Genesis - In our image

[WhiteWings]

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

This sounds like God plans the whole human race to be in His image.


Genesis 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

But this sounds like we are like Adam. So God was wrong in verse 1:26
Or does it simply mean Adam looks like God and we look like Adam so also look like God.

(personally I find it odd comparing a human to God)

[Molly]

Not sure how you think God was wrong in Gen 1:26. lol

But, if you believe God created man, then man was created for a reason.

The Bible gives us many insights into that reason, but I like this one the best.


Ecclesiastes 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

[WhiteWings]

But that's no answer to my question.... :dontknow:

[Molly]

Could you better explain your question, then?

If Adam is in the image of God and Seth is in the image of Adam, then Seth is in the image of God.

[Taffy]

God is CREATING man after HIS own Image...

The IMAGE, being the ADAM created BOTH male and FEMALE..., that IS ,the union OF THE SOUL( MIND)  and the spirit...I call it Coming HOME, meaning Understanding our TRUE I dentity..

ww ,similitudes hold their place within  SCRIPTURE, Seth being just ONE .

Brother, such things take time to learn and Digest....WE dont learn these things like plugging numbers into a Calculator.

Blessings
T

[WhiteWings]

I really love calculators.....  :sigh:

I never expected to learn it in a few months.
But despite all my weird questions; I do learn from them.
All my life I had a strange way of learning things. Always a struggle. Little or no progress. Then suddenly the light turns on. Everything falls in place and my understanding goes beyound the sum of what I was thaught.

But you are right about the calculator. I'm trying to find a big formula for the Bible.
It's far from complete; but I already have some useful chuncks.
Many ways lead to Rome as we say.
And until I'm there I'll just enjoy the journey.  :thumbsup:
Lets hope I don't annoy my fellow travelers to much  :laughing7:

[Taffy]

I really love calculators.....  :sigh:

I never expected to learn it in a few months.
But despite all my weird questions; I do learn from them.
All my life I had a strange way of learning things. Always a struggle. Little or no progress. Then suddenly the light turns on. Everything falls in place and my understanding goes beyound the sum of what I was thaught.

But you are right about the calculator. I'm trying to find a big formula for the Bible.
It's far from complete; but I already have some useful chuncks.
Many ways lead to Rome as we say.
And until I'm there I'll just enjoy the journey.  :thumbsup:
Lets hope I don't annoy my fellow travelers to much  :laughing7:

Hi T

Hey bud,..you have a great attitude,..hang around a while and digest some...topics keep coming around, for mine we come to Understand a little hear and a Little there..

and for sure ya dont annoy me,...keep digging  T... keep digging :icon_flower:

[WhiteWings]

Yar a sad excuse for a Christian moderator Taffy!  :laughing7:

Keep digging   :thumbdown:
Yeh right to the pit I assume.

Keep climbing!  :thumbsup:
:cloud9:

[arcticmonster2003]

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

This sounds like God plans the whole human race to be in His image.


Genesis 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

But this sounds like we are like Adam. So God was wrong in verse 1:26
Or does it simply mean Adam looks like God and we look like Adam so also look like God.

(personally I find it odd comparing a human to God)

I think the problem with the way you worded the question, is that a person (whom might awnser), is put in the position of defending that God was not wrong.

God is not wrong.

Whatever meanings are left after acknowledging that fact are the ones which we may sort through.

Just my  :2c: on the matter. :happygrin:

[martincisneros]

First of all, Genesis 1:26 wasn't a conversation.  It was how God created man 'cause as you review the chapter:

God said....and it was
God said....and it was
God said....and it was
God said Man be in Our Image, Have dominion, etc., etc.

I think it relates back to Mark chapter 4 with what Jesus taught there about the sowing and reaping of Words.  Thousands of detailed prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus, not just so we'd recognize Him when He came, but to build His life in the earth and set it's boundaries so that the things that He could seemingly have no control over were still under control, like the prophecy that none of His bones would be broken.

With God's Word being understood as a seed, in the way that Jesus explained it in Mark 4, then the question is when is harvest time for Genesis 1:26?  Depending on countless factors that it would take too long to get into, one by one, that can be anywhere along the way between the moment you've embraced the Lordship of Jesus to the timing of 1Corinthians 15:28 when God's looking at all of mankind completely restored to Himself and the Kingdom being resigned and offered up to the Father.  In one sense, we're already in the image of God.  In another sense, people all over the planet are spending countless hours everyday talking about how the full potential of a human being has never yet been fully tapped.  Why would that be?  Something about man is a seed with infinite potential that just needs to be nurtured with the Written Word of God and with the Holy Spirit to get to the highest levels that these mortal human bodies can contain in this present world.  And then obviously when mortality is no more, then we'll go even beyond that.



Correction: The human body in it's present mortal state doesn't have to be able to contain the level of spiritual growth.  You wouldn't die from growing too big spiritually.  Some limitations would just start falling away.  There isn't time to get into all of that.  There's lots of Church history, books on the lives of Catholic saints, etc., that gets into stories of people being able to serve God and humanity with an ever-decreasing number of physical limitations.

