Of the many beautiful biblical doctrines taught by God’s Church, some are mistakenly thought to hold little practical value and to be more “academic,” or of only theoretical concern. However, this is far from the case! Every truth the Church teaches from God’s Word is a tool He can wield in surprising ways to transform our lives, bringing us closer to Him and to His purpose for us! One example of this is our long-standing and well-established teaching that man is made in the image of God.
In this article we will consider the biblical teaching on this topic, often taken for granted in some ways and not considered thoroughly enough in others. We will also consider the implications of this beautiful truth in our daily choices, our relationships with each other and our relationship with our Creator.
True from the Beginning
As is so often the case, the best perspective is gained when we start from the beginning. Having stated in Genesis 1:20–25 that He made all the animals of the earth after their kind, God makes an astonishing statement concerning the human race on the day of its creation:
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26–27).
Unlike the animals that surrounded man, each made after its own kind, man was made to resemble God—humankind is made after the God-kind!
True, God is Spirit (John 4:24), and we are flesh, and there is a fundamental difference. However, the importance emphasized by God here is not our differences from God, but our similarities with Him.
For instance, humankind receives the “breath of life” as a gift directly from God (Genesis 2:7) and possesses a human spirit distinct from and superior to anything possessed by the animal kingdom (Ecclesiastes 3:21). That spirit empowers the mind of man and causes man to mirror and resemble his Creator in ways that no animal on earth truly can (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:11). It is that spirit that enables us to be a moral, spiritual creature—to have a relationship with the Creator and, united with God’s own Holy Spirit, to grow in the very mind and character of that Creator, as well (1 Corinthians 2:10–16)! Such aspects of our design are vital parts of God’s very purpose for man: to see us become fully formed children of God in the resurrection to eternal life!
When God said that He was making man in His own image and after His own likeness, surely this similarity to our God was a part of that design and purpose.and In light of our existence as beings with moral capacities, seemingly limitless creativity, intelligent and insightful minds, etc., God the Father stated that He and Jesus Christ made us “in Our image.”
In Form, As Well
As amazing as that is, the resemblance to our Creator does not stop there. As God’s people, we want to accept His word as plainly and clearly as we can—not failing to consider Scripture mindfully and intelligently, and yet, at the same time, not willing to compromise with the integrity of His Word simply to satisfy the academic accusations of others.
An example of this is our belief that we resemble God not only in these spiritual, moral and intellectual characteristics, but that we resemble God in form and shape, as well.
The passage in Genesis concerning God’s image and the creation of man has been completely “spiritualized” away by many, but the words—understood for what they say—simply do not allow much room for other alternatives. There is a reason the Moffatt translation of Genesis 1:26 says, “Let Us make man in Our own likeness, to resemble Us.”
The Hebrew word rendered as “image” in the NKJV translation of Genesis 1:26 is tselem. Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines tselem to mean a statue, image or copy—something in the representative shape of another thing. For instance, in the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue—which all Babylonians were to worship—was called a tselem, or image (Daniel 3:1). When plagued with tumors and rats while they possessed the Ark of the Covenant, the Philistines made tselem—images—of the tumors and rats in an effort to appease the God of Israel who burdened them (1 Samuel 6). The word “image” in Genesis 1:26, understood plainly and as used in the rest of God’s Word, refers to a “representative shape.”
Similarly, the word for “likeness” in the New King James translation of Genesis 1:26 communicates related meanings. The Hebrew for the word is demuwth, and it is used in this way in many places in the Bible. For instance, the animal statues under the bronze Sea in Solomon’s temple were made in the “likeness” (demuwth) of oxen (2 Chronicles 4:3). In the first chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet attempts to describe in a detailed fashion the appearance and likeness of the spirit beings he saw in vision. The Hebrew word used consistently for that “appearance” and “likeness” is demuwth.
There really is no need to debate or puzzle over the meaning of “image” and “likeness” in Genesis 1:26. Their meaning is elucidated very well in the rest of Scripture. In fact, only a few passages later in Genesis, itself, we read that “Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3)—and it says this only two verses after reiterating that man is made “in the likeness of God” (v. 1).
To say that God means some sort of “spiritualized” similarity in one place in Genesis but, later, means something very literal in another—in a passage that parallels the exact same phrasing, with the exact same words, and only two verses after the word is used again—is to twist and contort the Scriptures to fit our own desires and concerns. Better to accept the beautiful truth being expressed: Man exists in the very shape of God.
Can God Have a Shape?
To be sure, it is the universal testimony of the Bible that God does reveal Himself to possess a shape of some sort. Some reference verses 12 and 15 of Deuteronomy 4 to say that this cannot be, since Moses says that the people of Israel “saw no form” when God spoke to them, and that they “only heard a voice.” However, a careful reading shows that these words, taken plainly, do not indicate that God has no form, only that the Israelites did not see it. Moses highlights in those verses that God spoke to them “out of the midst of the fire.” Exodus describes that scene in detail, revealing that God was obscured from the sight of the people by a “thick cloud on the mountain” (Exodus 19:16) and that His presence was known before His voice boomed from the mount by the flames billowing out of the furnace-like smoke, and that the mountain was “completely in smoke” (v. 18).
