Image of God

"God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image'" (Ge 1:26). "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him" (:27). "In the image of God He made man" (9:6). An image in a mirror reflects a form which is why it is called a "mirror image." The word in Greek is morpha which means shape. A form of something is an accurate representation of it such that is resembles the object. In a material sense it is the outward expression of man's holistic, physical-spiritual unity. God created man "'according to Our likeness'" (1:26). "In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God" (5:1). A likeness is a similitude of something in figure or pattern and could be said to be a synonym of image. "Male and female He created them" (1:27, 5:2). Man "is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man" (1Co 11:7). The husband is to show his wife "honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life" (1Pe 3:7). God said, "'Let them rule'" (Ge 1:26) and "'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule'" (:28). Therefore, rule or dominion is considered an aspect of man's image of God. "You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands" (Ps 8:5-6). But just because you're in God's image doesn't mean you're omnicient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. Scripture does not specify what attributes constitute man's image of God. In Jesus' example "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman" (Gal 4:4) and he was "found in appearance of a man" (Php 2:8). "He existed in the form of God" (:6) but took upon himself "the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (:7). "He had to be made like His brethren in all things" (Heb 2:17). But simultaneously "He is the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15) and "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature" (Heb 1:3). He had the inner character of God as well as the real characteristics of a human being.