[sparrow]

White Wings....
I love your questions..
we have similar minds.
for sure.  :laughing7:
peace, bro...

[WhiteWings]

I had a reply cooked up to Mollies 2nd reply.
But I didn't post it because Taffy answered before I could post.

"God wrong" that was a rethorical question. I would never make such a claim.
Altough I already have my answer let me explain what caused my question.

Adam was created without sin. That was like God.
Then then things went wrong with eating from the tree. Men got mortal and full of sin.
Mortality and sin; two attributes unknown to God.
So my question was that; at that point the imgae was 'shattered'


/edit
Sparrow I feel deeply sorry for you!  :laughing7:

[Molly]

Actually, my opinion--since I read the Bible literally--is that man became more like God when he ate from the tree of knowledge, which is why God threw him out of the garden and subjected him to death--because who wants an evil eternal kicking around for eternity in paradise?  It would no longer be paradise.

This would pre-suppose that God is creating man in his own image rather than the past tense.  So, for a while, as part of this process,  God took away the tree of life.  I see the whole Bible as a process--of creating man in God's own image.




22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

--Gen 3

[sparrow]

Sparrow I feel deeply sorry for you!  :laughing7:

:laughing7:

[joyful1]

:2c: okay...for what its worth:
I see Taffy's explanation as being true in that God is in the process of "making man" into His image...why else are we being "conformed to the image of Christ" now?

AND I see Molly's explanation as being true also in that what she showed you is PART of that PROCESS. God surely knew in advance that Adam and Eve would partake of the tree that He himself had planted smack dab in the middle of the garden....and then told them : "don't eat!" 

I believe that the vessel was marred in the hand of the potter to begin with....and for the express purpose of RE-making it....so this is a PROCESS and was not instantly finished in the garden.

Jeremiah 18:4
4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

:happygrin:

[joyful1]

:2c: okay...now we are up to 4 cents! but I have to make one more comment:

Here is my example for the reason that I believe man was NOT in the image of God to begin with and that it is an ongoing process....

1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

You can see that ALL of this was going on with Eve before she ever partook:

Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.

(*Now I know that Adam was not deceived, but he had his faults too prior to eating the fruit because he put himself in agreement with the woman and desired her more than obeying God's commands.)

Joyce :)

[Molly]

God is CREATING man after HIS own Image...

The IMAGE, being the ADAM created BOTH male and FEMALE..., that IS ,the union OF THE SOUL( MIND)  and the spirit...I call it Coming HOME, meaning Understanding our TRUE I dentity..

ww ,similitudes hold their place within  SCRIPTURE, Seth being just ONE .

Brother, such things take time to learn and Digest....WE dont learn these things like plugging numbers into a Calculator.

Blessings
T

A few years ago, I realized that the whole book was about Jesus, as I began to see Jesus all over the Old Testament.

John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.


But--what if the whole book is about God creating man in his own image--priest, king, prophet, Christ--?


1This is the book of the generations of Adam.

--Gen 5

[Molly]

:2c: okay...now we are up to 4 cents! but I have to make one more comment:

Here is my example for the reason that I believe man was NOT in the image of God to begin with and that it is an ongoing process....

1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

You can see that ALL of this was going on with Eve before she ever partook:

Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.

(*Now I know that Adam was not deceived, but he had his faults too prior to eating the fruit because he put himself in agreement with the woman and desired her more than obeying God's commands.)

Joyce :)

Hi Joyce--

I agree with what you say about Eve.  But, the word, 'desired,' (used for Adam), is a loaded word, and I wouldn't use that word for what Adam did.  The church likes to teach that Adam is somehow seduced by the woman--he's not--and that the fruit eating incident has something to do with Adam's lust for the woman--it doesn't.

God tells us what Adam did--he listened to the woman--


17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:

--Gen 3



And, yet, we know that Adam, not being deceived, knew he would die.  Adam made a decision, but was it the wrong one?


20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
--Romans 8

[joyful1]

Good question, Molly!  :icon_queen:
Maybe you are right....it does end with "Come Lord Jesus!"
And when He comes....we WILL be LIKE HIM! The process will have been competed in us....hmmmm?

And we do live by "every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." ....hmmmm?

Joyce :)

[Nathan]

Just a couple thoughts  . . . I love this book!
One, I also saw that passage a bit odd where after they ate they then were declared to "be like us".  As if up to that point, they were not yet like God.

I also see this whole thing as spirit and soul.  God gave our spirit dominion to subdue our earth . .our carnality, our soulishness.  But Adam didn't subdue, he submitted to his soul and "that" changed the order of Spirit, soul, and body . . .to Soul, body, spirit.  We have no idea what it was really like in the garden because it was a spiritual realm, not a natural one, Adam was predominantly spirit and yes, he had a body, but his body to him was like our spirits are to us now . .and our bodies now, are like his spirit was then ..everything is reversed here now from what it was then.