Moses’ admonition was not that God does not have a form—only that God’s people should not be tempted to reproduce His form in idols because they were not allowed to see such a form.
In fact, many other passages are explicit about God’s form. Consider the famous passage of Exodus 33, in which Moses boldly asks to see God in His glory, without concealment (v. 18), to which the Eternal responds that Moses cannot see His face, for his own safety, but would be allowed to see His back (vv. 20–23). God said He would make this possible by placing Moses in the cleft of a rock—limiting his field of vision, concealing his sight with God’s own hand—then withdrawing His hand when only His back was visible, so the prophet would be protected from accidentally seeing God’s face.
Attempts to make this passage a “metaphor” or something merely symbolic—as if it never happened—make a mockery of the passage! Everything about this passage reads as though it is as literal as any other portion of the book of Exodus! To attempt to “spiritualize” it away while treating the rest of the book as literal is untenable, and represents a grasping at straws. The plain meaning of the passage is that the God of Israel has a face, back and hand, and that Moses saw some of these features of the Eternal—just as He promised the prophet He would.
Actually, many passages of Scripture describe individuals seeing and interacting with a very human-shaped God! Abraham dines with the Eternal, in person, as recorded in Genesis 18, where He is described as looking like a man (v. 2). The divine Commander of the Army of the Eternal appears before Joshua, and stands before him in the form of a man (Joshua 5:13–15). At Sinai, the elders of Israel are described as eating on the mountain in the very presence of God, where we are told in starkly plain language: “Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:9–11).
How plain!
It is true that some passages of the Bible speak of God in poetic and metaphorical terms. For example, God’s “outstretched arm” did not literally and physically lift up the Israelites and deposit them outside of Egypt as described in Deuteronomy 7:19. However, many passages cannot be written off as symbolism or metaphor. To deny these verses say what they clearly do say would require abandoning any hope of taking the historical narrative of God’s Word seriously.
Answering Questions
Some people experience difficulty when confronted with the biblical evidence that God possesses a shape in this universe He has created, but there is no need for such difficulty. And, there is no need to cower in the face of those who mock our plain stand on Scripture. Proverbs 28:1 tells us that “the righteous are bold as a lion,” and when standing on the truth of God there is never a need to shrink in the face of opposition! With clear thinking about what the Bible says and does not say in this regard, as well as a mature understanding that there will always be more to learn on the other side of the resurrection than we can ever comprehend now (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12), we can face questions with confidence.
For instance, some have wondered how God can have a shape like humankind’s when God asks in Jeremiah 23:24, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” Yet, that passage is clearly speaking of God’s ability to perceive and to be active in all parts of His creation—as the first part of the passage makes clear: “‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’” (vv. 23–24).
The answer lies in a related passage in Psalm 139, where David asks in verse 7, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” It is through the power of His Spirit that God actively accesses every cubic millimeter of His Creation, seeing all things and having a presence in all places—the very Spirit by which He lives in converted Christians (Romans 8:9).
Others may ask why God has to have a shape. Our shape makes sense given our limitations in the world—the need for arms to reach for things far away, or the need for a mouth to eat. If God can do all things through His Spirit, why would He need an arm? If He does not need to eat, why would He need a mouth?
It is true that while the Eternal may choose to eat (e.g., Genesis 18:1–2, 8), as did the glorified Jesus to make the point that He was not merely an apparition (Luke 24:41–43; John 21:12–13), God certainly needs nothing to continue living. He is the Ever-Living One! The Creator of all things is not limited by His own creation as we are.
However, is God, who created all time and space, not allowed to inhabit that which He created? Just as a man who builds a house can choose to dwell in that house, was God not allowed before Creation to plan on existing in that very creation, Himself?
The question of whether God “has” to have such a shape represents a distraction. The question for us is not whether God must have such a shape, or whether He is required in some way to have such a shape. Rather, the question is whether or not God’s Word reveals that He has such a shape—and as we have shown plainly, He does!
Who would deny God the right to have a place in His own creation?
Let those philosophers and skeptics who see no place for revelation in their reasoning argue all they would like. But, as Paul states boldly, “let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4)!
We can speculate about the details—the “whys” and “whens” and “hows”—but all speculation must occur within the plain boundaries of Scripture in the fear of God, the only sure foundation of knowledge and wisdom (cf. Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).
Both Man and Woman?
Some could ask, further still: Are both man and woman are made in God’s image and likeness? After all, as we may note, to a certain extent man and woman have differences in their shapes, and—as our brethren in France might say—vive la différence!
Yet the Bible answers this very plainly. The word “man” in Genesis 1:26 is the Hebrew word adam, from which Adam, as the progenitor of all humankind, takes his name.
However, the passage is not saying that only the male Adam is made in God’s image, while the woman, Eve, is not. The word adam is a word for human beings and humankind, in general. In fact, in Numbers 31:40 the word adam is applied to a large group of maidens who “had not known a man intimately” (v. 35). Like the word “mankind,” adam can speak to all of humanity, both male and female.
