Bearing the Name

Why Humans?

Why did God create humans?

God wanted a human family. He wanted that family to bear His Name and Image.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

26 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.”

27  So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

What does it mean to be created “in God’s image?”

Dr. Heiser’s book The Unseen Realm describes this phrase like this:

That is, “in” doesn’t always mean the same thing when we use that word. For example, if I say, “I put the dishes in the sink,” I am using the preposition to denote location. If I say, “ I broke the mirror in pieces,” I am using “in” to denote the result of some action. If I say, “I work in education,” I am using the preposition to denote that I work as a teacher or principal, or in some other educational capacity.

This las example directs us to what the Hebrew preposition translated “in” means in Gen 1:26. Humankind was created “as” God’s image. If we think of imaging as a verb or function, that translation makes sense. We are created to image God, to be His imagers.

The Unseen Realm pg 42

Being created in God’s Image is a job description. It tells us what we are supposed to do. We have the whole OT that shows us our lack of ability to do this well, but that’s not the whole story. We know from Paul that:

English Standard Version Chapter 7

10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.