Made in his Image

Genesis Contemporary Significance

People are created with functions and purpose. We can do no greater damage to humanity than to rob it of purposeful existence

...Being made in the image of God confers on us dignity, entrusts us with responsibility, and implants in us a certain potential, namely, the capacity to mirror our Creator.

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

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. 28 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.”

Created by God.

Created in his image. (Gen 5:1-3) (New-Self) Eph 4:24, Col 3:10; The image is a physical manifestation of divine (or royal) essence that bears the function of that which it represents; this gives the image-bearer the capacity to reflect the attributes21 of the one represented and act on his behalf. Note the similarity of this idea with New Testament statement concerning Christ being “the image [eikon] of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). He is a physical representative of God rather than a physical representation of what God looks like. As such he bears the essence of God, reflects his attributes, and acts on his behalf. In the context of Genesis 1, people act on God’s behalf by ruling and subduing. In the biblical view, it is the concept of being in the image of God that provides for human dignity and the sanctity of human life

Created to have Dominion.

Created male and female.

Created and blessed. 29-30.

Created to subdue.

Genesis Day Six (1:24–31)

Our conclusion, then, is that “subduing” is associated (grammatically, not semantically) with the prior verb, “filling,” and has the earth as its focus. “Ruling” is directed toward the animals and implies domestication or some other level of use or control.25 Of course this does not legitimize slaughter, abuse, or neglect.

How does this apply?

Show Dignity.

Have responsibility.

Taking care of the Environment.

Family Planning. ( Its a privilege )

Subduing.