Humans were made to be God's image: royal priests who represent his rule and partner with him in developing creation, so that heaven and earth become one.
I personally far prefer this description over the westmynster confession. It seems more true to the scriptures and uses more scripturally influenced language.
Image bearing
Genesis 1:26-18
God: Let US make man in OUR image + likeness
man has dominion
Is to be fruitful and subdue.
Image:
בְּצַלְמֵנוּ
צֶלֶם
ṣelem
same word used for images that represented other gods and people worshiped. How does this affect the understanding of what ancient hebrew authors are saying about humans?
- In the same way idols + images represented gods, Humans represent Jehovah.
- it was imagined that gods lived in those idols. Does that have a connection to God living within human creation?
second command - though shall not create an image
deut 4 - do not make an idol of anything on earth or of heavenly hosts.
ancient temples housed a statue (tselem) of the god, and kings called themselves the god's image. - can we verify this?
Likeness:
דְּמוּת
dᵊmûṯ
noun feminine likeness, similitude.
external appearence.
- Perhaps humans resemble some sort of physical appearance like God (or us/our?)?
Genesis 2
Made of Dust, God breathed life into the nostrils.
Comments
Loading comments…