Sermon Notes Created in the Image of God Genesis 1:26-27 February 19, 2011, FBCam The opening verses of Genesis have already instructed us on some of the most crucial issues that we face as human beings. The questions, Who am I? - IDENTITY Where did I come from? - ORIGIN Why am I here? - PURPOSE What happens next? - DESTINY We studied these questions as we examined Genesis 1:1 on January first, 2011. We ve also learned last week that the first chapter of Genesis instructs us concerning a very prominent issue today, the issue of environmentalism. TODAY, we will discover even greater truths in Genesis on that address the questions of our origin. Understanding what God says about being created in The Image of God will guide our minds to a correct understanding of the question concerning - the sanctity of life (abortion, euthanasia, embronic stem cells, capital punishment) - human psychology (self-worth) The Scripture declares, Genesis 1:26 27 "Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. " "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. " You are Unique in God s Creation Our encounter with God s word reveals that God became Personally involved when he made man. Note the Change in words. In every other act of creation, God simply declared, Let there be... When it came time to create the crowning jewel of his work, God said Let us make. Why? Was God talking to the angels? NO. Because man is not like the angels Was God speaking as royalty? NO. He was addressing the PERSONS of the trinity! Other OT references refer to God s plurality: Genesis 3:22 "And the LORD God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. " Genesis 11:7 "Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not
understand each other. " Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here am I. Send me! As a unique creation of God, men and women are made in His Image. The meaning of this has brought several different ideas in Christian history. The word In our image, is the Hebrew word selem. It is used 16x in OT. The equivalent NT (Greek) word is eikon. The Primary meaning = a representation or likeness (TWOT). In contrast to this word selem, an IDOL was a replica that was worshiped. Selem refers to the image as a representation of the deity (TWOT, 767) But this resemblance of God is greatly blurred. We gain this possible implication from the meaning of the word selem from the way the word is used in Psalm 39:5 6 "You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. " The word phantom is the Hebrew selem, which I believe means that within the non-physical part of man, we can see a faint glimpse of God, although even this faint glimpse has been marred by sin and must be redeemed. It was Adam and eve that possessed the image of God. Yet even after their fall into sin, the IMAGE is passed on. We know this because we read in Genesis 5:1-3,"This is the written account of Adam s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. " "He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them man. " "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. " What Created in God s Image Does NOT mean 1) It does not mean that GOD has a physical body. John 1:18 "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father s side, has made him known. " John 4:24 God is a spirit... John 6:46 "No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. " 1 Timothy 1:17 "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever 1 Timothy 6:15 16 God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, " "who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. " 2) It does not mean that we will become God, or that we have a part of God. In contrast to the correct teaching concerning God s image in man, faith teacher Creffelo Dollar
proclaimed, Horses produce horses and dogs produce dogs and cats produce cats and fish produce fish and God produced gods!...this is the history the religious church wants to hide away from you so you don't know who you really are!" Creflo Dollar, "The Creative Ability of Words," Tape from his ministry, Product Number: 8432091 This is dangerous and false teaching that elevates man to the position of God. It is not new in the church. Arius taught the same heresies 1700 years ago. What Created in God s Image DOES mean 1) God s PERSONALITY can be seen in the persons he created. The attributes that form personality are seen in God, and those same attributes are in us. (1) Life (2) Intelligence (3) Purpose (4) Activity (5) Freedom (6) Self-Consciousness (7) Emotion (8) Spirituality (From John Whitcomb, God and Revelation. (Notes from the Whitcomb School of Theology, p. 21) God s image obviously does not consist in man s body which was formed from earthly matter, but in his spiritual, intellectual, moral likeness Harris, Archer, Waltke, TWOT, 768. The image of God consists, therefore, in the spiritual personality of man, Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), Ge 1:24 31. 2) God s ACTIVITY can be seen in the persons he created. We can only say that, although God Himself may have no physical body, He designed and formed man s body to enable it to function physically in ways in which He Himself could function even without a body. (9) God can see (Genesis 16:13), (10) hear (Psalm 94:9), (11) smell (Genesis 8:21), (12) touch (Genesis 32:32), (13) and speak (2 Peter 1:18), There is something about the human body, therefore, which is uniquely appropriate to God s manifestation of Himself,...He must have designed man s body with this in mind. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record : A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1976), 74. In any case, there can be little doubt that the image of God in which man was created must entail those aspects of human nature which are not shared by animals attributes such as a moral consciousness, the ability to think abstractly, an understanding of beauty and emotion, and, above all, the capacity for worshiping and loving God. (Morris, 74)
3) FINALLY, the activity of RULING over His creation. (Gen 1:28) (a) Dominion, tending, caring, (b) improving, discovering. God Uniquely created you so that you might KNOW HIM. John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. SO THEN, Why don t we all KNOW GOD? It is because the image that God intended to be reflect in us has been marred by sin. The very reason that Jesus came into the world was so that he could restore that broken image as he transforms us into His image by regeneration through his shed blood. The following passage is foundational in understanding this. 2 Corinthians 4:4 "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. " Jesus is the TRUE IMAGE of the FATHER. I said earlier that our is a phantom or shadowy image of God. Jesus is the true reflection - the carbon copy of the Father. Colossians 1:15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. " Hebrews 1:3 "The Son is the radiance of God s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Jesus became a MAN to show us what we should have known in the GARDEN. ADAM MARRED God s image by his sin, and LOST HIS FELLOWSHIP with God. JESUS RESTORES GOD s IMAGE in US so that we can once again reflect the moral attributes of God. Romans 8:29 30 "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. " "And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 1 Corinthians 15:49 "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. " 1 John 3:2 "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. " 2 Corinthians 3:18 "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. " What are the implications of the truth of the image of God in our lives? YOU were created so that you might KNOW GOD. You don t work on your self-image.
You need to allow GOD S IMAGE to be reflected in your life as you become more like Jesus! Every other person was created to that they might KNOW GOD. Therefore, destroying a life is the most serious offense because it ends our opportunity to KNOW GOD and REFLECT HIS ATTRIBUTES. This guides us beyond any point of discussion or debate to an image of God concept as it relates to the modern day questions of: Abortion Suicide Murder Embronic Stem Cell Research One final question: Can others see you becoming more like Jesus? This is what you were ultimately created for! One day Billy and Ruth Graham were driving through a long stretch of road construction. They had numerous slowdowns, detours, and stops along the way. Finally they reached the end of all that difficulty, and smooth pavement stretched out before them. This sign caught Ruth s attention: "End of construction. Thanks for your patience." She commented that those words would be a fitting inscription on her tombstone someday. Your life is not about you gaining the most that you can. The very reason that you were created is so that you might reflect the image of God - so that you, and others, might be drawn closer to an understanding of God through your very existence. Now that s a unique and God centered way of looking at life. It is only in this way that we restore the dignity, purpose and beauty of all that God created us to be. Finally, your re-creation into God s image because of the ruin of sin can only be complete when you accept Jesus as your Savior. When you do, you will begin the process of being transformed into the image of Christ so that you can reflect God s creative purposes.
He knew, of course, that in the fulness of time even He would become a man. In that day, He would prepare a human body for His Son (Hebrews 10:5; Luke 1:35); and it would be made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7), just as man had been made in the likeness of God. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record : A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1976), 74. The Lamb had, in the determination of these councils, been slain before the foundation of the world; the names of the redeemed had been written in His book of life before the foundation of the world; and God had called those who were to be saved by His grace, before the world began (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 17:8; 2 Timothy 1:9). Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record : A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1976), 73.