Does man still exist in the image of God after the fall? How much can a fallen man bear the image of God? What about a true-believing Christian? Has God’s grace not made him back into the human he once was?
The Fall Of Man “The Image Of God” And The Nature Of The Image Of God After The Fall.
Note this; The image of God in Genesis is not about “what makes us human,” such as one’s soul, limbs, and physical appearance. It is about the lofty role God has given humankind to be his representative rulers here on earth. That is what image means: nothing more and nothing less.
Points About God’s Image Adam and Eve In Eden, Outside Eden, And In A Christian (A Believer).
1) The man (Adam) is God’s image in fullness and do not forget that this image is original and lives in Eden (a garden of God under heavens rule. the Garden of confinement). Note this; there are many benefits accrued to God’s image living in Eden such as lack of death, sickness, lack, quarrel and fighting. You don’t get these benefits as images of God living outside Eden (in the world).
2) The man (Adam) after the fall – an imageless man or wrapped image of God, who produced only children in his own image Gen. 5:3.(outside of God’s garden).
3) The man (Believer) as God’s image. (In the world where no creature obeys you like in Eden, not forgetting the consequences of the fall). Let not the consequences of the fall of man (even in a believer) deceive you from seeing yourself as God’s image in your dispensation. In every dispensation, God sought for a man (Image) to stand in the gap created by sin in the Fall of Man.
this has been where many people get it wrong, they thought that receiving Christ in one’s life automatically restores God’s image so authentic and the same as Adam and Eve before the fall.
this is not so. what we have is a wrapped image of God, not an original image of God.
But a born again is God’s image, yet does not have all the earthly characteristics as we saw in Adam and Eve in Eden; eg believers still feel sick, die, lack, beaten and killed by animals etc. None of which affected the first and original image of God “ Adam and Eve“.
We as believers still have an opportunity to return to this full image of God if we live and die in Christ, we shall inherit the new Jerusalem and will be fully transformed into His complete image as we live above sin, sickness, satan, lack and evils.
the consequences of the fall of man.
These, along with the others, are the results of man’s rebellion against God, which resulted in his fall. They all have a significant impact on many facets of human existence. These seven effects closely relate to the daily human experience;
>physiological: death, decay, illness, and misery (Gen. 3:17-19; Rom. 5:12; 8:19-22)
>psychological: shame, guilt, and fear (Gen. 3:7).
>Sociological – shifting blame, concealing, alienation, and separation (Gen. 3:8, 12-13).
>Ecological: The earth is afflicted with thistles and thorns (Gen. 3:17-19).
>Spiritual: avoiding God, hostility: the seed of the woman; the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:8, 15, 4:1-15; I John 3:12)
>Epistemological – faulty thinking, spiritual blindness (II Cor. 4:3-6; Rom. 1:28)
>Criminal – murder, the first act of homicide (fratricide) – Genesis 4
Who Opened The Door Of Eden For Satan?
Satan like every other spirit being has the ability to possess any physical creature made by God respective of who you are whenever you don’t rely on the spirit of God; (Satan spoke through apostle Peter and Jesus said get thee behind me Satan. satan went to steal the body of Moses in the book of Jude 9 and was defeated by the angel Michael. God prevented that because he never wants satan to wear the body of Moses to deceive the Israelites as he deceived King Saul with the body of Samuel).
That was how Satan sneaked into Eden the garden of God through the Serpent. Why? Because of the subtlety of the serpent that will be an aiding trait for the activity of Satan.
Related words and phrases to subtlety;
The meaning of the word subtlety: noun (BEING HARD TO NOTICE)
The quality or state of being subtle or “hard to notice”, eg; Her acting was full of subtlety.
note that it was the nature of the serpent (Subtlety or hard to notice) that became a habitable environment (body) suitable for the activity of Satan.
Satan is a spirit and having the ability to possess animate bodies in order to manifest physically, became an open door for Satan to sneak into Eden wearing the mask (serpent) to deceive man with the same covetousness that led to his rebellion against God (the longing to be like God, and taking Gods place), and leaving his place as an Angel. This brought his fall in the book of Isaiah 14:14.
The same covetousness that led to his rebellion and fall in Isaiah 14:14, was what he sold to the woman (whom it is in her nature to crave and to covet for new things).
It was this nature of the woman that satan acted upon to sell the same lies that brought his fall (rebellion) to the woman (the hunger to be a god).
In this conversation, Satan made it point clear to the woman that God is a liar and a deceiver who never wants man to know that eating the fruit will make a man be like God.
