In God’s Image

Intro

Good morning, would you turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 1:26-31

We are continuing our series on the first 11 chapters of Genesis entitled “In the Beginning”.

Where we are discovering what God reveals about Himself,

his creation,

and the foundational events that begin the story of salvation.

Last week we explored days 4-6 of the creation story of Genesis 1

and saw that

God created everything as a gift.

He did not give the gifts so that they would be worshipped,

but he gave them, so that we would worship and delight in him.

This morning we will be finishing day six of the creation week,

by looking at the creation of humanity.

But before we get to our passage, let me ask you a question:

How would you describe humanity? What does it mean to be human?

In the T.V. show, Star Trek: The Next Generation,

an alien character once described humans as “ugly bags of mostly water.”

This takes to the extreme, something I’ve mentioned a few times the last few weeks:

The way we as moderns tend to understand things.

The modern, materialistic way of understanding the existence of things,

is to reduce them down to their material essence.

“The earth is a rock in space,” “the sun is a burning ball of gas,” “humans are ugly bags of mostly water.

But what we see in the scriptures is very different from that.

God creates everything with purpose and intentionality.

God creates material things, but he does not make them materialistically.

The created things are not merely the matter they are made from,

but they are made to reflect the purpose for which God has made them.

In the account of the creation of man in Genesis 1, we see that mankind is not merely an ugly bag of mostly water,

but a special creation, that has a special relationship with the creator.

Which takes me to our passage this morning.

Genesis 1:26-31

Exposition

Man Decreed (v. 26)

Just like the other things created in the six days of the creation week,

God speaks humanity into being.

Like everything else in cosmos, Humanity is a miraculous creation.

Not a product of time and chance,

not the result of eons of trial and error,

but specifically, miraculously, spoken into being.

But unlike the rest of the creation, where God says, “Let there be…”

with this creation, God says something a bit different.

We read in v.26

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

First of all we see that God says, “let us”.

Now there are a few different ideas of what this means.

There are some that believe that God is speaking to the angelic host,

or to a divine council of angels.

But the problem with that is that man is not made in the image or likeness of the angels,

we are made in the image of God, as v. 27 says twice.

God is not speaking to angels, but is in counsel with himself,

The one creator God is presented as a plurality, more than one.

This is like what we saw a few weeks ago,

when the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2.

While we don’t have a full expression of the trinity, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), as we do in the New Testament,

we do see that God reveals himself as a plurality.

Point 1: Man was created in God’s Image

So God says in v. 26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

This takes me to my first point this morning, and that is this:

Man was created in God’s image

This is how the Bible describes humanity,

not an ugly bag of mostly water - but a being made in the image and likeness of God.

We see it again twice in v. 27,

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;

Theologians refer to this aspect of humanity in latin as the “Imago Dei” the “Image of God”

This gives us the basis for the sanctity of human life,

and it is foundation for human rights.

But before we get to that, we need to ask ourselves: what does this mean?

What does it mean that humanity, is made in the image of God?

Image of God

Temple

One of the ways to understand what it means to be made in the image of God, is to think of an image in a temple.

The law against idolatry, the 2nd of the 10 commndments, is given to God’s people in Exodus 20:4.

In that law we see similar language of “image” and “likeness” as is used in our passage this morning.

It says there, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

At the time that Genesis and Exodus were written, there were many pagan temples dedicated to various gods.

In each of those temples an idol, an image of the god, was placed inside.

Many scholars and theologians have pointed out that in creating the cosmos, God has built a temple for himself.

The image of himself that God places in the creation, is mankind, humanity.

We are his image bearers, made glorify God in the temple of his creation.

Likeness

Another way to understand the image of God is thinking of it as “likeness”.

We see this in our passage when God says. “in our likeness” but we also see it later on in the book of Genesis in Genesis 5.

In Genesis 5:1 it says, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.”

but then in Genesis 5:3 we see that the same language is used when it says, that Adam, the first man, “fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image.”

