The Creator Made His Images
Let’s jump into the way-back machine and go to the beginning and try to understand just who we humans are. The first book in the Bible is of course Genesis. The word “Genesis” means “beginning” or “origin.” Think of other English words similar to “genesis.” You probably came up words like “genetic” or “genes.” That’s good – I’m proud of you for thinking like me. Very basically defined, a gene is a sequence of DNA or RNA that transmits characteristics from one generation to the next. Genetics is the scientific study of genes and heredity – of how certain qualities or traits are passed from parents to offspring. In the first book of the Bible we go back to when that started – the genesis of genetics, if you will. We find out there is more to us than DNA.
Genesis 1:1-2 reports, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
When God first brought the earth into existence, it was unformed. It did not have its final shape or structure. It was not finished. The earth was formless, lifeless, lightless. Then God began the process for bringing form and order to the earth (verses 3-25). I’m not going to get into all of that, but skip to where it gets really mind-blowing. Verse 27 says, “God created man.” The word “man” refers to mankind or humanity – this the beginning of humans. Reading further, “God created man in his own image.” God himself was the pattern for humanity. This is different from everything else God had made.
Dr. Catherine McDowell, associate professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Seminary explains: “In Genesis 1:11-12, God creates vegetation, plants and fruit trees, all of which reproduce “each according to its/their kind.” Three times in these two verses
the phrase “according to its/their kind” is used to describe the correspondence between the plants and fruit trees that God created and the next generation of plants and fruit they produced. God also created the sea creatures and birds “according to their kinds” (Gen 1:21 ESV). He saw that it was good and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply in their respective domains. God then made all the living creatures that inhabit the earth, each “according to its kind” (Gen 1:23-25), and saw that this, too, was good. In total, the phrase “according to its/their kind” is repeated ten times in these seven verses alone (Gen 1:11-12, 21-25).
“Clearly, Genesis 1 emphasizes the creation and reproduction of each species according to its own distinctive type or class. However, in the next two verses, the creation of the first human pair is not described as “according to its kind,” as might be expected, but as “in the image of God.” This juxtaposition of the repeated “according to its/their kind” with “in the image of God” suggests at least two things. First, Genesis 1 draws a sharp distinction between humanity (male and female) and the other created beings; second, just as the plants and animals were created according to their own type, humanity was made according to God’s kind, metaphorically speaking. The author could have said this using the same words and grammatical construction as he did with the plants and animals, but he did not. Rather, he expressed human relationship to the divine using the terms image and likeness, terms that we know (Gen 5:1-3; 9:6) are kinship terms. Specifically, in Genesis 5:1-3 the terms denote the father-son relationship between Adam and Seth. Thus, it seems that to be created in the image of God is to be created as a “son” of God the Father.”
(CREATION OF WOMAN by Edwin Lester)
Genesis 2:7-8 tells us, “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.”
God physically shaped the humans the way he wanted them (also Genesis 2:22), put life from himself into them, and placed them in a garden where a river watered the garden and flowed out of Eden (verse 10). Later, we find out that God came into the garden to be with the humans (Genesis 3:8). So the garden was the place on earth where heaven and earth came together.
Dan T. Lioy, senior academic at South African Theological Seminary, explains how the Garden of Eden should be understand as a temple: “With respect to Eden, the Hebrew noun rendered ‘garden’ (gan; 2:8) denotes a ‘fenced-off enclosure’, especially one that is ‘protected by a wall or a hedge… In Genesis 2:8, ‘Eden’ is more than a symbol. It refers to a ‘geographical designation’. A number of conceptual and linguistic parallels in
Scripture indicate that this lush, bucolic spot was a primordial temple or sacred space for humankind. The Creator did not bring Eden into existence ‘strictly for the habitation of humans’; instead, they were stewards whom He ‘invited to enjoy and cultivate’ His garden. The underlying premise is that ever since the dawn of time, the entire world has been God’s sanctuary… There are a number of details in the creation narrative that point to Eden as a primordial temple.”
To be honest, all of this is kind of strange – to us 21st century enlightened, scientific, technological minded people. It is not like much of anything we know about. We need to remember that when Genesis was written, there existed already well-established civilizations and cultures, nations that functioned with accepted ideas, customs, languages, and religions. Genesis (indeed, the entire Bible) was written in the terms of those ancient civilizations to teach reality, to reveal how things really are.
