In the Image of God

For the past couple of days if not weeks I have constantly come across the term “image of God”. If not in the movies ,then in a sermon or a book that I am reading. So I decided to explore this term a little closer.

What does it mean ?

Let us look at the first time this term is used :

Gen 1:26 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."

Gen 9:6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature.

Now according to the strongs dictionary the word image is translated from the Hebrew ‘tselem’. tseh'-lem

From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure

The part that catches my eye is : representative figure .

The other part I want to look at is the fact that we were created to reflect God’s nature. Now , God’s very nature is that He is a God of love. This means that we were created to reflect God’s love on this earth. Human beings are the only beings capable of loving.

So, God created human beings to be his reps on earth. We were created to reflect God’s love on earth. Why were we given this amazing gift of love ? I believe it is because God created us with a primary function to love Him. All other things are of secondary importance.

Here lies a problem though. For love to be what it is and for love to have its value it needs to be free choice. I am not going to go into this , but if you think about it you will see that love without free will has no value.

Let us get back to our creation story . It is interesting to note that up to tbefoe humands were created God said: ”Let there be …..”. But when it came to creating humans God said :” Let us make…”

Now I wonder about this ‘us’. Who is this us that God talks about? God and the angels? Might be. But I think that God is talking to Himself as the Trinity.

Let us backtrack quickly. I believe that Jesus is God’s word. Why ?

Joh 1:1-4 GW In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was already with God in the beginning. (3) Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him. (4) He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.

And then in Genesis :

Gen 1:1-3 GW In the beginning God created heaven and earth. (2) The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water. (3) Then God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light.

So I believe that at the beginning of time at creation God the Father, Jesus the Word, and The Holy Spirit were all present. And everything was created by God through Jesus. And then comes human beings and now we have the Trinity who does the creation. And God as the Trinity creates human beings in His image with the capability to reflect His love.

And so I believe that God created every human being with the capability to love. And that love manifests itself when we love others and when we love God. With that capability to love however also came a choice. There had to. And so all human beings have the choice whether they are going to love others and God or not.

Sadly Adam and Eve made a choice that impacted on all generations since then. Mislead by Satan they chose against God and God , being the gracious loving God that He is , allowed them their choice. He had to. For His love to be real He had to allow us the freedom to reject Him. But make no mistake since that day He calls us to come back. Every single moment He longs for us to accept His love and come back to Him.

I see that this post is going to become a long one. As I think this thru I will post my thoughts here.