Being made in the image of God, is similar to a son being born in the image and likeness of his father.

Those of you with children know what its like, when you see your kid doing something, or saying something, just like you do.

Just like a son is like his father, mankind is like his creator in certain aspects.

Humanity reflects, in a small and limited way, some of God’s qualities in our being.

This likeness is demonstrated in countless ways;

Some of the qualities that theologians have pointed out are:

our use of language,

our ability to think and reason,

our moral awareness,

our desire to participate in love,

and our capacity for creativity.

Tolkien once wrote that, “we make… …because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”

But being made in the image of God is not just about what we can do.

For example, we don’t cease to bear God’s image if we can’t do one of the things I just listed.

You don’t cease to bear God’s image when you fall asleep,

or if you were in a coma, or severely handicapped

or if you are still in the womb.

Status

Being made in God’s image is not just a physical quality, or an ability that we might have,

but it is a status that is bestowed on us by God.

To be human, is to be made in the image of God,

to be made in the image of God, is to be human.

This is an immaterial status that cannot be lost or taken away.

The image of God is innate in our very being from the moment we are conceived in the womb.

Even when we die physically, we never cease to be human.

Our body, decomposes as a human body.

And our souls remain human souls.

All of us will one day be bodily resurrected to face judgment - as humans.

And will spend eternity as humans either in heaven or hell.

We never lose our innate status as image bearers of God.

The Core of our Being

This is at the very core of what it means to be human.

We are a special creation,

the only one of God’s creatures who are described this way.

As wonderful as I’m sure your dog or cat is, they are not made in God’s image.

I mean it, you aren’t a cat parent or a dog parent,

they had a parent, it isn’t you.

Our being as humans is intrinsically connected to God.

There is no way to understand or define humanity properly without him.

Our nature finds its basis in his.

In Matthew 22, some of Jesus enemies wanted to trap him in his words.

So they asked Jesus about one of the most controversial topics in 1st century Judea.

“Should people pay taxes to Caesar”

Jesus, asked them to bring him a coin with which the taxes were paid.

They brought him a Roman Denarius.

And Jesus asked them, “who’s image is on this coin?”

They answered him, “Caesar’s image is on the coin.”

And so he answered their question this way,

“Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

But Jesus was hinting at something more than just paying taxes.

“Caesar’s image is on the coin, who’s image is on you?”

Made to Be Recognized

You and I are made in the image of God,

Just like the coin had caesar’s image on it,

you and I have the image of God on us.

We belong to God not only as his creatures, but as his image bearers.

This is what makes human life sacred,

this is what gives human life value beyond all other life.

And this is not something that we can ignore.

Man was made in the image of God,

and we must recognize God’s image in all of humanity.

Countercultural

For much of human history this was not recognized.

In the ancient world, a normal individual had no inherent worth or value.

Human life was not sacred; people were enslaved, they were slaughtered for their land or belongings,

they were even offered as human sacrifices.

Only royalty; the king, or pharaoh, or the emperor, had any sort of worth or value.

They were even thought to be gods themselves, or to have become gods at death.

And this speaks to the problem that has plagued humanity throughout our existence.

We either make too much of ourselves, or not enough.

When we do not recognize the nature of humanity as being a creature made in the image of God,

we will always miss the mark by aiming too high, or too low.

We either see man as a god himself, or we see him as merely an animal.

Or as an ugly bag of mostly water.

Man Created (v. 27)

The Hebrew word that is translated as “Man” in our passage this morning is “Adam”, which means “man”.

Adam also becomes the proper name of the first man as we will see in a couple weeks when we look at Genesis 2.

But here in our passage the word “Man” is used generically to mean “humanity,” or “mankind.

Which is how we see it used here in v. 27.

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Point 2: Man was created Male and Female

This verse takes me to my second point this morning,

2. Man was created male and female

God in creating mankind, created them specifically male and female.

