This section of posts in the God Series explores the meaning of the term “In His Image” and then offers an alternative meaning and discusses the implications of that alternative meaning. After completing the posts in this series, it will be instructive to review the Discussion Questions associated with the series “In His Image.”

IN HIS IMAGE

Review of previous posts

The previous post discussed attributes of man’s imagination.

Preview of this post

This post, the final post in the “In His Image” Section of the God Series, presents several further thoughts on the concept of “In His Image.”

Further Thoughts

Man is still being developed

As noted above, viewing Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 as a unit supports the conclusion that God wanted man to be the master of all He created in Genesis. Viewing Chapter 2 as a continuation of Chapter 1 shows that the this special skill which God gave to man so man could exercise dominion over the living entities created in Genesis needed development. That is, in Genesis 1, God created man with a special skill but that skill was given in a form that could be developed and refined as needed to continue leading the progress of the overall unit even as that unit changed and its needs changed and evolved. As such, the skill as initially given to man was primitive and undeveloped. That skill had to evolve into a skill that would accommodate the progress of the world at each step of the overall progress. This conclusion seems to be again supported by the statement in Genesis that when man was created, God did not pronounce His creation of man as being “good.” This seems to indicate that man was not finished and that, perhaps, God created man in a way that required man to develop and thus would not ever be “finished.” That is, perhaps God deliberately created man to evolve, adapt and change as situations changed. Since God has the ability to change and adapt, especially with regard to His relationship with man (for example, can you see the God that destroyed Aaron’s sons Nadob and Abihu^[1] accepting Rabbi Jeremiah’s statement that God was to stay out of man’s interpretation of the law^[2]?), then giving man the ability to adapt, change and evolve, is another trait that creates man “in God’s image” since it is a trait that God has and is given to man. That is why we are different from each other today and different from what we were in pre-historic times, and probably will be different from what we will be in the future. We are an evolving work. As is discussed in other series^[3], God does not know the outcome, and therefore, He would create man in a manner which would accommodate whatever is to come. God did not want to create a finished product, but one that would evolve, adapt and change as circumstances required. A finished product might be a god, and as discussed above, why would God want to create another God? He already had one…Himself. Thus, another of God’s gifts to man was to give man the ability to evolve. At this point, it might be observed that while our ability to evolve and adapt may even outstrip our ability to develop science, social and economic solutions and responses to changing circumstances, it can only be hoped that we do not encounter a situation, or create a situation, in which our ability to evolve and adapt coupled with our scientific abilities cannot accommodate the situation.

For this reason, after God completes His creation, the very next chapter in the story, Genesis 2, begins with man located in the Garden of Eden and existing barely above the level of the animals. That is, when Genesis 1 ends and Genesis 2 begins, while man may have an incipient characteristic, imagination, which will allow him to exercise dominion over the animals, this skill is rudimentary and must develop before it is useful to man in carrying out his duties. Thus, in the beginning of Chapter 2, God provides man with all he needs for survival and waits for man’s imagination to develop to a level sufficient to enable him to lead and guide the animals whereby man and animals and all of the other entities created by God in Genesis can work together to progress. As will be discussed in the series “Another Interpretation of the Garden of Eden Story,” once this characteristic develops sufficiently to enable man to exercise dominion over the animals and other entities at the time, man left the Garden and began to fulfill his mission. That is, once man demonstrated that his imagination had developed sufficiently to fulfill his duties at that time, man left the Garden. As noted, God gave this characteristic in a manner which would permit it to evolve and grow as necessary. Thus, while Adam’s imagination may be insufficient for the 21^st Century, it was sufficient for his world, and had the ability to continue evolving so by the 21^st Century, it would be sophisticated enough to be sufficient so 21^st Century man could exercise dominion over the entities at that time.

“Image” can be “resemblance”

The concept that has been discussed above, that of the “image” not being a “copy” can fit with the concept that the “image” could be a “resemblance” (“after His likeness”) of the creating Deity. Creating man as a resemblance, without being a copy, would still indicate a special and unique relationship between man and God so that man will have the ability to exercise dominion over the world. The “image” can still indicate special traits, powers and position, without being a copy. Man can be a “likeness” without being a “copy” and can be a “likeness” by having some, but not all, traits. Thus, the “image” of God means that man was provided special traits by God whereby man could exercise dominion over the world, but was lower and less than God since man was not a “copy.”^[4]

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^[1] See Leviticus 10:1-2.

^[2] See the debate reported in Bab. Talmud, Bava Metzia 59b.

^[3] See the posts in the section of posts “Partners” in the God Series.

^[4]Having said all of the above, another random thought occurs. We always seem to picture the creator as someone much larger than us, both physically and mentally, certainly physically. Why does this have to be so? Why can’t we be created by someone much smaller than us? In fact, the situation can be envisioned where man was created by bacteria and viruses….for food. In other words, bacteria and viruses actually are raising humans for food in the way we might raise cattle or a garden. It seems that no matter what we humans do, bacteria and viruses are always one step ahead of us and mutate into something that continues to feed off us. We close down one virus or disease, and another appears or the virus mutates into something else. Always, the virus or bacteria feeds off us, no matter what the form. Thus, could it be that we are simply food for viruses and bacteria? So much for the all-powerful giant being that created us. Now this random thought might undermine the basic premise, therefore, perhaps it this footnote should be ignored.