Mankind is Made in the Image of God

            When I was in college at Polk Community College, in both Winter Haven and Lakeland, FL., I was taught that man needs to feel like he has a purpose for living, he wants to believe that things happen for a reason and that there is something greater than himself, and he does not want to accept that this life is all there is, so, he created God. Some people believed in idols, some in the Gods of Greek mythology, we, however, created the God of the Bible to give reason and purpose to our lives. It was said that we created God in the image of man, but that is completely backwards. That would mean that the human being is the supreme being of the universe, which is exactly what many believe and teach. However, in order to know the truth, a person must accept what the Bible teaches, and what the Bible teaches us is that man was created by, and in the image of, God. “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27).

            In this lesson we will see that man is unlike anything else that God has created. Man is over every thing else that God has created and the only creatures that have been created in His image, which makes human life special and demanding of greater respect than any other. We will see that God does not exist in the image of physical man, and what part of man it is that is created in God’s image.

Mankind is Unique in Creation

Man is unlike anything else that God created upon the earth:

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 birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Gen.1:26)

“Dominion” means that man has rule or authority over creation; he is over the creatures “of the sea,” of the air, on the land, over “all the earth,” and “over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” We were created with that intent and purpose by God.

            We can also see in that verse that a distinction is made between man and every other created thing. There is everything else that was created, and then there was man created exclusively in the image of God and set apart to be over everything else.

Even those who don’t believe in God or the Bible, must admit that there is something very different about mankind. A person can go fishing and kill a whole bunch of fish, and not much is thought about it. Preachers, elders, and deacons have been known to go out in the woods and hunt deer during the right time of the year and not much is thought about it. You can go outside and cut down a tree and chop it up into little peaces and kill that tree and there are few tears that will be shed for it, but, just as soon as a person is killed, that is something entirely different. Why? Because it is a human being. There is something about a human being that makes it different. Even the person that does not believe the Bible knows that killing an innocent human being is wrong. Well, the Bible tells us why it is different than killing some animal: “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: For in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). Why? Because man was created in the image of God.

            If I go outside and find a caterpillar and I pick it up on my finger and lift it to my face and say, “you’re about the dumbest caterpillar I have ever seen in my life.” I doubt that anyone is going to be offended by that. If I go out and look up at a mountain and say, “you’re about the ugliest mountain I have ever seen.” I doubt it is going to make a whole lot of difference to that mountain either way. But it doesn’t take a Bible scholar to know that as soon as I say something like that to another person, that’s different, it’s wrong, you don’t talk to other people like that. Why? James said that it is because people were created in the image of God:

But the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God: out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (Jas. 3:8-10)

We shouldn’t abuse animals, and since God has put His creation into our care, we should be good stewards of that, but a cow is not a human being, and that will never change.

            I was taught at Auburndale Sr. High that man is nothing more than a highly evolved animal. Nothing can be more false than that! What a rejection of our Creator and a promoting of the Theory of Evolution does, or one of them, is that is brings down the value of human life, and it raises the value of animal life so that there is little difference between the two. If you want to kill an unborn child for the sake of convenience, people are okay with that. So what if it is an innocent human life. The fact that it is a human being and not some animal means very little in the minds of so many people, but the question really isn’t, “how far along is the baby,” but the question is, “is it an innocent human life?” The taking of an innocent human life is murder whether it is born or not.

Mankind is special and he is unique, because he was made in the image of God.

Mankind is Physically Unlike God[i]

                                                                                                                        I like to see it lap the miles,

                                                                                                                       And lick the valleys up,

                                                                                                                       And stop to feed itself at tanks;

                                                                                                                       And, then, prodigious, step

            In this poem, Emily Dickinson describes watching trains. She depicts a train lapping, licking, feeding, and stepping. In the rest of the poem, a train is portrayed as peering into shanties with eyebrow raised and neighing like “Boanerges” (transliterated from the Greek word used by Jesus to describe the “sons of thunder,” Mk. 3:17). A train can do none of these things, yet she ascribes these actions to a train. It is, of course, poetic language and describes metaphorically what a train does: it is a machine which is taken across land, past hills and towns, and is refueled. It would appear in her words, however, that the train wa alive and possessing intelligence and character. If Paul can quote a pagan poet in acts 17:28 to make a point, then I can use Emily Dickinson to begin the discussion of how God is described in the Bible. He is described in ways to help us understand who he is.

