Genesis 1:26-31 Then
God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over
the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to
them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and
rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every
living thing that moves on the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I have
given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth,
and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to
every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that
moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for
food"; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was
very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
At
this point in the creation story God has prepared time and space, along with
the heavens and the earth. He has created the earth’s ecosystem, and is now going
to plant mankind onto the earth. For those unfamiliar with the creation account
of Genesis, there are actually two versions of the creation. Genesis 1 through
Genesis 2:3 being the first. The second account of creation begins in Genesis
2:4. Why God chose to allow two separate accounts to be immortalized in the Bible
is up to speculation. For me, I have always viewed the first account as an overview,
and the second version more of an in-depth look.
So
without the Garden of Eden, without the creation of Adam first and then Eve,
without the detail to be explored later, let us look at the importance of this
passage.
First
and foremost is the fact that God created mankind “in Our image,” and “according
to Our likeness.” And even though these phrases contain multiple English words,
they are in fact only two distinct Hebrew words in the original text. As single
words they do allow us to dissect “Our” or “image” or “likeness.” Theologians
argue “Our” is the trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Image and
likeness are often equated with our bipedal human form, and our intelligence. I
would argue this… “Our” is irrelevant in terms of whether the Father was
describing Himself as a triune God, or whether He was referring to heavens
inhabitants before the creation of what we know as our universe. But “image”
and “likeness” infer some traits that make us uniquely created by the Divine.
When God created us in His “image” he created us with both a soul and spirit.
Jesus told us “God is Spirit.” He also said our spirit must be born again. The
totality of our being shares within it this “image.” With regards to the “likeness”
of God we were created with a free will. Our soul was enabled to make choices. Yes
later sin enters the world through a bad choice, but from the beginning God
made us with the potential to have a soul that can last beyond time and into
infinity, and He gave us a free will for a single purpose. That purpose though
not defined in the passage is to love Him. God loves us, and our creation in
His “likeness” allows us to, of our own free will, love Him back.
The
rest of the passage is our command to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth.” Strangely enough God gave us the ability to reproduce other souls. Not coincidentally,
sex drives much of the adult population. Sure Satan and sin corrupt this
command. But the driving force was placed inside of us by God Himself.
I
won’t spend a lot of time on the rest of the passage, but it should suffice
that God could have just as well said, now go and survive, and create. God’s work is finished, now it is time for His
creation to create.
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