In God's Image

In both creation stories of Genesis, the crown of God's creation is humanity.  Genesis 1:26 & ff describes it like this: "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.'  So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them: male and female he created them.  God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth...God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good." (NRSV)

Genesis 1 describes God's creation poetically using a seven-day structure.  With all that God creates over the five days before he creates humanity, God declares that his creation is good.  But after creating humanity on the sixth day, God exclaims that his creation is very good! Humankind is the jewel in the crown of creation.  Unlike the plants and other animals, humans are made in the image of God.  But what does it mean that mankind is created in the image of God?  We'll explore a few ideas about imaging God in this blog post, although it's certain that we'll only be skimming the surface of what it might fully mean.

Humans are Relational Beings 

We were made for relationship.  The fact that we were created male and female highlights this.  Through sexual union and companionship, the building blocks of community are established.  For the past several thousand years, the family unit has served as the bedrock of society.  As a child we relate to our parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  As we age and mature, those relationships extend outward into our communities.  Through them we learn what it means to be human and how our individual lives can be taken up into the larger tapestry of civilization.  

God, with the participation of his heavenly council, creates us as beings who relate not only to each other, but also to him.  This only makes sense, as God's very being is relational.  In fact, as the Christian doctrine of the Trinity implies, within his own being, God exists in an eternal state of relationality.  Part of what it means for God to be love is that within his own nature, God is personal, relating within Godself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The relational God has created humanity to also be relational.   

As a side point, the male half of humanity does not image God independently of the female side, nor does the female side image God independently of the male side.  It is both male and female together who are created in the image of God.  This reminds us that whatever characteristics we describe as feminine are as much a part of the nature of God as those we describe as masculine.  Though it has been common to refer to God as male, there are quite a few places throughout scripture where feminine metaphors are also used of God.  God (the Father and Spirit) is neither male nor female, but the best qualities of both male and female are a part of God's eternal nature.  The incarnation of Jesus means that God the Son is in fact male and remains eternally so.   

Communication, Meaning, and Understanding

There is no evolutionary reason for humans to have developed our enormous brain power, but here we are - the only animals on earth who build massive cities, create technological marvels, and ponder the universe, including our existence.  We are capable of not only asking who, what, when, where, and how, but we also ask that pesky question, why.  How did this come to be, or better yet, why did this come to be?  Genesis 1 says it is because God created us in his image.

At some point in our development, we became capable of thinking deeply and then expressing those deep thoughts with others through spoken language which only ramped up our capacity as a species to collectively probe the depths of meaning and understanding.  Scientists believed that there was a "great leap forward" in our evolution when we developed speech.  Could this have been the moment that God bestowed his image upon us?  

Partnering with God in the Stewardship of Creation

God's image does not just afford us privilege, it also presents us with responsibility.  As the second creation story in Genesis 2 makes clear, God invites humanity into a partnership as custodians of the creation.  Many believers have interpreted this to mean that people are free to exploit, dominate, pollute, and strip the world of its natural resources, regardless of the outcome.  Some take this attitude with the misguided notion that all that we see will one day be destroyed and annihilated by God, so we might as well get all that we can while we can.  In a later blog I'll reflect on God's ultimate purpose and plan for the creation (it's not annihilation, but renewal), but in the meantime, it's worth remembering that at least part of the way that we image God is in the care and concern we are to provide for the created order, including plants, animals, and natural resources.  

We aren't just tasked with stewardship.  In addition to the responsibility of looking after God's world, we are given immense freedom to follow God's lead and create as well.  Art, music, poetry, engineering, fields of education, and countless other creative ventures are made possible by the freedom and imagination given to us by YHWH.  

Reflecting Creation's Praise Back to the Creator

The great Biblical scholar, NT Wright, has aptly stated that part of our role in imaging God is that we reflect creation's praise back to God, while simultaneously serving as God's image back out into the creation.  So, in a sense, we serve as a conduit or a medium between God and his creation.  Certainly, we were made for worship and if you are like me, when I witness the majesty of God's world, I can't help but break into praise in honor of my creator.  If creation already praises God in a sense, humanity is able, and often willing to give voice to that praise.  