            There are times in the Bible where God is described with human characteristics. These are called anthropomorphisms. This is a linguistic device that presents human characteristics to something not human. It is figurative language. Anthropomorphisms are used in poetry, prose, and casual conversation. They are generally (and easily) recognized as metaphoric, or figurative. Only a toddler or a profoundly afflicted literalist would look at the hymn, “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand,” and ask if it is possible to hold God’s hand. God is described through the Bible as having hands (Ps. 37:24, Ex. 15:6), eyes (Gen. 6:8), a mouth (Deut. 8:3), ears (Ps. 18:6), a face (Deut. 31:17; Ezr. 9:6-7; Mt. 18:10), nostrils (Ex. 15:8; Job 4:9), arms (Ex. 15:16; Deut. 11:2; Isa. 51:9), fingers (Ex. 31:18; Ps. 8:3; Lk. 11:20), feet Hab. 3:5), a heart (Gen. 6:6; 8:21; 1 Sam. 13:14), and breath (Job 33:4). He is also described as sitting (Isa. 6:1), standing (Hab. 3:6), and riding (Hab. 3:8). These words are figurative and are not to be taken beyond their intent. Common sense and a little bit of logic goes a long way.

            God is a spirit. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24). He does not have physical limitation as mankind. We have a narrow field of knowledge; we have a life with a beginning; and we are only so tall and have limited senses. We are bound by the laws of physics and the confines of physiology. Though I have certainly seen some very busy moms, even they can only be in one place at a time. Unlike us, God is omnipresent.

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10)

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? (1 Kgs. 8:27)

            God is completely eternal.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. (Ps. 90:2)

He is not limited as we are. His wisdom and knowledge have no end. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Ro. 11:33). He is far greater in every way.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa. 55:8-9)

            Jesus uses parables to describe the kingdom of heaven. He spoke of vineyards, weddings, feasts, fish, treasure, planting, harvests, servants, sons, fathers, masters, and kings. In all parables, Jesus used well-known objects, jobs, and situations to teach a out and/or describe something unfamiliar to the hearer. Anthropomorphisms accomplish the same task in relating something about God. Using anthropomorphisms to depict God is a means of communicating in an understandable way. The Bible uses familiar terms of physical bodies to illustrate the actions of one who is spirit. We understand the things of the physical realm. Thus, teaching in common terms of the physical realm helps to describe the spiritual realm, a place where we have not been. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” (Jn. 3:12).

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Num. 23:19)

Clearly, God is not a man. In John 1, the Son of God is given a description. He is called the “Word.” He was with God, and he is God from the beginning. Then there came a point in time when the Word would have a new title—the Son of Man and be born Jesus of Nazareth.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (Jn. 1:14)

The Word becomes flesh. He did not dwell among us as a spirit, nor did he dwell with the Father from the beginning as flesh. In the spiritual realm, he is spirit. When he started the duty of Christ and Savior, he became flesh and was born. He also came in the likeness of men. That is to say, he was not in the likeness of men when he was with the Father. He was with God and was God from the beginning, but not in the flesh, as a man, or in the likeness of men.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Phil. 2:5-8)

            God is not shaped as a human being, nor is the Holy Spirit shaped like a dove. 

And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Lk. 3:22)

God is also described as having seven eyes (Zec. 4:10), having horses and chariots (Hab. 3:8, 15), and arrows and spear (Hab. 3:11). All these images are utilized to illustrate lessons, points, and messages.

What Part of Man is in the Image of God?

            What do we possess that is the image of God? Since our bodies are created, physical matter, and God is spirit, then what about us is in his likeness? A quick comparison between the animal world (not created in the image of God) and humanity brings a sharp contrast. Each person has a soul—the eternal self. It is the part of us that will exist eternally from our conception. It is the true self which inhabits the body and continues on after the body dies. In Luke 16:22-23, after the rich man died, he lifted up his eyes in torments. His body was buried (Lk. 16:22), yet the rich man continued to exist, talk, feel pain, recognize others, and make requests. When the Sadducees questioned Jesus concerning the resurrection in Matthew 22, it becomes obvious they did not believe in the human soul living beyond the body. It is especially telling when Jesus answered,

But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Mt. 22:31-32)

In the first century, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead for over a thousand years. When God said this to Moses in exodus 3:6, they had been dead for centuries. The phrase, “I am the God of Abraham,” means He still is the God of Abraham. The verb “am” is present tense. The point is tat Abraham still exists. In one small verb is taught the continual existence of the soul. From this, the multitude was amazed and the Sadducees were silenced.

