Made in the Image of God

 What does it mean?  This being made in the image of God, what is it all about?

Well, it's important to know this, to get it into our minds because then it affects our thinking and actions for the good and better of those who understand it.  But we need to go back to God's word to check it out.

In Genesis 1:27 we're told,

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created Him; male and female He created them" (ESV).

Made in the image of God ...

What is an image?

When we look into the mirror we see ourself. It is only an image or picture of ourself, it is not our real self.  Pinch your cheeks now, feel it?  That's you, yourself.  What you see in the mirror or in a selfie is the image of you.

So how is it that we are an image of God?

Some people think we Christians worship and serve three gods.  But I say, no, that's not correct.  We worship and serve only the one true God and Jesus Christ His Son.  Know that God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  The Almighty, Supreme Being who is God with three persons or maybe it can be understood as 'roles'.

Take your Mother, for instance.  She was first a daughter.  How she relates to her parents is one way.  Then she got married and became a wife.  She relates to her husband in another way that is different from how she relates to her parents.  Then she had you, and perhaps other children too.  Now she is a Mother.  She relates to you, her son or  daughter differently than how she relates to her husband which is again, different to how she relates to her parents.  She is only one person but she has three roles or functions, shall we say.

God the Father is the mastermind to the plan of creation and the plan of salvation.  God the Son, who is Jesus, is the one who implemented the plan. He spoke and the world and all that in it is, appeared.  God the Holy Spirit, hovered over all like a life-giving agent.  He is one Being and each role was initiated differently and accordingly.  

You could perhaps get out a triangular hanger and see the three sides of it as being a representation of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.  If you take one arm away, the hanger will not function well, it will be weak and shaky.  So too, one cannot separate God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  They cannot be separated.

Go boil an egg until it is hard boiled.  You have a whole egg there, right?  Well, remove the shell.  Is the egg still whole?  No.  The shell has been separated away.  Now remove the egg white.  You are left then with the yolk that is separated from the rest.  If you hold up the shell, or the white or the yolk, you no longer have a whole egg.  Correct, or not?  The three parts have been separated and can not be put back together again, like Humpty Dumpty who had had a great fall.  All the pieces cannot be put together again.

But, God, despite His three persons, cannot be separated, at all.  We serve one God.

At creation, God formed human kind last of all and installed them (Adama and Eve) in the beautiful Garden of Eden.  He then told Adam (and Eve), 

"Don't eat of the tree of the knowledged of good and evil because in the day you do you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16 ESV).

But Adam did disobey and he did eat of that tree's fruit.  But he did not instantly die.  We read that he lived to be 930 years old (Genesis 5:5).

So how?  Was God lying?

No.

This is the part we're coming to where we can realize more fully about being made in the image of God, and how valuable we are to Him.

As you know from reading above, God is three in one:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Mankind has three parts too.  They are body, soul and spirit.  This makes them different than the animal kingdom.  Our pets, zoo animals and those in the wild all have only a body and a soul.

The body is easy to understand:  arms, legs, hair, liver, heart, the seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, touch, and the like.   Our soul is the mind, will and emotions.  The will says, "I do not want this or that" or "I want!"  The emotions are sad, happy, tired, angry, depressed and so on.  The mind thinks it all.  Our spirit, on the other hand is the part of the human being that is God-conscious.  That niggling part of us that knows there's God even if we do not wish to admit it.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart ..." (Ecclesastes 3:11 NIV).

'Eternity' in the human heart.  God is the Eternal one.  

None of this was said about the animal kingdom (including the birds, insects, fish, etc).  Nothing about eternity, nor the spirit.

When God formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, we read this about what the Lord God did.  He,

" ... formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature ..." (Genesis 2:7 ESV).

God's 'breath of life' was breathed into Adam.  He had just been a lump of formed clay lying there.  But then the breath of life came and Adam got up and walked around.  He was now a "living creature".

Maybe you can picture this if you blow into a balloon.  That is your breath of life filling the balloon.  Not that we human beings are balloons, of course.  Ha, ha.  But for Adam, God's breath of life was life giving.

God made us special, differently from the animal kingdom.  I believe this shows us that we have value in God's eyes.  We are very important to to Him.  In fact He calls us His jewels or treasured possessions (see Malachi 3:17 KJV/ESV).

It is important to realize this because, every single baby in its mother's womb is also precious.  These babies have also been made in the image of God, whether or not it has been born.

Born or unborn, both are precious in God's sight because the human being has been made in the image of God.  Each human life needs to be protected.

So how does this make you feel?

You are of value to God.  Even when other people put you down and make you feel as small as an ant or cockroach to squish you under their feet, know in your heart and mind that you are NOT that.  Cling tightly on to this knowledge.  You are God's treasured possession!

To continue the story ...

Adam had his body, soul and then spirit.  His spirit was innocent.  He had not yet sinned.  He could sin or he could choose not to sin, though.  He was still innocent.  But he disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Adam sinned.  Instantly, his spirit died.  

It is like someone took a pin and popped the balloon.  

His spirit did not leave but it died.  Every single baby born after this was was born with a dead spirit. 

And this is where Jesus comes in again.  God's mastermind plan of salvation was carried out by Jesus.  He came to earth, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, was resurrected and then ascending into Heaven.  He is alive.

Any and all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, are then indwelt by His Holy Spirit.  This is like getting that breath of life breathed into our nostrils.  Our spirit is revived and we become new creatures in Christ - alive in Christ.   Jesus did this for us.  He did not die for animals, but for human beings.

He has given us forgiveness of sins, eternal life, our spirits made alive.  Now we can glorify God in the right way.  We can build our relationship with Him and make it strong because His Holy Spirit helps us to live to please Jesus, and to reflect God's holiness.  

Why?

Because we have been made in the image of God.

It's important to know this and to believe it.  

May every last person who reads this realize it.

I ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

                                                 ~  ERC  April 2026  ~

Based on Genesis 1:27, 2:16, 5:5, 2:7 ESV, and Betsy Fletcher's explanations for children video.

Sing, In the Image of God,  along with Perkantas Jakarta.