot rape and pillage the earth with impunity. Instead they understand that they are responsible for the earth and responsible to the Creator to exercise dominion over the earth, nurturing and caring for it in a manner reflecting their relationship to Him as Creator.