In Genesis 1, God decided to create man, but man was to be different than anything He had created before. Man was to be made in His image. God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, . . .” And God said that it was very good.
Now, to back that up, it is true God called us gods:
Ps 82: 6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
Before we get the big head, note this is with a little “g.” So, just how is it we are gods and made in God’s image? How do we resemble our Father in heaven? We know that God doesn’t have two hands and two feet so it’s not a physical resemblance. God is Spirit. He has no visible form except through how He expresses Himself in His creation.
We know that God is triune. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Read Dividing Asunder Between Soul and Spirit to get the best understanding of how these three offices are necessary for the One Person in the universe to function. What it means is that God conceives ideas through His Spirit, He expresses those thoughts through His Word, and He acts on them through His Holy Spirit.
In like fashion he created man triune–spirit, soul, and body. Likewise man conceives ideas in his spirit, expresses those thoughts and speaks them (soul), and acts on them (body). Man has the ability to think, to rationalize, and make decisions. Man became a conscious being aware of his surroundings. As the philosopher said, “I think, therefore I am.”
In this way, we are created in the image of God, but it still doesn’t portray the whole picture. There is a big difference between the big “G” and the little “g,” between the “I AM THAT I AM” and the “I am.” In order to see the difference, we need to know who God really is and who we are. From Scripture, we know that God is:
. . . Love (1 John 4:8)
. . . Light (1 John 1:5)
. . . Wisdom (1Cor 1:30)
. . . Strength (Hab 3:19)
. . . the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:16)
. . . Righteousness, Gracious, Merciful (Ps 145)
. . . Good (1 Tim 4:4)
First of all, it is important to point out that though we may think these are attributes we as people have, these are NOT attributes of God. These are who he IS. For instance, if God is Love, that means Love is God. If God is Wisdom, then Wisdom is who God IS.
Ready? How do we stack up? Let’s start with love. Are we that kind of Love that God is, the agape love that pours itself out selflessy for others without thought of something in return, or is ours a selfish kind of love? One that heats up with passion only to meet the cooled ashes of divorce courts? I think we will lose that one. The best we can say is we have some capacity to love, but we are not in ourselves selfless love.
What about Light? Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Are we light? He does say of us in Matthew, ” You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” That is encouraging. But we really know again that we are not light in ourselves. There is only One who is that–the I Am; the only one with life in Himself and His Son:
John 5: 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
We are lamps to hold the light. Light bearers. Without Christ, we are totally dark.
How about wisdom? I bet you know many people who think they have this one covered. However, God says in 1 Corinthinans, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” Well . . . maybe not so much.
The list goes on. We have some semblance of these things, but they are really poor imitations.
The last one up there to talk about is good. Maybe we have a chance with that one. Jesus admitted in Matthew that we were able to give good gifts, even if we were evil. That’s a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one. Then He sealed it when He said in Mark 10, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ” Say good-bye to the thought of being good.
You might be getting a little depressed by now, but that last little statement should really cheer you up because that is what really moves us closer to the answer. What Jesus said right there is that God is all these things. We are not. We have built in a limited version, a capacity for them, but that is not who we are. Only God is.
We were never meant to be all these things. We were meant to contain the Person who is these things. The way was provided in Christ Jesus:
1 Cor 1: 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
Of all the things God granted us in making us in His image, the most important is the ability to think and make choices. That is one thing that is exactly like God. With that comes risk. For instance Satan, formerly Lucifer or Light Bearer, made a choice in his delusion to believe he was all the things God is. The end result is total darkness.
For those of us who have chosen the Lord, understanding this principle takes away a huge burden. We no longer have to pretend to love, pretend to be good, pretend to be righteous. We ARE love, wisdom, and righteousness because we now contain Christ and He has replaced us. I live, yet not I.
Gal 2: 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
We stop trying to be what we already are. We just believe. Christ now lives on earth as us, in our individual and unique forms. There is none good but Christ. Amen.
