Chapter 1 God's Image for Man Genesis 1:26-27 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." How many times have we read this scripture, rather rapidly and lightly, I'm afraid, and never asked ourselves what it meant? I know I have many times, and many times I have thought, that's great, God created me in his image and I am to have dominion over all that's on the earth and the earth itself. After that thought I would go on to other thoughts and not consider God's creation any further. Not too long ago, a discussion in our Sunday school class about the controversy over whether man was *trichotomous or dichotomous, left me with the understanding that I had no scripture to support how I felt on the subject. Thence, I returned to Genesis 1:26-27 to attempt to get insight and scriptural support for what I believed to be true about the creation of man. Before I go any further, it is important to state that no one should build their beliefs on the statements of men. There is only one place to be sure that you are receiving truth, and that is from the Truth or God himself, through his Word and with the Holy Spirit leading. You should be able to back every one of your beliefs with scripture ( in context ). It is important that the verses that you are using for support, are truly supporting the same thought in the context of the scripture that it is taken from. In other words, don't look for support; look for truth. This approach may alter your 1 * Trichotomous: the nature of man having three parts in body, soul, and spirit; dichotomous: with body and soul only. ______________________________________________________________________________________ beliefs from time to time, and in truth should, as you grow spiritually. Before we leave this subject I have to say that this principle is true also in knowing the will of God. If we say God's will for our life is one thing, and scripture says the opposite, then the scripture is right and not us. Proverbs 14:12 tells us," There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Thus, we should look for discernment as to God's will from the scriptures as well as in prayer and meditation. Back to Genesis 1:26-27, in order for us to understand what we have read, we have to read in greater detail: " And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:......So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;..." Wait a minute, in Genesis 1:26 it says " let us make man in our image, after our likeness...", but in Genesis 1:27 it says " So God created man in his own image...", isn't that a contradiction? In order for us to know we need to go to the scripture and attempt to determine what God's likeness is. Let's go to 1 John 5:7 to start our quest for the image of God. 1 John 5:7 says, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.". That would tend to agree with the statements in Genesis 1:26-27, wherein the words us, our and his tend to contradict each other. 1 John 5:7 says that God is three in one, a triune God. But, who is the Word that is talked about? Let's go to John 1:1-34, where it tells us, " In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear 2 ________________________________________________________________________ |
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