Interplanner
Well-known member
3 'formless and void'
4 other things before creation
5 the image of God
5, the image of God. Having destroyed what was there, and to reassert his reign over this earth, man is made in God's image. This expression has to do with ancient kings marking their territory. An image was usually metal or stone. Now we are reading that the image is a living person. Everyone one of them is an indication of God's victory over the sinister forces that were there.
This is why we read “The earth is the Lord's and all it contains.” Or we read of the King of Heaven and Earth. Or King of Kings.
The 2nd important element in the image of God is what it does. The image of God in man is what instinctively causes mankind to take things around them that are in chaos (formless) and give them form, and then fill them. One professor at the University of Toronto teaches this as a basic human psychology going back to Genesis 1.
When we read in Genesis 1 that man is to subdue the earth, it should be understood in light of the chaos. The chaos is to be subdued. This is why when we read the Law about care of the land or animals, we do not read of excesses but of farming principles that will help it last indefinitely. The sabbath year for farming was one of those. To have dominion was a granted thing: the owner had got a land into the condition he wanted, and to have dominion over it granted from him meant to keep it up to the condition he had. God had defeated chaos; man was to maintain it chaos-free.
4 other things before creation
5 the image of God
5, the image of God. Having destroyed what was there, and to reassert his reign over this earth, man is made in God's image. This expression has to do with ancient kings marking their territory. An image was usually metal or stone. Now we are reading that the image is a living person. Everyone one of them is an indication of God's victory over the sinister forces that were there.
This is why we read “The earth is the Lord's and all it contains.” Or we read of the King of Heaven and Earth. Or King of Kings.
The 2nd important element in the image of God is what it does. The image of God in man is what instinctively causes mankind to take things around them that are in chaos (formless) and give them form, and then fill them. One professor at the University of Toronto teaches this as a basic human psychology going back to Genesis 1.
When we read in Genesis 1 that man is to subdue the earth, it should be understood in light of the chaos. The chaos is to be subdued. This is why when we read the Law about care of the land or animals, we do not read of excesses but of farming principles that will help it last indefinitely. The sabbath year for farming was one of those. To have dominion was a granted thing: the owner had got a land into the condition he wanted, and to have dominion over it granted from him meant to keep it up to the condition he had. God had defeated chaos; man was to maintain it chaos-free.
