Seven different times God refers to what he has made as "good" in the creation story we find in Genesis 1. The seventh time that description is qualified as "very good". What is different? The "very good" happens on the sixth day, just after the Author of the universe creates humans in his own image.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”These verses have big implications for all humans. Perhaps most important is to realize God has created you with a purpose. "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26-27)
I want to share three ways the imago dei distinguishes humans from the rest of creation.
1. Relationship - Our relationships with other humans are unique to any other creature. In the wilderness it is not uncommon for a chimp to kill another chimp for territory and natural resources. When this happens, a chimp detective shows up with his magnifying glass and notepad to search out the killer and seek justice, right?
Okay, that's not the way it works. If a chimp kills another chimp, it's just business as usual. There is no court system or revenge. That's just reality in the chimp world.
That is what makes you and I unique and it plays out in our relationships. When a brother or sister is sick or in need, we step in to help. That's the imago dei. We live in the image of God when we live in relationship with each other. When we gather together as a church body, we are living out the imago dei. After all, even God exist in community; Father, Son, and Spirit.
2. Rule - Humans have been given dominion over the rest of the created world. If I go to a restaurant and order a steak. The waiter doesn't gasp with great horror. Instead, they ask how I want it cooked. That's because we have dominion. We exercise authority. We bring order to the chaos.
Now, it is also because of that authority from God that any abuse, any type of cruelty toward animals is evil.
3. Worship - My relationship with God is different than any other creature's relationship with Him. Humans alone have been given the ability to seek God and understand Him. Your family dog doesn't pray. He doesn't fast (unless you forget to feed him). Humans have a spiritual and moral capacity that is superior to any other creature.
David's words in Psalm 8 sum up our response to the imago dei in worship:
O Lord, our Lord,You are valuable because God made you in His image. That's the imago dei. It's a call to reflect God's glory to the rest of His creation.
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
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