Sunday: In the Image of God
Read Genesis 1.26-27 and Genesis 5:1, Genesis 5:3. What do these texts teach about how God originally created humanity and then what happened to humanity after sin?
The phrase “the image of God” has captivated interpreters of the Bible for centuries. What is this image in which the first humans were created? For example, does it mean that God looked in a mirror and formed His new creation to look like Himself?
Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com
Or does it mean that humans are more like God than all other forms of life are? Or does it refer to a spiritual and intellectual similarity and compatibility between the Creator and His human creation? The Scriptures do not give any precise explanation of this expression even though scholars have derived from Scripture many interpretations of what it could mean. However, we can see that, after sin, this image had been changed, which is why Ellen G. White wrote that the goal of education is to restore in man the image of his maker (Education, pages 14-16).
How can education achieve such a remarkable goal?
First, we need to remember that God made us to have a relationship with Him, somewhat as parents do with their children. He made us in His image, the same way human parents have children in their image (Gen: 5:1), so that He can bring us up to be His children, who belong to His family; He can communicate with us and form a lasting relationship with us. The image of God therefore is more of a “mental image” that enables two beings, one divine and the other human, to have a meeting of minds. This is precisely what happens in education, first at home between parents and children, and later at school when teachers take over the work of education. Evidently God intended this process of education we know so well when, distinguishing us from many other life forms, He made us in His own image – He did it so that He can teach us and we can learn from Him, until His image (His mind) is reflected in ours.
| The story of redemption is a story of education from creation to incarnation, and from incarnation to re-creation. God is a teacher, and heaven is a school for all time (see Ellen G. White, Education, p. 301). What are the implications of this thought for our commitment to Christian education at home, in church, in school, in the university, and throughout life? |
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Here is one of the little puzzles that I think about from time to time.
We are created in the image of God, and I don't think that means that we simply look like God. I believe it has to do with our intellect and mind. God gave us the capacity to think, reason and love. And as part of the "image package", he has given us the capacity to learn and discover. That, however, raises a contradiction because we believe that God is omniscient, knows all and sees all and has no need to learn and discover. And yet learning and discovering are some of the most powerful motivators for our living. Has God in fact given us something that he cannot experience himself?
I have to confess I do not lose sleep over the issue. When it comes to the crunch, I can think of lots of contradictions, many of them trivial. They give rise to interesting thought bubbles and we can even learn from them.
Given, that God has gifted us with the capacity to learn, reason and discover, this capacity does enable us to learn more about God and in so doing draw closer to him. Good education is not primarily about gathering facts but developing experiences that build on one another. Most of us have taken study courses and have received a testamur or certificate at the end of the course. But the real value of the study course is to take what you have learned and apply it to real-life situations and to grow and develop and expand beyond what you learned in the classroom. Spiritual education is about becoming more Christ-like, growing and developing and expanding our interaction with God, and with one another.
Hello Maurice - looking at the Image of God in a practical way, I can see throughout Scripture God explaining to us the need to live in His Kingdom, in earth as it is in Heaven, should we choose to truly live.
Your question "Has God in fact given us something that he cannot experience himself?" is interesting and revealing in that it points out that Christians should live God's Image as we live our lives; and if we live God's Image expressed in the way we live, this means God can experience Himself as He manifests Himself through us and draws mankind to Himself.
This understanding does not generate just interesting "thought bubbles' - it is the essence of the Gospel Message! It is by Grace that we are saved and this is not due to our own effort - Eph.2:8,9KJV
I think we should lose sleep over this issue, since we have accepted this gift that others have not yet. Our living testimony is essential in demonstrating God to the perishing world and should keep us alert to eagerly seek out opportunities to share His Light which we live by.
God has experienced everything we have to experience (even not knowing everything) through one member of the Godhead Christ HIMSELF!
" And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness" Ephesians 4:23, 24.
Created the image of God to me means created in holiness and righteousness. " You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" However, aftermath fall, this image was marred and corrupted, and the only solution to restore this image is through REDEMPTION.
Today's image reminds me: Just as the sun rises every morning to give us energy and warmth which causes the plants to grow - each morning my heart, mind and spirit reaches out to the LORD for power and love to sustain me for the day.
I believe image = character. Humans were created with a character like the LORD, their lives were based on His Principles of Love. Jesus came to educate the whole world about the true character of the LORD. As we spend time in His company through the Word and the Holy Spirit we will be transformed into His likeness, His image, His character.
