Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Genesis

[Chillin']

Genesis: 1. 27. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them"

So according to this, God made us in his image. My question(s) are 1. What exactly did he mean by "created in his own image"? 2. If he did create us to be exactly like him, take a long, hard look at the world today. We don't act like God. Well maybe the old testament god, but definitely not the God after Jesus died. Does God have a design flaw?

[jimwalton]

The text explains what God meant by "in his image," and it doesn't mean "to be exactly like him," (therefore, no particular design flaw). As soon as he says "in our image, in our likeness" (1.26), he says, "And let them rule." The "image of God" is explained as having dominion over creation as vice-regents, so to speak. It is repeated again in v. 27, and then explained again in v. 28: "Rule over over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." This thought is reinforced in Psalm 8.5-8 where David wrote that we were created as rulers over the earth. God's image obviously doesn't consist in our bodies, since God has no body, or that we were made from earthly (natural) materials, since God is not made of matter.

Both man and woman were made in the image of God, both entrusted equally with the role of dominion over the earth without any hint of hierarchy or rank. Rulership is what was conferred by "the image of God."

Ancient kinds left statues or stelae (a relief of the king) in regions they had conquered. The presence of the artifact would symbolize the sovereignty of the king over that territory. Humankind's creation in the image of God was of the same effect. Humans were supposed to reflect the attributes of the sovereign king (in this case, God), and rule with the same responsibility and integrity as the sovereign, and to act on his behalf.