Some Thoughts On Man Made In The Image Of God.

JAGG

New member
Genesis 1:27 "God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them."
`
If you want to know what God is like, go into your bathroom and look in the mirror at
yourself, and you will see and know what God is like. You were created in God's image.
( I obviously do NOT mean your physical image or your physical appearance. )
`
I interpret the "image of God" in Genesis 1:27 to be as follows:
`
(1) God has an Intellect --- man has an Intellect.
`
(2) God has a Free Will (volition) --- man has a Free Will
`
(3) God has Emotions --- man has Emotions.
`
These are the 3 major areas that demonstrate the image of God in human beings.
`
Further breakdown of the 3 major areas.
`
(4) God is Creative --- man is Creative.
`
(5) God can Love --- man can Love.
`
(6) God can Cry ("Jesus wept") --- man can Cry.
`
(7) God can be Jealous --- man can be Jealous.
`
( 8 ) God can experience Joy --- man can experience Joy.
`
(9) God can have Patience --- man can have Patience.
`
(10) God can express Kindness --- man can express Kindness.
`
(11) God can express Gentleness --- man can express Gentleness.
`
(12) God can express Wrath --- man can express Wrath.
`
(13) God creates Magnificent Art Works (in nature) --- man creates Magnificent Art Works (eg. cathedrals)
`
(14) God Writes Books (the Bible) --- man Writes Books.
`
(15) God feels Empathy --- man feels Empathy.
``
(16) God feels Sympathy --- man feels Sympathy.
`
(17) God makes Long-Term Plans --- man makes Long-Term Plans.
`
(18 )God can Speak --- man can Speak
`
Yes, God made man in His own image.
`
_____________

`
There is much more that can be added to that up there.



`
 

KerimF

New member
I hope you, JAGG, don't mind I comment your interpretations since I focus on Jesus sayings only (which were not inspired like the rest of the Bible, but revealed by God's Living Word Himself).

(1) God has an Intellect --- man has an Intellect.
God has an Intellect --- man has an Intellect, but born totally ignorant
`
(2) God has a Free Will (volition) --- man has a Free Will
God has a Free Will (volition) --- man has a single Free Will; to look for the survival of his flesh (guided by God's instructions, known instincts) or to live God's Love as Jesus did.
`
(3) God has Emotions --- man has Emotions.
God has Emotions that cannot be controlled by men --- man has Emotions which may be controlled remotely by any other man.
`
(4) God is Creative --- man is Creative.
God is Creative --- man is just a discoverer of what have existed since the beginning of Creation.
`
(5) God can Love --- man can Love.
God represents the ultimate Love, as being the One Will/Power of the Father in Heaven and Jesus who are unified, since before Creation, by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit --- man can Live God's Love towards others; friends and enemies, even on earth.
`
(6) God can Cry ("Jesus wept") --- man can Cry.
Obviously, Jesus incarnated cried as any man may do.
`
(7) God can be Jealous --- man can be Jealous.
God has no reason to be jealous --- man has no reason to be jealous if he lives God's Love.
`
(13) God creates Magnificent Art Works (in nature) --- man creates Magnificent Art Works (eg. cathedrals).
God creates Magnificent Art Works (in nature) and catastrophes --- man is allowed to do both.
`
(17) God makes Long-Term Plans --- man makes Long-Term Plans.
God made a Long-Term Plan, God's Plan --- every man plays his role(s), for which he is created, in God's Plan.
`
18) God can Speak --- man can Speak
Jesus, the Living Word of God, took a flesh as ours to speak in person and reveal clearly and loudly the natural truths of the spiritual realm --- man can speak, better he may even perceive God's Spirit in him.

(14) God Writes Books (the Bible) --- man Writes Books.
God has inspired some men to write books --- man writes and read books.

The below ones represent simply what a man, in general, likes imagining his Creator (this started since before the days of Pharaohs)
(8) God can experience Joy --- man can experience Joy.
(9) God can have Patience --- man can have Patience.
(10) God can express Kindness --- man can express Kindness.
(11) God can express Gentleness --- man can express Gentleness.
(12) God can express Wrath --- man can express Wrath.
(15) God feels Empathy --- man feels Empathy.
(16) God feels Sympathy --- man feels Sympathy.