AND A great sign (wonder)–[warning of future events of ominous significance] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crownlike garland (tiara) of twelve stars on her head.
Revelation 12:1 AMPC
Many years ago I was in a small Sabbath school. The whole church consisted of 6-8 members. We studied the lesson for ss and church. If we wanted a sermon we would skip our little group and drive down the mountain for a real church service. I never forget one gentleman who enjoyed interpreting texts. Told us who the women was(the church), the sun(Christ), the moon(being under our feet we reflect the character of, or if you will the image of Christ). I said I do believe you are right. It ties in with the lesson of a couple of weeks ago. The heart of God reflects to Christ, Christ heart reflects to the believer and the heart of the believer reflects on the non-believer.
The Image of God.
The last crowning work of God was to make man. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion” over the things We have created. “So God created man in his own image.” He gave man a personal form in God’s own image. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female, created he them.” This is plainly defined that God had as verily a personality as the human agencies whom He created. {Ms171-1904.4}
'In the beginning, human beings were created in the image of God. They were in perfect harmony with the nature and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were written upon their hearts. But sin alienated them from their Maker. They no longer reflected the divine image. Their hearts were at war with the principles of God’s law. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7. {HB 103.4}
The image of God means having a personality like no other species on earth. The ability to think, respond, nurture, give, love, suffer, experience hunger, thirst, forgive etc. Its a combination of the physical, mental, social and spiritual components of man. When Jesus came to the earth he came as a human and experienced the same things that human experience today.
Hi Lyn - if you look at man, as you say "the crowning work of God", this could imply that God assigned to Him a purpose - which is to administer the government, have dominion over the earth. In his fallen state, He was unable to do so and nature deteriorated along with him. Now, man is given another chance to do it right; Christ Jesus has made the difference in man's personality in that he is now again able to live the Image of God throught the Image of His Son.
The moon reflects the light of the sun, but it does not possess light of its own. Without the sun, its ability to illuminate a dark night is non existent. The function of the moon is similar to that of the sun, but similarity does not mean equality. This is why Jesus told us that without him we can do nothing.
Being made in God's image means that we have the potential of having the mind of Jesus Christ. This takes a lifetime and eternity. The Bible is infused with the mind of God. If we want to think like Jesus, we must set aside a sacred time to read and meditate upon his Word. This is a process without an end point.
Brother Maurice raises another good point about what does God need to learn if he knows everything? Having been a student of science, experimentation is the fundamental tool for discovery and learning. I do believe God made us to be a companion He could cherish and apparently “train” or educate. However, one thought on this is; were we His “experiment“ in the course of creation since God kept adding to the scene here on Earth until He stopped with the introduction of His ultimate variable; man in His image infused with the freedom of choice? Which may explain Genesis chapter 6, verse 6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.“ A verse that has perplexed me over time.
Hello Ronald - You bring to the discussion interesting points. The first: “were we His “experiment” ..? In light of the whole creation and His concluding statement that all was ‘very good’, I think man was part and parcel, actually the ‘crowning’ achievement of His creative Spirit. Without man, what would be the purpose of His natural creation, – the elements that sustain nature, vegetation, birds, animals and life in the sea –, what ‘useful’ purpose would they serve in their existence by only having a limited capacity for self-recognition?
I also want to share my thoughts regarding your comment “..infused with the freedom of choice.” I see choice as part and parcel of the mind’s capacity to think freely and creatively. The mind's capacity for choice does not have a value in and of itself, it derives its value by application/intent of the choice we make.
God gave clear, intellectual instructions to Adam how to manage himself and the earth; Adam was created and placed in charge to follow these instructions which were based on the harmonious interrelationship of all that *is* and so 'honor' their Creator.
When Adam made the choice to act after his own understanding and exchanged ‘honoring God’s law’ with honoring his capacity to express his own will, placing it higher than God’s to him communicated will, he separated himself from God by relying on his own, limited capacity to choose ‘right from wrong’, and with this moved away from the governing principle of God's law of *perfect harmony* to man's law of *establishing priority of 'Self' over 'All/Other'*.
His Creation's governing principle of perfect Harmony, Love between the Creator and His Creation, was no longer directly available to man! Man's utterly careless choice with its far-reaching consequences brought about his separation from God and is, what I believe, that which greatly *disappointed* God and “grieved him at his heart”.
