You Were Created in God’s Image—Not the Other Way Around!

You were fearfully and wonderfully made by God (Psa. 139:14). Untold planning and care went into fashioning you into the complex human being that you are.

More fascinating is that you were not created arbitrarily. In forming you, God followed a divine model—a pattern. The blueprint He used was Himself. You are a replica of the most perfect and powerful Being in existence!

Think about it. God has a face (Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:11). He also has hair, eyes, a mouth, hands, feet, a voice (Rev. 1:14-16) and other familiar attributes. Like us, our Creator has an entire body with which He moves and functions.

Body parts are not the only things human beings have in common with God. There is also a full range of emotions. God experiences love, joy and peace (Gal. 5:22). He occasionally gets angry or jealous (Deut. 6:15). He laughs and rejoices (Psa. 37:13; Zeph. 3:17). And He, too, experiences sadness and grief (Gen. 6:6; Psa. 78:40).

There is yet another similarity: Both God and man have a spirit. While God is spirit (John 4:24), He chose to give man a human spirit (Job 32:8; I Cor. 2:11). This all-important attribute separates us from other living things God created such as animals.

Before God formed Adam, He determined that we would look like Him. The Father and Christ said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the word image means resemblance. Likeness, which means model or shape, strengthens the point. This explains all the attributes that men share with God and why we refer to Him as our Father and Christ as our elder brother (Heb. 2:11).

Mankind was made after the Godkind, which has extraordinary implications.

A look in the mirror can tell us a lot about our Maker. Yet, for millennia, men have complicated matters. Instead of accepting God’s plain explanation of who He is—beginning with the fact He created us to look like Him—men crave to create a god of their own devising.

Wittingly or unwittingly, human beings create God in their own image and to their detriment.

The World’s Image

Billions worshipping millions. This describes man’s manifold ideas of God. Whether it is totem poles, statues, crosses, images, sculptures or other lifeless trinkets, billions of people since the beginning have come up with millions of gods to venerate.

Men yearn to worship just about anything they can get their hands on. We seem almost programmed to ascribe lifelike qualities to even the most mundane objects. The ancient Romans reverenced a god of door hinges. Shocking!

Human beings seek to worship virtually anything—except the one Being they should.

God does not hold back His feelings about what He calls dumb idols. He is even more blunt about the men who create them, and those who worship them. Notice: “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusts in them” (Psa. 115:4-8).

In God’s eyes, those who make and worship lifeless idols are just like them—spiritually lifeless.

If not carvings or other works of their own hands, people deify the works of God’s hands—His Creation. This includes the sun, moon, stars, mountains, volcanoes, trees and animals. Instead of Creation inspiring people to worship the true God, it becomes the object of worship itself.

Romans 1:25 shows that, over time, men “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature [Creation] more than the Creator.” Those who do such things will be condemned if they do not change.

In His Ten Commandments, God charges us to worship Him and Him alone. Grasp the fact that two of the 10 commands directly address idolatry: “I am the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make unto yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me” (Ex. 20:1-5).

Further in the Bible, God emphasizes who He is and how we are to worship Him. John 4:24 says “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” There is a lot here.

First, this verse shows that God is a Spirit. This means He is invisible (Col. 1:15; I Tim. 1:17)—not an object formed by the hands of men or a something that can be seen among Creation. Such a fact can be hard to accept for people who tend to rely solely on their physical senses to interact with the world.

Yet understanding that God cannot be seen is not enough. Focusing on this trait alone can still lead to error.

Some in the world correctly recognize that the God of the Bible is invisible. But they attribute the wrong characteristics to Him. For example, many view God as severely harsh and unapproachable. This usually comes from a wrong view of the Old Testament. And, due to a gross misunderstanding of the New Testament, others have the opposite view—that God is accepting of all behavior, no matter how wrong, in the name of being all-loving. Both positions are incorrect and unbalanced.

John said men must first worship God in spirit—meaning through His Holy Spirit. This means God Himself must give us the ability to understand how to worship Him properly. And that understanding of course is based on truth, not lies of men.

In short, one must have—and be led by—the Spirit of God to recognize and worship Him properly.

The Proper View

When we were called by God, we were led away from the world’s misguided views about Him. Since we became new creatures in Christ, “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). This includes proper worship of the true God.

Christians in the early Church went through the same process. The apostle Paul helped them come out of old ideas about God when he said, “We are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Acts 17:29). Paul knew that it takes time to adjust from old thinking. This applies to modern Christians too.

As we came into the truth, we learned the proper view of the Ten Commandments. Unlike many in popular Christianity, we know that they are still in effect. We understand that not using God’s name in vain and keeping the Sabbath go along with the first two commandments to show love toward God. Of course, all of God’s commandments show love toward Him (I John 5:3).

We also learned as new converts that the true God has specific character traits. Listed in Galatians 5, these traits are known as the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (vs. 22-23). These qualities paint an accurate picture of God’s character, meaning we are not left to define Him based on our own ideas.

The fruits of the Spirit show God is not a monster waiting to punish us for every misstep.

On the other hand, as Paul told the Galatians, we should not be fooled. God and His mercy are not to be mocked (Gal. 6:7). He may not be ruthless, but He is not a spineless, lax parent accepting of all behavior without consequence.

God is perfect in temperament and judgment. He is perfectly critical and at the same time perfectly merciful.

The Romans were told, “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off” (11:22). This verse describes how our actions lead to a perfect reaction from God. We must behold—see—both sides of our Creator as we grow in the knowledge of Him and His way of life.

How can we apply this specific principle in our lives?

