In 1970, an art director at the New York Times named Rudolph Resta went into work and hung up his jacket. When we went to retrieve it later that day, he discovered that the wallet he had left in his coat pocket was gone. It became clear that it was probably stolen and lost for good. Forty years later, in 2011, Mr. Resta received a call from a reporter. A security guard had found an old wallet tucked away in a window in the very same building. It was Mr. Resta’s wallet, lost for 40 years. He opened it and found pictures of his wife and sons, an old Social Security card, and an American Express card—everything he had left in there, except the cash. After all those years, he had recovered something he thought he’d never get back.
When we read the first two chapters of Genesis, we get a glimpse of what we as humanity have lost. Genesis 1-2 presents a picture of a beautiful, perfect world that we have forfeited through our rebellion against God. Our Creator designed a bountiful paradise, and yet that paradise has been lost. Everything is now broken, marred by evil, sin, and death.
The story of the Bible is the story of God restoring what we have lost. The beginning of the Bible gives us a glimpse of what we lost and foreshadows what Jesus gains, what he finds, and what he restores for us. The Bible begins with creation and ends with new creation, and in the middle is how we got to where we are today and how we’re going to get back to what we lost.
These words at the beginning of Scripture teach us about God, help us understand ourselves, and point us to Jesus, who regains what we have lost. Genesis 2:4-17 specifically teaches us that God created us to experience his goodness, trust his Word, and dwell in his presence.
God Created Us to Know His Goodness
A major point in Genesis 2 is that God provides for humanity completely. He gives Adam and Eve all they could have needed. The first gift God gives man is life, breath. The very breath we breathe, we get from God. God is the Lord and Giver of life. The food on our table, our home, the people we love, the good work we do—these are all good gifts from our Father. They are blessings of His provision. Even in this broken world, we all know God’s goodness. God has not left any person without some token of His goodness, some experience of His provision. We are not owed breath in our lungs or food on the table—they are gifts. Every good gift we have comes to us from God and should lead us back to Him.
God Created Us to Trust His Word
God also created us to trust and obey His good and perfect Word. God’s Word is another one of the good gifts He gives. In Genesis 2:16-17, God gives Adam a command, but it starts with His provision: “You may surely eat of every tree in this garden.” We often think God’s Word is all about what we cannot do, but grace comes before God’s law. God’s Word reveals His grace that shows us all the good things He has given us. We can take God at His Word and know His goodness.
There is one tree, though, that God forbids Adam to eat from: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree was about who gets to decide what is right and wrong. It was about moral autonomy. If Adam ate from this tree, he would be declaring that he wanted to determine what is right and what is wrong—he would be trying to usurp the role of God. Thus, tree represented rebellion against God.
Just like Adam, we can trust that God’s Word is good. Obeying Him is always for our good. We can take God at His Word and boldly believe it and obey it.
God Created Us to Dwell With Him
The garden God planted in Eden was meant to be a kind of temple—a garden temple where God would walk and speak with man. Eden was God’s dwelling place with his people. Adam was meant to be a gardener and a priest in this garden temple. He was to work, and he was to worship. But he would ultimately fail. He rebelled against God’s Word and God cast him out of His presence.
The rest of the story of the Bible is how God begins to restore what Adam lost. He works to dwell with his people once again. He sent His son, Jesus, the one who is Emmanuel—God with us. Jesus shed his blood as our sacrifice by dying on the cross. He died so that we who were far off could be brought near. He came to restore the dwelling place of God among men. He is the better Temple and the true Priest. All who turn away from their sin and trust in him will regain what Adam lost. God dwells with his people through His Spirit, and one day we will know God’s presence perfectly and will dwell with Him forever in a place that’s even better than the Garden of Eden.
In Adam, the original gardener and priest, we lost our place in God’s garden. But in Jesus, the last Adam, the true and better Priest, we get it back. There will be nothing missing. In fact, it’s going to be even better.
After he had finished creation, God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2). Does that strike you as a little strange? Does this mean that God was tired? Did creation take a lot of out him, and so now he needed to step back for a day for some R&R, to catch his breath?
What does it mean that God rested? In Genesis 2:2, the word for rest (shābat) means to cease or to stop. It doesn’t imply that God was exhausted and needed a break. It means he stopped his work of creation. His work was done.
The word for rest in this verse also has connotations of completion and enjoyment. Bible scholar Allen Ross writes that this word for rest, “is not a word that refers to remedying exhaustion after a tiring week of work. Rather, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion.”[1]
Thus, Genesis 2:2 does not imply that God was tired, and so he took a break. No, it teaches us that since God had completed his work of creation, he stopped and enjoyed what he had made.
