by Jacob Ninan
"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen.1:27). This was not how God created all other living things, but this was special for man, and this distinguished man from everything else. God created man with this special privilege so that He could have fellowship with him. Fellowship is possible only if two are compatible with each other and they can communicate with each other. So God made us 'in His likeness' or in other words, to be like Him.
It is important for us to understand in what way we are like God and in what way we are not. That can help us in our understanding of who we are, and our relationship with God, other people and the world we live in. Obviously there are many limits to how like God we are! We are not gods or mini gods, as some think. Also, just because we have a likeness of God it does not mean that we all have something of God in us! We are just created beings quite apart from God who created us, even though He has created us with many similarities to Him.
A very crucial distinction we have to make is between the image of God as is seen in His children, who have been born again through faith in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, and what is seen in others who have not come into this relationship. When God created Adam and Eve, everything about them was blemish-less, and therefore they were able to have an unobstructed relationship with God. They talked to God and spent time together in the Garden of Eden where there was no evil present. But when they sinned against God by disobeying Him, they found themselves disconnected and distant from God. God's plan of salvation for all mankind is aimed at restoring this broken relationship and giving us a relationship with God as His children.
God's being
Of course this likeness is not in our appearance or external form. God does not have any form or a physical body, because He is Spirit. Even though He has appeared to people at different times in the Bible in various forms, that was temporary, just to make Himself seen to man. The Bible uses terms like 'the eyes of the Lord', 'the arms of the Lord', etc., but they are only figurative in order to convey to man some aspect of God's nature. The reason why God hates idols which people worship as representing Him is because He cannot be represented as a limited form and also because an idol transfers people's attention from who God really is.God has created us with a physical body, just like all other living things on earth. But one major distinction is that He has given us a spirit within. This is pictured through God shaping the body of Adam from the dust of the earth and then 'breathing' into his nostrils, making him 'a living being'. This was God imparting life to Adam. This is the human spirit which we all have, with the potential to communicate with God who is Spirit. We have a body, a mind and a spirit, in contrast with animals which have only a body and mind (1Thes.5:23). This spirit in us is eternal, once we are created in our mother's womb, and will live forever either with God on the new earth, or in hell! Animals do not have this spirit, and they perish when they die. That is one reason why we are allowed to kill and eat animals, while the killing of human beings is the sin of murder.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they 'died' just as God had warned them (Gen2:16,17). They died physically much later, but the death that they experienced immediately when they sinned was in their spirit, which lost its connection with God. The Bible describes this condition of fallen humanity as being 'dead in sin', meaning dead towards God. God will give us a new spirit when we are born again.
God as a Person
The most important aspect of God that we need to look at in order to understand Him is that He is a Person. He is not an abstract force or energy as some mystical religions think. As a Person He thinks, feels, assesses situations and makes decisions on what He will do. These abilities are seen in His intelligence that created the universe at the macro level of galaxies as well as the micro level of sub atomic particles. The more we understand nature, if we are honest, we will recognise the brilliance of the God we worship (Psa.19:1). When we look at our own abilities, we can see that there is a lot of likeness between us and God, even though God is infinite in every direction while we are definitely finite in all our attributes.God is almighty. He is able to do whatever He wants. He has created us with some strength. We cannot do whatever we want, but at the same time, we have the God-given ability with which we are able to do many things. God knows everything. He knows the past, the present and also the future because He is the One who created time. He sees everything and His knowledge extends to the minutest detail as well as the big picture. We too have been given the ability to know, even though it is definitely finite. We can observe, learn and store up information, which we can then use later to analyse things and come to conclusions. As Spirit, God is present everywhere at the same time, and has no limitations with respect to space. We are limited by having a physical body, but we have been compensated by the ability to move around to different places. God has feelings, as we do also. A major difference between God and us here is that God is always in control of His feelings while our feelings can sometimes get the better of us. We are subject to many negative feelings with which we have to battle, which have resulted from the sinfulness of our fallen nature.