We must seek His forgiveness. Sometimes brethren sin and are afraid to go to God for mercy. They may feel He is too angry and their sins were too heinous to be forgiven. Other times brethren take a much more liberal view and grow callous to their mistakes. They assume “God knows my heart is right” and are not adequately sobered by their errors.

Both these reactions are a trap from the devil and smack of the world’s two views of God.

Psalm 51 demonstrates the balanced way we should react after making a mistake. David was sobered yet willing to stand before God and admit his sins. We should follow this example. Read the entire chapter.

On a related note, we must be careful to not allow our own weaknesses or misconceptions to lead us to forming a false image of God. We can occasionally ascribe to Him our own personalities and points of view.

Christians who tend to be more sober or austere can see God the same way. The same goes for members who tend to be more easygoing. Just because you may be a deliberate, logical thinker or more of an outgoing, enthusiastic type does not mean God is always the same.

Yes, God possesses these qualities at a certain level given that we are made in His image. But He should not be pigeon-holed into only being sober, only being logical, only being happy, or any other single quality. He possesses all these qualities in appropriate amounts.

A Divine Family

Looking back at Paul’s statement in Acts 17:29, he used an interesting word to describe our relationship to God. He called us God’s “offspring,” meaning kin. We are not just copies of God, we are His kin—meaning a family member or relative.

This sounds exciting. But what exactly does it mean?

Revisit Genesis 1:24-25. God used the word “kind” to categorize the animals. Beasts were made after “his kind.” Cattle after “their kind.” Creeping things after “his kind.”

This is why there are different kinds of animals. Baby giraffes look like adult giraffes. Calves look like their oxen parents. Lizard hatchlings look like miniature versions of adult lizards.

Consider the term “mankind.” It is a combination of the words man and kind, and reveals how people (technically babies) can only be the offspring of people.

Yet Paul also called us the “offspring” of God, meaning we are also of the Godkind.

This breathtaking understanding ties together scores of verses that so few in today’s world understand.

Psalm 82:6, referring to human beings, says, “You are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” This concept threw off religious leaders when Christ reminded them of this verse (John 10:34). They accused Him of blasphemy because Christ called Himself the Son of God, but He was showing them that they were all children of God!

The knee-jerk reaction by these learned men and many in the world today is to sneer at the notion of Christians being God’s children. Yet references to the contrary abound throughout the scriptures.

I John 3:9 says, “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin.” Earlier in the chapter it reads, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be” (vs. 2). These verses are connected. Everyone knows what it means to be born. With humans, a male embryo is a son, but he does not look the way he will when he is born from the womb of his mother.

Romans 8:16 calls those with God’s Spirit “the children of God.” But Paul goes further, saying, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (vs. 17). Sons, children, heirs, joint-heirs—these are all words that are impossible to misunderstand.

Those who worship God through His Holy Spirit and in His truth recognize God is reproducing Himself. He is a Family currently composed of two Beings—the Father and Jesus Christ—but will eventually to expand to many billions.

This is what Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3:3 when He said men must be “born again.” Christ said that men, who were already born of a human mother’s womb, must be “born again” as a God-being composed of spirit. (Notice He did not mean “born again” in some subjective religious experience as professing Christians explain it.)

Many more verses could be added such as Matthew 5:9 and I Corinthians 15:23. Putting all such scriptures together shows that God is preparing to populate the entire universe with God-beings during His divine Kingdom. This is the greatest opportunity any person can be offered.

(You are encouraged to review The Awesome Potential of Man, specifically chapters two, four and five, for a refresher on our Father’s ultimate plan for mankind—the pinnacle of His Creation.)

Becoming God

Knowing that God gives us the opportunity to become a part of His Family as God-beings, our only question should be, “How do we get there?”

Our responsibility is to grow in the one thing He cannot simply impart to us—godly character.

To develop it, we must continue to learn more about who God is. This comes through the important practice of daily Bible study and prayer. Bible study is God talking to us and prayer is us talking to Him.

Bible study specifically helps us have the right view of our Father. We learn how to approach Him. We also learn how to live like Him. The life of Jesus Christ is a specific example for us to follow (I Cor. 11:1; Phil. 2:4-5).

Prayer is how we communicate with our Father. We should speak to God based on His model (Matt. 6:9-13), yet we must also feel free to share our other needs (I Pet. 5:7). Fasting, meditation and exercising God’s Spirit complete the tools of Christian growth.

We must also experience trials and tests. Whether we are suffering for our own mistakes or for Christ’s sake, both help us develop character (I Pet. 2:19-20). If our distress is of our own doing, it moves us to change our behavior (Psa. 32:3-5). If we are suffering for no fault of our own—including being wrongfully accused—then we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. He was sinless yet still learned obedience by the things He suffered (Heb. 5:8).

An additional aspect of becoming God is to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (II Tim. 2:3). This speaks to practicing longsuffering, which is a fruit of God’s Spirit. Hardness means to undergo hardship. We are therefore commanded to endure the difficulties that come with being a Christian during the most wicked and perverse generation ever. Not working on the Sabbath, refusing to eat unclean foods and not celebrating worldly holidays are just a few of the ways we swim against the current of the world.

Ultimately, our reasonable service is to be living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1). The term service in this verse means worship.

The way to worship the true God is to realize our lives belong to Him and are not our own—we were purchased by God with Christ’s blood (I Cor. 6:20; Acts 20:28). We must therefore make ourselves available for His use, not only in training as His offspring but also as an example to His other future sons.

Only by worshipping God in spirit and truth can we attain the exceeding great and precious promise (II Pet. 1:3-4) of being “partakers of the divine nature” of God and becoming a part of His Family.