Bible Tidbit about Reflecting the Image of God
In a recent Sunday School session, one of the attendees asked our Lutheran pastor what the Bible means when it says we are made in the image of God. This is a question that has bedeviled the church and synagogue for thousands of years. Our good pastor gave a credible and modern answer to the inquirer. It is certainly not our physical characteristics that make us in God’s image. After all, Jesus told us that “God is Spirit, and He seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.” It is our intellect, the pastor explained, our ability to know right from wrong, to dream, create, emote, and relate to God as our Father. I agree with all of that. After all, God the Father does not have genitalia. He does not need to pee after a drink of water. Only we do that. There are several ways to unpack the two creation accounts in Genesis 1-4. In Genesis one, “the Adam” is a title applied to both male and female. God speaks and things pop into existence, including man and woman, both at the sa...