These thoughts certainly fall far short of exhausting all that it means to be made in the image of God.  Of course, we have much to still learn and discover as it relates to humanity, so how much more do we fall short in our understanding of God!  What is clear is that if we are in fact made in God's image, it should transform the way we view ourselves and those that God places in our paths.  As the Psalmist so ably put it, we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." - Shay 

Genesis 1: History, Science, or Poetry?

Imagine a world without speech and written language.  One such world existed for the better part of 4 billion years.  But at some point, humanity slowly developed spoken language which thousands of years later led to written communication.  It's probably not a stretch to say that what led to the development of humanity's exceptionalism compared to the other great apes was the evolution of our big brains and the ability to use that computing power in conjunction with our voice boxes and mouths designed to articulate speech.  With words came communication.  With communication came meaning.  With meaning came understanding.  With understanding came humanity as we know it, created in the image of the God who spoke the world into existence.  

Words are meaningful.  Words have power.  In part, what gives words their meaning and power is their flexibility.  Words do not have to be rigid or static.  By rearranging their order, by slightly altering their tone, and by creating alternative genres of words both written and spoken, words can unleash an infinite possibility of...of...of anything!  Words are that powerful!

For thousands of years, the genre of poetry has inspired people in a way that adds an embellishment and flair to more traditional communication.  Poetry has the power to unleash imagination in ways that prose cannot.  So, it's only fitting that the editors of Genesis chose to start the narrative of scripture with a big bang that only poetry could provide. 

Poetry and Rhythm 

Biblical scholars tell us that Genesis 1:1-2:4a is Hebrew poetry.  There is a structure and a rhythm to how the author(s) of this text describe the making of the habitable world.  The days of creation hint at life's lived rhythm, structured around a seven-day week.  For the first three days of this poem, God is at work in creating a space that the creatures of the next three days of the poem will thrive in.  On day one, God speaks the concept of light into existence.  On day four, the sun, moon, and stars become the vehicles to emit this light out into the galaxies.  

On day two, God separates the waters of chaos from one another.  The bottom waters become the seas, and the top waters are held at bay above the earth by the firmament and the dome of the sky.  Yes, ancient near-eastern people believed that beyond what we call the atmosphere and near outer space there were waters in what we would today call far "outer space".  To grasp their concept of the cosmos, imagine a snow globe.  Their world was essentially what might be contained within a snow globe and beyond that globe were what they described as the "heavens".  What might fill the sea and the sky?  On day five, God provides the seas with fish and the sky with the birds of the air.  Do you see the pattern, structure, and rhythm of this poem?  Day four corresponds with day one.  Day five corresponds with day two.  So, that can only mean that day six will correspond with what has come before in day three.

On day three, YHWH creates land (earth) and then allows the earth to sprout vegetation.  The land and the vegetation will provide the space and sustenance for the land animals of day six.  The six days of God's work in creation leads to day seven, when God ceases from his work and enjoys the world's first Sabbath.  The two-by-two rhythm of the first six days of creation is broken with this one final and climactic day.  This creation poem reminds us that the order of the cosmos must include rest, restoration, and re-creation.  

Additionally, in its near eastern context, this poem echoes the description of the construction of a temple.  The final act of temple construction in the ancient world was to place a statue or idol of a god in the center of the building.  In God's temple of creation, there is no idol setup, rather humanity, made in the image of God, is placed at the pinnacle of creation.  Humanity is to reflect God's glory out into creation, while simultaneously calling forth and summing up creation's worship of God and offering it back to God as a sacrifice of praise.  This poem of creation captures these ideas and concepts in ways that prose, especially scientific prose could not.

