What does it mean when the Bible says we are made in His image?

Question

does it mean we physically look like Him or do our soul bodies look like Him? i am very confused about this when I see men and women and notice how different they look so I wonder what is Gods image

Answer 1

God is within man - man is within God.
This is the mirror that we must come to understand.
God has many qualities - man has many qualities.
If man understands Gods qualities and imbibes them into his heart, then the image or reflection will be that of God.
These qualities then must be reflected into the world and then
man will be known as a True Human Being in the eyes of God.

Answer 2

The image of God refers to the immaterial part of man. It sets man apart from the animal world, fits him for the “dominion” God intended (Genesis 1:28), and enables him to commune with his Maker. It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

Mentally, man was created as a rational, volitional agent—in other words, man can reason and man can choose. This is a reflection of God’s intellect and freedom. Any time someone invents a machine, writes a book, paints a landscape, enjoys a symphony, calculates a sum, or names a pet, he or she is proclaiming the fact that we are made in God’s image.

Morally, man was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection of God’s holiness. God saw all that He had made (mankind included) and called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Our conscience or “moral compass” is a vestige of that original state. Whenever someone writes a law, recoils from evil, praises good behavior, or feels guilty, he is confirming the fact that we are made in God’s own image.

Socially, man was created for fellowship. This reflects God's triune nature and His love. In Eden, man’s primary relationship was with God (Genesis 3:8 implies fellowship with God), and God made the first woman because “it is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Every time someone marries a wife, makes a friend, hugs a child, or attends a church, he is demonstrating the fact that we are made in the likeness of God.
Recommended Resource: In His Image by Brand & Yancey.

Answer 3

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them [Gen. 1:27].

We have here just the simple fact of the creation of man. This is the third time we find the word bara, which means to create out of nothing. So we see that man is created; he is something new. Bara is the same word that occurred in the first verse of Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He created the physical universe. Then He created life: "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth . . ." (Gen. 1:21). Now we see that God created man: "So God created man in his own image." God will give us the details of His creation of man in the next chapter, and we can see from this that God has left out a great deal about the creation of the universe. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" is all the information He has given to us, and it's about all we can know about it. He could have filled in details, but He didn't. He will go into more detail about only one act of His creation, and that is His creation of man. Do you know why? It is because this record was written for man; God wants him to know about his origin. It is as if God were saying, "I would like very much for you to pay attention to your own creation and not be speculating about the creation of the universe." This verse tells us something tremendous.

"So God created man in his own image." I want to submit to you that this is one of the great statements of the Word of God. I cannot conceive of anything quite as wonderful as this. What does it mean? Well, man is like God, I think, as a trinity. Immediately someone is going to say, "Oh, I know what you mean. You mean that man is physically and mentally and spiritually a being." Yes, I believe that is true. Paul, in 1Thessalonians 5:23, says that very thing: ". . . And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Although this is true, we will see when we get into the next chapter that it actually means more than that. I think that it refers to the fact that man is a personality, and as a personality he is self-conscious, and he is one who makes his own decisions. He is a free moral agent. Apparently that is the thing which is unique about mankind. I believe this is what is meant by God creating man in His own image.

"Male and female created he them." These verses do not give to us the details of how man was created and how woman was created. We won't find that until we come to the second chapter. That is the reason that I say that God did not intend to give us the details concerning the creation of this great universe that we are in or He would have given us another chapter relative to that. But He offers no explanation other than He is the Creator. This puts us right back to the all-important truth which we find in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb. 11:3). Things we see today were made out of things which did not even exist before. The creation was made ex nihilo, out of nothing. Somebody says, "Explain that." My friend, I can't explain it. And evolution doesn't explain it either. Evolution has never answered the question of how nothing becomes something. It always starts with a little amoeba, or with a garbage can, or with a little piece of seaweed, or with an animal up in a tree. Our minds must have something to start with, but the Bible starts with nothing. God created! This is the tremendous revelation of this chapter.

Answer 4

In Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 there are descriptions of the throne of God.

God's throne is in the midst of the cherubim. There are four cherubim.

So, the power of God (the almighty) issues forth from this position in the midst of the cherubim to his dominion.

God created the earth with a river coming out of Eden and it divided into four heads. This river watered the four areas of land of that early earth (the names of the areas are given, this isn't merely symbolic).

The flood of Noah shifted the land mass, but the earth was created after the pattern of God's throne in the beginning.

As God rules from the midst of the four cherubim, Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to have dominion over the four categories of living creatures . . . the beasts of the field, the fowl of the heaven, the fish of the sea and the creeping things on the earth.

You'll notice when Adam & Eve sinned, they no longer reflected the righteous nature of God and were evicted form their position in the "Garden of God" that symbolized their standing as being in the image of God.

The very word "salvation" means to be "restored". Restored to what? Restored to that which Adam lost. Restored to the righteousness Adam had before the fall, the image of God's sinless Son, Jesus Christ. Didn't Jesus say "I and my father are one"?
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Answer 5

It means that your soul bodies look like Him. We are made be like Him, what we do and say and how we live our lives. Thus we would follow the example of Jesus.

Answer 6

I means God looka like a man or the more proper way of putting it is man looka like God, Man is nothing like God though.

Answer 7

We look like Him....two arms, two legs, head with eyes,ears...etc....it says he "hears us, sees us, etc....I take what He says literally

Answer 8

The purpose of human life is indelibly etched into the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, where man is first mentioned: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'" (Genesis 1:26).

God created each species of the plant and animal kingdoms "according to its [own] kind" (verses 11-12, 21, 24-25), but human beings, verse 26 essentially tells us, were patterned after the God kind. The image of God is what makes man unique among all His physical creation. This is what renders men, women and children truly human.

