Questions 21 & 22

God made all things. But he did not make all things in the same way. God made the animals “after their kind.” But, when he made a man and a woman, God made them in his own image.[1] The image of God was what set them apart from all other created things.

 

What does it mean that man and woman are made in God’s image?

 

Sometimes when we stand in the sun, we can see our shadow. The shadow is not you. But it is shaped like you in many ways. You can see that your shadow is different than someone else’s shadow. In one sense, you see your image in the shadow. Or when we look into a clear pool of water, sometimes we see ourselves. The water reflects our image. When God made Adam and Eve, he made them to reflect who he is in certain ways.

 

God made the man and woman holy.* The word holy means ‘set apart.’ When we say, God is holy, we mean that he is set apart from his creation. God is one of a kind. He is the only true God. And he is set apart from evil.* He is good, so he is set apart from all that is not good. When we say that the man and the woman were holy, we mean that God set them apart from all of the other things that he made. They alone were made in the image of God. And they were good. God was pleased with them.

 

God does not have a body. But he gave the man and the woman a body to help them reflect his image. With this body, Adam and Eve could experience the world that God made. They could see. They could touch. They could smell the plants and trees in the garden. They could hear. They could taste the food that the garden provided for them.

 

God also gave them a purpose. And a body helped the man and the woman do the tasks that God gave them to do. God did not need a body to make a garden for them. But he gave a body to Adam and Eve so they could join God in caring for the garden. God said, ‘Have children so that there will be many of you. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky. Rule over every living animal that moves along the ground.’[2] God gave the man the job of giving names to all of the animals as well. As they did these things, they were to reflect God’s image as the ruler over all that he made.

 

God gave Adam and Eve a mind to think as well. They knew many things from the moment God made them. They knew God. They knew each other. They knew themselves. But God also made them so that they could learn new things. They could listen to God and understand what he wanted them to do.

 

With their minds, the man and the woman could also imagine and create. They could not make things from nothing. Only God could do that. But they could imagine things that did not yet exist. And they could make those things with the hands that God gave them. They could create music. They could make art. They could use words to write a poem.

 

God made the man and the woman so they could speak. None of the animals could speak to God the way the man and the woman could. Adam and Eve could talk with God. And they could speak to one another. They could describe the world about them with words. They could say the things that they were thinking. God is a God who speaks. So, the man and the woman, made in his image, were able to speak as well.

 

There is one God. This God exists in three persons. The Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, made all things. But before God made anything, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit loved and honored one another. And when God made the man and the woman in his own image, he made them to know and to love God. He also made the man and the woman to know and love each other. As people made in God’s image, they both could love and worship* God. And they could show love and honor to one another as well.
God made both the man and the woman in his image.[3] They enjoyed God and one another in the good place that he had made for them.

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[1] Genesis 5:1; Genesis 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9
[2] Genesis 1:26-28
[3] Genesis 1:27