Uncovering your full potential

What are you going to do knowing that you have the pattern of his image?

A.- How is God with us? Doesn’t he takes our burdens upon himself. Or benefits us when we are not doing well. Or supplies for our physical and mental necessities.

In an ancient Israelite context this would suggest cultivating its fields, mining its mineral riches, using its trees for construction, and domesticating its animals. v28.

In procreation they will share in the divine work of creating human life and passing on the divine image (see 5:1–3); in ruling they will serve as God’s vice-regents on earth.

God wanted to keep chaos under control by creating man.

God’s desire was to bless humanity and to enjoy relationship with them.

A different view of humanity compared from the Ancient mythological accounts that view man more like part of the chaos itself without any possibilities to change their insignificant destiny (Slaves)

Wisdom of Solomon 9:3 NRSV

and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul,

Sirach 15:14 NRSV

It was he who created humankind in the beginning, and he left them in the power of their own free choice.

People that don’t want to follow God is because they don’t understand who they are

This spiritual aspect of man has been damaged by the fall and is daily tarnished by sin. But it was seen in perfection in Christ and will be made perfect in us when salvation is complete (Heb 2:6–15).

It is true, however, as Oehler points out that the source of the nepeš of animals is the ground, whereas the source of the nepeš of Adam is God.

God’s Provision:

The assigning of every green plant for food (rsv) to all creatures must not be pressed to mean that all were once herbivorous, any more than to mean that all plants were equally edible to all. It is a generalization, that directly or indirectly all life depends on vegetation, and the concern of the verse is to show that all are fed from God’s hand. See also on 9:3. v29-30

Genesis 9:3 NIV

Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

In the ancient Near East, the gods created for themselves—the world was their environment for their enjoyment and existence. People were created only as an afterthought, when the gods needed slave labor to help provide the conveniences of life (such as irrigation trenches). In the Bible the cosmos was created and organized to function on behalf of the people that God planned as the centerpiece of his creation.

An all-wise, all-powerful, loving God formed all things perfect in the beginning. He made man, the crown of His creation, perfect and capable of fellowship with Himself and able to enjoy and govern a good life on Earth.

God’s image is not described as being possessed in part or given gradually; rather, it is an immediate and inherent part of being human.

The capacity for sexual reproduction is cast as a divine blessing.

In the Ancient Near East, setting up a king’s statue (or ‘image’) was equivalent to proclaiming his dominion. It declared him lord over the area in which the statue was erected (compare Daniel 3:1, 5–7). So, when God creates humanity in his image, he is saying that humanity is God’s statue—the evidence that God is the Lord of creation.

But this is not all. These verses also make clear that humanity is not just a passive statue. Humanity not only represents God’s rule but also exerts God’s rule.