The Image of Man

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Then God said, “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.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

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.”

Why in the creation account does God only use this term, “Let us make…” When making men?

9 times God says a variation of “Let there be…” (Gen. 1:3, 1:6, 1:9, 1:11, 1:14, 1:15, 1:20, 1:24) (including ‘Let there be,’ ‘let the,’ ‘let them be.’)

Only once does he say “Let us make…”

In Gen. 1:22, the first blessing of God ever is to… the fishes and the birds.

This is the first time God speaks directly to any other entity.

Note; there is a created being, which God communicates to and it is for the means of giving a blessing.

Gen. 1:26 says “Let us make man after our image, after our likeness…”

Gen. 1:27 says “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The only time God speaks to another entity before v.26 is in v. 22… for the blessing of the fish and the birds. Every other time He speaks is simply speaking creation into being.

The blessing which He gave to the fish and birds is paralleled to the human. Only the humans are given authority in the image of God.

This implies a blessing reserved for creation, while also receiving a blessing of God’s authority.

Then who is this ‘us’ He speaks to in v. 26?

Possibly to all creation…

The only other time He spoke to anybody else, it was the birds and the fish. Why do we then create two more faces to God to communicate with as if He doesn’t already have enough?

Mankind is made in the image of God AND the image of creation…

Think of the galaxies shaped like the human eye, lightning bolts that follow the veins of men, tree stumps with patterns similar to human fingerprints.

Man is made from the dust of the earth. (Gen. 2:7) Man is bound by time and gravity and every physical force that God put in place that all creation has to abide by.

Jesus was fully God, and Jesus was fully man. Just as Jesus had to deal with every temptation we have, (Heb. 4:15) so man has to abide by all the laws of physics, even though they were made in the image of an eternal God that lives outside the physical realm.

If there was a triune God in which man was modeled after, who is the female made in the image of?

The Father and Son are obviously male…

Is there any Scriptural backing to say that the Holy Spirit is potentially the female in the equation? (No.)

How do the fish and birds become fruitful and multiply?

By the Divine Union of the male and female of their species.

God is not created, nor need He be created, but He chose to, at the grand finale of all creation, make a creature with eternity set in his heart,(Ecc. 3:11) made from the dust of the earth, (Gen. 2:7) in the image of God. (Gen. 1:27)

Each time God speaks to another entity, He blesses them.

This could imply that when He is speaking to creation in v. 26, He is speaking to them a blessing with one that is made like them, simultaneously made like God to rule over them in God’s righteousness.

A microcosm/parallel to the incarnation of the man Jesus.

For v. 26 to imply the presence of a triune God;

The Gen. 1 account would have had at least one other account of a multiplicity in creation.

v. 27 would have a multiple verb conjugation.

The father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit would have to be female

One of the members of the Godhead would have to have a physical body with which to reflect their image upon.

The Godhead would have to have the ability to be fruitful and multiply Himself if man were purely made in the image of the Godhead. (But that would promote polytheism to say God multiplies Himself…)

God is a Spiritual being, uncreated.

Animals, Earth, Sea, Sky, Sun, Moon & Stars are physical entities, which were created.

God brought forth at the end of this account all of the created beings and put his own image onto that image of all creation…

So that He may be walking alongside with all creation.

No other being is credited with creation but God Himself…

Never is there a plurality credited to the act of creation.

John 1:3 “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Colossians 1:16 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Trinitarian doctrine is based on picking single verses by themselves without any of the surrounding context, not even but a few verses prior…

There is only one God, Jesus Christ