A New Image

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them. Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Ephesians 5:1 (ESV) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Both of these verses contain two points:

• Mankind is to be like God.
• God's Way is Love. 

I won't dwell on mankind's likeness to God because I have many times. One thing is clear: it is His likeness, but not as God. Endeavoring to be as God was the original sin. That's where the sin of pride comes in.  Pride boils down to one main idea: mankind is the master of himself. God's idea is that He is Master. Scripture says that no man can serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24). From that verse, it is clear that Satan is not the second master, but that people serve themselves. We are our own gods! (Genesis 3:4). 

What is God like, from that same verse? Knowing good from evil. Before that, Adam and Eve were innocent. Therefore, being made in the image of God, Adam and Eve were created without knowledge of sin. Sin is a learned "disease". However, it is not a physical malady but a decay of man's spirit. Being made in the image of God, Adam and Eve were endowed with His Holy Spirit. With original sin, God withdrew Himself from them, and inequity replaced God in them. 

Adam and Eve were born as "new creatures" because they had never existed before. God walked in the cool of the evening in communion with them. He loved them so! In the beginning they walked with Him as well. Their walk was love - much like the love a dog has for its master. They loved God because he was just there. There was no reason not to love God!

When sin entered in, like new wine on old skins, the two began to decay. Like the two women in the movie "Death Becomes Her" the two began to age quickly. Their spiritual part began to die rapidly, and they became ugly inside and pitiful. These two people became "old creatures". Because they sinned, even today everyone ever born, besides Jesus Christ, have been born "old creatures". 

This take us the second passages above. In the beginning, mankind was created in the image of God. We were endowed with His Holy Spirit. The old creature lost that aspect of God. We are born with an empty soul, and it is quickly filled with sin. God doesn't  walk with sin; He and sinners do not spiritually commune on an equal basis. We can only come to God with meekness.  When we come to realize that we are no god, and that only God can save us - Jesus, then we are born-again! We must accept Jesus's payment for our own sins.

The born-again person is the "new creature". In effect, we return to mankind's original state of innocence except for one thing: we have the knowledge of good and evil. Knowing those things, we are at liberty, even in our innocence, to choose. We are not as God, where we can never sin, but as Ephesians says, we are "to be imitators of God". We are to return to our origins and walk with God in the Garden, in full-communion - loving Him and each other. 

To be "imitators of Christ", Jesus gives us instructions:

Matthew 22:36 (ESV)  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

If we do what these verses say, we are imitators of Christ. Back in the Garden, that's what they did! However, it was not imitation; it was the real thing! Our goal is to be as much like God as we can without attempting to walk it alone. To do so is self-worship, and humanism.

"Walk in love!" That's how God walked in the cool of the Garden. He immediately "saved" his creatures! We are to become innocent again as we walk as Christ. We watch how Jesus walked, and walk the same Way. Adam and Eve watched Emmanuel walk in the Garden, and were ashamed. They had not walked in His manner.

To be imitators of Christ, we must have that pure love which mankind had in the beginning. To imitate that the best we can, we submit to change. We stand there guilty as charged and let God recreate us back to His own image. He takes our soul, washes it clean from sin, then fills it with the Holy Spirit with whom we were created. After the transformation, we are "new creatures"; just as mankind was in the beginning.

Like Adam and Eve, those transformed by being born-again, are innocent. Immediately, just as with Adam and Eve, temptation arises. We are not to walk there! We are to walk the Way Jesus walked, but not enter into temptation. (Matthew 26:41). If we imitate Adam and Eve, we walk right under the tree where the tempting fruit hangs. God didn't walk there in the Garden and Jesus didn't fool around with Satan. Albeit, Jesus allowed himself to be tempted, we are no gods! That is foolishness because we're not! Essentially, doing what is right in our own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8) is serving ourselves; trying to be our own masters.

To be imitators of Christ is to quit walking in the flesh; not walking like men walk. We are to walk right through the straight gate and keep on the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14). That Way is paved with love. Love is not optional. That is the path to destruction.

Christians, not imitating Christ well, fail to love. Not only do they not imitate Christ, but they actually fail to love others. In order for the Holy Spirit to remain in us, we must be of one accord (Acts 2) -  just like the communion back in the Garden. That is not happening! It needs to.