This is the second in a four part series. In the first part I talked about the idea of maleness/femaleness and what God may have intended by that. In this part I will discuss what the Image of God means and how we maybe do and don’t yet have that one in our possession, but we will! Later, I will discuss the nature of Church authority and some practical implications that arise from my suggested interpretations of these themes.

There is a verse in Ecclesiastes 3 that comes up in my mind fairly often. It says, “God has placed eternity in humanity’s heart, yet they do not see what He is doing from beginning to end.” I believe that God, who knows the end from the beginning, told us the whole story from the start.  Genesis 1 is the whole story of God’s work, and the culmination of His work is a Human pair that reflects the Image of God and Spirit–the complete Divine Nature.

I know that Genesis 1 talks in past tense, and God rested on the seventh day from a completed work, but Jesus says, “My Father is even now working. He is always working.”  And Paul talks about how there is still an opportunity to enter into God’s rest. The Israelites at Sinai did not find it, but we still can if we listen and understand.

Einstein, who is not in the bible, but nevertheless, says that time is relative. Something that is in the past to someone in one spot in space could still be in front of someone else traveling in another part of space. Distance and speed relative to one another can affect the passage of time.  What about God who is eternal and outside of time altogether? Could He not have completed the thing, and yet still have in front of Him, on His work bench so to speak, the whole of the thing and be able to move any part of? If eternity is a completely different plain of existence, not simply unending time, then God can know the end and yet still have agency to change things. I realize it is a stretch, and just a theory.

In this theory, Jesus is the True Man and The Church the True Woman of Genesis 1. Revelation 21 and 22 describe the scene when these two are revealed as they truly are resplendent and glorious. They are ready to Rule and Subdue in the likeness of God the Father and Holy Spirit.

Also, as far as Genesis 2 goes, I have long believed that God’s pronouncement in the Garden of “It is not good for the Man to be alone,” was not only a critique on Adam’s situation but a statement of purpose and intent behind Creation in general, and His cultivation of a relationship with Adam in particular.  Humanity’s purpose is to provide a Companion, an Ezer-Helpmate, for Jesus. The Son of Heaven must have a Queen after all.

Another metaphor that the Bible uses to describe this union is that of a Vine. Jesus says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” You being the Church of all believers.

There are two main branches of living things. I know technically there are five, but most things we interact with on a daily basis are either plants or animals, and when the bible is describing creation it only really talks about the plants and the animals. It mentions yeast later on, but it doesn’t say much about what it is exactly, but the creation story talks specifically about the creation of plants after their kinds, and that seed is in them, or in their fruit.

Then animals are created after their kinds and the fruit is given to them as food.

Plants are an interesting form of life. Plants are given soil and sun and they produce all they need and have something to give. They somehow take the minerals from the earth, and the energy from the sunlight and fuse them together into carbohydrates. They fuse together something from the heavens and something from the earth, and they feed themselves and every living thing with it! Remarkable!

Animals grow and bear offspring, but only if they get enough food. Plants have been given to them as food. They cannot produce food within themselves, it must come from somewhere else. Animals neither work nor keep the plants, nor do they produce food within themselves, but God has given them their food–each and every sparrow.

Last of all in the creation story of the bible humans are made. We are made on the same day as the animals, but there is a clear distinction between humans and animals. Humans are made after God’s Image, and a special “creation from nothing” moment happens when God makes us. This special Human entity is made Male and Female and given a mandate to Rule and Subdue.

In Genesis 2, which according to this interpretation is not a retelling of Genesis one, but a launching into the beginning, the first seedling of this Human Image Bearer project- the creation of Adam. God forms him methodically. Then God plants a garden full of trees, and places Adam in the garden among the trees. He is not “planted” in a literal sense, but moves about. He works and keeps the garden, and he eats the fruit of the trees, so the human must be an animal, right?  Except that God makes a lengthy show of walking all the other animals past the human so that he can see for himself that he is not like them. This is the second time in only 2 short chapters that God has drawn a line and distinguished humans from animals. Adam is the first generation of a long cultivation for a very special hybrid of walking plants, Earth and Heaven fusers, and fruit bearing Benefactors. 

Then God makes a woman, to be like and with the man. Two humans distinct from each other, and distinct from the animals, but one in flesh, and reflective of God, at least in some way. So what form of life is God?

