In the book of Genesis, God completes his handiwork on earth with the proclamation: "Let us make man after our own image, after our likeness; and let them have dominionà" (Genesis 1: 26). The implications concerning a human creation that embodies the image of God are many. What does it mean for man to have been created in the image of God? Has God endowed man with some of His divine attributes, thereby separating him and making him different from the beasts? If so, what might these divine characteristics be, and why has man been permitted to share them?
The most obvious answer is that man, like God, possesses a self-conscious mind, a unique intelligence and a sensibility that is exalted above those intellectual faculties possessed by other creatures (Rendle-Short, 1981, pp. 22). The reasons why human beings have been selected to embody these divine traits on earth are not so obvious. An examination of the image of man as a reflection of God's own image will reveal certain facets of this conundrum that clarify, and others that confound. Invariably, an examination of man's relationship with the Christ Jesus will cast some light on the special relationship mankind is, in spite of the Fall, perhaps destined to share with God, in whose image we toil and struggle on earth.
First, however, it is prudent to note that the only man to have been created ex nihilo, that is, from nothing, was Adam (Rendle-Short, 1981, pp. 21). Thus, it is only Adam that may be said to have been created in the image of God. The remainder of the human race has descended from Adam and Eve; we have not been summoned from the dust in the image of God. Additionally, Adam and Eve's creation was pure, and may safely be characterized as sinless. And yet, Adam and Eve led a sinless life for but a short while following their creation; the Fall and subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden indomitably altered the nature of mankind and introduced a h...