            Human beings also possess other characteristics that are ingrained as a direct result of being made in the image of God. They constitute the overall characteristics that cannot be found in the rest of nature. Mankind is creative and inventive. Thus, humans are in the likeness of God who is the great Creator. Bees make hives and honey, ants dig tunnels, birds make nests, and beavers build dams and lodges. These behaviors are instinctive as they are included in the very designs of these creatures, but mankind is different, since humans are not so limited. People can take raw materials from across the globe and physically form an object based on an original idea. Originality and innovation are from a creative mind given by God. This ability has helped mankind through centuries of difficulties. Bing able to solve problems takes varying degrees of planning, foresight, skill, and wisdom. This helps mankind through hardships. A problem presents itself—winter brings the cold. Thus, people must find a sways to stay warm away from a fire. What is the answer? Men raise sheep and shear the wool. Women spin thread, weaved cloth, and make clothes and blankets. Humanity’s ingrained, inventive ability to alleviate want and prevent adversity is necessary for the development of civilization and is par tof God’s design for mankind, as he described it in Genesis 1:26:

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.

Fields and forests are flooded by a river. The animals are incapable of doing anything except escape. Humans, who have dominion over the earth, can create levies, dikes, channels, or dams.

            Since humans can create, they learn the process of working through the many details of creating. With this they are endowed with a better perspective on nature. They can look at life and the natural world and know someone was responsible for its existence. The better perspective is that they can also know that someone must possess and astonishing capacity for wisdom and forethought to create a working, complex, beautiful world that continues unabated, generation after generation. Humans can witness nature working flawlessly from every side (from the minuscule to the immense) and see their own inventions fail or fall short of perfection. With the intelligence and sophistication possessed by humans, they are still incapable of creating life out of nothing, or making anything like that natural world.

            God formed humans with a mind to reason by which they can thin, learn, understand, solve problems, and apply knowledge to new circumstances. They can receive information and reason from the facts. When someone does not act rationally or seems to be missing all forms of reason, we perceive them ass insane. Nebuchadnezzar lost all rule when he was struck down by God to eat grass and live with the beasts. He could neither function as king nor as commoner since he did not act as a rational human being. His behavior was bizarre and incoherent (Dan. 4). It is not in the nature of mankind to be irrational, self-destructive, and void of reason. That is the behavior of a debased mind, which does not come from God.

            God demands reason from Israel in Isaiah 1:18:

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

God reasons with Israel. In this verse, he calls for Israel to reason with him. He knew they had the ability since they were made in his image. As is evident in this verse, reason is vital to salvation. Without the capacity of rational thought, humanity could neither learn nor properly apply the laws of God. Mankind would be at a total loss for proper obedience. People could not understand the teaching of God nor follow it. Thus, we are morally bound to be rational, just as God demanded of Israel in this passage.

            Rational thought brings the ability to make inference. Human beings can hear a message and understand what is implied in the message. It is impossible to gain or understand the whole council of God without using inference. Since so much is implied in the Bible and the implication is so easily understood, one can quickly come ot the conclusion that God knows His creations, and He knows how to communicate with mankind. The one who created mankind must be the one who gave us the Bible. If a person will reason from the Scriptures., he o she will gain the whole message of God through the use of a rational mind and an honest heart. Anything less renders only half the message. To glean the complete message of God a person must use the rational mind given by God. God expects nothing less—“Let us reason together”!

            God is able to teach in many ways. And through the Bible there are vast examples of how he does teach. He would send his messages out by various means. There are times when the spoken message (or the actual, literal word given) was not the complete lesson. The rest of the message would be gained from necessary inference. That would be done on the part of the hearer. For example, a message may not say directly, “If you repent you will be spared,” but it could bear such a meaning by implication.

