HOW ARE WE MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE?

[GodsGrace]

Genesis 1:27
27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;

(Please comment or add to this thread; but this will not be a debate about God's attributes.
Thanks.)


If we understand God's character, we can better understand His desire for us.

I'd like to state that theology teaches something that is called Divine Simplicity. This can be found on YouTube and is an interesting listen. Those that teach it all explain it exactly the same way, so no problem. Wm Lane Craig has a video on this too. It simply states that God is not made up of different parts of attributes...God IS everything that makes Him be God.
For instance, John tell us that God is love. He doesn't say that God is loving, or that He has love...John states that God IS love. 1 John 4:8
Everything God is totals a complete being of that quality. Check it out...

So let's begin with some qualities/attributes of God which He passed on to us:


GOD IS LOVE. 1 John 4:8

1 John 4:16
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world,

Romans 5:8
But God shows his love for us

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;

Galatians 2:20
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,



God must love because He IS love...many more verses, but these should suffice.

Love is an attribute that God passed on to mankind: LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE...Genesis 1:26
God did not mean to make us into little gods....what He did do is to gift us with some of His attributes. Needless to say each and everyone has been tainted by sin after the fall...however we can still practice these attributes and if we're born again and strive to please God, we will actually find it easier to practice these attributes in our daily life (although we will always fail at times).
Some go so far as to say that without love, life would be meaningless - and, indeed - love is an important component of our lives...we both need to love and to receive love...

 

[GodsGrace]

Here is another of God's attributes that He passed on to mankind:

FAMILY
The Godhead is a family...the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Also, God created a people for Himself,,,the Hebrews, Israelites and Jews.
He also instituted the family as we know it today.
He started with Adam and Eve and eventually their sons.
Then came Noah...who had a tribe; his immediate and extended family which were saved from the flood.
Then He began a family with Abraham, who was to be the father of many.
And, finally, Jesus began a church and we are now the family of God.

A family is a very specific unit of persons:
They can be united by birth.
They have a civil status: a man and woman might be married; there are grandparents, uncles, etc.
They share their resources: Food, clothing, teaching and learning from each other.
They work toward their common good; they take care of each other in times of need.
A family teaches us h ow to live in the world.
The immediate family has a home and lives together.

 

[Hobie]

Genesis 1:27
27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;

(Please comment or add to this thread; but this will not be a debate about God's attributes.
Thanks.)


If we understand God's character, we can better understand His desire for us.

I'd like to state that theology teaches something that is called Divine Simplicity. This can be found on YouTube and is an interesting listen. Those that teach it all explain it exactly the same way, so no problem. Wm Lane Craig has a video on this too. It simply states that God is not made up of different parts of attributes...God IS everything that makes Him be God.
For instance, John tell us that God is love. He doesn't say that God is loving, or that He has love...John states that God IS love. 1 John 4:8
Everything God is totals a complete being of that quality. Check it out...

So let's begin with some qualities/attributes of God which He passed on to us:


GOD IS LOVE. 1 John 4:8

1 John 4:16
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world,

Romans 5:8
But God shows his love for us

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;

Galatians 2:20
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,



God must love because He IS love...many more verses, but these should suffice.

Love is an attribute that God passed on to mankind: LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE...Genesis 1:26
God did not mean to make us into little gods....what He did do is to gift us with some of His attributes. Needless to say each and everyone has been tainted by sin after the fall...however we can still practice these attributes and if we're born again and strive to please God, we will actually find it easier to practice these attributes in our daily life (although we will always fail at times).
Some go so far as to say that without love, life would be meaningless - and, indeed - love is an important component of our lives...we both need to love and to receive love...

He also made us in a form that we would see that we are His children..

 

[JohnDB]

Like a modern rear view mirror. (Automobile)

Flip it one way and it's light....a true reflection.
Flip it at an angle and it's dark. No true reflection....but you can still tell what things are.

Each person gets to choose how they reflect God. The ability is there but not necessarily the desire.

 

[GodsGrace]

He also made us in a form that we would see that we are His children..

Hi Hobie....what do you mean?
That we look like Jesus?

 

[GodsGrace]

Like a modern rear view mirror. (Automobile)

Flip it one way and it's light....a true reflection.
Flip it at an angle and it's dark. No true reflection....but you can still tell what things are.

Each person gets to choose how they reflect God. The ability is there but not necessarily the desire.

Interesting analogy....we see through a mirror darkly....
1 Corinthians 13:12

Could it help us if we know WHICH of His attributes God passed on to us in making us in His image?

