During the creation account we see that when it came time for God to create mankind He wanted to do something more than what He had done with the animals. Genesis 1:26-27 reveals to us that “God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness’… So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
So how were we made in His image?
What God gave us of His image was something that He did not give to any other created thing: an eternal soul. From the moment we are conceived and given life by God, we are an eternal being. I think we should also note that when Adam and Eve were created they were perfect and sinless like God. They did not have the knowledge of good and evil like God (cf. Genesis 3:5) but at that time they were certainly in the likeness of God’s purity and holiness.
However, Adam and Eve sinned. What did that do for mankind?
First, the fact remained that they still had an eternal soul. Like God, they were still eternal beings. They would shed their fleshly bodies in death but would remain through eternity. Only now, instead of being eternally in the presence of God, they would be eternally lost and punished. Second, although they still had eternity in common with God, they no longer had the likeness of God’s perfection and holiness. Instead they brought upon themselves guilt and death.
What this means for all of mankind who will ever live on the face of this earth is this: Because of Adam and Eve’s sin and because of our own sin, we fell short of God’s glory, His image. We are to strive to regain the image of God in our lives. If we want to spend eternity with Him in Heaven, then we must transform our lives to be like God, in holiness and purity. God has made this possible through Jesus Christ in that we can be “born again” (cf. John 3:1-8, 16).
Paul gave instruction to the Colossian brethren about how they were to live in God’s image: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator“ (Colossians 3:5-10). We are to imitate the nature of God. Ephesians 5:1 – “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” We are His new creation in Christ. Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
If we are faithful, we will one day fully be like Him in eternity. Romans 8:29 – “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.” 1 John 3:2 – “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”
You and I are eternal beings. We will either spend eternity with God in Heaven, or we will spend eternity with Satan in Hell. How do we choose? We either transform into the image of God, or we conform to the image of Satan. Whose image do we bear?
1 John 3:4-10 – “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
A Cord of Blue 