What did the peoples of those cultures understand when they heard the phrase “image of god”? They would have meant a physical form, a statue made of wood or stone. We have documents from some of those ancient cultures of Mesopotamia (specifically Babylon and Nineveh) that describe how some made those images of god. Craftsmen sculpted or constructed a statue and encased it in gold and/or silver. Priests conducted a 2-day ceremony in a temple in the city and a garden by the river. They performed a variety of sacrifices, incantations, and rituals, including “the washing of the mouth” and “the opening of the mouth” that they believed would purify the statue from human contamination and bring it to life. Near the end of the process the priests chanted repetitively, “We did not make him. He was born in heaven. We did not make him. He was born in heaven.” The idol was dressed in beautiful garments with royal insignia and a jewel-studded crown – the image of god. Beyond this statue image, the ancient peoples believed that their king was the embodied image, the living statue of god, that he was a son of god. They conducted their society with the belief that all the non-royal “regular people” were the king’s slaves. Some thought that humans were created specifically to be slaves of the gods – to do all the menial, difficult tasks to serve and provide for the gods.
Genesis was written to kind of say “wait a minute; that’s not right; you have some things mixed up.” God created all humanity in his image. He made humans like himself. There was something that set them apart from the sun and moon and stars and earth and sky and ocean and plants and animals. They were the only things he made that were in his image. They were given the distinctiveness of being the only ones in the world who were like God. They had a unique connection with the Creator – humans are related to God as his created children.
As the image of God they were able to reflect God’s glory, God’s character, God’s love, God’s power out to the rest of creation. They represented the Creator to his creation. The human images were themselves priests to the heavens and the earth and all their inhabitants. The image of God didn’t need to be purified from human contamination; the image is human.
The first humans were not dressed in royal clothing and a crown. How were Adam and Eve dressed? Genesis 2:25 says: “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” I believe they felt no shame because they were God’s image. They were who they were supposed to be so there was nothing to be ashamed of. What was showing was what God is like – beauty and truth and goodness and love and power. There was no need to cover up.
Genesis addressed this idea that humans were made to be slaves to the gods and the kingly rulers. Clearly, humans were assigned a mission, a task, but not as slaves. As partners with God. Genesis 1:28 says that God told them to “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth…” Remember that Genesis 1:2 tells us that the earth was empty. Verses 20-25 show God filling the waters and the land with living creatures. Then he made the first humans and called them to continue what he began – fill the earth with living beings who are like him. God was telling Adam and Eve, “I want you to join me in filling this place I’ve made with life in my image.”
There was more to their mission – “subdue it (the earth). Rule over all the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” The images of God were given control over all the life God had created. Psalm 8:6 says “You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.” The man and woman were placed as King and Queen, co-rulers. Their Kingdom was all of creation; they were to rule over everything God had made.
Now Genesis 2:15 tells us, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Subdue and rule have negative connotations for many 21st century people – they seem to be mean oppressive, stifling, maybe even abusive. But the subduing and ruling that God assigned to his images were supposed make creation productive, fruitful, successful. They were to take care of it, be good for it. Their lordship and authority were supposed to be used to bless their kingdom.
Remember that Genesis 1:2 says that the newly created earth was “formless.” It was unformed. Then the Spirit of God, hovering over it, began putting things in order, putting things right. When he made the two humans, he called them to join him in continuing the orderly operation of creation. The Lord was telling those two images of him, “You have the responsibility and authority to run my world the way I would.”
God made humans his offspring, living images to join him in finishing his creation. They – we – have the mission to carry out God’s will, plans, and purposes for the earth (I think it’s the whole physical universe). Their – our – job is to expand the garden – the place where heaven and earth meet, the original temple – to encompass the entire earth (the entire universe). “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habbakuk 2:14). This our identity and destiny. This is who we are and what we are about.
We are more than what DNA determines. Our identity is not fixed merely by chemicals and enzymes in our brains. We are In God’s image. Every human is more than important, more than valuable. Every human is sacred, holy. Who you are is rooted in God himself. You have a godly meaning, a sacred reason, a holy purpose.
Genesis was written to ancient peoples in the middle east and spoke to the concepts they held and followed. But Genesis was written for us, too. Few people in our western society today make statues which they believe represent a god (though some do). Our 21st century culture has concepts about what it means to be human which are passed around and followed in our society. What message does Genesis have for us? What accepted ideas and values does Genesis correct?