God Created Humanity
“So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
“Then the Lord God formed the man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of live, and the man became a living creature.”
“The man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper to fit him.”
“If you put an infinite number of monkeys in front of an infinite number of typewriters, you’ll eventually get Shakespeare.” It’s a quote that’s meant for discussing statistics, rather than biology or creation, but it incidentally makes an important point. It lets us ask the question: how will the monkeys write Shakespeare?
Now, knowing monkeys, the one that types out Hamlet will have zero understanding of the ramifications or importance of what he’s done. He’s going to be happy with his banana treat and, if persuaded with a second banana, might even begin typing haphazardly at the keyboard again.
There is no Monkey Shakespeare that will intentionally write out a play in an effort of creativity that will still be famous centuries later. Creativity on that scale is limited to humanity.
What would take an infinite number of monkeys to do what one human man — who didn’t even have a typewriter — to do.
Genesis states several times that we were made in God’s image (1:26-27; 5:1; 9:6).
The question is, however, what is the Image of God?
The Ancient Hebrew term for “image” in this case is tselem, which according to Strong’s Concordance means:
"From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol:--image, vain shew. (Lex. 06754)"
Which means that we are made as representatives of God and His attributes. What is one of God’s main attributes? He creates.
Humans still, even after the Fall, are driven to create. We create works of art and architectural wonders and cars and a thousand different kinds of bread and rocket ships and coding languages and on and on. Even on a mundane, day-to-day basis, we may create meals to eat, or doodle on foggy mirrors, or choose decorations for a bookshelf to create our home.
Begin creative is part of our nature as image-bearers of God!
Putting it into Action: Take a few minutes to review all of the verses listed above where it is stated that God created man in His image. With the understanding that “image” includes our creativity, how have these verses changed in meaning for you, if at all?
