Genesis: Man In God’s Image
What’s Our Purpose?
To continue our study here on the book of Genesis, we are going to take another look at the creation account recorded in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. If you read our last post, you know that we broke down God’s first few days of creation by discussing the age of the earth, and the meaning behind some of the things that God decided to create on certain days. With that in mind, we are now going to take this time to look at the pinnacle of God’s creation, mankind. When asked, ‘Why did God create us?’, John Piper responds with, “This question is very important, both because of very high-level theological and philosophical reasons, and because when the alarm goes off this morning at 5:00 or 6:00 or 7:00, how you answer this question makes all the difference for why you get out of bed.” Understanding how and why we were made in God’s image leads us to understand how and why were made in the first place. But just as important as learning how and why were made, is learning how and why we weren’t made. This passage of scripture where God creates man is not just one that is filled with beauty and purpose, but it is also one that has unfortunately been taken out of context and abused greatly. With this in mind, let’s dive in to see how and why God created us, and how and why He didn’t.
Why & How
For starters, let’s look at what God says right away when He decides to create man on the sixth day. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” From this passage alone, we see that we are separated from all other living things that God has created by two certain criteria. First, we are made in His image, and second, we are made to rule all other things that He has created. These two aspects alone show us why mankind is separate from all other things and living beings. To be made in the image of God is to be the image bearers of the most holy being in the cosmos! Now that’s a pretty tall order. So how are we supposed to be image bearers of a God who is so perfect when we are so flawed? Ironically, the answer to this question seems to be in the latter half of this verse. To be God’s proper image bearers, we must rule the world how He has intended us to. In essence, the way we show God’s holy and perfect image is by ruling in a way that is just, merciful, and all-around God-honoring. Now you may be thinking, ‘But I am in no place of power? How could I possibly rule over anything?’ And for this, I would greatly disagree. You have power over your actions, your relationships, your habits, your thoughts, etc. You have the power and ability to control each of these aspects of life that animals simply do not have the concept of doing. In other words, how we rule over ourselves, our actions, and our relationships with other people, will really begin to show how well we bear the image of God, and how well we give honor and glory to His name through these God-honoring actions. Despite how much authority you may have over materialistic things on this earth, you are a ruler over the many things you possess already, and the way you rule these aspects of your life can give God the utmost glory through His image bearers.
This Ain’t It
Furthermore, let’s look at the flip side of this argument and see what we were not created for. If we were originally created to be image bearers and rulers, what weren’t we created for? This answer is simple, and unfortunately, abused all too often. The passage of Genesis 1:26 is taken out of context all too often by the prosperity preaching movement in order to take us from image-bearers to an equal playing field with God. In other words, these people would argue that we aren’t just made to be an image of God, we were made to be exactly like Him. Now if you have any common sense, you would know that this is impossible. For a lost and fallen world that loves to think highly of themselves, however, this is exactly what the devil ordered. Our selfish motives and prideful human hearts love to think that we are the best of the best and that we can make great and wise decisions all on our own as God Himself can. What’s ironic about this take is all you have to do to disprove this idea, is turn two more chapters to the right to see that how that all ends up. There’s a reason why when Isaiah is talking about mankind attempting to be righteous on their own, he mentions in chapter 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away.”
This isn’t just a passage where Isaiah tells us what the common human heart is like, this is Isaiah telling us that even on our best days, when we attempt to be as righteous as we can, our deeds are nothing more than filthy garments before the Lord. Make no mistake about it friends, when we try to image bearers of ourselves rather than be image bearers of God, our righteous deeds hold no water. We need God in order to rule exactly how He has called us to rule and to bring honor to His name in all that we do. We can’t assume like many lost people do, that just because we are created in God’s image, that this means we are perfect like Him. Take a look at the world today and I think you would agree that this is just simply not the case. I hope and pray this week that as we see how God created everything in the beginning, you will be joyfully reminded of your God-given ability to rule on this earth as the image bearer He has created you to be. May you not let others twist your view of what your purpose is, but rather, may God use you to help others find what their true purpose is, honoring and glorifying Him as His true image bearers.
Sources
[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/
[2] Piper, J. (2024, June 27). Why did God create us? Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-did-god-create-us
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