It could be interesting to do a word study on ‘repented’; I cannot see God being ‘angry’ with something that He had declared ‘very good’ and loved.
before sin, our education was to understand your world, know the secret, unsearchable knowledge of God and be constantly know about God. When we fell, we needed now to understand the consequences of our fall, and how to get back to God. in their perversive generation of pervasive generation, the ideal purpose of education - understanding God is a bit lost on us. Education needs to let us know how far we've fallen from God's intention, draws to His saving grace on the cross and back to communion with God, that is when we will begin to see some of the infinite wisdom of God.
Maybe focusing first on ‘that we are made’ can help us understand that we only exist under full authority of a Creator who had a purpose for His design of man. Discovering our purpose could then help us understand the Image we are made ‘by/from/after’, since it also gave us the capacity to fulfill this purpose when we were made in his/their image.
When God created man, I think He was earthy oriented with a heavenly intent/focus/purpose.
1Cor.15:45-50KJV gives an interesting insight into the difference between the ‘earthy’ and the ‘heavenly’ aspects of man.
The first man Adam (v.45) “was made a living Soul” and the last Adam “was made a quickening spirit”; natural came before the spiritual, and the first man was earthy and the second man is “the Lord from heaven”; we find two distinctly different aspects having the ability to govern us – an earthy one and a heavenly one.
Flesh cannot exist in heaven v.49,50 – “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
Ellen White’s statement that: “In the highest sense, the work of education and the work of redemption are one”, tells me a lot. Evaluating education and redemption in the context of establishing understanding of the Image of God, I can easily draw the conclusion that ultimately man’s Image is to be, in the final outcome of an experiential and intellectual process, completeness in/is oneness with the Creator.
Col.2:8-15KJV – v.8 – “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments(elements) of the world, and not after Christ. V.9 – For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”
The first Adam, being earthy, cannot fully realize his image/calling unless he is also spiritual, which the second Adam provided; if I draw the right conclusion, then the purpose and goal for man - by being given oportunity to accept the re-establishing of his image which was originally transferred to man from God’s image - is one and the same and in essence heavenly/spiritual: ‘because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1Peter1:13-16KJV - Man needs Christ Jesus to complete the Image of God within himself and so be reunited with his Maker.
The EGW quote about the goal of education being to restore the image of God in humans is one that puzzles me. It sounds really good, but is it really possible? Only God can restore His image in us. If she means that education is bringing us to God so He can do His work, this makes sense, but if it's just applied to having a system of Adventist education, I can't see it being possible, no matter how good our schools are. Am I off here?
Christina, if you click on the link to "Education, p. 301" in the pink section of the day's lesson, you will find the following quote, "Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man". You might not be "off", but just understanding the word differently.
The problem might be that when the word "education" is used we tend to think of structured course work within the confines of an educational system(s). Here we may need to stick to Ellen White's "broader scope" and "higher aim", coupled with the understanding that God wants humanity to know (education being a transfer of "know"ledge from a teacher to a recipient) Him (Jer 9:23-24; Hos 6:3,6; Jn 17:3->Heb 1:1-4). Christina, I hope you're into "Highest" education!😊
I hope that those who have engaged with this day's lesson left with a clearer understanding of the expression "the image of God", than the murky past suggested by the first paragraph.
Gen 2:7 describes God's creation of man in two parts. It describes the creation of man's PHYSICAL nature as being formed from "the dust of the ground", while the creation of his NON-PHYSICAL nature it describes as the "breath of life". While there are numerous examples in Scripture of God being anthropomorphized (or conceptualized with physical human characteristics e.g., Ex 7:5; Ex 15:8; Ps 34:15-16; Prov 15:3 etc), Scripture teaches that God is a non-physical being (Jn 4:24; 1 Tim 1:17). In fact, this concept is so prevalent and feels so natural that some may find it shocking and uncomfortable to even entertain the thought that God is neither male nor female (Gen 1:27)!
Since God created BOTH the male and the female "in the image of God", the expression must indicate something other than human gender or physicality. So, I believe we must necessarily look away from the physical and examine instead the NON-PHYSICAL, or "breath of life". Gen 1:26 (NKJV) correlates the creation of BOTH the man AND the woman in God's "image, according to our likeness" with their conferred ability to exercise "DOMINION over the fish of the SEA, over the birds of the AIR, and over the cattle, and OVER ALL THE EARTH..." just like God (1 Chr 29:10-11). The "dominion" that Adam and Eve exercised was not a function of their physical nature, but rather a function of their non-physical nature, or mental capability. We see Jesus revisiting His previous creative role in His symbolic action in Jn 20:22 (compare Jn 3:5-6,8 with Col 3:10).