6. The Image of God
Tom DeRosa
Creation Studies Institute
Topics Covered
I.
II.
III.
IV.
What is Man?
Like God we can …,
Man’s Purpose
Man’s Distinctiveness
I.
In God’s Image
What is a Human Being?
Human Beings defined in Evolutionary terms
•
•
•
•
Brain size
Ability to use tools
Dentition
Ability to walk up-right
What is a Human?
From Wikipedia
Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates
belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens
(Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man") in the family
Hominidae (the great apes). Humans have a highly
developed brain capable of abstract reasoning,
language, and introspection. This mental capability,
combined with an erect body carriage that frees their
upper limbs for manipulating objects, has allowed
humans to make far greater use of tools than any other
species. Humans originated in Africa about
200,000 years ago, but they now inhabit every
continent, with a total population of over 6.6 billion as
of 2007
Darwin’s theory of
evolution by natural
selection from the start
always included monkeys
evolving to man near the
top of his evolutionary tree.
Darwin’s Inner Thoughts
“My Descent of Man was published in February
1871. As soon as I had become, in the year 1837
or 1838, convinced that species were mutable
productions, I could not avoid to believe that
man must come under the same law.”
The Descent of Man
(1871)
Darwin stated that the
“negro” and “gorilla”
were on the same
evolutionary level
between man, and the
“baboon.”
Thomas Huxley
“Scientific” Racism introduced
“No rationale man, cognizant of
the facts, believe that the
average negro is equal, still less
the superior, of the white man.”
Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature
Created in God’s Image
Gen 1:26-28
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and
the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and
over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Image Bearers
• Created in the Image of God, in God’s likeness
• Gen 5:3: When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a
son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he
named him Seth
• Gen 9:5-6 5And for your lifeblood I will surely
demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting
from every animal. And from each man, too, I will
demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his
blood be shed; for in the image of God
The Image of God
• In Genesis 1:27-28 the words
created and image are repeatedly
used 3 X.
• "Let us make man in our image“
• In Genesis 1.1 the Hebrew word
for God is Elohim, the Uni-plural for
God(s). three persons in one. In
Gen.1:26 the terms “us" and "our“
refer to the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.
• If man is made in God’s image
then he must have been made with
the image of the Holy Trinity.
Man in Three Dimensions
God created us three dimensional so that we
could have communion with him.
We are created in God’s image – Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Gen 1:27 NIV
Body – like Christ
Mind – like the Father
Soul – like the Spirit
The Image of the Invisible God
• Col 1:15-17
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all
things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him. 17 He is before all
things, and in him all things hold together.
Creation Continuum
Father – Son – Holy Spirit Continuum
Father
Triune
God
Jesus
Christ
Holy Spirit
Monism
 One state of being exists and therefore everything
must center on one unifying concept.
 A unifying concept that everything exists without the
interference of the supernatural realm.
 Everything can be explained on the basic level of the
inherent properties of matter and the natural laws
that control this matter.
 It is a religious system based upon the above which is
termed modern naturalism.
Dualism
 It is based on two philosophical dimensions of reality
– Matter and Soul (Mind)
 The mind is defined where the actual neuronal brain
connections interpret the sensation from one of the
five senses.
 This is a independent entity from materialism as
Thoughts – Feeling - Memories-Dreams
Imaginings - Intentions
 The mind also can be termed in this context as the
soul of man.
Trialism
Introduced the third level of the Spirit
Body
Soul
Spirit
Joining the body and mind in reality can only be
executed with the use of the third component – Spirit.
The spirit is given by God and cannot be measured
empirically. Genesis 2:7
The dust of the ground is united with breathe of life
(spirit) to make man three dimensional.
Man, a Living Being
The Plan
• Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man… “
The Execution
• Genesis 2:7 “ the Lord God formed the man from the dust
of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life,
The Result
• Genesis 2:7 continued, “and the man became a living being.”
The Living Breath of God
God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being.” (Living soul) Gen. 2:7
Life in Hebrew can be translated for nephesh
Breath in Hebrew can be translated ruwach (roo'akh); a primitive root; properly, to blow, i.e. breathe; only
John 3:6-8
6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You
must be born again.' 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and
you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from
and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Dust of the Earth
• “Aphar” Hebrew word for dust
• It used to describe clay, earth or mud.
• In the context means the basic materials of life
earth crust components – carbon, Hydrogen
nitrogen, oxygen and many others.
