Who Am I - I Am the Image of God

 

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26–31 ESV).

 

Today we begin a new series of devotionals. They each will describe a characteristic of who we are as believers. For our first look at these descriptions in Scripture, I’ve chosen the beginning of our story. After God had created all things, He turns to the apex of creation: Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image’” (v. 1). There have been countless debates as to the meaning of this phrasing in the description of “man.” John Calvin wrote:

 

Interpreters do not agree concerning the meaning of these words. The greater part, and nearly all, conceive that the word image is to be distinguished from likeness. And the common distinction is, that image exists in the substance, likeness in the accidents of anything. They who would define the subject briefly, say that in the image are contained those endowments which God has conferred on human nature at large, while they expound likeness to mean gratuitous gifts. But Augustine, beyond all others, speculates with excessive refinement, for the purpose of fabricating a Trinity in man.

 

It is this “Trinity in man” that I want to focus on today. First, let me be quick to write this does not indicate deity. We are not made “Father/Son/Holy Spirit.” We are not God. However, the image that Augustine, and later Calvin along with other reformed theologians refer deal with the triune nature of man. We are flesh (body), mind (emotions and intellect), and spirit (soul). Jesus references this when He was asked what the greatest commandment was. He said, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37 ESV).

 

This has more significance than space allows here for an adequate explanation. However, let me simply say that when we fail to recognize that we are created in this trinitarian fashion, we dare not neglect any of them. Most often we see the spiritual part of our humanity neglected. We make a great effort to take care to educate and fill our minds, as well as go to incredible lengths to preserve as much of a healthy body as possible. These things are indeed essential, but no to the neglect of the spiritual.

 

What are you really doing to care for and protect your spiritual part? How do you really spend your time in caring for the whole man of which you were created? Take care. Each is essential! That is, after all the beginning of understanding who we are.