Speaking practically, I used knowing one's inner, to a good extent, by knowing how he perceives his God. In case of an atheist, the process is different :)
 

Ps82

Active member
Genesis 1:27 "God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them."
`
If you want to know what God is like, go into your bathroom and look in the mirror at
yourself, and you will see and know what God is like. You were created in God's image.
( I obviously do NOT mean your physical image or your physical appearance. )
`
I interpret the "image of God" in Genesis 1:27 to be as follows:
`
(1) God has an Intellect --- man has an Intellect.
`
(2) God has a Free Will (volition) --- man has a Free Will
`
(3) God has Emotions --- man has Emotions.
`
These are the 3 major areas that demonstrate the image of God in human beings.
`
Further breakdown of the 3 major areas.
`
(4) God is Creative --- man is Creative.
`
(5) God can Love --- man can Love.
`
(6) God can Cry ("Jesus wept") --- man can Cry.
`
(7) God can be Jealous --- man can be Jealous.
`
( 8 ) God can experience Joy --- man can experience Joy.
`
(9) God can have Patience --- man can have Patience.
`
(10) God can express Kindness --- man can express Kindness.
`
(11) God can express Gentleness --- man can express Gentleness.
`
(12) God can express Wrath --- man can express Wrath.
`
(13) God creates Magnificent Art Works (in nature) --- man creates Magnificent Art Works (eg. cathedrals)
`
(14) God Writes Books (the Bible) --- man Writes Books.
`
(15) God feels Empathy --- man feels Empathy.
``
(16) God feels Sympathy --- man feels Sympathy.
`
(17) God makes Long-Term Plans --- man makes Long-Term Plans.
`
(18 )God can Speak --- man can Speak
`
Yes, God made man in His own image.
`
_____________

`
There is much more that can be added to that up there.



`

Hi JAGG Journeyman.
I totally get your points and believe what you have written is correct when you consider the inner spiritual nature of man. Yes, in these ways we are like God.

Yet, I take things a little more literal as well. Did you know that 24 men of Israel saw God, ate a meal, in his presence without being harmed. They saw The Body of Heaven in HIS clearness. IOW. They saw God's presence clearly! Read Exodus 24:9-12

Now, if God is an invisible spirit how could they have clearly seen his body of heaven unless HE had ONE? The answer to this mystery is found in Genesis 1 and 2. Let's [or let US] make man in OUR image. It has to be a literal statement referring to how God had a physical form/image before he created Adam after its likeness. Yes, we are inwardly like God for in Genesis 2 God created mankind male and female as one entity, but at this stage male and female were invisible. They had not yet been manifested with a bodily form. It was in Genesis 2 that the LORD God formed one physical body for the male and female out of the elements of creation called dust of the ground. It was this body of mankind which looked like God's personal image. Yes, Adam looked like God's form but his body was not of the super-natural sort as was God's.

God created an image for purposes:
1.) To appear within the world he had created.
2.) To make himself known to mankind visually.
3.) And I think it was a tool God was going to use more than once.

I believe God wanted to be known as God, the Father, and the Son. Isaiah 43:11 explains how God, the Father, and the Son are all The One. "I [the Spiritual invisible God] even I AM the LORD [Father]; beside ME [as God, Father and Son] there is no Savior/Messiah.

IOW... the three are ONE.

It seems that God's other purpose for his created visible ONE image was to use it at least two times. Once to be seen as the heavenly Father. The other to be seen as the begotten Son and Savior.

All things were created by God, who had an image for himself, and were created for himself as God the Son. God gave mankind the likeness of his own image because HE was planning to raise up a family. He wanted his children to look like Him.

Jesus, the Son, was so correct when he said this: When you have SEEN ME, you HAVE SEEN The FATHER.
IOW, the Father and the Son looked alike -except that one was seen in a super-natural heavenly body and the other was seen in a mortal fleshly body.

Yes, Journeyman, we are like God inwardly in the ways you mentioned, but we also outwardly looked LIKE his created presence as well. This is why Jesus, as the Son of God, had no outward appearance of glory that would have made people understand he was God/Emmanuel. He merely looked like a normal human being. I like to say things this way: He did not look like humans but rather humans looked like HIM for he, being God, had his original image first and shared its likeness with us.

After reading my post watch what you realize when you read Colossians 1:14-17. My points added inside [ ...].
14 [Jesus - the WORD of God - the Messiah] In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 [Jesus - The WORD - the Son] Who is the image of the invisible God, [the image being] the first born of every creature.
16 For by HIM, [God the Father, and God the Son] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: All things were created by HIM and for HIM:
17And HE is before all things, and by HIM all things consist.

