The Image of God in Man.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.
Gen 1:27 And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.
The nature of man at creation was to be like God in both character and personality. Throughout the Scriptures the standard and goal set before man is to be like God.
Lev 19:1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, Jehovah your God, am holy.
Mat 5:43 You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
Mat 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you,
Mat 5:45 so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same?
Mat 5:47 And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax-collectors do so?
Mat 5:48 Therefore be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as His dear children.
To be like God is to be like Christ, who is the image of the Invisible God. Hebrews 1:3
Our Kinship with God.
The animals blindly obey the instincts implanted in them by the Creator; but man is unique because he is a Special Creation. Man has a body made from the dust but God breathed into Him the Breath of life (literally lives); thus man is capable of knowing, loving and serving God.
Because of this Divine Image in man all men are by Creation, the children of God. However, this divine Image has been marred by sin. “The soul that sins shall surely die”. Man is separated from the life of God by sin and rebellion.
Eph 2:1 To you Gentiles also, who were dead through your offences and sins,
Eph 2:2 which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience--to you God has given Life.
Eph 2:3 Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others.
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us,
Eph 2:5 caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--
Eph 2:6 raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus,
To be actually Sons of God men must be Born Again.
Joh 3:3 "In most solemn truth I tell you," answered Jesus, "that unless a man is born anew he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
Be born again - The word translated here “again” means also “from above,” and is so rendered in the margin. It is evident, however, that Nicodemus understood, it not as referring to a birth “from above,” for if he had he would not have asked the question in Joh_3:4. It is probable that in the language which he used there was not the same ambiguity that there is in the Greek. The ancient versions all understood it as meaning “again,” or the “second time.” Our natural birth introduces us to light, is the commencement of life, throws us amid the works of God, and is the beginning of our existence; but it also introduces us to a world of sin. We early go astray. All men transgress. The imagination of the thoughts of the heart is evil from the youth up. We are conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, and there is none that doeth good, no, not one. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and by nature we are dead in trespasses and sins, Gen_8:21; Psa_14:2-3; Psa_51:5; Rom_1:29-32; Rom_3:10-20; Rom_8:7.
All sin exposes men to misery here and hereafter. To escape from sin, to be happy in the world to come, it is necessary that man should be changed in his principles, his feelings, and his manner of life. This change, or the beginning of this new life, is called the “new birth,” or “regeneration.” It is so called because in many respects it has a striking analogy to the natural birth. It is the beginning of spiritual life. It introduces us to the light of the gospel. It is the moment when we really begin to live to any purpose. It is the moment when God reveals himself to us as our reconciled Father, and we are adopted into his family as his sons. Barnes Notes on Jn3:3
Eph 4:21 if at least you have heard His voice and in Him have been taught--and this is true Christian teaching--
Eph 4:22 to put away (off), in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature which is doomed to perish as befits its misleading impulses,
Eph 4:23 and to get yourselves renewed in the temper of your minds and clothe yourselves
Eph 4:24 with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.
Eph 4:25 For this reason, laying aside falsehood, every one of you should speak the truth to his fellow man; for we are, as it were, parts of one another.
Notes from Myer Pearlman p. 115-116
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