The Bible does, in fact, emphatically prohibit the killing of innocent people (Ex. Piper writes. View Resource, The darkness of this present age is particularly clear in the low view of life that classifies the weak as unfit and not worth preserving. When He created Adam, He made him after the God-kind — in the image and likeness of God (cf.

As the days of creation unfolded, God gave form to the earth and filled it. This is not something that the natural man can bring about by his own efforts, but is the result of our ‘receiving Christ’ in faith and repentance (John 1:12; Galatians 2:20). Our souls are our personality, and our bodies are our earthly flesh. Man is not a close cousin of the animals, nor a distant relative of primitive plant life, nor a product of slime. Our spirits are our connection to God, enabling us to commune with and worship him. It means that people of every race deserve equal dignity and rights. Verse Concepts. And as we grow in faith, we “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV). But we cannot assume responsibility for, nor be taken as endorsing in any way, any other content or links on any such site. Home » Family QAs » Get Help » Family Q&A » Faith Q&As » What It Means to Be “Made in the Image of God”.

The series lays a vital foundation for understanding both the world around us, and the Gospel itself.

Unfortunately, our culture often doesn’t see it that way. However, God has rescued us so we are able to live in his image, reaping divine love, peace, and joy.

We’d have to get into the original Hebrew and take a deep look at how the image of God (imago Dei, in Latin) is handled in the Old and New Testaments. Matt Slick is the President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. The reality that we have been created in God’s image has radical implications for the Christian life, especially in the unprecedented days in which we live. Following Jewish tradition, scholars such as Saadia Gaon and Philoargued that being made in the Image of God does not mean that God possesses human-like features, but rather tha… Because we are made in God's image, we are able to have compassion, mercy, grace, fellowship, friendship, etc. It also sets the stage for understanding and defending the sanctity of all human life: Every single human being, no matter how much the image of God is marred by sin, or illness, or weakness, or age, or any other disability, still has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image-bearer. Christ promises us that we can live this worldly life to the full. Without it, God would have had no reason to send His Son to die on our behalf. In Genesis 9:5-6, God reminds Noah that man is made in God’s image: Whoever sheds man’s blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man. Like reading our daily messages? God could easily have commanded the creation of man by His own Word, as He had done in the case of the animals (Genesis 1:20,24) and the plants (Genesis 1:11), but He chose not to. If a title is currently unavailable through Focus on the Family, we encourage you to use another retailer.

View Resource, The mission, passion and purpose of Ligonier Ministries is to proclaim the holiness of God ‘God is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). As theologian Wayne Grudem explains. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Although man was formed from the dust of the ground, God personally ‘breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul’ (Genesis 2:7). The New Testament confirms that God’s image isn’t lost by pointing out that all people, not just Christians, “are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:9, ESV). “God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” (Genesis 3:3) Adam ate of the fruit and died a spiritual death; his sin separated him from God.

It disfigured it. View Resource, We live in a world where there is much cruelty and violence. … The imago Dei is that in man which constitutes him as him-whom-God-loves. Jesus tells us that God, in reference to the Father, is spirit (John 4:24) and the spirit does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). What does this mean? And why? Whether we watch local or international news on television, we hear of countless instances of intimidation, injustice, thefts, beatings, murders, and wars. He separated the day from the night, the waters above from the waters below, and the dry land from the waters below. Consider giving to a local crisis pregnancy center seeking to prevent abortions. Man is a three-fold being or tri-unity of body, soul, and spirit. We can do this by lobbying our politicians for laws that protect the unborn and by providing for those who think abortion is their only option.