Immediately the first two chapters of Genesis have been debated from the very concept of how things came to be and where is God in the result of what we know today. The truthfulness of life seems to be wedged between thought and faith. It asks if we MUST accept the function of human life as a routine of needs, senses, and desires. Our text reflects back to the time of prior eternity when God decided to cause humans to exist. The words used in this context are image and likeness. Some would differentiate between the two terms, but looking at the end result, there may not be a factual difference.
The purpose of this blog is to delve into the concept of God making man to be like unto Him. We must reinforce the fact that man is in no way perfect as is God. However, there are characteristics that reveal how man was made in the image of God. The first understanding we can discover comes from this and succeeding  verses when God gave instructions to man for what would be his duty on this earth. Here we can recognize the likeness of man to God.
Man was to have dominion over all the creatures of the earth. In other words, God was delegating or instructing man to assume dominate powers over all the creatures. Humans were not to have solicitude or cooperation from animals. They were put on earth as part of the reign mankind would have over all that is earthly. Being subject to God, man was to demonstrate a sovereignty granted to him by the Almighty. Since man failed at this task in the beginning, Jesus as part of his redemptive work would see that every knee would bow to him in subjection. The cry of all Nature to be freed from the weight of sin’s effect will someday soon be known.
Humanity was assigned the future responsibility to subdue the earth through true scientific and material progress. This already began by Cain as a farmer and Abel a shepherd; including the offering of sacrifices to God. From the original lifestyle man sought to know the secrets of the Universe. He was placed on a road to bring the elements of Nature into the service of the Race.
Unlike all other of God’s creations, only man (like God) is self-conscious. A human is aware that he exists. Thus, a human has an awareness of origin or natural development from his parents. We are bound together by a mutual knowingness of each other whether or not we commit a wrong to our brothers verses the separateness from other beings to use as food and servants. We are allied to other creatures but dominate them, too. Animals were made after their kind, but man was made after the image of God. Each creature has functioned according to their creative intent. Man has been stamped with the desire to worship and fellowship with the Divine as well as the Divine to enjoin fellowship with man.
Man has a likeness to the earth through Nature, but also a higher order in the form of eternal spiritual likeness. As does God, we can feel, think ,and act. Being the image of God, we have moral integrity, superior intelligence, and are free agents. Man is wondrously made and wondrously superior to all of Nature. Nothing can change that. In our rational life (personality) is our greatest good or when abused our worst worseness. As we seek to reflect all that we are as the image and likeness of God, we are constantly and automatically challenged to be more today than yesterday.
Christian Writer 