In the Image of God: What It Means To Be God's Masterpiece

Ryrie

• (24) livestock = “large, domesticated quadrupeds”

• (24) “creatures that move along the ground” = “creatures that move on the earth or close to it, having no legs or, at best, only short ones (e.g., worms, insects, and reptiles).”

• (26) “us... our” are, here, “plurals of majesty.”

• (26) “image” and “likeness” are “interchangeable terms indicating that man was created in a natural and moral likeness to God. When he sinned, he lost the moral likeness, which was his sinlessness, but the natural likeness of intellect, emotions, and will he still retains.”

• (28) “the word [fill] cannot be used to support the idea of a refilling of the earth after destruction of an earlier civilization, as some theories hold.”

• (28) “Man, as God's representative, is to rule the earth. But when he sinned, he lost the ability to do that fully. (Notice that this part of his commission is not repeated in 9:1.)”

• (29) “Man was not given meat to eat until after the Flood.”

Henry

• (24-25) “He also did the work; he made them all after their kind, not only of divers shapes, but of divers natures, manners, food, and fashions—some to be tame about the house, others to be wild in the fields—some living upon grass and herbs, others upon flesh—some harmless, and others ravenous—some bold, and others timorous—some for man's service, and not his sustenance, as the horse—others for his sustenance, and not his service, as the sheep—others for both, as the ox—and some for neither, as the wild beasts.”

• “Man was made last of all the creatures, that it might not be suspected that he had been, any way, a helper to God in the creation of the world: that question must be for ever humbling and mortifying to him.”

• “It was both an honour and a favour to him that he was made last: an honour, for the method of the creation was to advance from that which was less perfect to that which was more so; and a favour, for it was not fit he should be lodged in the palace designed for him till it was completely fitted up and furnished for his reception.”

• “Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him, both to contemplate and to take the comfort of.”

• There is a marked difference in how God proceeds with the creation of man. For everything else, he simply said it, and it was done. Now, though, the language changes to one of consultation: "'Let us make man, for whose sake the rest of the creatures were made: this is a work we must take into our own hands.' In the former he speaks as one having authority, in this as one having affection; for his delights were with the sons of men, Prov. Viii. 31.”

• “It should seem as if this were the work which he longed to be at; as if he had said, 'Having at last settled the preliminaries, let us now apply ourselves to the business, Let us make man.'”

• “Man was to be a creature different from all that had been 10 hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth, must be put together in him, and he must be allied to both worlds. And therefore God himself not only undertakes to make him, but is pleased so to express himself as if he called a council to consider of the making of him: Let us make man.”

• “The three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, consult about it and concur in it, because man, when he was made, was to be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

• “Man was not made in the likeness of any creature that went before him, but in the likeness of his Creator; yet still between God and man there is an infinite distance. “

• There are three ways in which man is made in God's image

  • “In his nature and constitution, not those of his body (for God has not a body), but those of his soul.”

  • “In his place and authority: Let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion.”

  • “In his purity and rectitude.”

• “He by whom God made the worlds, not only the great world, but man the little world, formed the human body, at the first, according to the platform he designed for himself in the fulness of time.” (i.e., God designed man knowing that he would ultimately be the vehicle for Christ to save the world.)

• “God's image upon man consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.”

• “With us saying and doing are two things; but they are not so with God.”

• “Our first father, Adam, was confined to one wife; and, if he had put her away, there was no other for him to marry, which plainly intimated that the bond of marriage was not to be dissolved at pleasure.”

• “Though man provides for neither, he has power over both” the fish and the earthly creatures.

• “God has hereby set us an example of reviewing our works. Having given us a power of reflection, he expects we should use that power, see our way (Jer. ii. 23), and think of it, Ps. cxix. 59. When we have finished a day's work, and are entering upon the rest of the night, we should commune with our own hearts about what we have been doing that day; so likewise when we have finished a week's work, and are entering upon the sabbath-rest, we should thus prepare to meet our God; and when we are finishing our life's work, and are entering upon our rest in the grave, that is a time to bring to remembrance, that we may die repenting, and so take leave of it.”

• “It was good. Good, for it is all agreeable to the mind of the Creator, just as he would have it to be; when the transcript came to be compared with the great original, it was found to be exact, no errata in it, not one misplaced stroke. Good, for it answers the end of its creation, and is fit for the purpose for which it was designed. Good, for it is serviceable to man, whom God had appointed lord of the visible creation. Good, for it is all for God's glory; there is that in the whole visible creation which is a demonstration of God's being and perfections, and which tends to beget, in the soul of man, a religious regard to him and veneration of him.”

• “It was very good. Of each day's work (except the second) it was said that it was good, but now, it is very good.” Why? Henry gives two reasons:

  • “Now man was made, who was the chief of the ways of God, who was designed to be the visible image of the Creator's glory and the mouth of the creation in his praises.”

  • “Now all was made; every part was good, but all together very good.”

• “The glory and goodness, the beauty and harmony, of God's works, both of providence and grace, as this of creation, will best appear when they are perfected."

Reflecting God

• (24) “Like the vegetation of v 11, the land produces or 'gives birth' to land animals.”

• (26) “God speaks as the Creator-King, announcing his crowning work to the members of his heavenly court.”

• (26) “No distinction should be made between 'image' and 'likeness' which are synonyms in both the OT and the NT.”

• (26) “Since male and female are made in God's image, every human being is worthy of honor and respect; he is neither to be murdered nor cursed.”

• (26) “'Image' includes such characteristics as 'righteousness and holiness' (Eph 4:24) and 'knowledge' (Col 3:10), which believers acquire as they put on Christ, walk in his Spirit and are 'conformed to the likeness of his Son' (Ro 8:29).”

• (26) “Creation still belongs to the Creator-King; people are not its independent rulers. An ancient king might erect an image of himself as a symbol of his rule. Likewise, God placed his image on earth to embody his blessing for others and the rest of creation.”

• (26) “God's rule is exemplified by Christ, who took 'the very nature of a servant' (Php 2:7).”

• (27) “This highly significant verse is the first occurrence of poetry in the OT (which is about 40% poetry).”

• (27) “The word [created] is used here three times to describe the central divine act of the sixth day.”

• (27) “Alike they (male and female) bear the image of God, and together they share in the divine blessing that follows.”

• (28) “People go forth under this divine blessing – flourishing, filling the earth with their kind, and exercising dominion over the other earthly creatures. Human culture, accordingly, is not anti-God (though as fallen creatures people have often turned their efforts into proud rebellion against God). Rather, it is their expression of bearing the image of the Creator and sharing, as God's servants, in God's kingly rule.”

• (28) “As God's representative in the creaturely realm, we are stewards of God's creatures. We are not to exploit, waste or despoil them, but to care for them and use them in the service of God, others, and the rest of creation.”

• (29-30) “People and animals seem to be portrayed as originally vegetarian.”

• (31) “Everything God created is good; the conclusion declares everything to be 'very good.' The creation, as fashioned and ordered by God, had no lingering traces of disorder and no dark and threatening forces arrayed against God or his creatures. Even darkness and the deep were given benevolent functions in a world fashioned to bless and sustain life.”