As we said before, God has the ability to make decisions based on His analysis of the situation, make plans for the future and execute them. He has given us also that ability, which is of course limited by our knowledge, understanding and also perhaps influenced by our feelings. When situations change, for example, based on human behaviour, God is able to change His action accordingly. (This is why many of His promises are conditional, depending on what we do.) We are able to look back, learn from our mistakes and those of others, and make new decisions.
One part of God as a Person is His sovereignty. He can do what He wants as the ultimate authority and Creator, and no one can stand in His way (Psa.115:3). He has created us too with a limited version of sovereignty, which we call our free will. Within limits, we have the ability to choose to do what we like. This ability that God has given us is what makes it possible for us even to oppose Him or disobey Him. This is a very important part of our likeness with God because this is what enables us to choose to love God while we also have the freedom to hate Him. Without this ability we would have been acting only instinctively, following the programme the Creator has placed in our body and mind. Then all that we do, we will be automatically following our programme like robots, and the only one who is responsible for our action will be God! No. The reason why God holds us responsible for our choices and our actions is because it is we who are making those choices. Adam and Eve had the ability choose between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Deceived by Satan, they chose the latter.
Some people are confused about this because they think that if we have any free will, God will lose a part of His sovereignty. But what we must remember is that just like all the other abilities which God has given us, our will is not limitlessly free. God still holds the ultimate control over everything. He intervenes with us when He thinks it is necessary and in order to accomplish His overall plans. One example we have in the Bible in the Book of Esther is how when Haman decided to exterminate all the Jews in the country, God intervened by causing King Ahasuerus to have difficulty to sleep one night. The king decided to spend time going through some old records, when he saw what Mordecai the Jew had done. He now decided to honour Mordecai, which then resulted in the death of Haman and the deliverance of the Jews! If we imagine God's sovereignty as like an infinite circle, our free will can be thought of as a small circle inside His circle. Obviously our free will is also limited by our knowledge, our physical and mental abilities, and our circumstances.
It is because of our free will that we are able to repent of our sins and choose to place our hope entirely on the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. And it is because we have a free will that God is able to judge us and then decide to reward the faithful and punish the guilty. Unfortunately, many do not understand this aspect of our likeness with God, and shirk the responsibility for ordering their own choices and behaviour, imagining that God is responsible for everything that happens.
We are not animals
Evolutionary scientists would like us to think that we are only an advanced form of animals. But animals do not have a spirit, and that makes them very different from us. They do have a mind and body. But they live by instincts which God has programmed into them. They do not demonstrate a moral law written into their minds, and we never see them worshipping God!God's character
One thing that qualifies God's ability to do whatever He wants is that He will never do anything that does not fit with His character. His character is part of His nature, and He cannot contradict Himself. His character is absolutely perfect in every way, without any blemish. The main aspects of His character are described as His holiness, righteousness, justice, impartiality and also His love, mercy, goodness and kindness. He cannot do anything evil, and everything He does comes from His perfect goodness (1Jn.1:5).God does not create us with His character, because that would be pre-programming us without giving us a choice. Neither does He transform us into His character autonomously from His side when we are born again. He gave Adam and Eve a choice, and they chose evil. Now He gives us a similar choice. Through grace He offers to wipe away all the record of our past sins through the offering of Jesus, and then He gives us the opportunity to walk as Jesus walked (1Jn.2:5). For such people, God offers His most precious promise that we can become like Him in His character (2Pet.1:3,4). It is only those who choose to deny their sinful desires whenever they are tempted and choose to follow Jesus receive what God has promised here (Rom.8:13).
Conclusion
What we see is that a certain part of God's likeness has been given to us through creation. What we have is marred from the time of the Fall, and we need to be restored to God through faith in Jesus. Then we receive the opportunity to have fellowship with God and walk with Him. When we do that, we receive the most precious aspect of His likeness, which is to become like Him in His character.