Category: Theology 101
The first human to walk this planet was not born, he was created. God took the dust of the earth, and supernaturally breathed into it the breath of life. It became him; Adam became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).
God gave to man special responsibilities. First, he was commanded to reproduce himself and fill the earth with little Adams (Gen. 1:28). This presented a problem—Adam could not reproduce himself by himself. So God created the second human, only this time rather than starting with dust, He started with one of Adam’s ribs. God created woman, bone of Adam’s bone and flesh of Adam’s flesh (Gen. 2:21-23). This woman, Eve, was to be a helpmate to Adam. She was especially helpful in accomplishing the first objective because man and woman, together, have what it takes to make baby humans. This relationship is the foundation of the family, and God’s design for procreation (Gen. 2:24).
Second, man was exhorted to subdue and rule over all of the other creatures which God had made (Gen. 1:28). He was to serve as the Lord’s vice-regent and exercise dominion over the earth. Civilization, culture, government, and industry were placed into the hands of man to develop and administer.
These abilities and responsibilities set man apart from the other creatures that God made. However, the most significant and unique attribute of mankind was the imago dei, that is, he was created in the image of God. Three times in two verses God makes reference to creating man in the image or likeness of God (Gen. 1:26, 27). This repetition serves to emphasize the importance of this gift.
A precise definition of the imago dei is not found in the Scripture. Many theologians include the following as aspects of it: original righteousness, rationality, natural affections, moral freedom. The New Testament seems to indicate that the imago dei, at least in part, was lost when Adam sinned against God. In Ephesians, Paul speaks of the “new man created according to God in the righteousness and holiness of truth” (Eph 4:24). In Colossians, he writes of the “new man being renewed into full knowledge according to the image of the Creator” (Col. 3:10). These verses suggest that the person who is in Christ is being made new again into the image of God, and the attributes which are being restored are: righteousness, holiness, and knowledge. If this is the case, then it would seem to be a reasonable conclusion that part of the imago dei is righteousness, holiness, and knowledge, and that these were lost, for all men, when Adam disobeyed.
However, the Scripture clearly teaches that a portion of the imago dei remained in man even after the fall. Following the flood, God instructed Noah that murderers should be punished by execution, because they took the lives of men who were created in the image of God. Unfortunately, we are not told of what the image of God consists.