Image of God
The Image of God
The idea that we are all created in the image of God is very common to most people, but what does it mean and why is it so important? Most people are familiar with the idea that human beings are created in the image of God. The bible teaches this and it also teaches that we have special status. Often times in the church this is where the idea stops and is never brought into prominence. This is one of the most important ideas in the scripture and when we understand this it changes how we engage ourselves with the gospel. He covers several critical passages from the Bible and explains how powerful the image of god is in these passages and why they are structured the way they are.
The first passage he looks at is one that is familiar to a lot of people, Genesis 1:26-27. In this passage we read about how God brings into existence man and woman. The Bible talks about creating humans out of something verses creating us out of nothing. Genesis 2: 7 amplifies this by saying that God created Adam from the dust and breathed life into him. Adams creation contrasts with the creation of the animals where God does not breathe life into them as he did with Adam. Adam learns that he has authority over the animals because he was allowed to name them and better understand them. He learns that they all lack the image of god and that none of them are his mate and thus God creates Eve for Adam. We each posses a unique spirituality, as humans, we have genetic similarities to other animals because we are both made from the dust of the earth but god did not breathe their life into them.
Other passages such as Genesis 1:28 talk about humans ruling over the earth because we bear the image of god. This makes us qualified to rule the earth, the image of god does. It is a spiritual component that we each poses and gives us that authority. However, the bible never talks about or describes exactly what the image of God is. For many years people have proposed different models
The idea that we are all created in the image of God is very common to most people, but what does it mean and why is it so important? Most people are familiar with the idea that human beings are created in the image of God. The bible teaches this and it also teaches that we have special status. Often times in the church this is where the idea stops and is never brought into prominence. This is one of the most important ideas in the scripture and when we understand this it changes how we engage ourselves with the gospel. He covers several critical passages from the Bible and explains how powerful the image of god is in these passages and why they are structured the way they are.
The first passage he looks at is one that is familiar to a lot of people, Genesis 1:26-27. In this passage we read about how God brings into existence man and woman. The Bible talks about creating humans out of something verses creating us out of nothing. Genesis 2: 7 amplifies this by saying that God created Adam from the dust and breathed life into him. Adams creation contrasts with the creation of the animals where God does not breathe life into them as he did with Adam. Adam learns that he has authority over the animals because he was allowed to name them and better understand them. He learns that they all lack the image of god and that none of them are his mate and thus God creates Eve for Adam. We each posses a unique spirituality, as humans, we have genetic similarities to other animals because we are both made from the dust of the earth but god did not breathe their life into them.
Other passages such as Genesis 1:28 talk about humans ruling over the earth because we bear the image of god. This makes us qualified to rule the earth, the image of god does. It is a spiritual component that we each poses and gives us that authority. However, the bible never talks about or describes exactly what the image of God is. For many years people have proposed different models