With both the male and the female being image bearers of God.

This again was totally unlike what was believed in the ancient world.

Where nobody was thought to be made in the image of God,

nobody had inherent value,

and women were generally treated as property.

In the days of the early church,

one of the slanders against Christianity in the Roman world was that it was,

“the religion of women and slaves.”

This is because women and slaves were treated by the christians as equals,

because they too are image bearers of God.

Male and Female

God, in his goodness, sovereignty, and wisdom,

created mankind as both male and female.

Jesus reinforces this statement when he says in Matthew 19:4,

Matthew 19:4 ESV

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

God from the beginning has made men and women distinct from each other

for the expressed purpose of bearing his image in their natures:

Men in their masculinity, and women in their femininity.

To consider men and women as identical, interchangeable, or transitional is to reject God’s good design;

it is sin, and has devastating consequences

for individuals, families, and cultures.

And it’s absolutely heartbreaking,

the damage that is being done to the bodies and souls of beautiful people who have been deceived.

Who are being led to destruction by movements and ideologies that oppose,

the God-given goodness of being made by him male and female.

We need to show those who are caught up in this deception lots of love,

we need to pray for their rescue,

and we need to pray for their healing.

And there is healing, forgiveness, and restoration through Jesus Christ.

It is never too late for any of us, to turn away from every destructive pattern of sin,

and turn towards God’s love, forgiveness and healing in Jesus Christ.

How we turn to him is through repentance and faith.

Repent of your sins, ask God for forgiveness,

and believe in him for your salvation,

and you will be saved.

Totally forgiven, restored to a right relationship with him as his image-bearer.

Pursuing what this world promotes as fulfilling, will always leave you empty.

But there is wholeness in delighting in what God has given us.

God in his wisdom and kindness has made you male, or he has made you female,

and he has made you that way for you to delight in the nature he has given you.

Glorying in the very good design God has created, is what leads to true happiness.

God’s way, not the counterfeit, is what leads to flourishing in the lives of men and women.

Blessed (v. 28)

And flourishing is what God has intended for us.

We see this in v. 28 of our passage. Where it says,

Genesis 1:28 ESV

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God blesses man, similarly to how he blessed the birds and the fish on day 5 of the creation week.

But there is more to this blessing than what the fish and the birds receive.

There are two things I want to point out in this verse.

Fruitful

First of all, God intends his image bearers to “be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth.”

God made humanity male and female especially to fulfill this very purpose, to bear the fruit of children.

Men and women complement one another in a variety of different ways, but especially within the institution of marriage -

and in child bearing within that relationship

Pastor Harry is going to spend more time on this aspect of humanity when he takes us through much of Genesis two in a couple weeks.

But I want to say that as Christians we need to be pro- marriage, pro-family, pro-kids.

We are pro- life.

Our society, is none of these things.

Think about what our society promotes:

The break up of the family, casual sex, abortion, doctor assisted suicide, pornography, homosexuality, transgenderism, anti-natalism, third wave feminism, let me know if I’ve left one out.

It’s interesting that all of these do the opposite of what God intends with his blessing.

It’s interesting, but it’s not a mystery.

A society that hates God, will hate what he loves.

And a society that hates God, will hate his image bearers and their flourishing.

Just like the ancient pagans refused to recognize the image of God in humanity,

the modern pagans do the same.

They reject the image, because they reject God.

Our being is intrinsically connected to God.

We are made in his image.

Our nature finds its basis in his.

So when we divorce our nature from his, all that is left is confusion and discord.

This is why there are so many cultural landmines

when your just trying to write a simple sermon on humanity.

My strategy with silly cultural landmines

is to just leap directly on to each and every one.

The Culture of Death

Our culture, if you can call it a culture, is at war with the image of God.

This is what has led many theologians and christian philosophers to refer to it as a culture of death.

We have rejected God and his wisdom, and his desire for flourishing and life.

And have pursued folly and death.

