(2) Created in the Image of God

To understand what true humanity looks like, we need to think about what Adam and Eve were like when God created them, before the fall. For that, we turn to Genesis.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 8 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:26-28)

When God created man, He created him in His own image. Scripture does not say, “This is what it means to be created in the image of God . . .” But, based on the creation account, and some other scriptures, we can get a good idea. We can see that God created man to be able to understand Him and the rest of creation. God created man to relate to Him and each other. God created man to make decisions and choose Him over other things. So, the image of God would at least include the ability to think and understand. It would include emotion or feeling, and will or choice.

Adam and Eve were unique in every way compared to us, but still human. Their thinking was pure but incomplete. They still had to learn and discover new things. They did not have unlimited knowledge. Their emotions were not polluted by selfishness and self protection. Remember, Genesis tells us they were naked and unashamed?

Certainly a major aspect of the image of God in Adam and Eve was absolute moral purity. They had the ability to choose God and they did. They lived in perfect fellowship with God and in perfect obedience Before the fall, Adam and Eve had what we call unconfirmed or untested, positive holiness. They enjoyed intimate fellowship with God in this pre-fall state. It is hard to understand perfect humanity because all we know is fallen, sinful humanity.

We need to try to appreciate humanity in the absence of sin and then we can begin to understand the nature of Jesus’ humanity. His humanity would be totally untainted and unaffected by the effects of the fall. In His humanity, He would have possessed thinking that was pure but incomplete. He still had to learn and discover new things (Luke 2:52). Jesus clearly had emotions, but those emotions were not polluted by selfishness and self protection. He would have possessed absolute moral purity; unconfirmed or untested, positive holiness.

Next:   (3)  Jesus & The Limits of Humanity