By Jenni Ingram
Member, First Baptist Church, Gantt
In my study this morning I had a sort of revelation. I have read the account of creation in the Book of Genesis many times in my 46 years on this earth but something new caught my eye this time.
In Genesis 1:26 we are told: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”
For all these years when I have read that verse I imagined God creating us from dust as we are told also in Genesis 2:5–7.
In molding us, He created our body, head, arms, legs, etc., much as a potter did the clay. I get that image from the King James Version of Scripture that very clearly details how we were created: “A man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” It dawned on me this morning that I may have missed the whole point of Genesis 1:26.
Yes we are made in the image of God who is one God in three persons. We know that of course the Holy Spirit is a spirit. We do not see Him working; we do not see Him at all unless He comes in a noticeable form, usually a dove. And until the person of Jesus came to earth we never saw God in bodily form either.
He always appeared as a cloud, fire, voice, etc. Therefore He was the Spirit. I submit to you that we are all made in the likeness of God.
Our primary identifier is not black, not white, not female, not male. It’s God’s image as His Spirit “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”
Share with others: