In His Image - Genesis 1:27-31

Have you ever heard someone say, "Animals are people too?" Like me, you may have raised an eyebrow or shaken your head. But the question should be asked: What makes human beings unique from the rest of creation? This morning we will look at Genesis 1:27-31 and try to answer that question. Hang on! It is going to be quite a ride today.

Let's look first at verses 26-27.

26Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

I hope you notice something right at the beginning of this text. In every other act of creation God said, "Let there be . . . " Now He says, "Let us make." Human beings are the pinnacle of God's creation. This is something He did personally (we get more detail in chapter two.)

The other thing to notice is the plural pronoun. Let US make human beings in OUR image, to be like US. In verse 27 the pronoun goes back the singular. There are a number of attempts to explain this, but the best one is to see it as a reflection of the plurality of the Godhead. This is the first example of the Doctrine of the Trinity. God is a Tri-unity. There are three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit who are all our inseparably One God.

Personally, I wish I could explain this further. But this is a relationship unlike anything we know or fully comprehend. We can't answer this question fully. Perhaps there are other questions we can answer.

What Does it Mean to be Made in His Image?

The goal was to make human beings in God's image and to in some sense reflect God's nature and glory. It is important we understand that being made in God's image is not the same as making us gods. Making us in God's image is like making an official portrait of the President of the United States. The painting bears the likeness of the President but has no power to rule. The painting is limited in its ability to resemble the President.

Being made in God's image means we have some characteristics the animals do not have. We have an ability to think rationally. Animals think, and sometimes it appears your dog or your cat is hatching a plot against you, but they are not. They may have brains but not on the level of a human being. Humans can reason. We can think things true. We can choose to be positive or negative.

Second, humans have morality or the ability to choose. We have a sense of right and wrong and as a result we also have an accountability for our behavior. Our decisions are not based on instinct. We choose our behavior. We can choose to honor God or deny Him.

Third, we are given a spirit or the ability to connect. It is a unique connection with God. There is a part of us, that like God, will live forever. We can communicate with God. We can know Him. We can walk with Him and we can walk away from Him. We can live forever because of the sacrifice of Christ.

The late Dr. Paul Brand wrote,

This single act of creation, God breathing into man "the breath of life," distinguished humanity from all other creatures. We share with the animals a biological shell composed, in our case, of bone, organ, muscle, fat, and skin. In truth, we fall short in direct comparison to the strictly biological features of some animals. Who would compete in beauty with a splashy macaw or even a lowly Luna moth? A horse easily outruns us, a hawk sees far better, a dog detects odors and sounds imperceptible to us. The total sum of our sheer physical qualities is no more godlike than a cat's. . . God's image is not an arrangement of skin cells or a physical shape, but rather an inbreathed spirit. (Brand, In His Image 22)

People are given a unique and special dignity from God and this has huge practical effects. We view each other differently when we recognize the image of God in each other. An oft used C.S. Lewis quote is still a good one,

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

If you want to know what living in accord with the image of God looks like, look at the life of Jesus and do what He does.

What is Our Role in the Created Order?

28Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

The Lord told Adam and Eve they were to reign over the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground. But what does this mean? It certainly does not mean we are stronger or even more beautiful than the animals. It does not mean we should become animal-like or esteem animals as more important than people (like when the same people campaign to save the whales and legalize abortion!)

I think ruling over God's creation means we stand as God's earthly representative to care for His creation. We are His stewards. We will be accountable to Him as to how we treat our world. Obviously, this has some ecological implications. We should be working to cease polluting the habitat of the animals God has created.

Are We to Be Vegetarians?

29Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Adam and Eve were given seed bearing plants and fruit for food. They were vegetarians. But notice something else: the animals were not predators either. They were also vegetarians. This is the way God designed things to be.

When the Bible talks about the reign of Christ on earth, we read about the lion lying down with the lamb, and a child being able to put their hand in a snake pit without fear. In other words, sin has disrupted the harmony of creation. What was in perfect balance became imbalanced by sin. Death did not exist before sin! It is a consequence of sin . . . not a part of God's "good" creation.

This is one of the reasons I have a problem with evolution. It requires billions of years of death to get to humankind. That is not the world God created. It will not be the world that God restores. The contentious spirit will be gone. The predatory nature of animals will be gone. There will be harmony and cooperation.

After the worldwide flood, God told man that he could eat the animals. I think it was a way of God shortening life-spans so the wickedness of people would be reined in just a little. There is nothing wrong with eating a steak. God approves of such a meal. However, I hope you will remember that this was not the way it was at the beginning.

Implications

O.K. Let's get to the "So What?" of the passage. The implication of what we read here is simple: Every human being is valuable and should be protected and treated as such! God breathes His life and "living soul" into every person. This is true regardless of skin color, physical ability, mental capacity, or material circumstances. Every human being is someone who reflects God's image. This has serious social impact and explains some of the great divides of our day.

ABORTION. The divide over abortion is about the value of a human life. Any woman who has had a miscarriage or a stillborn birth will tell you they lost more than just a 'blob of tissue.' They had already begun to bond with their baby. We know instinctively that life begins well before a child leaves the womb. We have witnessed children born months premature. Even at this early age they are obviously human beings. If a child in the womb was killed by the abuse of someone, we would want to bring that person up on charges of murder.

"But," says those who want abortion free and legal, "It is about the freedom of the mother to choose what to do with her body." And the thing is, no one disagrees with this! It is an amazing and self-sacrificing thing that women do when they have a child. However, the issue of abortion is, in most cases, not about the freedom of the mother. That mother exercised her freedom when she chose to engage in behavior that could risk pregnancy. What this is really about then is the freedom to escape the consequences of their free choice!