In the last article I said that God’s nature is both Male and Female. Here I posit that it is both animal and plant, at least metaphorically. God is animated, that is active and dynamic. He has feelings. He is described with anthropomorphic features, like hands, eyes, and a heart. Yet, He is self-sustaining, needing nothing in the way of food or drink from anyone, though He lets Israel give it to Him anyway in the form of sacrifices. It brings them near Him, where He feeds their souls. Because He is ultimately benevolent and generous, providing food for all He has created. He is also very much in the business of fusing earth and heaven into one realm for the express purpose of feeding and caring for all.

In this theory, Genesis 2 becomes not a retelling of Genesis one, but a deep dive into the seed planting of this great Human Spirit experiment.  Adam becomes a kind of archetype of Christ.

Many scholars call Jesus a Second Adam. Let’s examine how Jesus compares to Adam, and what that tells us about this larger Man and Woman Image Bearer plan of God’s.

Adam means “soil” -earth. Eve means living one. She grows up out of the side of Adam like a tree out of the soil. Yet the light she receives is not strong enough. We see in Genesis 3 that when God’s instructions (the light of Wisdom) are tested, she does not have it quite right, and so doubt creeps in, then desire, and then disaster.  She lacks the food she needs to produce sound fruit when she is tested.  She needed a better grasp of God’s word-His Light is the light of understanding. Somehow her understanding of who God is, the knowledge of His Name, had not come into her and born fruit. Therefore she longed for the fruit of something else.

Now her mandate of fusing Sunlight to Earth and forming new Image Bearers is in jeopardy. There will be division in all these relationships and want because of the lack of unity and trust.

And poor Adam. He is no longer a simple animal who can expect his food to come to him as a pet of the earth from every green plant. Now he must put his life into the soil to produce the food he needs to eat, so that he will have strength to put his life into the soil again, and so it goes on, until this entropic system fades away, but hope remains. They will produce some harvest, and from that harvest will come one who fuses heaven and earth together, and feeds us all!

Enter Jesus, stage Bethlehem. He is a kind of New Adam. Fresh soil out of which God will start again, but this time, not just soil is given, but the start of a vine, a sprout!  We have only to continue on with what He has already started for us, and feed on the Light, and the substance of all he has given us.

He has passed the test in the wilderness. He has faced temptation, and overcome.  He has made restitution– putting the stolen fruit back on the tree of death in the form of His own body which carries the legacy of being fed by that foolish choice.  He has paid Death its wage, and returned to the living. Like a seed he has fallen to the earth and died, that a whole new plant might sprout up. He died on the tree of death, and sprang up the Tree of Life.

He has the fullness of Adam in Him, Earth, soil, mineral substance. And, the fullness of Divine Light as well! The woman who springs up from His side is fully equipped for all Life and Godliness.  He has done it! He has fused Heaven and Earth and in Him we have the opportunity to participate, not only in Life, but also in the Divine Nature.

This may seem a strange notion to think of us as a Plant/Animal Hybrid, made to glorify God, by serving creation and feeding it on His Wisdom. However, in many places, the bible talks about us using metaphors of both kinds of life. To Produce, not merely consume, and to do both in an understanding and enlightened way. God’s Image comes through in us, when we embrace this idea that we are producers and givers of life in the world, not pets that walk around on it, being fed by God and others. Yet, we are not plants self contained in our growth, but rather we draw our strength from the food which Christ so richly supplies by word and by deed. We live like a plant but only to the degree that we are grafted into the Tree of Life, and draw our gift giving abilities from the one who truly supplies.

It is a partnership like no other. We who are otherwise consumers, tied to unending need and dependence, can make our dependence an opportunity for great love and grace.

I am the Vine, you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing.

God’s Image then emerges as two sides of self-control. One strong and active able to save. One strong and steadfast enduring till the end. It also emerges as both Producer and Consumer. A Father who is source and provision, a Spirit who is an ever open conduit of His benevolence and grace. She is nothing without Him, but everything with Him, and His reach and glory grows more and more as she both consumes and spreads the fruit of Love to all!

Christ and the Church are this Male and Female who take on human form, merging Dust and Heaven, Passion and Loyalty, Animated rule, and Fruitful generosity.  We are on our way, but I do not think we have fully seen all that is to come.