by Scott Klaft

Created on: July 23, 2008

Man Has Been Created In God's Image

Our God is "[H]e that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in" (Isaiah 40:22). The unfathomable power of our God, our Creator, and Sustainer, impresses us with such awe that sometimes we find ourselves having difficulty relating to Him. We think of ourselves as being so different that we dare not presume to think that God may be like us in any way; but actually, if we will simply reverse our thoughts, we will have it exactly. We are very much like Him. For many, this holds unsettling implications.

At the creation of the material universe, God endorses the design of things with His approbation, and if we are careful to observe it, we can learn that the pattern of parenthood was already well underway. When creating the world's vegetation, God caused the earth to "bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself," and when the deed was done, "God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:11, 12). God provided the means of procreation, and a sort of parentage for all vegetation to continue itself in the world. Then, God began to cause the waters to "bring forth the moving creature that hath life," and "God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:20, 21). Before man was yet created, God spoke to the living creatures in the water, and the fowl of the air "saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth'" (Gen. 1:22). Again, He provided for them a means of bringing others "after their kind" into the world in a sort of parentage. The same is said about the living creatures brought out of the earth "after their kind and God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:25).

The indelible imprint of God can be seen in every part of nature (cf. Romans 1:20), and the design of parenthood is no exception. Like the living things He was creating, God intended to produce a being "after [H]is kind." From His place in eternity where time has no meaning, He spoke to Himself (or, the manifestation of Himself that would eventually take flesh and truly be known as the Son of God), and said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). What this means exactly is not as self evident as most Bible students would prefer.

Gathering information to discover the meaning, we find a more detailed description of man's

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