Who is man in the sight of God?

Man was distinguished from all other creatures in that he was made the subject of divine counsel before his creation. "And God said, Let us make man, in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion," etc. (Gen. 1:26). There is a solemnity about this which commands attention. It was not a new kind of animal that was about to be brought into existence, but a moral being with marvellous endowments and possibilities. "Image" has reference to man's position as set here to represent God and rule for Him; "likeness" has reference to his moral being, as one capable of entering into relationships, and bearing responsibilities. Neither the image nor the likeness of God have been lost by the fall (Gen. 9:6; James 3:9).

What are we to understand by the words, "image" and "likeness"? Certainly neither term has reference to man's physical frame. Putting it briefly, "image" represents; "likeness" resembles. An image is not necessarily like the thing or person it is intended to represent. The coin that was shown to the Lord Jesus in Matt. 22:20 may not have borne a "likeness" of Caesar, but it certainly bore an "image" of him. As made in the "image" of God, man is set in this world to represent Him to the lower creatures in rule and blessing; this term has thus to do with man's position. "Likeness" has reference to his moral being, as one capable of entering into relationships and bearing responsibilities. Neither God's "image" nor "likeness" has been lost by the fall (Gen. 9:6; James 3:9). It is because of God's image in man that the sin of murder is so serious. To kill one who represents God is high treason against Him whom he represents.

But here comes a striking difference. God speaks with the peculiar appropriateness which suits the new occasion, in contradistinction from what we have seen elsewhere. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." It is man as the head of creation. It is not man placed in his moral relationships, but man the head of this kingdom of creation, as they say; but still even so with remarkable dignity. "Let us make man in our image." He was to represent God here below; besides this he was to be like God. There was to be a mind in him, a spirit capable of the knowledge of God with the absence of all evil. Such was the condition in which man was formed. "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon earth." God created man in His own image: in the image of God created He him. In conclusion, the Sabbath day, which God* sanctified, closes the great week of God's forming the earth for man, the lord of it. (Gen. 2:1-3)

In Genesis 5 we have the generations of Adam. Upon this I would not now dwell farther than to draw attention to the commencing words, "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created." But "Adam," it is said, "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." It was no longer in the likeness of God, but in the image of God always. For man, now as ever, fallen or not, is in the image of God; but the likeness of God was lost through sin. Seth therefore was begotten in Adam's own likeness, not in God's. He was like Adam fallen, not his representative only. And this is what is referred to in James 3, where he speaks of our having been made in the likeness of God. But it is the more important because, when it is a question of the guilt of taking man's life, the ground is that he was made in God's image. This, it is plain, was never lost; it abides, whatever man's state. Had the crime depended on man's retaining the likeness of God, murder might have been denied or justified, because if a man were not like God the unlikeness might be urged in extenuation of killing him. But it is a crime against man made in the image of God, and as this abides, whether he be fallen or not, the guilt of murder is unimpeachable and evident. This accordingly is the ground taken, to which I refer as an instance of the perfectness of scripture, but at the same time of the profound and practical power of the truth of God.

Verse 26 shows us that from the outset man was the subject of Divine consultation or counsel. That God should say, "Let US," is worthy of note. Elohim is, as we have said, a plural Name. In the Old Testament the three Persons in the Godhead are not revealed, but now that They are revealed we can see that, inspired of God, the language of our chapter is quite consistent therewith. There was present to the Divine mind all that man would turn out to be, and he was only brought into existence after this consultation within the Godhead Himself. In verse 26 it is "Our image:" in verse 27 it is "His image." There is no incongruity for it is the eternal "Three in One" who speaks.

Man was treated in both the image and the likeness of God. The former word seems to be used in Scripture for that which represents unseen realities. The images of the heathen world represented their gods, without necessarily being like them, for indeed they had never seen the demons they worshipped by means of the images that represented them to their eyes. Man was made, then, to represent God to the lower creation over which he was set. But he was also made after the likeness of God; that is, he was really like God in certain important respects. Not in all respects of course, for God is infinitely holy and man was merely innocent. Still man was God's "offspring" (Acts 17:28-29), a spirit being, though clothed in a body of flesh and blood, and hence with intelligence and moral sensibilities, which are a reflection of that which subsists on an infinite scale in God Himself.

"Let Us make man, in Our image, after Our likeness." This "image" constitutes man the representative of God upon the earth, and the "likeness" shows, as the apostle says, quoting from the heathen poet: "We are also His offspring" — a likeness of moral and mental faculties which give man the capacity to know God and to enjoy Him.

Man was created in God’s image and likeness, Genesis 1:26 tells us. This is never said of the lower creation. It immediately stamps man as God’s masterpiece in the creation of this world. As God’s image he was created as the representative of God in relation to the lower creation; as God’s likeness, to set forth, in the measure in which God has made him such, the character of God.

In the first chapter of our Bibles we are told of the creation of man and the reason for it. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The US is the Triune God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are admitted to the divine counsel and plan, and from it we learn that man was to be created to be the visible representative of God in the world; for that is what "image" means; and for this he was to be like God in character, for without this there could be no effective representation.

When God created man He formed him in a unique way, breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. This distinguished man from the lower animals, and fitted him for his place of headship over the lower creation. Moreover, we read of God’s counsel in regard to man, for He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). When Adam sinned his likeness to God was lost, never to be recovered, but the image was retained though disfigured, for Adam, even as fallen was God’s representative as head over the lower creation. Adam unfallen was like God as being pure and undefiled, but sin not only made man guilty, it also ruined and defiled him.

So we find "it was good"; that is, the ordinary creation of that day closes before He begins with man, who is wholly apart. Counsel is taken when all the rest is already formed - counsel to have man in God's image, not first "like" Him, but in His "image," one that represents Him and is formed to represent Him; he is characteristically one who presents Him to others. In order to this man is made after God's likeness, no doubt without evil in him, but as representing God, a centre of the whole system, looked up to as such, the centre of all affections; one conscious of being all this, a much more compound and relative being it seems to me, as having body, soul, and spirit, than angels are; and the single centre of a vast scene subject to him, which no angels are.