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The Creation Story

The document discusses the biblical creation story and how it establishes that humans are created in God's image. It explores what it means for humans to be made in the imago Dei, including that it gives humans dignity, makes them co-creators with God, and means they are meant to love God and each other.

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Eryn Gabrielle
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38 views2 pages

The Creation Story

The document discusses the biblical creation story and how it establishes that humans are created in God's image. It explores what it means for humans to be made in the imago Dei, including that it gives humans dignity, makes them co-creators with God, and means they are meant to love God and each other.

Uploaded by

Eryn Gabrielle
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Inspired Word of God

The Creation Story


…Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our
likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God
created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over
every living thing that moves upon the earth (Genesis 1:26-28).

The creation story tells us that at the


summit of creation stand man and
woman, made in God’s image
(imago Dei). The Bible vigorously
affirms the sacredness or dignity of
every person. The story proclaims that
we enjoy this dignity by virtue of
God’s love, which shapes us prior to
any personal achievements or social
attributes. `Human dignity is a gift of
https://bibleproject.com/learn/image-god/ divine love, which is grace. We will
remain God’s image. We will enjoy a
sacred dignity – whether we sin or not, whether we are socially acceptable or not. This
invitation is crucial for it provokes us to think in order to make a holistic approach in
understanding what it means to be human and in responding to the problems and real
situations and issues of the society we are confronted with. (Wostyn, 2004).

The term imago Dei refers most fundamentally to two things: first, God's own self-
actualization through humankind; and second, God's care for humankind. To say that
humans are in the image of God is to recognize the special qualities of human nature
which allow God to be made manifest in humans. In other words, for humans to have the
conscious recognition of their being in the image of God means that they are the
creature through whom God's plans and purposes can be made known and actualized;
humans, in this way, can be seen as co-creators with God.

The moral implications of the doctrine of imago Dei are apparent in the fact that
if humans are to love God, then humans must love other humans, as each is an expression
of God. The human's likeness to God can also be understood by contrasting it with that
which does not image God, i.e., beings who, as far as we know, are without self-
consciousness and the capacity for spiritual/ moral reflection and growth. Humans differ
from all other creatures because of their rational structure - their capacity for deliberation
and free decision-making. This freedom gives the human a centeredness and
completeness which allows the possibility for self-actualization and participation in a
sacred reality. However, the freedom which makes the human in God's image is the same
freedom which manifests itself in estrangement from God, as the story of the fall (Adam
and Eve) exemplifies. According to this story, humans can, in their freedom, choose to
deny or repress their spiritual and moral likeness to God. The ability and desire to love
oneself and others, and therefore, God, can become neglected and even opposed.
Striving to bring about the imago Dei in one's life can be seen as the quest for wholeness,
or one's "essential" self, as pointed to in Christ's life and teachings.1

1 https://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/theogloss/imago-body.html

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