"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion.... The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
―Genesis 1:26a, 2:7 Suggested Reading: Genesis 2:1-7
The creation of man in Genesis 1:26 is
a marked contrast to everything God has previously done. Until this point, God
has simply been issuing commands to create. Now He allows us to overhear the
discussion He has among His own triune persons regarding the creation of man.
This
discussion shows that, in creating man, God does something special. Francis
Schaeffer, in Genesis in Space and Time, says, "It is as though God put
exclamation points here to indicate that there is something special about the
creation of man."
The Lord created us in such a special, solemn way for several reasons:
- Because we alone were to bear God's image (Gen. 1:26);
- Because we alone were to be God's deputies, His vice-regents, on earth (Gen. 1:28);
- Because we alone were given immortal souls (Gen. 2:7); and
- Because the Son of God was to appear in our nature (Isa. 7:14).
The
creation of mankind has important ramifications for two issues commonly raised
today. First, some people wrongly assert that Genesis 1 and 2 represent
contradictory accounts of creation. The two accounts are complementary, not
contradictory. Genesis 1 deals with man in his cosmic setting, that is, against
the whole background of creation; Genesis 2 puts man at the center of creation,
showing us that the author, Moses, is focusing on man as the pinnacle of God's
creative work. Genesis 2 is simply a more detailed, complementary account of
man's creation, setting before us in an orderly way a progressive focus on man
in God's world.
Second,
the special creation of mankind stresses that Adam and Eve were real people,
not just mythical beings. The New Testament decisively speaks of Adam and Eve
as historical individuals. For example, Romans 5:12 says, "By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned." Paul here parallels the two Adams: the actual Adam,
through whom sin entered the world, and a second Adam, Christ Jesus, through
whom salvation came to us. Paul maintains the historicity of both Adam and
Jesus.
In
man, God created a totally distinct species of being. You and I belong to a
different order from everything that God had previously created. We are, in
many ways, as different from the animals as God is different from us.