Genesis 1:26 Commentary and Bible Study

These are most interesting words – ‘And God said, Let us make man.’ There seems to be some discussion among the persons of the glorious Godhead, some consultation. The narrative pauses and God speaks and he speaks with himself. If God has an eternal counsel, there is no disagreement in it, all the persons of the glorious Trinity are equally God and entirely united together, and yet the triune Godhead is seen in human terms to reflect, as it were, over the making of man. It is a pause. You might say it is a narrative affectation even. But it is a pause, put on the brakes, stop! Something much greater is going to be created now, something of such significance that a unique form of words is used to describe God action in creating it. ‘And God said, Let us make man,’ the pinnacle of his plan. And let us make him ‘in our image, after our likeness’. This does not mean that because man has physical form, God also has the same physical form. Obviously not: God is a spirit. Man is an analogue of God, which means that certain of the attributes of God are reflected in his being, both in his body and in his soul. There is something in the being of God that relates to man’s head, his hands, his feet, and his ability to see, to hear, to speak, to stand, to walk, so that these terms are even used in Scripture to describe the actions of God. And certainly there are aspects of man’s souls that resemble attributes of his Creator. Without this resemblance, we would not be able to conceive of the being of God. It is because man is made in the image of God, that his nature was suitable for the incarnation.But man is not going to be made divine, he will not be like God in that he shares his divinity. Oh no, but he will resemble God in significant ways – ‘after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl, and over the cattle.’ The possibility of man’s dominion over the other creatures is a consequence of his being made in the image of God. Man is uniquely like God, none of the animals are like God, or the fish, certainly not the plant life, and it means that we have the capacity to relate to God, and our first parents did so. We are like God and if we relate to him, obviously, it is because we have a soul and the animals do not, and that is what the Bible later explains. This dominion is given to ‘them’ to Adam and his seed, although ultimately, man’s destiny to have all things in subjection under his feet is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.‘In the image of God’ means we have spiritual communication. We have a soul. We have also the power of reason, like God, yet we barely dare to say that because our reason is immeasurably tiny by comparison with God’s, of course it is, it is not worthy to be compared. But there is a likeness. We have the power of reason and rationality. We have a will, a determining faculty. We can determine things and choose things. We have emotions far more elaborate than those of any animal. We have a moral consciousness. We are like God; we have a moral faculty. It will turn out to be a conscience at the fall. We have dominion - we are like God in that respect. He has total dominion; we have dominion over the animals and the herbs and the world. Not sovereign dominion – we are not sovereign over the world, but as stewards under God. We are the highest of the highest of the creatures with remarkable power and capacity. Man has the gift of language, he has relational capacities, he has creative and planning abilities, he has a profound sense of purpose, and especially he has ability to know and worship his Creator.