![]() ![]() They were to fill the earth with godly offspring and glorify Him through their rule on the earth. As those made in the “image of God,” Adam and Eve were God’s vice-regents. The context of Genesis 1:26-28 stresses man’s authority over the created world. In other words, “the image of God” means that humans are like God and represent Him as rulers over creation. The word “dominion” is mentioned here in 1:28 for the second time, but now it is paired with having children and subduing the land. In the midst of God’s blessing, He commanded humans to do two things: (1) reproduce (“be fruitful and multiply”) and (2) rule (“fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion”). This very concept is seen again in 1:28, in what is known as the Cultural Mandate. Sandwiched in between the two uses of “image” in Genesis 1:26-27 is the sentence: “And let them have dominion over. And what is mentioned in the context along with the “image” of God? Dominion. We just have to look at the immediate context. That central point is not hard to figure out. While we are like God in these ways, they do not get to the central point of the “image” in Genesis 1. Others suggest that the “image” is tied with humans being creative like God. ![]() It is often suggested that the “image” is tied with humans being personal, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and relational beings like God. Leaving aside the question of God speaking in the plural (it probably refers to the divine counsel), the main question here is what the text means by God’s “image,” or the Imago Dei (from the Latin). And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”Īnd God blessed them. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. In order to understand the specific meaning, it will help to look at their context in Genesis 1:26-28: These words describe how humans in some way reflect the form and function of God. When God first created humans, He made them in His “image” (צֶלֶם, ztelem) and after His “likeness” (דְּמוּת, demoot). We find the phrase “image of God” in the first chapter of the Bible. But what does the phrase “image of God” actually mean? “All humans are made in the image of God.” We hear this phrase often, usually indicating that human life is valuable. ![]()
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