God Created Man in His Own Image
God's first man was made just as God wanted all men to be. He was made after a pattern. God's first man came direct from God's own hand and bore a definite resemblance to his Creator. "The root idea of the Hebrew word translated 'image' is that of a shadow." God's first man, then, was God's shadow. He was like God. But in what respect?
To answer this question we are forced to ask another. "What was God like? "GOD created "man." The statement is made without any previous explanation of God Himself; He appears upon the first pages of revelation as a Being acting independently in the creation of a universe and of man with no explanation of Himself and with no reference whatever to His origin.
"Who, then, created God?" How many mothers had to answer that query! It is, likewise, the first and greatest issue that confronts the philosopher as he studies into the secrets of the universe. In answering this question correctly one takes his first step in knowing who God is.
Scripture gives to men and women of faith an absolutely satisfying and final answer in the simple but sublime words, "In the beginning GOD." God never "became for He always "was." God is the great "I AM." "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." God had no beginning and will have no end. From everlasting to everlasting He is God. "For with thee is the fountain of life." "For as the Father hath life in himself." God is the Uncreated: the Always-Existent. He is the Eternal One. He is the Beginning of all beginnings.
This, then, is what God is. But if this is what God is in what respect could God's first man ever be said to resemble Him? Let us press on in our search for an understanding of this great truth. While God never explains Himself in Scripture He does reveal Himself. He wants men to know who and what He is, for if we did not have this knowledge we could never know God's original intention for man who was made in His image.
Let us turn to the first twenty-five verses of the opening chapter of God's Word and see if we find any revelation of Himself that throws light upon the king of resemblance God's first man bore to God. We read:
"God said ..."
"God made ..."
"God saw ..."
"God set ..."
"God divided ..."
"God created ..."
"God called ..."
"God blessed ..."
These phrases each record something which God did. Outward action is the expression of inward being. What one does reveals what one is.
"God said," therefore God must have thought.
"God blessed," therefore God must have loved.
"God created," therefore God must have willed.
Genesis 1:1-25 reveals personality. God is a Person. He is a Person who thinks, loves, and wills.
We have now found out two things about God. We have learned that God is the Uncreated, the Eternal, the Infinite, the Fountainhead of all life. And we have learned that He is a Person who thinks, loves and wills. The deduction which we may make from this twofold revelation is that God is a Person who thinks, loves and wills on the plane of uncreated, unlimited, eternal, divine life.
Are we ready now to answer the question, "In what respect was God's first man like God?" Perhaps we might clarify our thinking on one very fundamental point by first saying in what respect God's first man was not like him.
Genesis 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
1 Corinthians 15:47, "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven."
God was man's Creator. Man became a living soul. Man was formed from the dust of the ground. He is of the earth, earthy. It will be clearly seen from these verses that God and God's first man Adam were not in the same order of beings nor did they live on the same plane of life.
God is uncreated, man is created. God is infinite, man is finite. God is heavenly, man is earthy. God is divine, man is human. Between what God is in His uncreated, essential, divine being and what man is in his created, finite, human being there is an absolutely impassable gulf, an immeasurable distance. God is not superman, man is not inferior God.
In what respect then did God's first man resemble God? Wherein was man God's shadow? It was in the wondrous gift of personality. Man is a person as God is a person. Let us trace this likeness in the opening chapters of Genesis.
As a person God thought and expressed His thought in words thus revealing the truth that intelligence is inherent in personality. God made Adam in His image.
Genesis 2:19, 20, "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field."
Adam was created with the power to think and to express thought in words. Adam had intelligence.
As a person God loved and expressed His love in blessing thus revealing the truth that emotion is inherent in personality. God made Adam in His image.
Genesis 2:18, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; and I will make him an help meet for him."
God gave Eve to Adam to be his wife and God said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).
Adam was created with the power to love and to express that love in fidelity. Adam had emotion.
As a person God willed and expressed His will in action thus revealing the truth that will is inherent in personality. God made Adam in His Image.
Genesis 3:6, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
Adam was created with the power to will and to express that will in choice. Adam had volition.
God's first man was made in God's image in the sense of having a personality patterned after God's in its power to think, to love and to will; but with this difference, that God thought, loved and willed on the plane of uncreated, unlimited, eternal, divine life, while Adam thought, loved, and willed on the plane of created, limited, finite, human life. The intellectual, emotional and volitional life of God's first man was perfect within a limited sphere. Above and beyond this was the perfection of God's personality within an unlimited sphere.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 5)
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