So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
This is an easy verse to understand but the depth of it’s
meaning is as deep as the universe.
Consider just the depth of the Hebrew word for Image Selem
the most common definition in the Old Testament is to be
cut off as if in carving a block of wood into an idol.
2Kings 11:18 Idols). In modern spoken Hebrew, the related
noun sillum is a photograph. In the Psalms Image is used
as a mere facade or the semblance of a person. Ps 39:6 says;
Man is a mere phantom (Selem) as he goes to and fro: He
bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth,
not knowing who will get it.
There are also hints in the Old Testament that God and
man share this image. That this image is more than us
walking about as two legged memorials to our creator.
This is where many scholars go down rabbit trails of
theological thought, what that image means. For example,”
like God” means we are moral beings like God! That like
God, we cancreate and procreate and that we have an
inherent of goodness just like our creator.
Believe me the metaphor Image is simple, but it is like
still water that runs very deep!
Can it be? Can it be that all of us alike--the saints,
the sinners, the gifted, the less gifted, Christians,
Muslim terrorists, atheists--are in some limited way
"clones of God," who, to those who have eyes to see,
display God's Image? Fiction writer William Kent Krueger
in his novel Iron Lake says this of man; “A man was never
just a man. A man was endless possibility waiting to become.
The created world will be full of mysteries until the
day we go home. I am certain that until we see Jesus
we will have puzzles of image.
But one thing it must mean is we are an endless
possibility waiting to become! There is possibility
in man for great good and great evil! Great selfishness
and selflessness.
Our possibilities rightly used are to make us a
straight arrows pointing to our creator! How are you
going to utilize your possibility?
Be God’s
Roger Miller
