“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”--Genesis 1:27 NIV
“--the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” --Genesis 2:7 NIV
First of all Genesis 1:27 is a triple parallelism, a Hebrew literary feature where redundancy is used for emphasis, very common in the Proverbs. The word for created here is a very important Hebrew term used only of God and never for procreation:
The phrase, 'heaven and the earth', is a Hebrew expression meaning the universe. All we really get from this passage is that the cosmos and earth were created, 'in the beginning'. The perspective of creation week is from the surface of the earth, starting with the Spirit of God hovering over the deep (Gen. 1:2). In the chapter there are three words used for God's work in creation. The first is 'created' ('bara' H1254) a very precise term used only of God.
Create ‘bara’ (H1254) - 'This verb has profound thological significance, since it has only God as it’s subject. Only God can create in the sense implied by bara. The verb expresses the idea of creation out of nothing...(Vines Expository Dictionary)
It is used once to describe the creation of the universe (Gen 1:1), then again to describe the creation of life (Gen 1:21). Finally, in the closing verses, it is used three times for the creation of Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:27). The word translated, 'made' (asah 6213) , has a much broader range of meaning and is used to speak of the creation of the 'firmament' (Gen 1:7), the sun, moon and stars (Gen 1:16), procreation where offspring are made 'after his/their kind' (Gen 1:25) and as a general reference to creation in it's vast array (Gen 1:31).
I am being told that I must believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis. Very well, take a look at the two verses I just quoted. These are very important since they deal with God's creation of humans.
Indeed.
God creating man “in His own image” can't be literal unless God has a physical body. If God literally created “male and female” in “His own image,” I'm not even sure what this means. What I do know is that God making people “in His own image” means that people have souls—but this isn't literal.
You are assuming that the image is a physical body, that is unwarranted from the text. Soul in that context, like when Adam became a 'living soul' is from a Hebrew word meaning breath, it simply means he became alive. That's very literal, you are making two false assumptions here and predicating your argument on them. I think you are making a mistake.
Since God is invisible, if people were literally made in the image of God, people would be invisible too.
Nonsense, just because God is invisible to us does not mean God cannot be seen:
No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him (John 1:18)
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (1 Timothy 1:17)
In this present darkness we can't see God and live, that doesn't mean God is by nature transparent.
And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:19, 20)
Try actually seriously considering the testimony of Scripture before you start jumping to wrong conclusions:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Rom. 1:20)
God's invisible qualities are clearly seen, there is no great paradox here. It's called natural revelation and what is invisible are God's eternal power and divine nature, intrinsic and internal characteristic but the promise of the Gospel is that we will see God face to face on the last day.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Cor 13: 11, 12)
God creating man, or Adam, from dust, by breathing “into his nostrils the breath of life” sounds like reviving someone who has almost drowned, if God has a physical body. It is clear from context that this isn't what is intended. God breathes the breath of life into all animals and plants. Breathing in the breath of life is an analogy, not a literal fact.
There is no indication the breath of life came from God's lips, you are making wild inferences that sound, frankly, like off the wall sarcasm. Get serious, you are treading on sacred ground.
If two of the most important verses in the first three chapters of Genesis are not literal, why should we believe the rest of it is?
First of all there is no figurative language in Genesis to speak of, it's written as an historical narrative and the preferred way to take an historical narrative is literally. The only real guide to figurative language is a 'like' or 'as' like you have with the parables but there is no such comparison in Genesis, or the Pentateuch for that matter.
The book of Genesis is not hard to understand, you either believe it or you don't. Don't blame the text if you are not willing to do the work of understanding what it actually says.
Grace and peace,
Mark