The man saw a way to freedom from God (becoming God for himself and being in control) and took it and this only resulted in rebellion and the fall of man, ” the image of God” (representative or medium of God’s operation on earth just like the graven images are mediums and images representing spiritual being on earth, through which they contact the human world for their operations, so is man an image and medium through which God rule the earth). The Bible said that Adan begat a son in his own image and likeness after exposition from Eden Genesis 5:3.
What Does “Image of God” Mean? (Part 1)
Not the Soul
According to Genesis 1:26-27, God created humans in his “image” and “likeness.” Some people interpret the phrase “image of God” to refer to the characteristics that define humanity, such as having a soul, being capable of higher-order thought, being self-aware, being aware of God, and being able to relate to him.
According to numerous academics, the soul of a man is represented by the image of God in Genesis 1:26-27. This explanation raises some red flags for me because it is conjecture and goes beyond what the biblical account of human origins actually says. The subject is not up for discussion. God creates people in Genesis 1:26-27, imitating himself. Walton, John Humans are granted “authority to share in God’s control or administration of the earth’s resources and creatures” by virtue of being made in the image of God. The phrase “image of God” refers to our special position as God’s kingly representatives, not to what makes us human.
What Does “Image of God” Mean? (Part 2)
In Genesis 1:26-27, the phrase “image of God” refers to being God’s stewards over his creation. This resembles two ancient customs: the rulers’ placement of their own images and the usage of idols in temple worship. Both symbolize a king or god and indicate their existence in the world.
No Idols
Every country in ancient Mesopotamia had its own pantheon of deities, and they all practised image-based worship. The first two Commandments of Israel were completely at odds with the culture of the time. Making images of Yahweh is prohibited by the Second Commandment, which the Israelites transgressed in Exodus 32.
Israel was warned not to carve any representations of Yahweh since he is separate from what he has created and cannot be captured by a representation. Israel would be forging an alternative “relationship” with God since he has already created a living image of himself in the form of humanity.
Israel’s King as God’s Image
There is also another crucial perspective to consider. Kings served as the gods’ intermediary representatives in the ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Kings were revered as deities, sometimes referred to as the “sons” of particular deities, and frequently worshipped as such. God has established his son as the king of Israel to rule the nation on his behalf.
The image of God in Genesis is not about “what makes us human,” such as one’s soul. It is about the lofty role God has given humankind to be his representative rulers. That is what image means: nothing more—but nothing less.
According to Colossians 1:15–20, God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him and to use him to make peace with both things on earth and things in heaven by shedding his blood on the cross. By faith, we share in the redemption of humanity. He is the firstborn of all creation and represents the invisible God. Only the crucified and rising Son of God reveals the genuine nature of God.
What Does “Image of God” Mean? (Part 3)
Jesus is the authentic image of God and the full human being. He is a perfect image of God, who is in charge of all of creation. Those who accept Jesus as the Christ are given the “full humanity.” Humanity as a whole has a damaged image, but Jesus, the man, restores it.
So What Does It Mean For Christians To Be Image Of God?
Following Christ, in both his glory and humiliation entails sharing in the renovated image of God for Christians. However, Jesus’ incarnation was an act of emptying himself of his divine right. Jesus raised humanity to its proper image-bearing position. This is essential to understanding how Christians view their own self-creation in God’s likeness.
Being Part Of The Renewed Image Of God Means Being “conformed To The Image” Of Jesus (Romans 8:29). We Become More And More Like Him In Every Way.
Christians do not reign in the meaning of the Old Testament or the ancient Near East. By being humble, loving, and holy, they serve as a reflection of God to the entire creation. We learn that present enduring suffering has an eschatological future component in 2 Timothy 2:13. In this formal sense, man nevertheless serves as the creation’s lord and stands in for the true lord, God. But now, man is essentially a self-centred despot who dominates nature for his own benefit. He is, in this way, the antithesis of God and cannot stop being a man.
The Christian Believer And God’s Image.
The content of the image is brought back into alignment with the structure via and because of God’s redemptive work in Christ. According to belief, the believer is regenerated to knowledge in the likeness of the One who created him (cf. Eph. 4:24, “after God”). However, doing so now equates to being like God the Son (Rom. 8:29).
Every Man In The Fallen State Is In The Image Of Adam- Gen 5:3.
As we currently bear the image of Adam, we will also resemble Christ, the heavenly man (1 Cor. 15:49). Seeing the Lord’s brightness as in a glass causes us to change from glory to glory into the same likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). The NT adds a soteriological and eschatological component in addition to simply stating the doctrine of the image in terms of the fall.
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