God created all things through His Son, who is Jehovah, or Jesus, Who humbled Himself and took upon Himself another nature, the nature of a human being with a body. But in 1844 Joseph Smith taught that God the Eternal Father was an exalted man. Joseph Smith taught,
"First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a man like one of you. That is the great secret."
"First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a man like one of you. That is the great secret."
In Genesis 1:26-27 it states in the King James Translation, "And 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 created he him; male and female created he them."
Now these verses are commonly used as support for the teaching that "image and likeness" means that God the Father has a body of flesh and bone. The thinking goes like this, if we are made in the image and likeness of God and we have a body of flesh and bone, then God must also have a body of flesh and bone. But is that what created in the image and likeness really means? Not according to the word of God.
Verse 26 says "our" image. So here is my question, did Jehovah/Jesus, have a body at that time, when those words were spoken by Him? Your answer must be no, Jesus didn't get a body until He was born. So, is it possible that "image and likeness" can have a different meaning, something other than it being a reference to a physical body? Do you see my point?
Now a member of the LDS church, could perhaps try to argue that the reference to "image and likeness" was a reference to the body of the Father, but it says, "OUR"... which is plural, so it can't be a reference to a body that the Father had. Remember, the whole point of this verse is to support the LDS teaching, first taught by Joseph Smith 24 years after the first vision in which Smith was to have been visited in person by two personages who he claimed were the Father and the Son, who both had bodies of flesh and bone.
Now the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:15 about Jesus; "Who is the image of the invisible God..." Does something invisible have a body of flesh and bone? Jesus said in John 14:9 when asked by Philip to show them the Father, "...he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father..." Think about that, Jesus is the representation of the Father on Earth! When we look to the Father we look to Jesus, Jesus is our advocate with the Father.
When we submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we choose to forsake everything else and place all of our hope and trust in His finished work on the Cross, we, according to scripture, are completely forgiven of our sin, past, present and future, and have eternal life!. All because of our faith in Jesus! The Father applies the perfect righteousness of Jesus to us, we look at the Father through His Son and the Father looks at us through His Son, He sees His Sons perfect righteousness instead of our sinfulness.
Jesus is between us and the Father, Jesus said that there is no other way to the Father but through Him.(John 14:6).
The Hebrew word "tselem", which is translated as the word "image", is used many ways in the scripture. Its use in Genesis 1, being made in the "image" of God, has even more implication in our lives than we perhaps realize. Consider how "tselem" is used in other verses, it is used when talking about images that represent something. It is used in scripture referring to false gods, idols, tumors, even mice. It is used to refer to something that is representing something else. Now think about that. Especially in the context of the rest of verse 26 and the verses after 26. What does it say after image and likeness? "...and let them have dominion...over all the earth...over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Do you see that? God separates created man from everything else He created! Then blesses man and woman and commands them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth AND subdue it, have dominion over ALL of it! "Subdue it", this world isn't supposed to be wild and unruly! It is supposed to be ordered, productive, everything here is to be productive in accomplishing the purposes of God. How is that going to happen? It will happen with Gods representatives here on earth, those who are created in His image. Those who were created and separated from all of the other creations. The human beings that are created to represent God in accomplishing His purposes. We are the mouths, the hands, the feet, the bodies, that God uses everyday for His glory and purposes. We are created to represent Him, to be His image on earth.
"Image and likeness" doesn't mean that God has a body. No, it means that we are the "images" the representatives that represent Him here on earth.
In verse 27 it reads, "So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. "We were created in His image, (not plural), but singular, HIS, we are created in the image of the invisible God! In HIS own (singular) image,in the image of God, (not gods)...
God is, Father, Son , Holy Ghost. One Being, God, who is 3 persons. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son.
Now you might ask me then, "who is the "our" referring to in verse 26? Well perhaps it is, a veiled reference to the Tri-unity of the One True God, Yahweh! Perhaps the "our" is a reference to all of the other angelic beings that were created by God, such as the Angels who were witnesses to the entire creation event. We can find support for both ideas in the scripture.
The point is, that regardless of exactly who the "our" is in Genesis 1:26 and 27, those verses that state that human beings are created in the "image" and "likeness" of God, do not support the Un-Biblical teaching of Joseph Smith, that the Father is an exalted man with a body of flesh and bone. Especially considering the further revelation given to us in the New Testament. Remember, Joseph Smith didn't begin to teach that the Father was an exalted man until 1844, 24 years after the first vision, in which he claims to have seen the Father as having a body of flesh and bone!
What it does mean, to be created in the image and likeness of God, is that humans, as the pinnacle of Gods creations, are unique in many ways. We are immortal, we are not, as God is, eternal. When those words were spoken by God, which was before the fall of Adam, we were perfect as God is, we were not subject to death yet, just as God is not subject to death. We were created to have a unique mental ability that the other creations on earth don't have. We were created to have a morality that animals don't have.We were created to communicate with our Creator and each other in a way that the other creations don't enjoy. We were created with a social ability that is unique to humans. We were created with the ability to choose. We were created with the ability to rationalize. We were created to be a reflection of the One True God Who has intellect and ability to reason and to choose.God chose to create everything, He has a purpose and a reason for doing so.
Being made in the "Image" and " likeness" of God is a very good thing. Having a physical body is very much a limitation. The Eternal Son, Jesus, lowered Himself, when He became a human, to redeem mankind from sin. Philipians 2:6-8 reads, in regard to Jesus,
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Doctrine Matters,
Ken Rice