Did you comprehend the truth? The invisible God created an image ... a living walking, talking form ... before he had created any other creatures! It was his pleasure to created a creature called mankind after his image and his likeness.

Just, wow, we are really privileged to be favoring him!
Is it any wonder that God did not want anyone to carve or mold some life-less image of him out of wood or stone? Those images would neer be equal to the miraculous LIVING image of God. How insulting to Him!

One last point: Because of man's freewill and perverted spirit due to the original sin, human beings would have a propensity to disrespect any idol or image formed after his likeness. Think about people in our country today who are tearing down statures of historical people and some are talking about destroying stain glassed images of our Lord Jesus. Think of people, who reject our Lord, have been willing to burn the synagogues and churches of our true God. Why would God want replicas of his image to be treated like that? How disrespectful!

JAGG Journeyman, I would love to hear what you think of my post.
 

Bradley D

Well-known member
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
"Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul."


in His [own] image;
בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ (bə·ṣal·mōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew 6754: A phantom, illusion, resemblance, a representative figure, an idol, likeness
 

TrevorL

Well-known member
Greetings Ps82 and Bradley D,
Yes, we are inwardly like God for in Genesis 2 God created mankind male and female as one entity, but at this stage male and female were invisible. They had not yet been manifested with a bodily form.
There is no evidence that they were created invisible.
I believe God wanted to be known as God, the Father, and the Son. Isaiah 43:11 explains how God, the Father, and the Son are all The One. "I [the Spiritual invisible God] even I AM the LORD [Father]; beside ME [as God, Father and Son] there is no Savior/Messiah.
IOW... the three are ONE.
Isaiah 43:11 is not teaching the Trinity, and/or that Jesus is God.
This is why Jesus, as the Son of God, had no outward appearance of glory that would have made people understand he was God/Emmanuel. He merely looked like a normal human being. I like to say things this way: He did not look like humans but rather humans looked like HIM for he, being God, had his original image first and shared its likeness with us.
Jesus was a human, not God.
Did you comprehend the truth? The invisible God created an image ... a living walking, talking form ... before he had created any other creatures! It was his pleasure to created a creature called mankind after his image and his likeness.
The other creatures were created before man and woman.
Think about people in our country today who are tearing down statures of historical people and some are talking about destroying stain glassed images of our Lord Jesus. Think of people, who reject our Lord, have been willing to burn the synagogues and churches of our true God. Why would God want replicas of his image to be treated like that? How disrespectful!
Many of the images of Jesus are a form of idolatry.
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
"Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul."
This is NOT an immortal soul. The same words are used for the other animals. Man was not created immortal.

Kind regards
Trevor
 

Ps82

Active member
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
"Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul."


in His [own] image;
בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ (bə·ṣal·mōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew 6754: A phantom, illusion, resemblance, a representative figure, an idol, likeness

Bradley D, Did you know God has a soul? If God has a soul don't we need to understand exactly what a soul is?

Most people say the soul is the inward part of man ... such as the mind of man ... his thoughts, feeling, freewill, and such. I disagree and this is why.

Man at a particular point became a living soul... not man has a soul.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of LIFE; and [THEN] man BECAME a living SOUL.
God gave man a body but on a mere portions or a mere breath out of His Spirit.

So what is a soul? It is manifested only when a physical form or body is created and then given the breath of a living spirit associated with it.

God tells us he has a soul. Which would mean that God created a body for himself and gave it or associated His Spirit with it. Only in this case of our LORD of Genesis 2 The totality of the Spirit of the Living God was associated with IT. The LORD of Genesis 2 was God's personal representative on earth.

Read these verses where the one Spiritual God mentions he has a soul which can come among men and work. Leviticus 26:11,30
11 And I [God] set my tabernacle [the place where I God dwell] among you: and MY SOUL shall not abhor you.
[BUT IF YOU REJECT ME as your God]
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and MY SOUL shall abhor you.

What or who was this SOUL of God? Answer: The LORD the LORD God Almighty. We came to know him as the presence of the LORD Father.

If I am correct, this means that the invisible one God formed a visible body which represented all of him Spiritually among men.

Didn't God do the same for our Lord Jesus? God gave our Lord a visible body which represented all of him Spiritually among men.
John 3:34-35 For He [the Messiah Jesus whom men saw bodily] whom God hath sent speaketh the [very] words of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father [LORD God/YHWH/ Jehovah] loveth the Son, and hath given ALL THINGS into his hands.