The fact that man and woman are made in God’s image—and are both referred to by adam in Genesis 1:26 on Day 6 of the creation—is made clear by the later passage in Genesis 5: “In the day that God created man (adam), He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind (again, adam) in the day they were created” (vv. 1–2).
The Bible is plain: On the sixth day, the day “adam” was created in His image and likeness, God called both man and woman “adam.”
Actually, as truly appreciated as the physical differences between man and woman may be, those differences are relatively small compared to the rest of creation and the animal kingdom! The words “image” (tselem) and “likeness” (demuwth) of Genesis 1:26 are more than broad enough to encompass the gender differences in our “kind.” After all, the idols that archaeologists have uncovered throughout history, which the Bible calls “images” (tselem) are often very twisted versions of humanity, with impossibly thin legs, multiple breasts, grotesquely huge bellies and the like. Yet the form of such images is still clear enough to identify them as human-shaped idols.
Consider the experience of viewing a person on the other side of a wall constructed of privacy glass. Though the details are blurred, and you may not be able to make out a face—or even if the figure is a man or a woman—you will clearly note that it is a human and not a cat! The relative trivialities, as appreciated as they may be, between the shapes of male and female are no reason to turn our backs on the beautiful truth that all mankind, men and women, bear the image and likeness of their Creator.
Note that this also answers the questions many skeptics pose on this topic, asking whether God must have a belly button, whether His earlobes are attached or detached, or whether those with physical handicaps also reflect His image. The truth is that a range of physical characteristics remain within “His image.” Just as the “name” of God encompasses far more than a mere collection of syllables, the “image” of God is not one and only one anatomically specific human body to which all must conform.
A Truth With Heavy Obligations
When we embrace the fullness of what God has done in the act of creating humankind, we see that it is a beautiful truth to behold! In creating us as physical beings to reflect, as fully as possible though on a cosmically smaller scale, the reality of His existence as a spiritual being—in moral faculty, intellectual possibility, emotional richness, spiritual capacity, and in actual shape and form—God is communicating one of the deepest truths of the Bible: We are destined for more! We are crafted to be able to become His divine children for all eternity—meant to be transformed when we meet the returning, glorified Jesus Christ, finally unveiled before our eyes, to fully bear the image of what we shall see (1 John 3:2)! “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (1 Corinthians 15:49). What an inspiring and glorious purpose!
Our existence, designed in the image and likeness of God, is meant to convey the hope-infusing purpose that will be fulfilled in the next life—and it is meant to have an impact on our actions, choices, and daily lives now, in this life.
For instance, after the flood God gives Noah very clear instructions: “‘Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6). That is, the fact that killing an animal is not the same as murdering a man is grounded by the Almighty in the fact that, unlike the animal, man is uniquely made in the very image of God, Himself!
Just as God addresses murder—the literal, physical killing of another human being—James, the brother of Jesus, discusses God’s condemnation of the spirit and attitude of hate and murder in the same way. Speaking of our seemingly untamable tongue, James says, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:9–10).
When we curse other men or women—call them names or disparage them, gossip about them, spread stories about them, or in any other way wield our tongue against them like a weapon—James’ words come back to us like God’s to Noah to remind us “these things ought not to be so”! Why not? Because we are tearing down one made in the similitude—or likeness—of God! James saw the act for what it was and judged it accordingly.
Apart from God, humanity has no real reason to encourage its members to treat each other well—beyond self-interest and unfounded “humanistic” values and reasoning. Why deal honestly with your fellow man and show him respect if you can gain more by lying to him and disrespecting him? In the animal kingdom, it is the strongest creatures who rule, and no animal truly owes another animal anything at all.
Seeing Each Other Through the Eyes of God
Yet God demands that we look at each other through His eyes! And what He sees in the face of every single human being on earth—men and women of all ages, of all races, of all nationalities—is the face of one crafted in His very image! He sees a human being for whom Jesus Christ gave His life and for whom He has crafted a plan to one day, according to His own will and the wisdom of His own timing, add him or her to His family, forever!
When we see each other as beautiful creations, shaped by the very hand and radiating the very image of our sovereign and loving Creator—albeit in however a diminished manner the flesh may allow—there is no room for demeaning our brother or sister. There is no room for seeing someone else as somehow “lesser” or “inferior” when their very form and likeness reminds us of their Creator—the One who has a plan of glory and honor for that individual and who demands that we see in him or her a potential Child of God, living by His side for all eternity!
Seeing our Father’s very own image and likeness reflected in the people around us helps us to fulfill the command of the Apostle Paul towards them, that “in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Philippians 2:3).
Ultimately, seeing ourselves as we are—small, weak and very physical, but crafted to resemble our Creator—challenges us to do our part to help God finish the job. It reminds us that we were not meant for an animal-like existence, but a God-like one, and that we must continue to work hand-in-hand with our Creator to allow Him to fashion in us His own very character and goodness over the course of our lives.
It reminds us that if we yield ourselves to the hand of God in these physical lives we live today, then—at our birth into the lives we will live tomorrow—we may have the blessed opportunity to embrace face-to-face the One whose image we now bear.