Let us make man in our IMAGE

[tonychanyt]

ESV Genesis 1:

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

What does it mean?

Let's continue with the rest of the verse:

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.”

Like God, man has authority. We have authority over the earth and everything on it.

Psalm 8 echoes the same idea:

4 What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You have made him a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.

That's meaning #1.

2. King James Bible, Gen 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.

Man receives a breath from God. This breath generates his soul, which identifies his independent selfhood. Like the living God, we are also living. We are living images of God.

3. Exodus 20:

4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

We are made in the image of God. We do not worship other humans (images) or man-made objects (images).

4. We should not curse fellow human beings. NET James 3:

9 With it [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.

5. Colossians 1:

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Jesus was the true type of the image of God. We are only shadow-type of the image of God. We are foils for the true image.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

In Christ, we can be better image-bearers of God. Romans 8:

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

This is the sanctification process. We can have an intimate relationship with God. As we grow spiritually, we become more and more like God. The Paraclete is the deposit of this God-image in us.

6. Eventually, 2 Corinthians 3:

18 we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

After our resurrection, our earthly image of God will be transformed into a heavenly, glorified image of God.

We are created in God's image. We are like God. We can relate to God. We have the potential to be sinless.

 

[timothyu]

We were made to be creative at God's command, not selfish or self determining.

 

[Qubit]

Jesus was the true type of the image of God.

Jesus was made in the likeness of sinful flesh...

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"

How is sinful flesh the 'true type' of the image of God?