| Adam and Christ, Part 1: The Image of God |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, January 16 2006 00:00 |
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“Then God said, ‘Let us make man on our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” (Gen. 1:26-28) Thus Moses, under inspiration, accounted for the creation of the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve. The creation of man came as the final and crowning achievement of God’s creative acts and carries with it something distinctive and wondrous: the man was created in the very image and likeness of God. Theologians have since puzzled about what that statement means. What is there about man that sets him apart from the animals and makes him uniquely like God? What reflection of God do we share that the rest of living creation does not? Rather than indulge in subjective speculation, let us look for a possible answer to the text itself. First, our image reflects the Trinity, for God said let us create man in our image. Thus man bears the image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Immediately we are confronted with the mystery that appears again and again of the one and the many. God is one, and yet the one is comprised of three persons. And the same is true of man, he is man, but he is comprised of male and female. Understanding the working of God, whether in the marriage relationship, in the church, or the state demands that we at least accept and operate from this concept of the one and the many. The creation continually has the responsibility and the exalted honor of reflecting back to the Triune God glory and honor, in gratitude for the fact that we, as the special creation who bear that image, are privileged to share in that glory. (More in our next devotional) |
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