Are we made in God's image?

GingerBeer said:

Did God create man in his image because it was always and eternally God's intention to be incarnate in Jesus Christ or did God decide to become incarnate because man fell into sin and needed a redeemer who was himself a man?We do need a redeemer so that is not the issue here. But if we suppose, hypothetically, that Adam never fell nor Eve then would God have become incarnate as man - as Jesus Christ?

Click to expand...

God walked with Adam and Eve. They ruined it. Jesus Christ of Nazareth walked with the Jews. They ruined it. Now the relationship with the Father is open through His Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth to ALL. It is our Fathers will that HE have a relationship with His creation that He made in His image.
Blessings

GingerBeer said:

If you have seen me you have seen the Father, said Jesus. How does that work with the idea you've expressed?

(Colossians 1:15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.​

Click to expand...

It works perfectly. He is the first born, but to get to that point, he had to have his flesh removed. He wasn't physically in the image of the father, but displayed his invisible attributes.

GingerBeer said:

Is the incarnation about redemption alone?

Click to expand...

In order to die, yes.

GingerBeer said:

Jesus had his flesh removed?

Click to expand...

He died.

GingerBeer said:

You need to explain that.

Seeing Jesus is seeing the Father, one cannot see the invisible. That is the definition of invisible.

Click to expand...

There's nothing to see. He doesn't have a physical form. He's spirit.

GingerBeer said:

He rose again.

Click to expand...

Yes, in a spiritual body.

GingerBeer said:

So the question becomes Did God create Adam because we needed a saviour after the fall or was it God intention to create Adam in the image of Christ for another reason?

Click to expand...

The latter I would think.

GingerBeer said:

The bodies we are. We cease to be alive when the body ceases to be alive. Soul and Spirit return to God who made them. The "real you" is body & soul, not soul without body.

Click to expand...

That which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of spirit is spirit. You are the body until you realize you aren't....Until you are born of spirit. If you die in the flesh, that is it.....for there is no repentance after the grave.....

And he that liveth and believe in Me shall never die....believest though this?

GingerBeer said:

He ate some fish, people could see him, feel him, see the wounds in his flesh. That doesn't sound like a ghost.

Click to expand...

It's sounds like a spirit taking on whatever form it wants.

GingerBeer said:

Did God create man in his image because it was always and eternally God's intention to be incarnate in Jesus Christ or did God decide to become incarnate because man fell into sin and needed a redeemer who was himself a man?

Click to expand...

I believe humanity was created for Incarnation. The creature is by nature subject to corruption. Creatures have a beginning and an end. The only way to escape corruption is by participation in that which is Un-corruptible, i.e. the Divine. We were created to be taken up into the Divine Life via the Word's Incarnation. Because He participated in our mortality, we are enabled to participate in His Immortality. I think Athanasius argued as much.

So, maybe sin is a by-product of our corruptibility. How much sin is due to striving? We fear suffering and death and so we strive against each other to secure life for ourselves. Unlike Christ, we sacrifice others for ourselves. We strive against a death we can't avoid. And, in seeking to save our own lives, we lose them. So, maybe sin is a by-product of our fear of death.

At any rate, I believe the Incarnation was always in the plan and not just because of sin.

GingerBeer said:

I know that scripture starts with telling us that God made Adam & Eve in his own image. So my question is not about that. I am asking if we were created as we are because God is like that and we're made in his image? I am not asking if God has hands and feet and a body like a man (or woman).

The core question for me is

Did God create man in his image because it was always and eternally God's intention to be incarnate in Jesus Christ or did God decide to become incarnate because man fell into sin and needed a redeemer who was himself a man?​

We do need a redeemer so that is not the issue here. But if we suppose, hypothetically, that Adam never fell nor Eve then would God have become incarnate as man - as Jesus Christ?

Click to expand...

GingerBeer said:

I know that scripture starts with telling us that God made Adam & Eve in his own image. So my question is not about that. I am asking if we were created as we are because God is like that and we're made in his image? I am not asking if God has hands and feet and a body like a man (or woman).

The core question for me is

Did God create man in his image because it was always and eternally God's intention to be incarnate in Jesus Christ or did God decide to become incarnate because man fell into sin and needed a redeemer who was himself a man?​

We do need a redeemer so that is not the issue here. But if we suppose, hypothetically, that Adam never fell nor Eve then would God have become incarnate as man - as Jesus Christ?

Click to expand...

Outward physical appearance is not as important as what is within a person. Flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit.

John 3 (WEB)
3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

It's kind of a mystery. Jesus is firstborn of all creation, yet is the 2nd Adam....