Then God said, “Let us make man in our
image, in Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over all
the creatures that move along the ground.
Gen. 1:26
So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Like most
words in most languages, the Hebrew word for man has more than one meaning. In this passage, as is plain from
the context, it means “mankind.” In a nutshell, mankind—male and female—did not
evolve, they were created. They were uniquely created in the image of God, by
God.
Since God is
a Spirit, this image is not a physical resemblance. Mankind shares, although
imperfectly, attributes like self-consciousness, personality and reasoning
ability that allows him to understand the mind of God Himself. Again, all
mankind—male and female—were created in the image of God. Whatever abuse or
inequality that followed in the subsequent millennia, God created men and women
as equal. If you believe the Bible, this is foundational truth.
A second
truth is that we were destined for dominion. Even before we were created, we
were given a position and a job to do. Just like royal princes and princesses, mankind
as a whole was heir-apparent to a kingdom and a title determined before their
birth. This was God’s original intention and plan for us.
Nancy Shirah
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