How does the image of God fit in with how we understand humans scientifically

  1. What do we mean by “created in the image of God” Genesis 1:26-271?
    • verse 27 uses the word created three times. What does this suggest?
    • the Bible sets humanity as distinct from animals in that
      • verse 26 – we have a special role in the world – stewards over creation
      • we are representatives (likenesses) of God. Image is the Hebrew word tselem2 which means a resemblance, a representative figure. We are a reflection of God on earth.
  2. How does science see humans?
    • we are animals fitting into the tree of life
      • Kingdom: Animalia
      • Phylum: Chordata
      • Class: Mammalia
      • Order: Primates
      • Family: Hominidae
      • Genus and species: Homo sapiens
    • we are the apex of living things
      • biologically – we are the top predator, dominating all habitats
      • cognitively – we are the most advanced in reasoning, language and culture
      • environmentally – we have an ethical responsibility to care for our world
  1. 26Then 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.” 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (ESV) ↩︎
  2. Strong’s Hebrew: 6754. צֶ֫לֶם (tselem) — an image. (2019). Biblehub.com. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6754.htm ↩︎