Just like the Father LORD represented all of God among men hither to, Lord Jesus represented all of God among men in his day of work. They are the representatives of the ONE and only living God. Some miraculous way -They are He and He is They. We know them as two but Jesus explained that he and the Father are actually ONE. Both are Emmanuel ... God dwelling among us bodily as SOULS of God.
 

Bradley D

Well-known member
I believe our soul and God's soul are different. I believe Jesus had the spirit/soul of God, but He was also fully human and understood our soul. I believe my soul is what keeps me spiritually moving and getting through each day. God is spirit. Humans have to deal with flesh which can be a burden on the spirit/soul.

God's Soul napsi "I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you" (Lev. 26:11).
and I
נַפְשִׁ֖י (nap̄·šî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion


Human Soul nephesh. "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Ps. 42:2)

Strong's Concordance
nephesh: a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion
Original Word: נֶפֶשׁ
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: nephesh
Phonetic Spelling: (neh'-fesh)
Definition: a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion
 

Ps82

Active member
I believe our soul and God's soul are different. I believe Jesus had the spirit/soul of God, but He was also fully human and understood our soul. I believe my soul is what keeps me spiritually moving and getting through each day. God is spirit. Humans have to deal with flesh which can be a burden on the spirit/soul.

God's Soul napsi "I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you" (Lev. 26:11).
and I
נַפְשִׁ֖י (nap̄·šî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion


Human Soul nephesh. "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Ps. 42:2)

Strong's Concordance
nephesh: a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion
Original Word: נֶפֶשׁ
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: nephesh
Phonetic Spelling: (neh'-fesh)
Definition: a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

Hi Bradley,
The soul of mankind was completed in two steps. Which step came first is an important detail.
We know A BODY was formed from an applied mist, which came from God, upon the dust of the ground. We also know that with the breath of God an entity entered that body and THEN man became a living soul.
The question is this: Which came first the body or the living spiritual entity called man or male female? Well, here is a clue. If, according to Gen 1, man was first male and female and yet when Adam was manifested in bodily form there was only the presence of a singular male form, where was female? Answer: She was still invisible ... un manifested but God had already told us that she existed ... Gen 1. God only brought female forth later giving her a personalized human form of her own. The key here being male and female existed before they were manifested bodily.

First step: God established mankind spiritually and invisible. Gen.1
Second step: Mankind did not become a completed living soul until the living personalities called male and female was imparted into that body. Gen.2

So, what exactly is a living soul? My conclusions are these: It took the joining of the invisible spiritual entities called male and female with the bodily form established for them.
This bodily form for mankind was made in the likeness of God's own image. IOW God looked like the image God has told us he had for himself.

Jesus, identified as the second Adam, proclaimed that when people had seen him they had seen the presence of Father God as well. IOW, As the second Adam Jesus also looked like the image of God as had the first Adam. They both looked like God's own image.

Colossians 1:15 gives us a clue that the image of God existed before Adam was ever formed for IT was the first born of all creatures. My inserts for clarification inside [...]
[Jesus being known as the WORD of God and the second Adam] is the image of [or belonging to] the invisible God, [the image which was] the firstborn of every creature.

Do you comprehend? God had formed [or created] a visible form for himself before he eer created any other being! Angelic or humanoid. God associated his invisible spiritual identity with that ONE form which was used to represent Himself among all created beings. This is why God could talk about HIS SOUL. There was a living spiritual essence associated with a created bodily form.

Watch how God mentions the existence of HIS SOUL. Lev. 26:11 "And I [God Almighty] set my tabernacle among you: and MY SOUL shall not abhor you.
Do you comprehend the statement? The spiritual God did have a bodily form and had established himself among men as a living soul. BTW the word soul and its meaning in Lev. 26:11 is the same word and meaning for SOUL in Gen. 2. What does God and man have in common? They have both been manifested in a living visible form by the one Spiritual God's own will. God the Father was the original soul representing the living essence of our one invisible God ... and Mankind was made in his likeness after the likeness of God's original image.

God's soul was able to literally dwell among men in a structure he designed and had built by the Children of Israel. We know it as God's tabernacle.

