The thesis of the next set of sermons in my church goes something like "the more the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, the more in the Image of God we are." The premise of the thesis ties together the 6th day of creation, where God says we are created in His image and the '2nd' creation story where it talks about how we were created, out of dust and breathed in with the breath of life directly from God.
It would have been nice to find a Hebrew 'code word' to explain this process, because the breath of life is expressed-at least in the English translations-as being there for the animals as well as humanity. A good specifically defined term in the Hebrew would have been nice.
But this is some rambling about the first couple chapters of Genesis. What's in it for the rest of us? Well, unraveling what it means to be in the image of God would answer a challenge that has faced the Christian community for its entire history. It might also be a part of Rabbinic interpretation of the Old Testament, but that isn't my area of expertise.
Why were we created in the image of God? Why was this different from the rest of creation? Because we were given dominion over the creation. We were put in charge on God's behalf. I have to admit I don't like the soft pedaling I have heard of us being 'stewards' of the creation, sort of like a community Denethor to God's being Aragorn. I guess that is part of it, but we were put in charge, and we have used that authority to exploit, destroy, and rip apart whatever we want to make a profit from the Earth.
We have a lot to be held accountable as those but in charge of the creation. We have a lot to work at to enter into the image of God to do better. Can't do it on our own.
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