We are made not only in the image of God, but it gets more complex than that!
Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."There seems to be a contradiction here: man was made in "our image", but also "in the image of God". How can that be explained? That's easy if one remembers what John said about Jesus:
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..."As God said "make man in OUR image" refers to more than just God. It's someone else! Someone of the same status as God. Since the Word was there, man was made in the image of God and the image of The Word. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among mankind as Emmanuel. Hence, man was made in the image of the Father and The Word! Perhaps a third personality was part of our image as well!
I have claimed that man was made in the image of Jesus since God did that because of his foreknowledge. He made Adam as he would someday make Jesus. They shared the same flesh. Human flesh. It would appear that since man was designed in the image of "them" he was much as the Father, and of the Son and surely the Holy Spirit as well! Of course God is Spirit and that takes care of the personality called the Holy Spirit. Likewise, that Spirit emanated from somewhere. That somewhere is the Father. The flesh of man came from the image of Jesus.
God has knowledge so he must have a mind to contain that knowledge! A mind contains information which it is able to process. God's mind processes three things: authority, love and truth!
God has a body. That's through Jesus.
The means of communicating and fellow-shipping with man is by God's Spirit. I see those avenues as where mind, body and spirit became associated with man.
Which aspect of man is equal? Bodies certainly are not! Any fool can see that! Intelligence Quotients reveal that minds don't have the same capacity and that is correlated to the area of the folds of the mind's gray matter and the capacity of the mind to process information as measured by electrical currents within the brain.
What then is equal? It's the spirit aspect of man which is indeed equal. Physically and mentally men are not equal. Authoritarian governments have tried to do that, but that just isn't possible. It's not wrong being unequal! Equality is a dream. However, the dream can be achieved, but not in the physical world. God makes us all equal from a spiritual standpoint.
Acts 10:34b "Of a truth I (Peter) perceive that God is no respecter of persons:"God categorizes mankind into one category: EQUAL. However, we all merely have the opportunity for equality. It isn't inherent in our nature. Of course we are all equal in iniquity!
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"That's equality! We all are equal when we're born. Yes, we look different, are different colors and some are smarter than others, but spiritually we're all inferior beings! "How dare me!" "Inferior to whom?" None of us is what God expects us to be, but realizes that we are. We all have the opportunity for equal outcomes because spiritually, we're all equal:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.""The world" has nothing to do with God's love, except that "everybody" lives in the world. It's not the planet he loves, but the inhabitants of which he created all! God wants us all to have equal outcomes! He wants us all to live forever! I like that equality!
We can all be equal, but we're not. Some are inferior to others and the strongest will emerge as dominant! The "equalizer" is man's will. God gave us liberty to choose wisely or foolishly. Most men choose inferiority because they desire pleasure too much! Because of selfish interests most men will fail to believe and ultimately will perish. Jews and gentiles have equal opportunity, but most Jews have already became inferior because their religion stands in their way! The Law is burdensome and puts obstacles in the way of grace. Truly, Jews can't see the tree for the forest. The "Tree of Life" was right there in the center of Eden, but the people couldn't see that lone tree because all the other trees were in the way. Those trees surrounding the midst of the garden represented the Law and it's regulations. Those trees are inferior to the one in the midst and law-keepers tended to those trees while not tending to the One in the center of the garden!
People by nature are inferior. They are less than what God expects. Inferiority in a spiritual sense has a missing trait. Inferior people have a complex. They think mostly of their self, and fail to exhibit love! Love is the equalizer that makes God not a respecter of persons!
As far as mind and body, those are temporal things. They are "of the flesh" here on earth, but in heaven we'll have new bodies and minds. The only attribute God is interested in at the present is our spirit. He wants to fill our soul with part of him. Those inferior people filled with the spirit of God become equal in his sight!
Not only are we equal, but our reward will be the same! All who believe on him shall live for eternity! I can hear the screams from hell right now "This isn't fair! I was as good as him!", but God looks on our "goodness" as filthy rags. It's love which makes inferior people superior in God's eyes!
As for inequality now. All men were created unequal! Lincoln got that wrong! We can choose equality though. If we love our fellow man, we're all equal. Just think of the bitterness hate brings and the unity instilled by love. That's the equality God to which God was speaking!
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