I am not trying to pick a fight. I am trying to explain the Christian reason for opposing abortion. This is not about being sexually prudish, it is about the value God has given to EACH PERSON. If we do not protect the most vulnerable of human beings, I believe we will have to answer to God! But we are only just beginning.

GENOCIDE or ETHNIC CLEANSING is the extermination of entire groups of people killed simply because of their race. The biggest example of this was the Holocaust. But these kinds of things are also taking place in Myanmar, the South Sudan, Iraq and Syria. It is always tempting to "stay out of" what other countries are doing. However, when one life is diminished, all lives are diminished. We do not know when the people being targeted could be us.

RACISM. Racism is when people are treated as less valuable because of the color of their skin. Sadly, our country has a bad track record in this area. We believe everyone can be traced back to Adam. In other words, we have a common ancestry. The idea that people should be treated differently because they have a different color skin than the people in power should be viewed as reprehensible. We should make EVERY effort to eliminate racism and bigotry. Human beings are . . . don't miss this . . . human beings created in the Image of God! This is true regardless of skin color. To treat one group of people as more valuable than another must turn the stomach of God. And it should turn our stomach too.

We should stand against any prejudice or discrimination. This is true even in our words. Derogatory remarks may make your friends laugh but God does not find such words at all funny!

TRAFFICKING We should be working to do anything we can to eliminate the selling of human beings as objects. This applies to sexual trafficking in foreign countries, prostitution, pornography, and any other kind of slavery. People should never be treated as merchandise!

EUTHANASIA, MERCY KILLING OR ASSISTED SUICIDE We must never “play God” with a human life. It is not our decision when a life is to end. This is true even when we feel we are acting to alleviate suffering and helping someone "die on their own terms." Actively ending the life of another is killing someone. It is putting ourselves in the place of God, and it is disposing of a life when we, as human beings, deem it to no longer be worthwhile. It is an act of arrogance.

Let me clarify. Many here have living wills. We have told people we don’t want extraordinary or extreme measures regarding to prolong our life. Is it ever OK to ‘pull the plug?’ Actively trying to end a life is wrong. Making the decision to stop prolonging a life is a different story. There comes a point in life when you often have to put someone you love into God’s hands. He may heal them, or He may take them home. God alone has the right to make that decision.

GENDER INEQUALITY Men and women are not the same. Thank God for that fact! We were designed to be different. However, men and women were both . . . equally . . . created in the image of God. We are equal in value. Men and women have different strengths, gifts, and even roles, but it is man AND woman that best expresses the image of God. The idea that one gender is superior to the other is a non-Christian viewpoint. It is wrong for men or for women to be treated as of greater or lesser value because of their gender.

POVERTY (and Immigrant Status) We should care about those who are defenseless, homeless, abused. We should wrestle deeply with the issues of immigration. How do we show compassion and concern for scared and endangered people who want a better life while at the same time defending our borders from those who come in illegally? How do we help poor and homeless people in a way that encourages their dignity and worth rather than simply throwing money at them? How do we temper compassion with wisdom? These are not ultimately political questions, they are issues of human dignity which spring from an awareness of the God who creates us in His image.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT is something that may surprise you on this list. According to the Bible, each life is so valuable that taking the life of another is the height of rebellion against God. He commands that those who take a life in a reckless and premeditated manner should be put to death. It is drastic action to make the point in bold with an exclamation point.

Again, this is a sticky issue. The Bible is very careful about the application of this penalty. There had to be two witnesses. Those witnesses were made to understand if they are found to have lied, THEY would receive the penalty given to the one who they lied about! We call that a deterrent! The system has many flaws, so we should be extremely careful lest we condemn someone who was innocent.

SHAMEFUL TREATMENT OF ANYONE DIFFERENT FROM US Here’s the bottom line: we should treat EVERYONE with respect and dignity. This is true of the child, the prisoner, the person involved in an alternate lifestyle, the person who has failed over and over, the person we do not find attractive, the person who is elderly. There is NO time when a person should not be treated with respect and honor as one who bears the image of God.

We show respect by our actions, our conversation, and by treating them as valuable regardless of how the world (or our prejudices) view them. We can disagree with people on all kinds of issues but we must still see them as valuable image bearers of God.

Conclusions

It may seem like Christians are all over the place on these issues. Though they seem to leave us often straddling the political fence or appear that we are known more for what we are against rather than what we believe, these issues are all tied together by one common theme: the dignity of human beings. This dignity is not drawn from a belief in evolution. Evolution erodes the dignity of human beings. These principles are anchored to a belief that we are created in the image of God. Our dignity, in other words, is infused by God Himself.

There is no place our specialness shines more boldly than at the cross of Jesus. God sent Christ into the world to rescue us from our sinfulness because of our value to Him. We are His children and He has gone to astounding lengths to save us.

We love our children. We would do most anything to help them. This does not change because of things our children do that disappoint us. Our love transcends their failures. If we love our children this much, how much more must God love us?

The Bible tells us to love others the same way God loves us. To do this we must battle our innate selfishness. But we don't have to do this alone. When we turn to Christ as our Savior and Lord, He gives us His Holy Spirit to empower us and to teach us how to see value in others and to love them in ways that transform those people and our society.

We have seen how quickly hate can spread. People can whip up a mob over just about any perceived injustice, real or imagined. Don't you wonder what might happen if we could see even those who disagree with us as people of inherent value and dignity? Imagine how it would change the political rhetoric. Imagine the redoubled effort to help those who are weak or vulnerable. Imagine the difference love and sincere regard for each other would make in how we view everything we do. And here is the thing. It is NOT impossible. God actually designed us to live like this.