In Our Image, After Our Likeness
“And God [1] said, Let us make man [2] 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 cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) And God created the man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; [3] male and female created he them” [4] (Genesis 1:26-27. Scripture quotations from RVIC, unless otherwise noted).
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). In the next verse it says, “God created the man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;” so why does that verse say nothing about the likeness?
In Genesis 5:1‑2 it says, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, [5] in the likeness of God made he him; (2) male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” So why in this case is “the image” not mentioned? We offer a suggestion.
As throughout Genesis 1, “God said, Let …” and the following verse tells what He then did. (It is like a check list: First, it states what needs to be done, and then checks off what is actually done.) In the first twenty‑five verses, the check list verse says something like, “it was so” or “God saw that it was good.” Then each concludes, “And there was evening and there was morning, a day.” After the creation of man, it concludes, “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Yet nothing was said about having made man “after our likeness.” May it be that the “likeness” had not yet been made?
“In the image of God” is literally “in an image of God.” None of the lower animals and vegetation, are said to be created “in an image of God.” Though angels are not mentioned in Genesis 1, might it be said of them that they also were made in an image of God? “What is man … ? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:6‑7, quoting from Psalms 8:4‑5). Both angels and Adam (and Eve) were created mentally and morally perfect, with the ability to learn and remember, and with the power of reason. This is “an image of God.”
Satan, speaking through a serpent, tempted mother Eve by promising her knowledge — knowledge of good and evil — by partaking of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:5, John 8:44). When she, and then Adam, partook of the forbidden fruit, they lost their perfection. The image of God was lost, and the hope of everlasting life was lost with it. Yet something else was gained in its place: “And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil” (Genesis 3:22). The image of God was lost, but the likeness of God was gained. Thus afterwards, in Genesis 5:1‑2, it could properly say, “In the day that God created man, [5] in the likeness of God made he him; (2) male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
Man is now in the likeness of God, to know — to experience — evil as well as good. It remains to restore an image of God. There is nothing in the Bible saying, “And there was evening and there was morning, the seventh day.” Evidently that is because God has not finished making man in both His image and His likeness. That will require the full thousand years of Christ’s Kingdom. Then the seventh day will end.
In addition to making man in an image of God and according to a likeness of God, God intended that they should eventually “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” That will come to pass when Isaiah 11:6 is fulfilled, “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” God’s original design will be fulfilled at the end of Revelation 20.
Peace will prevail in the Kingdom
— James Parkinson
[1] Note: God (Elohim, plural) said (singular) Let us (plural) … The singular verb with a plural subject may be used to express that the plural individuals work in full harmony.
[2] Literally, Adam (red earth). Also in verse 27.
[3] From the absence of mention that God also created man after our likeness one may infer that it was not then accomplished but remained for the future; similarly for the command about dominion. (But see Genesis 5:1.)
[4] DNA measurements imply all women in the world are descended from a common female ancestor, and all men in the world are descended from a common male ancestor. Rebecca Cann, et. al., Nature 325, pages 31‑36 (1 January 1987); and Robert L. Dorit, et. al., Science 268, pages 1183‑1185 (26 May 1995), including footnote 15.
[5] Literally, Adam