God’s Image: Male and Female

September 8, 2013 Background Scripture: Genesis 1, 2; 5:1, 2 Lesson Passage: Genesis 2:18 – 25 What is God like? Where is He? Why can’t I see Him? How do I know He is listening to me when I talk to Him? Why are spirits invisible? Can spirits feel pain? Inquiring minds want to know. Whether one is saved or lost, these questions will still nag us every now and then. Children will sometimes grasp the answers quicker than adults will. For instance, studies have shown that a child’s first impression of what God is like is based on the “father figure” in his or her life. That’s an excellent start to answering the rest of those questions. Our lesson today helps us to see this much clearer. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” There are some serious implications in this statement—especially in light of the fact that it is a direct quote from God. One implication is that one can answer many of the questions above by starting with a healthy understanding of mankind. Of course the catch here is the adjective “healthy”. Unregenerate mankind lives in a fallen state of sin. Once a person is saved then the Spirit of God lives in him. At that point, many of those questions become irrelevant to that individual because the Spirit leads us into all truths. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. After the fall of Adam from grace, this image and likeness became tarnished because of sin. Even so, there are still many parallels between man and the attributes that God has revealed about Himself. God experiences emotions including those that are joyful and painful. God is intelligent or rational. God has revealed Himself as having a triune nature—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is sovereign and rules over all. Likewise, man experiences both joy and sorrow. Man is rational and capable of logical assessment. Man is triune in that he is spirit, soul, and body. Even in the most primitive of societies, man establishes some recognizable form of government where ruling factions are apparent. It has long been recognized that man is both material and immaterial in composition. Thoughts, emotions, and will are all immaterial aspects of man. What we haven’t always come to grip with is that even primitive societies engage in rituals of religion or worship of a higher power. This is indicative of man having a spiritual component in his immaterial self. Religious behavior is not observed in other living creatures on earth. Even in a fallen state, man reflects characteristics that are parallel to what God has revealed about Himself. When man accepts God’s offer of salvation, God’s image and likeness become more evident to the saved person because they are manifest in the spirit. Anger gradually gives way to tolerance. Joy begins to supersede happiness as a higher state of emotional well-being. Indifference is overcome by compassion. Not only do we more easily recognize the image and likeness of God, we also begin to reflect God’s glory. Note that none of these characteristics are gender specific. “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them;” Robert C. Hudson August 28, 2013