As wisdom says in Proverbs 8:36 “all who hate me love death.”

We as Christians are pro-life,

this means that in a culture of death filled with darkness,

the light we shine will not go unnoticed.

We will face opposition.

But even atheists and agnostics nowadays are noticing

that the only hope for the survival of western culture, is the Christian faith.

Because we are the people who recognize the image of God in humanity,

and we are the people who are pro-life.

Point 3: Man was Created to Exercise Dominion.

God intends his image bearers to be fruitful.

And he intends his image bearers to be fruitful so that they could exercise authority in the world.

This takes me to my final point this morning:

3. Man was created to exercise dominion.

The Dominion Mandate

This is the second thing we see in this blessing in v. 28.

Genesis 1:28 ESV

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

This passage is known as “The Dominion Mandate”.

God mandates that his image bearers would exercise dominion over the creation.

We saw this back in v. 26 where God said,

Genesis 1:26 ESV

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

This is part of man’s purpose, a big part of why he was created.

So that we would exercise authority under God, over the whole creation.

But this dominion is not domination,

and this authority is not authoritarian.

If you remember back to our teaching about authority in our previous series through the books of Romans and 1 Peter,

we saw that authority is not for the raw exercise of power,

but authority, which is what dominion is, is given,

to promote the flourishing of those under authority.

You may remember my analogy of the gardener.

A gardener does not delight in wielding power over her plants,

but a gardener has authority over her garden so that she can delight in making the plants flourish.

In the same way, a good ruler delights in seeing his citizens flourish.

This is what God has created in mankind,

he has created kings and queens and gardeners.

Creatures who bear his image,

to tend the gift of creation and make it flourish

to use it to bring life, and beauty, and culture.

To build beautiful buildings,

to make beautiful art and music and literature,

to explore and create,

to teach and learn, and work and play, and worship,

to bring up children,

all for God’s glory.

That is humanity, made in God’s image.

Very Good (v. 31)

In v. 31, after making mankind,

Genesis 1:31 ESV

“God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Sin

But we know that everything didn’t stay very good.

As we will see in a few weeks when we look at Genesis 3,

mankind brought sin into the world.

Though man and woman were created to perfectly bear the image of God,

sin has badly bent, but not removed, the image of God in us.

This is why we bring so much evil, discord, and death into the world

that we were created to govern and cultivate to God’s glory.

Jesus

But God did not leave us to languish in our brokenness and sin.

God the Son entered his creation, as a man, Jesus Christ.

As Colossians 1:15 says, “He is the image of the invisible God.”

And as a man, He lived a sinless life,

perfectly bearing God’s image, because he is God.

But then he went to the cross, dying to pay the penalty for our sin,

and he rose from the dead, defeating the power of death,

so that those who put their faith in him,

can be forgiven of their sin,

can be restored from their brokenness,

and can be reconciled to the God who created them and loves them.

If you have not yet repented of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ,

forgiveness of sin, a new relationship with God,

and a whole new life is waiting for you.

Application & Conclusion

For those of us who have received this new life in Christ.

Lets take our new life in Christ seriously.

We were created in God’s image,

but now that we are in Christ we have put on the new self,

which is being renewed after the image of its creator.”

We are being made more and more like Jesus.

Lets live in light of this.

2. We were created, man and woman,

made to glorify God and bear his image in the nature he has given us.

made to bring and promote life.

Lets delight in this.

3. We were created to have dominion,

but now we serve a king who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

And he is building his kingdom through us.

Lets build it!

In our families, in our work, in our worship,

in the things we make, and the culture we create.

And in how we care for and serve people who bear God’s image.

Nobody else is going to do it.

And you and I were made for this.

Prayer

Psalm 139:1–14 ESV

O Lord, you have searched us and known us! You know when we sit down and when we rise up; you discern our thoughts from afar. You search out our path and our lying down and are acquainted with all our ways. Even before a word is on our tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.