• The curse of man will return to dust “for dust
you are and to dust you will return.” Gen. 3:19
Man’s created to have a relationship
with God.
II.
Like God we can …,
1. Like God, we can “Think”
Example : (Isaiah 55:8-9)
“8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, ‘declares the LORD.’ 9 As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts.”
Note: God has given man the ability to think, but God’s thoughts are so much
higher .
Example: John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. NIV
Note: Jesus Christ is the Word, and the word in Greek is “logos” – the
rationale (logical thinking) of the universe.
2. Like God, we can “Communicate”
Genesis 1:28 : Let us make man in our image and
…,
Note: God is a council of three
Ex 31:18: When the LORD finished speaking to
Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two
tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone
inscribed by the finger of God.
Note: Lord spoke and wrote the ten commandments on
stone with his finger
Communicate - Speaking :
“And God said…”
1. Gen 1:3-4
2. Gen 1:6
3. Gen 1:9
4. Gen 1:11
5. Gen 1:14
6. Gen 1:20
7. Gen 1:21-22
8. Gen 1:24
9. Gen 1:26
10. Gen 1:29
(Genesis speaks 10 X)
3. Like God, we can “Create”
Create/Form (Genesis 1:1,21,27)
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.
1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea
and every living and moving thing with which
the water teems, according to their kinds, and
every winged bird according to its kind. And
God saw that it was good.
1:27 – create used three times
4. Like God we can appreciate
“Beauty”
• Appreciate (Matthew 6:28-230)
Matt 6:28-30 “28And why do you worry about
clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you
that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how
God clothes the grass of the field, which is
here today and tomorrow is thrown into the
fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you
of little faith?
5. Like God, we move in His Spirit
 Ps 31:55 Into your hands I commit my spirit ;redeem
me, O LORD, the God of truth.
 Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of
the Almighty gives me life.
 Matt 12:18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit
on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
6. Like God, we can
“Evaluate”/judge
 Ps 9:8 “He will judge the world in righteousness; he will
govern the peoples with justice.”
 Ps 96:13 “he comes to judge the earth. He will judge
the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.”
 Matt 7:1-2 “1Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2
For in the same way you judge others, you will be
judged, and with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you.”
7. Like God, we can “Love”
Ps 13:5 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my
heart rejoices in your salvation.
Ps 36:5 5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the
heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Matt 22:37-39 37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first
and greatest commandment. 39 And the second
is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
In Summary like God we can
1. Like God, we can “Think”
2. Like God, we can “Communicate”
3. Like God, we can “Create”
4. Like God we can appreciate “beauty”
5. Like God, we move in “His Spirit”
6. Like God, we can “Evaluate”/judge
7. Like God, we can “Love”
III.
Man’s Purpose
Rule Over
Gen 1:26-28
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and
the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and
over every living creature that moves on the ground."
God gave Man a Purpose
A. Man is to obey God’s command.
B. Man’s purpose is to subdue (study).
C. Man is to increase in number.
D. Man is to rule
Man’s position in Creation
Man’s position in Creation
Man’s Position : Crowned with glory and
honor
When I consider your heavens, the work of your
fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have
set in place, what is man that you are mindful of
him, the son of man that you care for him? You
made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
Ps
8:3-5 NIV
Man’s purpose and plan
Man’s Role : Ruler over God’s creation
“You made him ruler over the works of your
hands; you put everything under his feet: all
flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the
birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that
swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Psalm
8: 5-9 NIV
Psalm 8:4-5
God crowns
Man with
honor and
glory.
IV.
Man’s Distinctiveness
Man’s Distinctiveness
1 Cor 15:37-39
37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that
will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of
something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he
has determined, and to each kind of seed he
gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same:
Men have one kind of flesh, animals have
another, birds another and fish another. NIV
Man , one kind of flesh…,
Corinthians 15:37-39
1. The author of all living forms is God.
2. God gives the type of body he wants through the seed
(DNA).
3. There is a definite distinction between each form (body).
4. This is totally contrary to the evolutionary tree in which
all organisms are related to each other.
5. Hence, Man is distinct and not related to any animals
including monkeys.
Man’s Distinctiveness from Animals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Intelligence
Language
Creativity
Moral Conscience
Emotional Depth
Intelligence
Man has so many
unanswered questions
about the brain. It is
the most mysterious
organ created, and as
well the most complex
physical structure in
the universe.