Our Creator first declared His great purpose, then brought it to fruition: "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them" (verse 27). Chapter 1 focuses on the fundamental purpose of human life, while chapter 2 lays out important details. These two beginning chapters complement each other.

Created to rule

After initially declaring His grand design of making mankind in His own image, the Creator said, "Let them have dominion [rulership] over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, [and] over all the earth . . ." (verse 26).

Then, after creating two human beings (male and female) in His own image, He restated His purpose and made it plain that their progeny are an integral part of this great project: "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion [again, rulership] over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth'" (verse 28).

God created the human family to grow and expand to the point that it would eventually populate the entire earth. Mankind's initially revealed purpose was to rule the physical creation—and, in the long run, far more than just this good green earth. God rules what He creates, and the ultimate purpose of human life involves corulership in the one divine family.

But we start small. First we learn to rule and discipline ourselves. Then we learn to cooperate with others and properly manage whatever our present circumstances have provided us. (For further understanding about this vital point, please request our free booklet Making Life Work.)

What is the image of God?

The Bible does not define the meaning of "the image of God" in so many words. In a sense it is a mystery, yet the key mysteries and secrets of the Bible may be unlocked for those whom God calls, for He reveals to them His truth.

As Jesus said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes" (Matthew 11:25). God's truth comes by revelation from Him, not from human wisdom. Yet certain common-sense principles do enable us to better understand the Bible.

As we mentioned before, we can best comprehend biblical passages when we consider them in their context. Genesis 5 mentions likeness and image of God again. As we read the opening verses, we begin to discern their broader meanings. "This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created" (Genesis 5:1-2).

Humanly, the genealogy of Genesis 5 extends down through the centuries all the way from Adam to Noah and his three sons—more than 1,600 years. But it actually begins with the Creator Himself. In Luke's genealogy of Christ, he refers to Adam as "the son of God" (Luke 3:38).

As Paul later explained, "we are the offspring of God" (Acts 17:29). We came forth from God, not in the same way that the land animals and sea creatures were created. They were not made in the image of God. We human beings were! In making this point clear, God emphasized the alternate term "likeness." But what does that mean?

Again, the context helps. This is perhaps the most important principle governing biblical studies and easily the most abused. Continuing the genealogy: "And Adam [the first man, 1 Corinthians 15:45] lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth" (Genesis 5:3).

In context with verses 1 and 2, what conclusions may we draw from the statement in verse 3? It is reasonable to suppose that, although God is spirit rather than flesh (John 4:24), man bears considerable resemblance to His Creator, just as Adam's son resembled him.

How are we made in God's image?

Are men, women and children made in God's image in other ways? Consider the gift of human life itself. The Creator breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). The gap between the living and the nonliving is patently enormous.

How great is the chasm even between human and animal awareness of the world? Consider your innate capacity to imagine, to think sequentially in words and images. Man's incredible powers of imagination and abstract thinking, though often misused, are an important reflection of our being made in the image of God. Our Creator imagines, and we imagine. God said at the time of the Tower of Babel, "This they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (Genesis 11:6, KJV). What an incredible testimony to our human potential direct from the Creator Himself!

Language and the ability to communicate are other vital aspects of God's image. But men, women, boys and girls have this precious capacity for language in an unusual way. Adam and Eve possessed it at the time of their creation.

Writes Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct: "Language is no more of a cultural invention than is upright posture . . . Language is a magnificent ability unique to Homo Sapiens . . . The complexity of languages from the scientist's point of view is part of our biological birthright" (1994, pp. 18-19).

So great was Adam's linguistic ability and mental capacity that he could name all the animals, presumably with names never conceived of before (Genesis 2:19). The theory of evolution typically pictures early man as nothing more than a crude grunter. How far from the truth of God!

Our first parents understood the principle of cause and effect—the probable consequences of present actions. Although the serpent imparted lethal misinformation to Eve, she was well able to reason out the possible consequences of future actions. She reasoned that partaking of the forbidden fruit would make her wise like God and enable her to live forever.

But what Eve lacked was the moral perception to think through the implications of her actions, particularly as to how they would affect Adam's and her progeny.

Still in God's image?

Most of us are aware of the tragic events that began in Eden—how Adam and Eve sinned and were driven from the garden and how the wholesale transgression of God's law continued to multiply over the centuries until only one righteous man, the patriarch Noah, was left on earth.

Universal sin, we learn from the Bible, brings universal destruction. So only righteous Noah and his family were saved from the Flood by building and entering the Ark according to God's instructions. Our Creator decided to start over with Noah and his progeny.

But, as a safeguard to curtail man's predilection for violent behavior, God instituted capital punishment—to be administered under certain restraints that were later amplified when the law was formally codified (Genesis 9:5).

Consider the setting for this provision. After the judgment of the Flood, God renews the human race (verse 7), and a new epoch of man's history soon commences. At this juncture God again reminds man of the incredible legacy He had given him: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man" (verse 6).

However depraved human behavior had become, God had still created men, women and children in His own image and likeness—and would in due time carry out His great plan of salvation. In God's eyes, man's redemption through Christ's sacrifice was already as good as accomplished. Revelation 13:8 says that "the Lamb," Jesus, was "slain from the foundation of the world" (compare 1 Peter 1:20), even though the actual event did not transpire until thousands of years later.

Although humanity had not lived up to the glorious legacy of God's image and had fallen far short of His standards (". . . All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23), our Creator would not be deterred from His great plan for mankind.