Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
Once again, I am sharing a chapter from one of my upcoming books titled: Husband is Not Master, Helpmeet is not Subordinate: The Marriage Relationship as God Intended It; Manhood, Womanhood and Male Headship in the Marriage Relationship. Quite a title!
I have split this blog into two parts where (In this chapter) we would be taking a deeper look into the making of man from another perspective and a bit repetitively to bring some clarity and understanding to the narrative.
God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and overall of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth [Ps. 104:30; Heb. 1:2; 11:3.]. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Col. 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9] -Genesis 1:26-27, AMP.
God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female -Genesis 1:27, THE MESSAGE.
This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind (Adam) in the day they were created -Genesis 5:1-2.
When God created the living and non-living things, He created them in a manner in which He was somewhat personally detached. He brought them into existence by pronouncing the decree, Let there be…, which was always and without exception, concluded with, “and it was so.” Each step then was followed by a report of an assessment of what He had accomplished: “And God saw that it was good.”
In the making of mankind, there is a marked divergence in the process. There is a deeper engagement. The deliberation is intense. God seems to become intimately involved in a manner He never was earlier. He beckons upon the entire Godhead: “Let us make man…” It was like a moment all of Divinity had been waiting.
The making of mankind, as God designed it to be, demanded an approach that was beyond the pronouncement of decrees. The essence of God’s very being would be involved and invested in this particular act of creation.
Mankind is a product of deliberate and intricate intelligent design, imbued with God’s very own image and likeness. He made mankind just a shade lower than Himself. This makes man’s true identity and essence to be found in God alone.
What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him? Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, And dost crown him with glory and majesty! -Psalm 8:4-5, NASB.
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26).
The Bible uses the word man in two fundamental ways: Generically, to mean man as both male and female and specifically to refer to only the male as distinct from the female.
There has been the dual sexuality of mankind right from the onset. Mankind is male and female. In the creation narrative in Genesis Chapters One and Two, animal sexuality is never referred to directly. It does not merit the dignity given to the sexuality of mankind.
There is dignity in human sexuality. It is an aberration for men to reduce themselves to dogs! Throwing caution to the wind sexually and caving into cravings with statements like, ‘Body nor be wood!’ (Pidgin English) is out of sync with the divine plan and purpose.
God did not create the man and then the woman afterwards. On the contrary, He made them male and female, on the same day. He blessed them, and on the same day, He called THEM man or mankind.
Man! The Hebrew word is adam, and throughout scripture, it is used in a generic sense, referring to man as male and female. There are places where the word man is used to refer specifically to the male.
Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words explains it thus:
This noun (Adam) is related to the verb adom, “to be red,” and therefore probably relates to the original ruddiness of human skin. The noun connotes man as the creature created in God’s image, the crown of all creation. In its first appearance, adam is used for mankind, or generic man: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”
God did not create the male on the sixth day, concluding the entire creation process, declaring it to be very good before He then went on to create the woman as “an afterthought.” No! The Omniscient God could not be delayed in thinking or that confused!
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” -Genesis 1:27-28.
Genesis 1:26-28 above gives us the picture without ambiguity. God created man- MALE AND FEMALE He created THEM… God blessed THEM… Male and female were both created in God’s image.
The command or the blessing God gave man to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, subdue and have dominion over it was not to man as the male alone, but man as male and female.
It was after the accomplishment of all of this that He now says in Genesis 1:31,
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Everything He made, from the first day to the sixth day, including the creation of man, as male and female, and the crafting of their physical bodies were “very good.” They were excellent, and they met His desire, plan and purpose. He was pleased with everything He had done.
Apart from mankind, nothing else was made in the image and likeness of God. This image and likeness is the defining distinction between mankind and all other created living things, spiritual or physical. None of them carries the imago Dei. Man is not an animal. His identity is found in God, not in animals or plants.
God created man as a spirit being with a soul. He bore the reflection of God’s character in goodness, righteousness and true holiness. He carries the capacity for rationality, creativity, the possession of moral consciousness and relationships beyond the capacity of animals, which do not have the imago Dei.
The imago Dei is what factors the vertical relationship between God and mankind, and this is the most important relationship man would have. The next most important relationship is the horizontal relationship between mankind and mankind.
Hence the “First and Great Commandment” and the “Second, like it” address these two relationships, which Jesus calls the Commandments upon which “all the Law and the Prophets hang:”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” -Mark 12:29-31, (cp Matt 22:37-40; Deut 6:4).
The first mention concerning the making of man is in Genesis 1:26-28. Let me begin with a breakdown of the text. Genesis 1:26 starts with a divine proclamation for the commencement of making man, “And God said, Let us make man.” And they (mankind) are to be made “in our image, after our likeness.” The image of God is invested in the dual sexuality of man, “male and female created He them.”
Declared upon male and female is a divine benediction: “And God blessed them.” Male and female are equal in creation; they are also equal in divine responsibility to manage the “creation” through dominion given to them. “…and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion…”
It is important to note here that God did not by this authorise man to have dominion over man. He did not authorise the male to have dominion over the female and subjugate her. It is man, as male and female, that is to have dominion over the created order.
This blessing authorises the male and female, without distinction, to carry out the undertaking to rule the creation God placed under them. He does not authorise the male separately from the female or vice-versa. In this regard, therefore, male and female bear divine glory equally, none independent of the other.
I believe this blog has blessed you. I look towards sharing the second part with you. Until then, do not forget to keep living, loving and learning.
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