 

[APAK]

The image of God are the qualities, features and elements that accent and reflect who is God ...

human and limited...
- reasoning, memory, being rational and stable in mind, self-controlled, slow to anger
- being moral and with measured judgment of self and others
- selflessness, sacrificing and giving of self to/for others
- loving self and others in a healthy caring way as performed in a marriage and in a family, or amongst others at work and in play
- compassionate, empathetic, being humble and heartfelt towards others
- communicating spiritually with others and our creator, and other heart-centered activities

that's a few....

 

[APAK]

@GodsGrace ..
Now if we extend and say combine all the major characteristics or attributes as the image of God, that we can say quite easily his ultimate raison d'etre is to be a family indeed. Eden, Paradise and the new Kingdom is his major goal FOR MANKIND and himself. I though cannot gauge other attributes of his, used outside this human experience and environment of mankind, as the Bible is written specifically for mankind.

All those qualities or features as the image of God I posted in #7 are ideally found in a human family environment, every one of them if you think more about it. It speaks FAMILY for sure....

 

[GodsGrace]

@GodsGrace ..
Now if we extend and say combine all the major characteristics or attributes as the image of God, that we can say quite easily his ultimate raison d'etre is to be a family indeed. Eden, Paradise and the new Kingdom is his major goal FOR MANKIND and himself. I though cannot gauge other attributes of his, used outside this human experience and environment of mankind, as the Bible is written specifically for mankind.

All those qualities or features as the image of God I posted in #7 are ideally found in a human family environment, every one of them if you think more about it. It speaks FAMILY for sure....

Hi Apak...I'm having a difficult time understanding what you mean.

God IS certain things. He passed them on to us. In Genesis where it states that God created man in His image...it does NOT mean that He made little Gods...or that we look like Him. It means that He gave to us certain qualities that He has.

There will be more on the way....

I'm not turning this into a debate about the Trinity...but if you understood it, then you'd know that Father, Son and Holy Spirit create a family - although not the type WE understand - much in the same way as we experience a family...We share love and we share responsibilities.

Also, I had stated HOW God created a family in His creation of humanity.

 

[APAK]

Hi Apak...I'm having a difficult time understanding what you mean.

God IS certain things. He passed them on to us. In Genesis where it states that God created man in His image...it does NOT mean that He made little Gods...or that we look like Him. It means that He gave to us certain qualities that He has.

There will be more on the way....

I'm not turning this into a debate about the Trinity...but if you understood it, then you'd know that Father, Son and Holy Spirit create a family - although not the type WE understand - much in the same way as we experience a family...We share love and we share responsibilities.

Also, I had stated HOW God created a family in His creation of humanity.

So where did you get the idea that God created little gods?...from whom? He gave us some of his qualities indeed, as I've been saying that and listing some of them already.

 

[ScottA]

Genesis 1:27
27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;

(Please comment or add to this thread; but this will not be a debate about God's attributes.
Thanks.)


If we understand God's character, we can better understand His desire for us.

I'd like to state that theology teaches something that is called Divine Simplicity. This can be found on YouTube and is an interesting listen. Those that teach it all explain it exactly the same way, so no problem. Wm Lane Craig has a video on this too. It simply states that God is not made up of different parts of attributes...God IS everything that makes Him be God.
For instance, John tell us that God is love. He doesn't say that God is loving, or that He has love...John states that God IS love. 1 John 4:8
Everything God is totals a complete being of that quality. Check it out...

So let's begin with some qualities/attributes of God which He passed on to us:


GOD IS LOVE. 1 John 4:8

1 John 4:16
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world,

Romans 5:8
But God shows his love for us

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;

Galatians 2:20
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,



God must love because He IS love...many more verses, but these should suffice.

Love is an attribute that God passed on to mankind: LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE...Genesis 1:26
God did not mean to make us into little gods....what He did do is to gift us with some of His attributes. Needless to say each and everyone has been tainted by sin after the fall...however we can still practice these attributes and if we're born again and strive to please God, we will actually find it easier to practice these attributes in our daily life (although we will always fail at times).
Some go so far as to say that without love, life would be meaningless - and, indeed - love is an important component of our lives...we both need to love and to receive love...

It is an interesting study. I don't know about "Divine Simplicity" as an established doctrine or 'ism. But there is a very simple (and divine) reality that is of much greater relevance for these current times. Which is: An "image" is an image (not really even a "thing" as commonly defined according to men).

Which is to say, when God said He made man in "Our image", He first prefaced it, saying the heavens and the earth--His creation--"was without form." In other words--the heavens, meaning the sky and starry host, and the earth of which man is made of, is...only "image."

 

[pepper]

I suggest reading the Old Testament for the answer. Specifically how God dealt with His anger.

We today live the image and likeness of God.

The Savior is that which seeks to help overcome that identity. And return us to the character we were suppose to have had the fall not occurred and the infected all human generations in future with the knowledge of good and evil so as to become like God in that respect.

The fall was predestined. Here we are.