Literalism Literally Gets It Wrong

By taking a poem "literally", we might actually misunderstand the meaning.  But understanding any writing in its correct literary genre allows us to better understand its actual or "literal" meaning.  Genesis does not describe for us how God created the cosmos, but rather that he did create it, and that it is not only good, but very good.  Science might reveal some of the mechanisms that God predesigned into the "system" of creation, but it doesn't come close to answering our "why" questions.  In the next couple of blog posts we'll explore the "whys" a bit further, until then, dig into the poetry of Genesis 1! - Shay 

Two Creation Stories

It is a commonly held misconception that Genesis 1-2 is a single narrative describing God's initial act of creation in scientific and historical terms.  Not only are these two chapters neither science nor history, they don't contain a single creation narrative, but rather two distinct creation narratives that were brought together in the process of the editing of the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible, comprising Genesis through Deuteronomy).  Why would the editors of Genesis place two distinct stories back-to-back in this fashion?  We will probably never know the complete process of aural dissemination and then later writing and editing, but there is at least one good reason these Biblical compilers might have placed these two very different narratives side by side.  These two stories present two related, though different sides of the God of creation.    

The First Creation Story: God's Transcendence  

The first creation story in Genesis begins the entire Biblical corpus at 1:1 and goes through chapter 2 verse 4a.  I will have more to say about certain aspects of this passage in later blogs, but the first thing I want to highlight in this story (or poem, as many Old Testament scholars consider it) is that these verses emphasize the transcendence of God.  YHWH is presented as the God who speaks and - "bang" - it is!  As one reads through this text, one is struck by God's awesomeness - his majesty.  Not only do we see the creator's might and power, but we are also floored by his genius.  Who could speak such a complex universe into existence?  How does this vast and complex system work together so well?  For modern sojourners who have been exposed to recent science, we can't help but stand in awe at the sheer size and wonder of the cosmos.  And to think...our God did that!  Genesis 1:1-2:4a gives us a glimpse into God's power, but Genesis 2:4b and following give us another perspective on the God of creation.  In these verses we get a glimpse of God's personality.  

The Second Creation Story: God's Immanence 

In the 1700s many leading thinkers in both Europe and North America adopted a deist theological stance.  The deists believed that the universe was created by a super-intelligence, but that this god was quite distant from its creation.  According to the deists, God set the laws of nature in motion and then quickly stepped away and watched what might happen, or possibly no longer even concerned him or herself with the outcomes of the created order.  The deists believed in a god, but not a personal god.  

If Genesis 1:1-2:4a was the only Biblical story of creation, we might adopt a similar view.  But thankfully the Biblical writers provided us another angle on creation.  Genesis 2:4b-25 describes for us a God who desires a genuine relationship with his creation.  Whereas in Genesis 1, God speaks, and it is, Genesis 2 portrays YHWH as the God who is willing to get his hands dirty.  He doesn't just speak the human into being, he forms adam (human) from the soil.  He shapes and molds humanity with his hands.  He gets up close and personal - breathing life into humankind (verse 7).  The God of Genesis 2 is not distant from his creation, but he enters into it.  He is not far from Adam (human) and Ish.shah (woman) and he is intimately involved with their wellbeing.  As the story progresses, this God indeed dwells within his creation and with his creatures.   

The Foundation of the Story of Creation to New Creation 

Though Genesis has provoked its fair share of controversy and debate over the past several hundred years, at their core, these first two chapters are really not that controversial.  The two creation stories do not describe God's making of the cosmos in scientific terms (the how), nor do they recount history (when), rather they describe God's intent in shaping the universe (they describe the why).  And as much as these foundational narratives are about creation, they are far more about the God of creation.  They describe an all-powerful transcendent God, who is simultaneously a relational God - One who is immanently available to and involved in his creation, especially with those creatures we call human beings.  There is far more to say about these verses than I can say in one blog post, or even one hundred blog posts, but for now, hopefully I've provided a few nuggets to chew on.  And as you consider these possibilities, please remember that there is an all-powerful God behind our world who is at this very moment, not far from anyone of us (Acts 17:27). - Shay