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NASB | Genesis 1:26 ¶ Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:26 ¶ Then God said, "Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth." [Ps 104:30; Heb 1:2; 11:3] |
Bible Question: In Genesis 1, Adam is created in the image of God. What does this mean exactly? |
Bible Answer: Scripture ... Gen 1:26, 27, 5:3, 9:6; Matt 22:20; 1 Cor 11:7 ... Greetings Evangeline, Sorry for the delay. In Gen 1:26 we find both image (tselem) and likeness (d@muwth) ... they are not the same words and should not be interchanged. In vs 27 we find only image. Gen 9:6 also says man was made in the image of God. In Gen 5:3, we see Seth was "in his own likeness, after his image", referring to Adam. This is the only time in Scripture this is mentioned. Seth was not Adam. but looked like him and bore many of the same traits. In 1 Cor 11:7 we are the "image (eikon) and glory of God". Matt 22:20 uses the same word when referring a coin. A man's image was stamped on a coin. Our coins have an image of someone. It is not them, but a reminder of them. I like the what D. E. Trueblood said. “To say God is completely different from us is as absurd to say that he is completely like us”. We want to humanize God and godize us, beyond what the Bible says. Today we have many popular teachers who take this phrase" in his image" in a solid literal sense. These are the same Tele-evangelists who have a distorted teaching on Christ's pre-existence and how he became man. B.Hinn "…If you say , I am, your saying you're a part of him, right? Is he God? are you his offspring? Are you his children? You can't be human! You can't, you can't!" (Our position in Christ #2 1990 audio side 2) "God came to earth and touched a piece of dust and turned it into a God. …Are you a child of God? Then you're divine! Are you a child of God? Then you're not human!" (Benny Hinn TBN, Dec 1, 1990). "What was the appearance of God the Father? Like that of a man...God has the likeness of fingers and hands and a face." (Good Morning Holy Spirit, p. 82, Benny Hinn, Word, 1991) "What does God the Father look like? Although I've never seen Him, I believe - as with the Holy Spirit - He looks like Jesus looked on earth." (Benny Hinn, Good Morning Holy Spirit, p.87, Word, 1991) Copeland repeats the same misunderstandings, God is a "spirit-being with a body, complete with eyes, and eyelids, ears, nostrils, a mouth, hands and fingers, and feet." (Kenneth Copeland ministry letter, 21 July 1977.) The Mormon Church has been teaching these doctrines for years. I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form- like yourselves, in all the person, image and very form as a man…. (J.Smith History of the Church vol.6 p.305) "The image being that he was a copy, looked just like, if you stood Adam upside God they look just exactly alike...Now a lot of people have missed that...but that's exactly true...The image is that they looked just alike. But the likeness, is that they act alike, and they are alike...Now here's Adam in the image of God, and in the likeness of God. All of God's attributes, all of God's authority, all of God's faith, all of God's ability, was invested in that man." (The Authority of the Believer IV, Tape #01-0304) Creflo Dollar "When God made Adam all He did was make an exact imprint of Himself. He duplicated Himself. He was the image and from His image, came Himself....You are an exact duplicate of the image of God and God is a speaking spirit....God took a reflection of Himself and put it in a physical body formed out of the dust and gave him authority of all physical things on the planet. So that like He was God in heaven, now He's made Adam god of the earth... God wanted a god on the earth like He was God in heaven. And God said, I tell you what I'm going to do this time. I'm going to have to reproduce Myself. Like I'm God up here in heaven. I'm going to make Me a god and put Myself in the physical body so that he can guard the earth and keep out all intruders in the earth. (speaking of Adam) he was all God. He was just like God." (Our Equality with God Through Righteousness 1/21/2001) Charles Capps "God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. The word likeness in the original Hebrew means an exact duplication in kind...Adam was an exact duplication of Gods kind."(Authority in three worlds pp.15-16) Originally, God made the earth and the fullness thereof, giving Adam dominion over all the works of His hands. In other words, Adam was the god of this world." (The Believer's Authority,p.19 2d ed. [Tulsa, OK: Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1991]) Copeland speaking of Adam "his body and Adams were the exactly the same size." (Holy bible K. Copeland Reference edition p.45) ... this continues |