The Divine Pointer

Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; Genesis 1:26a Image – Biblical words about the creator of humanity have occupied theologians for centuries.  Most of that time has been spent trying to determine what precisely is meant by the term “human.”  Since the Bible uses both ṣelem (translated “image”) and dĕmût…

Transcendental Texts

I will not act in My blazing wrath, I will no more destroy Ephraim.  For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I do not desire to root out.  Hosea 11:9  Robert Alter Not a man – Christian theology employs texts like this one to support its view…

Significance

Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness;”  Genesis 1:26a  NASB Our likeness – First, let’s look at the Hebrew: וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ Now the transliteration: Va•yo•mer Elohim na•a•se a•dam be•tzal•me•noo kid•moo•te•noo And lastly, the translation: And said God let us make man in representation (copy) ours and…

Inflected Variations

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;  Genesis1:26a  NASB Image/likeness – We’ve spent enough time investigating the two Hebrew words used to describe God’s design for human beings.  There are at least a dozen Today’s Word editions on this topic.  But it is one of those verses that can be…

Ghost in the Shell

“Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.”  Psalm 39:6  NASB Phantom– Perhaps we should credit David as the original author of “The Walking Dead.”  Certainly he paints that picture.  Men are but wisps of wind in the eternal night.  Their lives amount…

Start Right

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;  Genesis 1:26a NASB Image/likeness – As we begin another “eternal return”[1] cycle, perhaps we should start with a decidedly different view than the one behind a New Year’s pagan festival. The OT recognizes man’s total dependence with great clarity. Man is a creature…

Foundations

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 NASB Our image – We just…

The Human Verb

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 NASB Image –…

Return to Me

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; . . . Genesis 1:26 NASB Image – We have probably explored this verse twenty times (plus a full chapter in Guardian Angel).  That might incline you to think we have plumbed its depths.  Ah, the illusion of information.  We haven’t…