I'm also of the understanding that Adam didn't fall as much as he jumped.  The center-piece of our walk in the Word is always Christ.  For me . . it's not about the fall of Adam as much as it is about the redemption of Christ.  The interchange between Jesus and Peter are the same picture . . .when Jesus rebuked Peter and called him satan (adversary).  Peter couldn't see that Jesus' purpose to go to the cross was to bring resurrection to the dead . .all he could see was the death of the cross and "that" was what he responded to and took it upon himself to defend Jesus . . .at which point . . .he became the adversary to the purpose of the cross.

For me to emphasize the fall of Adam over the redemption of man through Christ is doing the same thing.  God created man, the garden and the trees that were in it.  He also created the serpent in the tree.  God creates balance, it consists of good and evil . .however if we're living in the tree of life and not knowledge, we don't identify the good from the evil, we see it all as God does . .it's all good.  

I think one of the attributes to being God's image is that man is made up of opposites.  My body needs opposite arms and legs and ears to be a balanced body.  It goes inwardly also . . .two main sides to the brain, heart, lungs on and on.  When we live in our carnal reasoning, we take it upon ourselves to root the one out . . .so that the one remaining is the "right" one to our standards.  We may have successfully rooted out the sin in us, but that sin was there to bring balance to us . .but walking in the natural reasoning, we can't see this.  

Bottom line . . .Scripture says Jesus gave himself at the foundation of the world . . .to me, it was done in the spirit realm long before we saw him do it in the natural.  It wasn't "if" Adam would step out of the order, it was more of a matter of "when".  Adam had the liberty to choose the when . . . But he was already destined to submit to his woman, because it's not about us . . .it's about Christ coming to redeem . .to seek and to save that which is lost.  Man wasn't lost, it was man's identity in who he was that got lost.  Jesus reestablished that through the death, burial, but most importantly, resurrection because NOW we are seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places . . .that can only happen by way of receiving resurrection life.

[Craig]

NOW we are seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places . . .that can only happen by way of receiving resurrection life.

By faith.

Colossians 2:9-12 3:1-2
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Ephesians 2:6-10
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

[WhiteWings]

having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God,

Is that water baptism? Or some other type like knowldge or God and Jesus?

[Nathan]

For me, it's not about getting wet . .it's about dying to the flesh and being raised in the spirit.

[Craig]

having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God,

Is that water baptism? Or some other type like knowldge or God and Jesus?

Good question.

The answer is no. It is a fact, and like all facts that are not yet realized it is trusted by faith. It is like a 18 year old knowing he has a billion dollars in trust when he turns 21, he knows it is there because he has a certificate to prove it.. He knows it is there and can borrow against it, even though he doesn't really have access to it until he is 21. So by faith he lives as if he had a billion dollars, but in reality his billion doesn't become for another 3 more years.

Trusting in the death of Jesus Christ is what water baptism symbolizes but water baptism is not at all necessary to do. It was Jesus's baptism into to death that now saves you.

1 Peter 3:21
This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.

His baptism, we trust, is that when He died, He died for all and therefore all have died in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:14
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

It is this baptism, which Jesus endured, that also brought reconciliation to the world.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

The answer is yes, now trusting in the fact (knowledge) it has already happened, we also trust we too shall be raised.

1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is.

So He has given us the Spirit as deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:5
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

What it means to be raised in the Spirit, is to trust in the deposit of His Spirit which is a guarantee of what is to come, and living like that 18 year who though does not have his billion, lives like a billionaire because he had a certificate to prove he is a billionaire.

So the answer again is:
No, it is not water baptism.
Water baptism is just a symbol of the true Baptism which saved you, which if you like to do, you can without any guilt or condemnation, it is your pledge to yourself and confession to everyone else that you believe it which both gives strength to you and the hearer.

and;

Yes, it is another type of knowledge.
It is the knowledge of the Truth, in which He has given His Spirit as a deposit of what is to come. The knowledge of the Truth allows you to live according to what you know is true, both past, present and future and live in it Today.

[Craig]

For me, it's not about getting wet . .it's about dying to the flesh and being raised in the spirit.

Which is by faith in which we were given the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Now we know that if the earthly tent [earthly body] we live in is destroyed, we have a building [spiritual body] from God, an eternal house [spiritual body] in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling [spiritual body], because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent [earthly body], we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling [spiritual body], so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body [earthly body] and at home with the Lord [spiritual body]. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body [earthly body] or away from it [spiritual body]. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body [earthly body], whether good or bad.

1 John 3:2-3
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

John 17:13-18
"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world

2 Corinthians 5:19-21
That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We can live presently in the knowledge of the Truth, walking by the Spirit which He has given us. We walk presently in the hope of the resurrection of the dead which has not yet been made known to us. However, since we know it is True, we walk as if it has already happened. When it happens is when He appears to take us from this earthly tent to our heavenly home. We are not of this world, but we are still in this world not taken from it. It is by faith He has already raised us up with Him, as ambassadors. Ambassadors, because we are not presently in our Heavenly home but away from our Heavenly home, but as ambassadors we have the same rights and privileges of the one who is at home away from home. So yes, presently are raised with Christ, with full authority and power as a Royal Priesthood, we wait patiently for when He comes to take us Home in the resurrection of the dead, which is by faith.