MAN CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

By Gary Ray Branscome

When God created Adam, the words, “God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good,” tell us that at that time Adam’s nature was not corrupted by sin (Genesis 1:31). The words, “very good” in that passage stand out in stark contrast to Genesis 6:5, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. A comparison of those verses tells us that God did not create man with a heart that “was only evil continually,” so that change must have taken place when Adam fell into sin. Therefore, when the Bible tells us that, “God created man in His own image… male and female He created them,” it is describing Adam and Eve before the fall (Genesis 1:27).

In the creation record the Bible uses the terms “image” and “likeness” as synonyms, and the use of plural pronouns in the phrase, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” tell us that Adam was created in the image of the Triune God, not just the image of Christ (Genesis 1:26). Moreover, since the words, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,” tell us that God is invisible; we know that the terms “image” and “likeness” are not talking about outward appearance (1Timothy 1:17).

The words, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place; what is man, that you are mindful of him? And the son of man, that you visit him? For you made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,” speak of God’s original intent for man (Psalm 8:3-6). And, the fact that man was given real dominion over all of the beasts suggests that before the fall all of them would have served man willingly, as eagerly as some dogs still do.