Genesis 5:1-2 reads:

This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

The idea that God made mankind in his image and likeness is one that I have spent weeks considering. What exactly does it mean? Why does this question make many Christians uncomfortable? I believe that without a clear understanding of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God, we do not have a clear understanding of who we are. I believe that our purpose and identity rest on accurately answering the question: what does it mean to be made in the image and likeness of God? Being made in God’s image is referenced in Genesis 1, 3 and 5. In this post, I explore each of these passages to venture to answer this question.

First, what is meant by the word image? In Genesis 1:26-27, God decided to make mankind in his image. It reads:

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

An image is defined as “a representation of the external form of a person or thing in art.” The Hebrew word for image used in this verse is tselem.

צֶלֶם

צֶלֶם tselem (pronounced: tseh’-lem) means “to shade; resemblance or a representative figure.” It can also be translated to mean “…an outline or representation of an original as a shadow is the outline of the original.” Throughout the Bible, the word tselem is used to refer to physical, material things.  This tells us that Moses used this word here to describe a physical thing; a resemblance that can be seen. This is not a spiritual image; rather, humanity was made in a physical image that resembled God’s. Therefore, our physical body is a representation of God’s. The human body is “an outline or representation of” God just “as a person’s shadow is the outline” or form of the human body. As I study the Hebrew language, and as I consider the use of the word tselem I have to conclude that there is no other meaning for the use of this word in Genesis 1:26-27. Our human body is a representation of God’s physical image.

דְּמוּת

Second, I want to consider the meaning of the word likeness. Again, verse 26 reads:

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…”

Similar to the word image, the word likeness is defined as “the semblance, guise, or outward appearance of.”  The Hebrew word for likeness is דְּמוּת dᵉmûwth (pronounced: dem-ooth). It means “resemblance; concretely, model, shape.” Resemblance indicates primarily a likeness in appearance, either a striking one or one which merely serves as a reminder to the beholder. So, just as image refers to a physical appearance, so does likeness.

Genesis 5 confirms that image and likeness refer to the physical body. The words image and likeness appear in Genesis 5:3 which reads:

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

In this verse, the words tselem and dᵉmûwth describe Adam and Eve’s offspring: Seth. Adam and Eve were made in God’s image and likeness and Moses used the same words to describe Seth, their third son. After this verse, these two words do not appear together again in the entire Bible. Moses demonstrated that God made Adam and Eve in his image and likeness in the same way that Adam and Eve reproduced their own children in their physical image and likeness.

After they were made in the image and likeness of God, something changed for Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:5, the serpent presented Adam and Eve with the idea of being “like God”. It reads:

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Whereas in Genesis 2 God created Adam and Eve to be like him in physical image and likeness, Genesis 3 is the first time that the possibility of humanity possessing an internal, mental reality that is comparable to God’s own is presented.

אֱלֹהִים

The word for “God” used in Genesis 3:5 is אֱלֹהִים ĕlôhîym (pronounced: el-o-heem). It means “gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used of the supreme God.” In this verse, the serpent informed Adam and Eve that, in addition to their physical likeness, they could become like the supreme God in their knowledge of good and evil. They would possess not only a physical reality but a mind to know as God does: good and evil.

After eating the apple, this is exactly what happened. God confirmed this change himself in Genesis 3:22 which reads:

22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

אֶחָד

In this verse, “like one” is translated from the Hebrew echâd (ekh-awd) which means “one” or “united.” The word echad appears in chapter 2 as well. It is used to explain how God created Eve from Adam’s rib in Genesis 2:21. It reads:

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

The word echâd is also used to describe the union of Adam and Eve as husband and wife in verse 24 which reads:

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Eve was made from “one of his ribs”. Then, Adam and Eve became “united” as one or “one flesh”. Finally, after they ate the apple, God says that Adam and Eve became “one of us” or one with God in knowledge of good and evil.

Adam and Eve’s transformation from image and likeness to a form of god is significant to understanding our identity in relationship to God.

בָּרָא

We were made physically like God in his image and likeness and, when Adam and Eve ate the apple, we became like God in knowledge of good and evil. So, does that mean that we are God? The key to answering this question comes from looking at another part of the above mentioned scriptures. In particular, there are two words to compare: bara and yalad.

בָּרָא

When God made Adam and Eve, he used the verb bârâ to describe the process. In Genesis 1:27, it reads:

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Here, בָּרָא bârâ (baw-raw) means “to create by cutting out or carving”.  Bârâ implies creatio ex-nihilo or “creation out of nothing”. Bârâ is the same verb for create that is used in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

יָלַד

Although Seth was made in Adam’s image and likeness, Adam and Eve gave birth to Seth. Indeed, Genesis 5:3 (King James Version) reads:

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

The Hebrew word yâlad יָלַד yâlad (yaw-lad) is used here which means “to bear young.” While God made (bârâ) Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve gave birth (yâlad) to their son. Humanity was not born of God; we were formed by God. Therefore, we live in a body that resembles God’s own likeness and image and we have the knowledge of good and evil but we do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, not as we were formed. We do not have access as a member of the family of God; that is, not without the tree that we left behind: the tree of life.

What we can understand today is a very simple truth: the difference between dust and life is the breath of life. This breath is what distinguishes life from death. Again, Genesis 2:7 reads:

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The word breath in this verse is the Hebrew word  נְשָׁמָה nᵉshâmâh (nesh-aw-maw) “a puff, vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect, inspiration, soul, spirit.” The breath of life, the breath of God makes dust alive again. God shows us his intention in the very beginning of the Bible by showing us that he can and wants to make dust live. The difference between life and death is the spirit. Eve was made from a part of Adam that would support his breath and spirit. Therefore, in life, we must seek those whose lives can support our own spiritual resurrection. This is true of Ruth and Boaz and even the disciples Peter and John. After the resurrection of Jesus, Peter and John – men with very different natures – came together to spread the gospel.