God was still working in some sense on Day 7. Jesus himself once said that his Father is always working (John 5:17). God continued to hold the world together and sustain it on Day 7. But he ceased and rested from the work of Creation. The rest of Scripture makes clear that God continues to work through his Providence. He did not create the world and now leaves it to its own devices. He continues to sustain the world, but there was no more for him to create on Day 7. That work was now done, and so God rests.
Our Perfect and Faithful Creator
Creation was finished, and it was very good, filled with God’s goodness and blessing. God didn’t forget anything or leave anything out. There were not any ways he wanted to improve on creation. He wasn’t thinking on Day 7: “I wish I would have done it that way and not this way. I wish I would have created fish to fly and birds to swim underwater.”
No, creation was completed, good, and blessed. He had left nothing out. Everything was beautiful and bountiful. God had finished the creation of all things, and he shows it by resting on the seventh day.
God’s rest on the seventh day should lead us to behold our God and know that he completes what he begins and leaves nothing out. It should lead us to worship and trust him. God is our perfect Creator, who completes what he begins. He is perfect in his wisdom, and perfect in his work. Our hearts should see that and rejoice and worship. This is our God! He is the all-wise Architect of this world.[2] His construction of this universe was perfect and whole, complete and beautiful.
God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day to teach us about himself and lead us to worship him. If God had just created the world in an instant, we would not see his faithful and wise character as clearly. Yet, God created this world in six days and completed this work so that we might know and trust his faithful character.
We can trust that what God begins he brings to completion. He is not a God of open loops or unfinished tasks. He is not forgetful or absent-minded. He is never late or shoddy in his work. God never fails to keep his word and finish what he starts. Genesis 1–2 shows us the wise, perfect, and faithful character of our God, and it should encourage us and increase our faith.
Our New Creation Hope
God’s seventh day rest should encourage us as we live in a restless world. Our God completes what he begins, which includes the good work of redemption he has started in Jesus. God has promised a new creation, and he will make good on that promise.
This world seems so broken, so full of evil, violence, and hate. We live in a world of unrest. Recent events may lead us to give way to rage or hopelessness. We look out at this world and wonder: this is the world we live in? Where a 23-year-old is randomly stabbed and killed? Where a 31-year-old is shot in the neck for speaking his convictions, leaving behind a wife and two kids?
What do we do with these things? One thing we do is we look at our God. We can know that he has not given up on his work of new creation. Evil will not win the day. God is not finished yet. Jesus will come again. All things will be made new. God will do what he promised to do.
God is faithful, you can trust him. Jesus will come again. God will finish what he started. He will complete the new creation he started in Jesus.
God’s Work in You
He will also finish the good work he has begun in you. Through faith in Jesus, we are God’s handiwork, a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). But we are still works in progress. We are still in the process of sanctification. We have not arrived, and what we will be is not yet here or complete (1 John 3:2).
Yet, we can trust that God will finish the work he has started in us. Paul encouraged the Philippians: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 1:6).
There may be times in your life where you feel discouraged because you don’t feel like you are growing as much as you think you should be. Maybe you feel like you should be further along in the Christian life than you are. You still battle sins you were fighting five or ten years ago. You still struggle to pray and read the Bible regularly. You just don’t feel very holy. Of course, we must use the means God has given us to grow. The Christian life is not a passive one.
Yet, at the same time, God’s seventh day rest should encourage you today and lead you to a deeper trust in God. By his grace, he is working in you. In the ordinary days of this life, he is conforming you to the image of his Son. He will not leave you partially sanctified on the day of Christ Jesus. He will continue his new creation work in you through his Spirit. One day, on the day of Christ Jesus, he will complete the work he started.
God is not done with you. Don’t lose heart and don’t give up. Worship and trust our Creator who is always faithful. He always does what is good. He will continue to work in you by his Spirit until the day we fully enter his rest, when we are completed new creations in Jesus.
[2]John Calvin, in his comments on Genesis 2:1–3, describes God as “the Architect, the bountiful Father of a family, who has omitted nothing essential to the perfection of his edifice.” John Calvin, Commentaries, trans. John King, Accordance electronic edition.
In Genesis 1:26–28, God gives humanity a mission. Some have called this mission the “creation mandate” or the “cultural mandate”. The heart of this original mission was to proclaim God’s kingdom by filling creation with his image and reigning over creation as his royal children. Yet, Genesis 3 reveals that Adam failed to carry out this mission.