It seems we have the same verses in mind perhaps with only a slight twist in our conclusions.
1.) Yes, God is spirit ... but God had a visible form for himself. We know him as God the Father.
2.) Yes, Jesus was seen in flesh but he told us that when we had seen him we had seen the Father. IOW there was something about our invisible God that was see-able. That way Jesus could say he looked like HIM.
3.) Yes, our soul is different from God's soul. How? John 3:34-35 tells us:For he [Jesus] whom God hath sent speaketh the WORDS of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
4.) Obviously mankind only has only received a portion of life and identity granted to us from our creator in the beginning ... but Jesus had access to it all.
5.) Will we ever be equal to God or to our Lord? No. Yet, we are told that Jesus had been given the authority to give us "water" [of a spiritual kind]" which would take us to the next level of our future existence having eternal life. It never says we will receive the level of equality of spirit from God as had Jesus.
 

clefty

New member
Genesis 1:27 "God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them."
`
If you want to know what God is like, go into your bathroom and look in the mirror at
yourself, and you will see and know what God is like. You were created in God's image.
( I obviously do NOT mean your physical image or your physical appearance. )
`
I interpret the "image of God" in Genesis 1:27 to be as follows:
`
(1) God has an Intellect --- man has an Intellect.
`
(2) God has a Free Will (volition) --- man has a Free Will
`
(3) God has Emotions --- man has Emotions.
`
These are the 3 major areas that demonstrate the image of God in human beings.
`
Further breakdown of the 3 major areas.
`
(4) God is Creative --- man is Creative.
`
(5) God can Love --- man can Love.
`
(6) God can Cry ("Jesus wept") --- man can Cry.
`
(7) God can be Jealous --- man can be Jealous.
`
( 8 ) God can experience Joy --- man can experience Joy.
`
(9) God can have Patience --- man can have Patience.
`
(10) God can express Kindness --- man can express Kindness.
`
(11) God can express Gentleness --- man can express Gentleness.
`
(12) God can express Wrath --- man can express Wrath.
`
(13) God creates Magnificent Art Works (in nature) --- man creates Magnificent Art Works (eg. cathedrals)
`
(14) God Writes Books (the Bible) --- man Writes Books.
`
(15) God feels Empathy --- man feels Empathy.
``
(16) God feels Sympathy --- man feels Sympathy.
`
(17) God makes Long-Term Plans --- man makes Long-Term Plans.
`
(18 )God can Speak --- man can Speak
`
Yes, God made man in His own image.
`
_____________

`
There is much more that can be added to that up there.



`

I note no mention of Law...as if the Image of Yah had NO LAW?...or its order or hierarchy or harmony or purpose...

Adam was created and given instructions--->LAW that he might not just be but DO:

Adam was to NAME (is to judge), to show dominion, tend, be fruitful and then multiply...and of course eat of the trees and the tree of Life and NOT eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil...

to work six days and create as He did...and then of course rest...as He did...

In fact Adam's first full day was a day of REST...revealing the laws of time...cadence...rhythm…pattern...

Day and Night follow a cadence prescribed by our Creator INTO WHICH He put the Sun and Moon and Stars...all harmony and by law...with His Sabbath...

Note the 1:7 proportion still measured in our Light waves (7 primary colors) and Sound (waves 7 primary notes) yup...stamped into the very Laws of Nature herself...

And after the rebellion and Eve deceived herself...everything made was cursed...the ground the animals the people...but NOT TIME...time was left alone...its Law remains...

We find He limited Himself to not only physical presence but TIME itself...and TO BE UNDERSTOOD He made US into an IMAGE which is LIKE HIM...not just looks like but BEHAVES LIKE...a lifestyle in time...with purpose...

And there the real story takes off...man of course having free will as you mentioned...

So many now reject we are to BEHAVE LIKE...LIVE AS HE DID...and NOT by Laws He gave to us to reveal Himself to us and allow ourselves to become restored back to Him to His Ways and to His Holiness...

but they rather seek REBELLION and by their OWN LAWS which they create...claiming instead like the first angel did "I would be like Him" and thus heaven its harmony was "NOT DISPENSED FOR ME"...

how he fell...

I understand that we see from a place of rebellion and a fallen world...but after He did SO MUCH to reach us so that WE MIGHT BE LIKE HIM AGAIN...I just hope to remind us that we REMEMBER a time to keep it Holy...

a Law regarding our being made to be IN HIS image which includes to BEHAVE AS HE DID...Live as He does...work six rest seventh...as we would have had we not fallen into this detour of sin...

...that we remember where He is there is a Holy time...

and for Eternity...NOT IMMORTAL mind you...only ONE IS...but dependent on the tree of life...
 
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