 

[GodsGrace]

So where did you get the idea that God created little gods?...from whom? He gave us some of his qualities indeed, as I've been saying that and listing some of them already.

Did I say God created little gods?
Where.

And please don't change the tone of this thread.

 

[GodsGrace]

@GodsGrace ..
Now if we extend and say combine all the major characteristics or attributes as the image of God, that we can say quite easily his ultimate raison d'etre is to be a family indeed. Eden, Paradise and the new Kingdom is his major goal FOR MANKIND and himself. I though cannot gauge other attributes of his, used outside this human experience and environment of mankind, as the Bible is written specifically for mankind.

All those qualities or features as the image of God I posted in #7 are ideally found in a human family environment, every one of them if you think more about it. It speaks FAMILY for sure....

Thanks for the post where you listed some of God's attributes that were passed on to mankind.

Did you read the OP? I think you're concentrating too much on this idea of the family....this is not what this thread is about.
: )

 

[APAK]

Did I say God created little gods?
Where.

And please don't change the tone of this thread.

You said it in your post #9 and in my response of #10 you can still see these words, that threw me for a little loop...no worries though..all good

 

[GodsGrace]

It is an interesting study. I don't know about "Divine Simplicity" as an established doctrine or 'ism. But there is a very simple (and divine) reality that is of much greater relevance for these current times. Which is: An "image" is an image (not really even a "thing" as commonly defined according to men).

Which is to say, when God said He made man in "Our image", He first prefaced it, saying the heavens and the earth--His creation--"was without form." In other words--the heavens, meaning the sky and starry host, and the earth of which man is made of, is...only "image."

Without form means that the earth was in chaos and God created order.

And, I think we all know what an image is:
God wanted to give man some of His attributes.
He did not create little gods...

IMAGE
Noun

Middle English, "effigy, figure, mental impression of something observed, reflection, resemblance," borrowed from Anglo-French, shortened from imagene, borrowed from Latin imāgin-, imāgō "representation, reflection, apparition, semblance, copy, visible form," from imā- (probably the stem of an otherwise unattested verb *imārī with the same base as imitārī "to follow as a pattern, copy") + -gin-, -gō, denominal or deverbal noun suffix — more at IMITATE

 

[GodsGrace]

You said it in your post #9 and in my response of #10 you can still see these words, that threw me for a little loop...no worries though..all good

This is what I said in post no. 9:

God IS certain things. He passed them on to us. In Genesis where it states that God created man in His image...it does NOT mean that He made little Gods...or that we look like Him. It means that He gave to us certain qualities that He has.

I said it does NOT mean He made little gods.
So we agree.

 

[GodsGrace]

GOD IS A CREATOR


God created everything in the universe...all things, seen and unseen.
Hebrews 11:3
3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

Only God can create from nothing. The word for this in Hebrew is Bara.
When something is created from something, it is called Asah.

Acts 4:24
24And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM,

God's greatest creation was man. In Genesis 1:31, after having created man, God said it was Very good.


God gifted to man the ability to create, but from something that already exists. However, we are accustomed to saying that man creates; although this is not correct...Only God creates.

What man creates makes life more pleasant for him and those around him.
It makes our home, earth, be a better place.
Man seeks beauty because God is the ultimate beauty...and so man creates:
Paintings
Music
Artistic Buildings

Man also creates more practical necessities:
Homes
Roads
Modes of transportation
Ideas: Such as the Internet
Medical equipment
etc.

 

[GodsGrace]

I suggest reading the Old Testament for the answer. Specifically how God dealt with His anger.

We today live the image and likeness of God.

The Savior is that which seeks to help overcome that identity. And return us to the character we were suppose to have had the fall not occurred and the infected all human generations in future with the knowledge of good and evil so as to become like God in that respect.

The fall was predestined. Here we are.

Hi Pepper
You're speaking about the nature of man....the sin nature.
You're correct, of course, and yes, Jesus did indeed redeem us and when we become born again we regain
the spirit that we had lost.

I do agree that in the respect that man ate from the tree of the knowledge of evil...he then did become aware of evil whereas before he knew only good, and in this way he did take on this characteristic of God: He knew good and evil.

Now, I must say that nowhere is scripture does it state that the fall was predestined...however, I don't want to derail this into a thread about the reformed faith, so I'll stop here.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[pepper]

You said it in your post #9 and in my response of #10 you can still see these words, that threw me for a little loop...no worries though..all good

We can read post #9. He did not say what you claim. He did not say as you claim there that God created little gods.
Post 9
"

God IS certain things. He passed them on to us. In Genesis where it states that God created man in His image...it does NOT mean that He made little Gods...or that we look like Him. It means that He gave to us certain qualities that He has."

In post 9 GG never stated God made little gods. Just the opposite in fact.