Image of God

[Hanseng]

Man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Seth, the son of Adam, was born in the image and likeness of Adam (Gen. 5:3). These two verses are the only places in the OT where "image" and "likeness" appear together. Based upon these verses, one must conclude that appearance wise, as a babe is to its parents in appearance, so was Adam to God.

The words "image" and "likeness" appear individually in about 35 verses. The word translated "likeness" [01823] is used in Ezekiel ~ 13 times. It compares the appearance of one thing to another thing it resembles: 

Eze 1:5  Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness <01823> of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness <01823> of a man.

Eze 23:15  Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner <01823> of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:

The term appears in Daniel:  Da 10:16  And, behold, [one] like the similitude <01823> of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.

Obviously, a likeness refers to something that resembles something else.

The word image [06754] is used in Genesis 1:27:  

Ge 1:27  So God created man in his [own] image <06754>, in the image <06754> of God created he him; male and female created he them.

It also refers to the resemblance between an idol and the thing it represents: 

Nu 33:52  Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images <06754>, and quite pluck down all their high places:

It also is used to compare a painting to its subject: 

Eze 23:14  And [that] she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images <06754> of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

The terms here used to compare Adam to his Creator indicate a similarity of appearance. 

[Gregory Matthews]

Yes, the Bible does use the terms "image" and "likeness."  We should be careful and not understand that to tell us that we can observe human beings and attribute what we see in human beings to what we would see if we were to observe the person of God.

*  Humans have sexuality and are male and female.  There is no basis to attribute such sexuality to God.

*  Exodus 33:20, No person in their present state of humanity can observe the being of God and live.  IOW, there is a clear difference between the person that we see in humans and that of God.  No one should think that God looks like us.

*  God is divine.  Humans are not.

*  The word "image" may be understood to reference aspects of God that were given to humans so that humans could fulfill God's purpose for humanity, even if in an imperfect manner. 

[Hanseng]

1 hour ago, Gregory Matthews said:

God is divine.  Humans are not.

Yes, that is the big difference. God is a spirit. Humans were endowed with physical characteristics to live in a physical world. Scripture still indicates, however, that man in the image of God is like a child in the image of his father. The angel that touched Daniel in verse 10:16 looked like a human being. That's the same word that is used to compare Adam to his Creator.  Angels are spiritual beings but reveal themselves to humanity is a human form.

The use of the terms "image" and "likeness" are quite clear in the Bible. There is nothing in Scripture that precludes God as a spiritual being resembling humanity in its physical form. What's to be careful about?  It actually makes sense that the children of God would resemble their Creator. The animals were not made in the image and likeness of God. Humans were. The words used in Scripture to describe the physical appearance of Adam require us to understand that humanity resembles our Creator in appearance in the same way a child resembles its father. 

[Gregory Matthews]

Hanseng:  So, you are telling us that God has sexual organs, as well as a digestive tract?

 

[Hanseng]

47 minutes ago, Gregory Matthews said:

So, you are telling us that God has sexual organs, as well as a digestive tract?

 

God is a spiritual being. Man is a physical being. I'm not "telling" anyone anything. What I'm doing is revealing how the words "image" and "likeness" are used in Scripture. There is nothing in the text about digestive or reproductive organs. I didn't say anything about them.  The Bible clearly states that Adam's son Seth was in the image and likeness of his father Adam. It's essentially the exact language used to describe the similarity between Adam and His Father. Seeing sexual organs and reproductive organs is your own imagination, not mine nor the Bible's. 

The Bible is explicit that the angel who visited Daniel looked like a man. Angels are spiritual beings. Daniel was not:

Dan. 10:18  Then there came again and touched me [one] like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me,

[Gustave]

 

 

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Hanseng said:

The use of the terms "image" and "likeness" are quite clear in the Bible. There is nothing in Scripture that precludes God as a spiritual being resembling humanity in its physical form. What's to be careful about?  It actually makes sense that the children of God would resemble their Creator.

When Scripture said man was made in the image and likeness of God it doesn't mean God looks like us. That God has a "body" that is in the form of a man is (and was) totally alien to the ancient (& even modern) Jews. 

The understanding since the beginning has been that humanity was formed as an imperfect reflection of God's attributes and characteristics. The universal Jewish understanding is that God HAS NO FORM, isn't limited in any way & We certainly didn't see Jesus "correct" the Jews of His day for holding this understanding. Animals do not in any way reflect the attributes and characteristics of God.

The early SDA'S,  in their militancy against the Doctrine of Trinity, railed against the Jews for rejecting "THE PERSONALITY OF GOD" accusing the Jewish people of descending into "spiritualism" and I guess I can't blame them for it, Afterall - IF a tangible flesh god WASN'T in the heavenly sanctuary there is no point of 1844 because, as they said, God is a Person and Heaven is a place, if God is in the sanctuary in heaven He couldn't be on earth because that would be "spiritualism" or "panentheism". 

This is a classic example of why folks reading the Bible on their own without proper instruction is a bad idea. 

 

 

[Hanseng]

37 minutes ago, Gustave said:

When Scripture said man was made in the image and likeness of God it doesn't mean God looks like us

Of course that is what it means. There are only two places in the entire Bible where "image" and "likeness" are used together:

 Ge 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image <06754>, after our likeness <01823>: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Ge 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat [a son] in his own likeness <01823>, after his image <06754>; and called his name Seth:

Adam and God resemble each other in the same way  as Adam and Seth. That's what the Bible says. Furthermore, the angels, spiritual beings  that they are, also appear in human form:

Dan 10:16 And, behold, [one] like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.

The word "similitude" is the same word translated as "image" in Genesis 1:26 & 5:3. Not sure why you are referencing what the Jews say, when it directly contradicts the Bible, unless of course you value human tradition and dogma above Scripture. Since I don't, their opinions are irrelevant to me.