THE POWER
of IDENTITY

“On Being Made in the Image and Likeness of God”

God is so brilliant and tactical in his choice of revelatory words. Before, addressing the two very critical words that represent God, it is important to see that God is using the Trinitarian “us” as he refers to what he has intended to be manifest in humanity. It’s not just God the father, or God the son, or even God the spirit, but rather the entirety of the Trinity representative in human beings (Adam and Eve). With that being said, let’s take a look at the Hebrew words’ “image” and “likeness”.

God is very intentional in using two specific Hebrew words to highlight the Imago Dei found in Genesis chapter 1. As you will see below, God is painting, the full scope portrait of what it means to represent his fullness in humanity, by both, addressing the outer representation and the inner representation of humanity. This is the significance and purpose of the two words being used.

צַלְמ // Image

The theological dictionary identifies this word, in its most common use form as, “statue, relief, drawing, constellation, cultic figure, physical form,” fig. “image”. We can see from this Hebrew word that God speaking to the outer representation of his image towards the world in form and function. God does not make mistakes nor did he and his attempts to represent and build both man and woman uniquely in his physical representation. This word also speaks to the outer function of Gods manifestation as we can see the literal capabilities of both man and woman. They receive the capability to create (bārā') and rule(āśâ) from a posture of stewardship just like God.

דְמוּת // Likeness

The Jenni-Westermann word interpretation best describing its usage is that of “To resemble”, is extant beyond; “picture”. This beautiful word speaks to God gifting humanity, the inner heart level representation of himself. We see that in the garden of Eden, God was in perfect relationship with Adam and Eve before the fall. In that perfect and harmonious relationship, the inner life, and the soul of both Adam and Eve were perfect reflections to the world of God. This likeness speaks to the love, the righteousness, and the goodness of God.

There is a direct connection between properly understanding who God is, and who you are as a Christian. Most people live lives completely confused as if they walked into a movie 45 minutes late. This is what it feels like when you do not understand God because you cannot understand who you are and the story that you were called to live if you don’t understand who God is in his Imago Dei reflection upon your inner and outer life. We can see the distortion and chaos that has been the result of not understanding who God truly is. As a result, human beings try to desperately usurp the authority of God and attempt to create their own identity separate from God. Some of this is the result of people simply not knowing any better, and some of it is the result of Christians, not consenting to the journey of true spiritual formation, so that they can ensure that their Imago Dei mirror is properly tilted at 45° (true humility does this by the way) reflecting God to the world and allowing the world to see God through them.

Blessings,

Joshua