            Let us look at two examples. Let us first consider the case of Jonah. When Jonah finally went to Nineveh (Jonah 3), he walked through the city and cried out one short sermon, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). He did not volunteer more information or explanation. From this, however, is the implied point, “If you repent you will be spared.” Thus, the whole message from the word of God has to be properly inferred by the people of Nineveh using reason. They repented and were spared (Jonah 3:5-10). If they only took Jonah’s statement (five words in Hebrew), and reasoned no further from it, they would have known only half the message. That direct message from Jonah was impending punishment for Nineveh. The rest of the message (implied) was, “If you repent you will be spared.” Why would God bother to send a prophet to Nineveh to inform them of their destruction if He did not desire their change of behavior and offer mercy by their repentance? Why not just kill them without warning? Why would God warn them of looming ruin if mercy was not implied? If they had not reasoned form it and used honest hearts t apply the whole message, they would have lived only forty more days and the history of Nineveh would have been shortened.

            The second example to consider is that of King Ahab. He envied a piece of property next to his palace in Jezreel (1 Kgs. 21:1-4). It was a vineyard and belonged to a man named Naboth. Ahab offered a deal. He would give Naboth a better vineyard in exchange for the one next to the palace. He also offered money. Naboth refused both, and Ahab hit the bed sullen and displeased. Enter his malevolent, Sidonian bride, Jezebel, with a plot. Through Jezebel’s machinations, Naboth was murdered, and Ahab took possession of the vineyard. Enter Elijah with a message. The message is condemning and terrible. Calamity would strike the house of Ahab, and it will become like the houses of Jeroboam and Baasha (1 Kgs. 21:21-24). All the sons of Ahab would be killed, and his posterity would end. There would be no one to inherit or continue the house of Ahab.

            In this message from God, Elijah gave neither words of comfort nor words of mercy. Yet, what does Ahab do? “And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly” (1 Kgs. 21:27). He understood the message, and knew what was implied in the message. If he had not reasoned his way through the words, he would have witnessed the tragedy himself.

Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. (1 Kgs. 21:29)

The calamity remained that was set, but it would be delayed because of Ahab’s humility. This is uncharacteristic behavior for Ahab. He had heard condemning words from Elijah before and had seen the power of Jehovah demonstrated. He had also done little to change his life or to change his wife. This time, however, he understood and obeyed what was implied in the message went from God. He though t things through rationally and responded accordingly.

             We now turn our attention to the conscience of humanity. This is a part of the mind that is in addition to rationality and reson. It works naturally together with both. Romans 2:14-15 states:

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.

Mankind possesses a conscience. This also is a part of the image of God that makes up humanity’s composition. The conscience is vital in discerning right and wrong. God certainly knows good from evil, and he has endowed s with the same ability. We are given the ability to choose and our conscience is designed within us to help. It accuses or else excuses by knowing what is wrong and what is right. When taught correctly, the conscience is invaluable in making proper decisions. It can be ignored, and it can be destroyed. In First Timothy 4:2, Paul describes those who were, “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” Through the continual indulging of wickedness, the conscience is rendered useless.

            In my home there are smoke detectors. They were placed there by the builders and have a purpose. They will warn us if there is a fire in the house and are guaranteed to wake the family should there be a fire at night. They are important things to have, but it seems whenever we make pancakes something rouses those alarms into action. I have been known to take screaming smoke detectors off the wall and put them in the garage. In some cases, I have taken the batteries out of them. Thus, they are rendered useless to anyone. Our house could burn down and take us with it, while the smoke detectors lay quietly in the garage.

            The conscience has a similar duty inside us. It is there to warn or question a decision yet to be made. It will also condemn in the wake of a wrong choice. A person with no self-control is one who is destroying his or her conscience. It will not be there to help assess or make judgment on any decision. It is effectively destroyed, or as Paul describes in First Timothy 1:19, “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.”

Conclusion

            God places a special value upon human life. It is of such great value to Him that He gave His own Son so that mankind could have a hope of redemption through and by Him. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). Is there any other thing in all of creation that God has valued so greatly? We are important to Him. We alone have been created in His image.

            It is because we were created in His image that we can learn, understand, and apply the truths of the Bible. It is because we were created in His image that we can imitate Christ and develop within ourselves, His divine, moral, attributes. Paul said, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Ro. 8:29). What a shame it would be to be given such an extraordinary opportunity in vain!