{"id":10655,"date":"2012-03-30T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=10655"},"modified":"2015-03-10T19:58:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T02:58:41","slug":"image-of-god-in-genesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/image-of-god-in-genesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Image of God in Genesis 1:26, 5:1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I occasionally write posts in response to questions sent in by readers. Read on to find out how to submit your question.<\/p>\n

Here is a question that a reader sent in about the image of God in humans.<\/p>\n

The question:<\/h2>\n
\"Image
Is this what God looks like?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You invite questions; so here we go:<\/p>\n

Genesis 1:27-27 says this: “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.”<\/p>\n

Genesis 5:1-3 says this: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”<\/p>\n

Were we created in God\u2019s or Adam\u2019s image or how do I understand this verse?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is my response:<\/h2>\n

Good job noting the repetition of the \u201cimage\u201d theme in Genesis 1:26-27 and 5:1-3.<\/p>\n

The author of Genesis was not intending to show a distinction between the image of God in Adam and the image of Adam\u2019s descendants, but rather their similarity.<\/p>\n

Just as Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, so also, all their descendants also bear the image of God.<\/p>\n

An illustration from math and logic might help.<\/p>\n