Now, no matter how fruitful we are, how well we care for creation, or how faithful we are in our vocation, we cannot overturn the curse or heal all the brokenness of this world. We are now broken images that proclaim ourselves and not God’s rule in our parenting, our work, and our attitude toward creation.
But this is not the end of the story. The rest of Scripture shows us that the creation mandate does not simply end with Adam or Eve. At the same time, it is not merely something we try to accomplish on our own. To fully understand how this original mission applies God’s people today, we need to trace how it is interpreted and applied throughout the Bible.
We need to remember that the Bible is one story, the true story of this world. And one of the storylines is about this original mission. When we trace this storyline, it leads us to Jesus.
But before we get there, we need to go back to Genesis and start with Noah and his sons.
Noah and His Sons
After the flood, God repeats a version of the creation mandate to Noah and his sons.
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. (Genesis 9:1–2)
God gives Noah a very similar mission to what he gave to Adam. He calls Noah and his sons to fill the earth. They also rule over the animals, but now God speaks of fear and dread. God goes on to declare that there will be reckoning for all who murder another human being (Gen 9:5–6). All is not right in God’s creation. Before the flood, the earth was filled, not with the proclamation of God’s gracious rule, but with violence (Genesis 6:11).
Noah and his sons also fail to carry out this mission faithfully. They are not the ones who bring restoration. The descendants of Noah do increase, but instead of filling the earth, they build a tower to proclaim their own name, their own kingdom—the kingdom of Babel (aka Babylon).
Like Adam, Noah and his family do not fulfill God’s original mission for humanity. In the end, Noah’s descendants disregard God’s Word and proclaim their own kingdom. We must keep looking for the fulfillment of this mission.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Following the Babel debacle, God chooses a man named Abraham and his sons to take up the mission. God chooses a man who has no children, and he blesses him and promises many descendants (Gen 12:1–3). In this case, however, God does not give Abraham the mission to “be fruitful and multiply.” Instead, he makes a covenant with Abraham and promises that God himself will multiply Abraham’s children.
God promises him both offspring and a land to fill:
“Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. . . . I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. . . . The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:2, 6, 8)
God repeats this promise to Abraham’s son, Isaac, “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,” (Genesis 26:4).
Later, God also appears to Isaac’s son, Jacob and declares,
“I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
Later in Genesis, we see how God keeps these promises, and creates his people, Israel: “Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly,” (Genesis 47:27).
Exodus begins in a similar way: “But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them,” (Exodus 1:7).
God redeems his people from Egypt and brings them into the land where they subdue their enemies. Eventually, kings like David and Solomon have dominion in the land and promote the peace of God’s people all around them (1 Kings 4:24).
Israel
Thus, in the Old Testament, the original mission for humanity is passed down to a remnant God has chosen, his people Israel. God called and chose the people of Israel to be his children, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the land God would give them. In so doing, they were called to live under God’s rule and proclaim his Kingdom.
In the book of Isaiah, God likens his people Israel to a new Adam. He declares that God has created Israel, made him, formed him, and called him by name. In Isaiah 43:6-7, God declares, “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
This is Genesis 1 language, used for the people of Israel, who were created for God’s glory, created to proclaim him to the nations. They were to be his sons and daughters—servants who bore witness to who God is (Isa 43:10). God declares to his people “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” (Isaiah 43:15).
But Israel too failed in this mission. They failed to proclaim God’s kingdom by keeping his Word and bearing witness to the nations. Like Adam and Eve, Israel was cast out of the land God had given them. They were exiled from God’s kingdom.
But even in the exile God gives a promise and grace. We see this promise in the text above in Isaiah 43. God also declares through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.” (Ezekiel 37:26).
God promises in the prophets that a remnant of his people will return to the land, and God will raise up a Servant, a Son, a King from among them. He will be the one to restore the Kingdom to God’s people—which leads us to Jesus, the Messiah.
Jesus, the Messiah
Jesus enters the scene of human history, and he is proclaiming the Kingdom of God. We read in Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”
Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum go as far as to say: “Jesus’s proclamation of the kingdom is nothing less than the message we already find in Genesis 1:26–27.”[1] Jesus came as the perfect Son of God, the true and better Adam, the Image of the Invisible God. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and called people to receive the kingdom, enter the kingdom, and seek first the kingdom. Doing that means turning our backs to our rebellion against God and submitting to his rule by trusting in his Son.
