IDENTITY: Daily Reading Plan #1
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Verse 26 is breathtaking in its implications and puzzling in the questions it raises.
God decrees, "Let us make man in our image," using a Hebrew word—ē'nu—which is unmistakably plural. Why does God speak of Himself as more than one person? Scholars have offered a wide variety of ideas over the centuries. Three explanations are offered more often than any others.
First, God may be referring to Himself and the angels. This seems unlikely given the rest of Scripture's depiction of angels. These beings are presented as servants and messengers, not creators or rulers.
Second, this could be what scholars call a plural of self-exhortation or self-encouragement, meaning He is referring only to Himself. This would also be referred to as "the royal 'we,'" something we see used by human kings and rulers when making proclamations or decrees.
The third possibility is that God is speaking as a Trinity, of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to Scripture as a whole, the full Trinity was present at creation. Genesis 1:2 describes the Spirit of God hovering over the waters, and John 1:1–3 reveals that the Word, Christ, was active in the creation of all things.
Next, this verse raises the question of what it means to be made in God's image, or in His likeness. Without question, this statement does not mean that God created humans to resemble Him physically (John 4:24). Rather, this seems to support the idea that God endowed humans with a certain kind of awareness, one which animals and birds and fish were not given. In other words, humans would possess the capacity for reason, morality, language, personality, and purpose. In particular, the ability to use morality and spirituality are unique to human beings among God's creations on earth. Like God, we would possess the capacity to experience and understand love, truth, and beauty.
Humans are made in God's image in another way: as a model, or a representative. God is the Maker, and all of creation belongs to Him. He is Lord over it. However, in the moment of creation, God gives mankind the responsibility to rule over all other life He has made on the earth. In that sense, humans would stand as God's image, God's representatives, on earth as we rule over and manage all the rest of His creation.
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Contemplating the fact that God wove him together in his mother's womb, David praised God for His omnipotent act of creation. He especially notes how God's creative power is beyond human comprehension.
The human body that God created in the womb is indeed wonderfully made. For instance, the heart beats about 70 times per minute and pumps about 2,000 gallons—7,500 liters—of blood per day. An average body contains nearly 100 trillion cells. The brain contains 100 billion nerve cells. Human kidneys process daily about 130 quarts—about 123 liters—of blood to filter out waste and water. Our skeletal system has 206 bones connected to an intricate system of tendons, cartilage, and ligaments. The skeletal system not only enables us to move but also helps to produce blood, and it stores calcium.
David recognized God's creation of man was both marvelous and distinct from the creation of everything else. No two persons are completely identical, and human beings are distinct from animals. David was fully convinced that God had fearfully and wonderfully made him. He wrote: "My soul knows it very well."
Reflection Questions
- What do these passages reveal about our identity?
- What does it look like to find my identity in who God says I am as made in His image?
- What does it look like to find my identity in who God says I am as fearfully and wonderfully made?
- How does seeing myself and others as made in the image of God cause me to change the way I think about and act toward myself and others?
