Genesis 1:27
NIV
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
What does it really mean that we are created in the image of God?
What does that say about us?
What does that say about God?
There's been a decent amount of ink spilled writing on this subject over the centuries; but in essence I would maintain it means that human beings were created to reflect God, to represent God in creation. New Testament scholar N.T. Write I think also is correct when he says that it's not just about reflecting God into creation, but also it's about reflecting creation back to God.
If we read Genesis ch. 1 as a Temple narrative, where the creation of the heavens and the earth is God building the Temple in which He will dwell, it actually offers a lot of insight. The creation of human beings as the climax of the creation week is doubly: God installing His image in His Temple (the heavens and the earth), and man serving as priests in God's Temple.
That man bears God's image, the capacity to love and have fellowship with God, to act as a moral agent in creation, to reflect God's goodness into the world and to bear the creation back up to God in responsive love and worship.
We see the consummation and fulfillment of this in the vision(s) concerning the Age to Come, where God has come to dwell with His creation, the heavenly Jerusalem having descended down upon the renewed creation. People dwelling with God, and God with His people forever. The language of the Prophets speak of all nations coming to Mt. Zion, to Jerusalem and in Christianity we have come to understand this as reference to Christ, His Church, and the ultimate victory of God for creation. The renewal of all creation means the re invigoration and ultimate completion of man's good purpose as the image-bearing creature of God who cares for and tends to the world in love, and who loves responsively back to God.
God's love and the response to God's love, as the rhythmic heartbeat of all creation.
-CryptoLutheran