TheNew Testament declares that Jesus fulfills Adam’s original mission for us.
The creation mandate is cast down by Adam. Adam failed to proclaim God’s kingdom and rule creation as God called him to. None of us can pick up that mandate. Noah couldn’t. Abraham couldn’t. David couldn’t. Israel couldn’t. But Jesus, the Son of God, comes and he picks it up and keeps it himself for his people.
Jesus is the one who fulfills God’s mission and purpose for humanity. God has subjected the world to him. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt 28:18). According to Hebrews 2, he has been crowned with glory and honor through the suffering of death (Heb 2:9). Jesus proclaims God’s rule and receives all authority as the Suffering Servant, the Crucified King.
This world and all the world to come will be subject to him. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10–11). The end of the story of the Bible is a new heavens and new earth where Jesus Christ will rule forever with his people. That is where all of history is headed.
History started with God’s creation of the heavens and the earth. History will end and eternity will begin with a new heavens and earth. It started with God creating man and woman in his image and giving them a mission. It will end with a new humanity renewed in God’s image, all because of the work of the Second Adam.
Applying the Creation Mandate in Light of Jesus
In light of the rest of Scripture, we cannot look at Genesis 1:26–28 and merely come away with some nice pointers about how to be better human beings. If we try to find our main purpose and identity in trying to carry out an aspect of the creation mandate, we will lose hope and become frustrated. None of us can carry out this original mission and get rid of the curse that now lies upon this world.
If we wrap our chief purpose and identity around having kids and parenting, we will run up against challenges and disappointments. If we wrap our chief purpose around vocation, work, recreation, we will run into bodies that will eventually quit on us, elements outside our control that discourage us. If we wrap our chief purpose and identity around caring for creation, we will constantly run into a creation that is groaning. You cannot overturn these things, no matter how hard you work at it.
But Jesus comes to this marred and broken world and he offers hope. He promises a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. He gives us good news that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give his people the kingdom (Luke 12:32). Restoration is coming—but not by any of us trying to do all that Adam failed to do. No, we look at our original mission, and we see how we have rebelled against it and failed to submit to God’s rule and proclaim his kingdom.
We must look to Jesus Christ and see that he is the one who did what Adam could not do. He is the King, and we owe everything to him. We should hear the song sung in heaven about Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb, our King:
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10)
Have you been ransomed by the blood of Jesus? Are you a part of his kingdom? Is your destiny to reign with him on the earth? That’s what God made us for. To proclaim his kingdom and participate in his kingdom. That was our calling.
But, in Adam, we rebelled against God’s rule and failed in this mission. But Jesus faithfully carried it out. Now all authority is his so that when we trust in Jesus, we can be forgiven, and healed, and restored in Christ to enter God’s kingdom. All who turn to Jesus Christ are heirs of his kingdom.
This helps us understand the church’s mission today. Our mission today as Christ’s people is to proclaim God’s kingdom in all creation by proclaiming the good news of Jesus and filling creation with disciples restored in his image. Jesus restores us as a renewed humanity with a renewed mission: fill the earth with more and more disciples of Jesus who are conformed to his Image. Let’s be busy about that mission for the glory of Christ our King.
This post was adapted from a recent sermon, which you can view below:
[1] Gentry and Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant, 307
The kingdom of God is one of the central themes of the whole Bible. Right in Genesis 1, we see that God is the King of Creation who creates his kingdom. He creates man and woman as his image to proclaim his kingdom in all the world by filling creation with his image and participating in his rule. Yet, in Adam, we have rebelled against God’s kingdom, and the story of the Bible is the story of God restoring his kingdom through his Son, Jesus.
In the New Testament, Jesus and his disciples proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. In Luke 4:43, Jesus declares “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” At the end of the book of Acts, Paul likewise is busy “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance,” (Acts 28:31). The good news that Jesus brings and that the apostles proclaim includes the restoration of the kingdom of God.
What is the kingdom of God?
God’s kingdom is not something that we can really define, but through looking at the whole Bible, we can describe it. Graeme Goldsworthy describes God’s kingdom as “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule.” So, for example, Adam and Eve were God’s people living in the Garden (God’s place), and God gave them a word to believe and obey (God’s rule). In a similar way, Israel too was God’s people living in the land under God’s old covenant word.
