The Image Created By God.
My pastor believes that everything God created is triune in nature. This is his mental picture of life essentially through his belief in the trinity. The doctrine in essence teaches that all life consists of the body, soul and spirit. God on the other hand has made it plain that man can understand the nature of God’s through the things God created. The human eye can not comprehend the components that of men and animals are made of because they are not capable of seeing past the flesh. Therefore no one has a complete understanding of the nature of life or is able to describe the difference between the spirit and soul. Still my pastor is willing to go to his grave with a conception of God’s image as being triune in nature.
To most people God is essentially good, eternal, boundless, all knowing, all-powerful, doesn’t change, loving, able to forgive, and has an anger that is respected and feared. To them God is beyond the possibility of human conception. Yet God says what may be known about him is evident because he made himself known to man.
The story of the creation especially bears out that God made himself plain to man. Within the factual account of the creation is the testimony of God who said that he made man in his own image and likeness. The human understanding of man being created in the image and likeness of God can be taken literal or conceptual. Those who want the understanding of God’s image from a biblical perspective may be interested in the following verse.
Being the seed after its own kind, Seth was the image and likeness of Adam. As we reflect on this thought it is not hard to understand that having children is the reproductive part of human life. We expect to see specific qualities within the shape of the newly born baby that resembles the parents. In fact when the mother first sees her child she will inspect the baby to make sure it has all its toes and fingers.
An image is a sculptured shape or form of a person or object. Idolatry involves the making of shapes or forms to represent the God being worshipped. In Exodus 20:3-5, God prohibited the worship and the making of images that claim to represent God. God foresaw that the making of gods not only demeanored God, but it also was deceptive to those who worshipped the idol that was made to represent God. However, God made man in his image but did something man was not capable of doing, he gave his creation the breath of Life.
Man is a physical replica of God bearing a resemblance of God. In his vision Ezekiel saw a figure like that of a man and concluded, this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
John saw in the flesh but only gave a physical description of Jesus Christ that he saw in the Spirit.
Since God created man these descriptions demonstrate that man resembled God in a recognizable shape and form. However, man has a mental perception of God being a united God. Beyond the biblical approach there is a conceptual knowledge of God, which we know as theology. Theology reflects the wisdom of leading men of God. These experts express that God is three persons known as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each being fully God, but united as one God.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Matthew 19:5-6
There is still another kind of image. Men and women project an image of themselves to other people known as a first impression. However, God created a lasting impression of himself from what was built into the creation. Every living creature in the animal and human kingdom was created with a mate, but to Adam God said a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. Genesis 2:24. God wanted man to develop a devoted relationship with his wife on the same order as Jesus Christ had with God the father. Six thousand years after the creation, men and women still live in a natural relationship of marriage even in nations where the word of God has not been preached. This is so men are with excuse. The image God created of himself was of two persons that are devoted to the well being of each other.
Psalms 19 helps to explain the invisible qualities and eternal power of God. The very nature of the creation is constantly recycling sustaining the eternal nature and power of God.
When one studies the creation you can only draw the conclusion that someone of greater wisdom designed everything supporting human life, which works together in harmony. The vastness and the complexity of God’s creation can humble you to the point you wonder why God would want a personal relationship with you. Your life is like the flower that blooms and fades away and the wind that is here today and gone tomorrow. Everything God created has a function and will do what was expected of it in the time its been allotted. No sooner does the flower produce its fruit its time for the fruit to serve the needs of the person who possesses it. In the overall picture, the image of God is built into the creation and his image will exist until God brings life on the earth to an end.
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