In His Image – 1

Photo by Nine Köpfer on Unsplash

I just read an article today -and no, I'm not going to share it- that proposed that Christians need to stop saying that Homosexuality and other LGBT/Gender Identity concerns are a sin.  The articles author ran through a series of not unintelligent sounding but ultimately inaccurate claims to support their perspective but the one that I want to talk about is this: God is gender fluid. The argument in a nutshell was that God created mankind “in His image” and since God created them male and female than God is not just male nor even just female, right?  God created both genders in His/Her/Their image and thus must encompass and contain the whole 'spectrum' of gender identity.

Well, if we're going to talk about this let's start by looking at the verse in question.

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26-28 (NKJV)

So, at face value it would appear that the author's point has some merit but it actually starts to fall apart under further scrutiny. Firstly, we have to answer the question of what does it mean for God to make something in His image? You might say that it means we look like God but then, what does God look like? Remember that God is not a physical being, He is spirit.

Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:24

“He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Colossians 1:15 (NKJV) -emphasis mine

There are more verses that describe God in terms that preclude the idea of any specific physicality but you get the point. God does not have a physical form, He does not exist in a physical realm. To be made in His image cannot mean to look like God because He doesn't actually look like anything; He's invisible.

So if it does not mean that we literally look like Him then what does it mean? Well, to be the image of something means that you represent that thing, you reflect or share the same characteristics. God had just made all of the plants and animals, all of the base things of the world. He had created an entire world teeming with life but now God wanted to make something truly unique, something more like Himself. God made Adam, a finite physical being that nevertheless shared some of the qualities that God had within Himself; namely self-awareness, intelligence, personality, moral agency, and more. He had made many things and now He made a person, a soul. God who was spirit without flesh created flesh with a spirit. He made matter that mattered.

I ended up writing more on this topic than would fit into one post. Come back next week for part two where we'll continue this discussion!

In the mean time, let me know any questions or thoughts you have in the comments below!