Each of these aspects of God’s kingdom culminates in Jesus. He fulfills God’s plan for his people. He is the perfect Son of God—the true and better Adam. The kingdom is located in his person—he is the true temple and the place where people come to know God. Furthermore, he perfectly obeyed his Father’s word, and he is the Word of God. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God and ushers in the kingdom of God.
In Jesus, we become God’s people destined for the new creation who believe and obey God’s word. The New Testament teaches us that this kingdom is both already here, and yet still in the future.
Jesus declared to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you,” (Luke 17:20–21). The kingdom of God is located in Jesus, and we receive this kingdom initially by trusting in him for salvation and submitting to his rule. The kingdom of God is a spiritual reality that is seen in God’s people who submit to God’s Word in Jesus.
Yet, Jesus would also promise his disciples thrones to rule with him in his kingdom, which clearly refers to the future reign of Jesus in the new creation (Luke 22:28–30). Therefore, while we can taste the kingdom now when we trust in Jesus, we also look forward to the day when our King will return, defeat those who oppose his rule, and establish his Kingdom once and for all.
How do we live as kingdom-minded disciples of Jesus?
Through Jesus, we belong to God’s kingdom, and this should define how we live here on earth now. We should seek to live as kingdom-minded disciples of Jesus through prayer, proclamation, and practice.
Prayer
Jesus taught us to pray “Let your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2). Our prayers should be filled with praises to God our King and petitions to see more and more people enter his kingdom. Our requests should have a kingdom-bent to them. We pray that we would live with kingdom values according to God’s word. We pray for those in need that in their difficulties and sufferings they would find hope and strength to face them as those who belong to the kingdom of God.
Proclamation
In Acts 8:12, we read about the spread of the gospel in Samaria: “But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women,” (Acts 8:12). We will live as kingdom-minded disciples when we are ready to tell others about Jesus and his kingdom. The gospel is not only the message that if you believe in Jesus you will go to heaven when you die. The gospel is the good news that Jesus is the true Prophet, Priest, and King who paid the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven before God, rescued from the kingdom of darkness, and belong to his eternal kingdom of peace and righteousness.
Practice
Seeking to be a kingdom-minded disciple will affect the way we live. Paul writes that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 14:17). Those who belong to God’s people are justified before God by faith alone in Christ alone. We do not enter the kingdom through our effort, but as citizens of his kingdom, we seek to live holy lives full of peace and joy through the Holy Spirit. We should want to live with the values of God’s kingdom, not the values of the world. In every area of our lives, we want to bring glory to Christ, our King.
In Jesus, we now belong to God’s kingdom. That should affect the choices we make today. God’s kingdom should be a grid through which we see the world, make decisions, and live faithfully for God.
So, let’s seek to live this week as a kingdom-minded people, a kingdom-bent people, and a kingdom-seeking people. We should rejoice in the promise Jesus has given his people: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” (Luke 12:32).
One of the most important questions we can ask is what does it mean to be human? Answering this question helps us understand our identity and place in the world. Do we have value? Are we just the result of random events?
From a biblical perspective, this question is wrapped up with the question of what it means to be created in God’s image. In Genesis 1:26-28, God declares that he will create humanity, male and female, in his own image.
But what does it mean to be made in the image of God? To answer that question, we can start by examining the two words God uses in Genesis 1:26 to describe the creation of man. God creates man in his image, after his likeness. In many ways, these words image and likeness are synonymous. But while they have a large overlap in meaning, they each have a slightly different nuance.
The word image (tselem) often refers to a statue that represents someone or something. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is used for statues of false gods. It carries the idea of representation. The image represents what it resembles.
The word likeness (demuth) usually indicates a thing that looks like something else. The focus is often on the resemblance of one thing to another. It can also be used to refer to a model of something else.
Anthony Hoekema helpfully summarizes the meaning of the words:
“The two words [image and likeness] together tell us that man is a representation of God who is like God in certain respects.” 1
In other words, that God made humanity in his image means that God created humanity to be like him and represent him as his royal sons and daughters in creation.
1. God created humanity to be his likeness in creation.
To be made in God’s image means that in some sense, we are like God. There are many different views about what that means and what the image of God is. Some views pick out one specific aspect of humanity and say that is the image of God, what makes us God’s likeness. But notice that God doesn’t single out one part of man and call that his image. God creates humanity as his image, to be like him, and we cannot reduce the image of God to just one part of us.
Our whole person, body and soul, was created by God to be like him in certain ways, to show creation what the Creator is like. This doesn’t mean that we are little gods or god-replicas. It means that God designed every part of us so that it images him in some way.
