Man is the image of God

[benmaarof]

Man is the image of God.

What does this actually mean? Does God have bodyparts like we do or is it just metaphorical?

 

[Llauralin]

Man is the image of God.

What does this actually mean? Does God have bodyparts like we do or is it just metaphorical?

He does now.

 

[Carri20]

Man is the image of God.

What does this actually mean? Does God have bodyparts like we do or is it just metaphorical?

I'm not really sure about the physical aspects, but I do know that God gave man all the same feelings and emotions that He has--love, joy, peace, sadness, and even anger, and many more. That's one of the meanings of that verse.

 

[Radagast]

I wrote something about this. Basically, spiritually we are more like God than we are like animals.

-- Radagast

 

[CPman2004]

I'm not really sure about the physical aspects, but I do know that God gave man all the same feelings and emotions that He has--love, joy, peace, sadness, and even anger, and many more. That's one of the meanings of that verse.

agreed, and would like to add even all the mental proceses. Such as ability to reason, learn, create, and many other things. One of the major things that make us in the image of him, is our souls. We were a very special creation. As for physical aspecsts... I don't know, except Jesus had all the same human features as I do (ie: hair, legs, arms, head, nose, ect.).

 

[Radagast]

... ability to reason, learn, create, and many other things...

Yes, they are all part of the image of God.

-- Radagast

 

[one way]

I'd say we have the same emotions as God, but I don't know about body parts, as no one has ever seen him.

 

[LegomasterJC]

We are made of Mind, Body, and Spirit just like God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

[TheMainException]

It could be that man is the image of the way God thinks and acts....I am not sure.

 

[VickiY]

What is an image of anything? Something that looks like it, reflects its properties in a manner that makes those who look upon it get a sense for the prototype.

We, the created, are called to conform ourselves so that when people gaze at us, they see in us His image, and understand what He is, and how much He loves us. We are made to be that image.

 

[Radagast]

What is an image of anything? Something that looks like it, reflects its properties in a manner that makes those who look upon it get a sense for the prototype.

We, the created, are called to conform ourselves so that when people gaze at us, they see in us His image, and understand what He is, and how much He loves us. We are made to be that image.

Well-put!

-- Radagast

 

[Radagast]

Posts on this thread that were a debate have been split off as a thread in GA... the debate can be continued there, where it belongs.

-- Radagast

 

[The-Doctor]

An interesting question. I once recall a sermon where the vicar asked if you could look at a stained glass window with the image of God in it what would it look like to you?

I guess we all have our own view of God.

 

[elliott95]

Created in the image of God refers to being like God in the very essence of our humanity.

Not so much in our form, but in our function, humans have been created in God's image. In precisely the ways that we differ from the animals, and in the ways that Adam could not find a suitable partner amongst the beasts, it is in that way that we are different than the animals.

In our passions and in our instincts we are like the beasts, much like a statue or a picture of of one's own self capture our own form, but not our essence.

But if we confronted with the question of which is more like us- a statue, or our own child- it would be missing the point to think that the statue captures more of our likeness than our children.

Our children may have different eyes, different hair, different color, and even different sex, but unlike a statue, they share in what make humans human.
A lifeless statue may well capture our own morphology more accurately, but it is superstition and even idolatary to believe that it possesses our soul.

And that is the analogy that the Bible is trying to demonstate. As a child is to her father, that is as we are to God.

He has breathed His own Spirit into us.

It is God's spirit, and not the spirit of the beast, that animates us.

And this is the Truth that virtually all religions ought to continue to assert in the face of today's materialism. Humanity was never not created in the image of the Beast, but in the likeness of God.

The first few chapters of Genesis would help to give scriptural background to this idea shared by both Jews and Christians especially.

 

[Gods_Knight]

If mankind is the image of God, then I dont wanna know what God is like.

 

[WarEagle]

Man is the image of God.

What does this actually mean? Does God have bodyparts like we do or is it just metaphorical?

First of all, it's important not to confuse "made in God's image" with "the image of God". Both phrases are used in scripture and they both mean very different things.

When the Bible says that we're made in the image of God, it means that we're made after using Him as the pattern. When it says that Jesus is the image of God, it means that Jesus is God.

Anyway, on to your question.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul explains that:

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them;

for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuseRomans 1:19-20)

This is referring to, among other things, us. What Paul is telling us is that there is a purpose behind God creating us and that is to show Himself to the world through us. We are made in the image of God in the sense that we communicate God's communicable attributes to the world.

For instance, we show compassion because God is compassionate. We become angry at injustice because God is just and becomes angry at injustice. We love because God is loving, etc.

That's the nature God created us with.

The problem is that, through sin, our nature was corrupted so we don't perform quite like God created us to perform so what we have are people stealing, when God doesn't steal, lying, when God doesn't lie, committing adultery when God is faithful, etc. and this is sin.

God has made laws and commandments about how we're to behave because these things show how He is to be represented to the world. To violate these things, to transgress against God's laws is sin.

When we sin, we're basically telling the world that God is not good, that He is a liar, a thief, an adulterer, etc.

Essentially, what we're doing when we sin is slandering God's name. That's why He judges and punishes sin so harshly.

I hope that helps. I wrote half of it and had to stop for a while. When I came back, I forgot where I was, so I hope it makes sense.