“Practically nothing is known about the way information
processing actually takes place in the brain. Nobody
knows how the perceived semantic information is derived
from incoming electrical signals.” Werner Gitt, The Wonder of Man (Bielefild,
Germany, Christliche Literatur-Verbreitung e.V. 1999) p81
Intelligence
1. Standard IQ – Evolutionary origins of man.
Stanford –Binet: Test developed by Lewis Terman from
Stanford University who was part of the Eugenics
movement to improve the evolutionary stock of the human
race. Developed to separate the weak form the strong, the
feebleminded from the gifted.
2. Terman a powerful American psychologists in the 1920’s
believed that children were born with a fixed intelligence and
that it did not change in adulthood. “The limits of a child’s
educability can be fairly accurately predicted by means of
mental testing in the first school year.”
3. Such a theory allows for no advancement or progression even
with the training. It is highly biased and evolutionary driven
leading to the highest form of racism.
4. Accurate scientific observations report the reverse. Proper
training in many areas produce significant results.
Intelligence (continued)
1. Intelligence is difficult to measure
2. Multiple Types – Howard Gardner
3. Only Humans can solve complex problems with
multiple variables.
4. Humans are the only living creatures that use
inductive and deductive reasoning
Language – A Great Mystery
“I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of
her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as
something forgotten - a thrill of a returning thought; and
somehow the mystery of language was reveled to me. I
knew that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something
that was flowing over my hand. That the living word
awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, setting it free!
There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could
in time be swept away.”
By Helen Keller
Helen Keller
1880-1968
• April 5, 1887 Helen Keller learned from Anne
Sullivan thirty symbols – thirty words in a few
short hours.
• She demonstrated for the first time a remarkable
ability for language acquisition.
Defining Language
• Linguists have stated overwhelmingly that there
are no simple languages, even though there are
hundreds of languages without a writing system.
• Languages have a phonetic system that build
words and these words are associated together
with a set of rules to express a thought in a
sentence. These rules become subconscious.
• The ability to make and understand an unlimited
number of sentences has been called the
“creative aspect of language.”
All Language is Complex
“All contemporary modern human beings use very
complex languages. There are no “primitive” languages:
the 5 000 or more spoken today are equally flexible and
expressive, and their grammar and syntax are
sometimes richer and more precise than that of the
more widespread languages like English or Spanish,
which have undergone some simplification over the
centuries.” and “It is not certain that all languages have
a common origin” Luigi Lura Cavalli-Sforza professor of
genetics at Stanford University.
Genes, People and Languages (New York; North Pointe Press, 2000) p59
Creativity
•
•
•
•
Only a quality of God as the scriptures indicate.
Humans only have the ability to change and form
things.
Humans can use words, colors, sounds, symbols and
tools forming them into new expressions.
The human face expresses within itself a uniqueness
that can be identified from millions of other humans.
The Creative Man
Webster’s Dictionary
• The ability to create. Inventive. Productive.
• Inventive is bright able, apt, smart, resourceful, intelligent
and gifted.
• Productive is yielding, producing, fertile, profitable,
prolific, luxuriant, fruitful and bounteous
Man is creative
because he is a
reflection of
God.
Moral Conscience
• The ability to decide right from wrong is truly
human.
• The depth of human moral consciousness is
demonstrated in the legal systems developed.
• The idea of justice for all, integrity, truthfulness,
and honor are words that describe this
phenomenon.
Emotional Depth
• The ability to feel pain and joy is much more intense than
any other animal.
• The ability to internalize the whole emotion of well being.
Brain studies indicate this in the deep part of the brain.
• The human face can emote a quarter of million facial
changes that are controlled by twenty-eight paper thin
muscles.
• These facial changes are used to magnify his emotional
depth in expressing ones human experience. This is only
unique to man.
Faces
Emotional Depth
Man Created to Glorify God
The communion with Christ are far reaching:
• We share Christ’s life - “Now if we died
with Christ, we believe that we will also live
with him.” Rom 6:8
• We share His Resurrection “having been
buried with him in baptism and raised with
him through your faith in the power of God,
who raised him from the dead.” Col 2:12
Man Created to Enjoy God Forever
The communion with Christ are far reaching:
• We are co-heirs with Christ “Now if we are
children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in
his sufferings in order that we may also
share in his glory.” Rom 8:17
• We will be raised in His glory (Rom 8:17)
• We will reign with Him “if we endure, we
will also reign with him.” 2 Tim 2:12
Man is created to worship and have
communion with God.