Devotional: Doctrines: Creation

Reflection Genesis 1:26-31

• (Gen 1:26 ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
• (Gen 1:27 ESV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
• (Gen 1:28 ESV) And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
• (Gen 1:29 ESV) And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
• (Gen 1:30 ESV) And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
• (Gen 1:31 ESV) And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Discussion

I have a picture of myself around 20 years old that was edited together with a picture of my dad when he was around 20 years old.  We look like twins.  One of my cousins looks almost exactly like our grandfather.  Physical likeness is easy to spot.  We also can see how someone talks, acts, responds, etc and notice striking similarities in those non-physical traits among family members.  In some sense, we are made in the likeness of our parents and grandparents.

Genesis 1 describes the creation account and specifically the creation of mankind in the image and likeness of God.  It goes on to describe some of the ways we will be like God in our position of authority and the way we are differentiated from the rest of creation.  We are made in the image of God, nothing else in creation is given that honor.

Connection

In what ways are humans different from other animals?

Why do you think God imprinted on us different characteristics?

What responsibility do we have because of the higher order of our creation in the image and likeness of God?

Expansion

Creation

The Triune God alone sovereignly created our universe in 6 literal, 24-hour days.  Each step of His creative work was complete and perfect with no allowance for the evolution of species or other processes of creation.  In His work, God created man and woman as male and female, and gave them specific roles in creation.  Following creation, God sat in rule over all things where He remains today as the sole sustainer of His creation.

Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 5:1-2, Genesis 6:7, Genesis 9:6, Nehemiah 9:6, Acts 14:15, Acts 17:24, Isaiah 44:24, Jeremiah 32:17, Hebrews 1:10, Revelation 4:11, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16