We can focus on at least three ways humanity is God’s likeness in creation.
First, the image of God sets humanity apart from the animals, birds, and sea creatures.
Humanity is distinct from the animal kingdom in our rational, spiritual, moral nature. Unlike the animals, God created us with an eternal soul that images his immortality. We also can reason and communicate in a way that mirrors God. Furthermore, we have the capacity for righteousness, for language, and for creativity. God is God who speaks and creates, and he made people who can speak and who use his creation to create new things. We have a sense of beauty, art, and aesthetic taste that is distinct from animals
Second, God also created humanity with a unique capacity for relationships.
In verse 27, the image of God is related to the reality that God created humanity male and female. God created us for relationship with one another and with himself. We image God in that we were created for relationship. God himself is the Father who loves his Son by the Spirit (notice that the Trinity is hinted at in the phrase “Let us create…” in Gen 1:26). He made us to be like him in that we have the capacity for relationships with each other and with him, relationships rooted in love. We have fellowship with one another and with God that is beyond anything the animals or even the angels experience.
Third, God created humanity as a body-soul unity.
Even our bodies reveal truth about what God is like. The image of God doesn’t just include not our spiritual nature that. Our bodies are not just a shell to hold our souls. God created us with a body-soul unity that together images him.
This does not imply that God is material or has a body like we do. The point is that our bodies reveal certain qualities that image God in certain ways. Our bodies are a marvelous unity that point to the unity of God, and they are the way we experience the senses. It is through our bodies that we speak, hear, and see. God performs all these actions, though without any material form.2 In our physical, material form we experience the world in a way that mirrors qualities that God possesses in perfection.
Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck reminds us:
“The body is not a prison but a marvelous piece of art from the hand of God Almighty, and just as constitutive for the essence of humanity as the soul.”3
God created us, body and soul, to be like him, to be his likeness in the world. We were created with mental, moral, spiritual, relational capacities that image God.
2. God created humanity to represent him in his creation.
The language of image has royal connotations. In Ancient Near Eastern cultures, the king was depicted as the image of a god. Kings themselves would also set up images of themselves across their lands to represent their authority and status. Here in Genesis, though, God creates all of humanity in his image, not just the king. All of humanity was created to represent God in creation as royal image-bearers.
Image language is also connected in Genesis to sonship language, specifically in Genesis 5:1-3:
“This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”
This is the only other passage in the Bible where these two words image and likeness are used together like this. In Genesis 5:1-3, Seth is seen as a son in his father’s likeness and image. The key point we derive from this parallel is that image language is connected to sonship language.
To be created in God’s image, then, means that we represent him as his created sons and daughters. When God created humanity in his image, he created us to be his children. We are God’s children created to show the world what our God is like. God created humanity to be his royal sons and daughters who represent him in creation.
After the book of Genesis, no other Old Testament book explicitly mentions the concept of being created in God’ image. But we do read more about how God’s people relate to God as his son. We read about how God chooses Israel to be his son to represent him among the nations. God’s people were to live as those restored to their purpose to image God, to represent him in the world as his children. This culminates in Jesus, the Son of God, the Image of the Invisible God who makes God known.
God makes this royal function of his image-bearers explicit by stating the purpose for which he created man in his image. God created humanity to fill the earth and rule over it The second part of verse 26 shows the purpose of the first part: The NIV translates the verse this way:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”
God repeats this purpose in verse 28 when he calls his sons and daughters to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with his image and rule the rest of creation. The image of God has a royal function. God created man and woman to rule his creation with him and under him. God summoned Adam and Eve to fill the earth with his image by having children so that all of creation would clearly be seen as under God’s dominion. All of creation was to be filled and ruled for the glory of the Creator by those who bear his image, his royal sons and daughters.
To be human means to be made in God’s image. We are unique and set apart from the rest of God’s creation. God created humanity with the capacity for righteousness, virtue, language, rationality, culture-making. He created us for relationships with each other and with himself. Finally, God created us to reflect his holiness and glory in creation and to rule his world as his royal sons and daughters.
Even after Adam and Eve rebelled against God, this image has not been erased. It still defines us even though it is often very blurry and cracked. The image does need to be healed and restored in us. But even still, every human person today remains a person created in the image of God.
The image of God reminds us of the good givenness of our identity. It grounds the worth and dignity of every person. Ultimately, it is only restored and healed in us through the work of Jesus, the Image of the invisible God.
This article was adapted from a recent sermon. You can view the video below:
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