A More Helpful Way to Read the Creation Story (Part 3)
Created Good
In the previous two parts of this series, we explored a different and better way to read the creation account as an intentional story meant to show us that God is not like any of the other ancient gods. He is altogether set apart from them.
Those Ancient Near Eastern gods were volatile and violent. They created out of chaos and strife. And they created humanity to be their slaves, no better than cattle to be worked to death or slaughtered, with no inherent value beyond what they could produce. But Genesis tells a different story. It tells us that God is entirely good, that he created everything out of his good pleasure and with purpose. And this God isn’t interested in having human slaves. He wants to have a real relationship with humanity. And he created them with an inherent and priceless value.
And if we’re going to understand what the rest of the Bible has to say about our humanity so we can live rightly with others in this world, it’s incredibly important that we understand what it has to say about it from the very beginning of the story.
Who Are We?
For as long as I can remember, the most significant question to ever be asked and wrestled with is “Who am I and why am I here?” (okay, that’s technically two questions, but just roll with it). Our identity, purpose, and place in creation have been a constant debate since we stepped into this world. Philosophers, scholars, theologians, politicians, rulers, and all manner of spiritual leaders have attempted to answer this one question: Who are we?
No matter how many have tried to answer that question, the importance of the question reveals a desire buried deep within every human being. We long to know our value. We desperately want to understand why we exist and whether or not we have meaning or worth. We all want to believe we are valuable. But our wrestling with this question shows that we're not really sure about the answer.
So we continue to search, debate, and explore our existence.
What we have learned is that our answers to the question of who we are really depend on the foundational beliefs that we start our search from. For example, if we believe that we were created by mere chance and out of chaos, then it’s hard to see any purpose to humanity beyond living and experiencing our lives for the short time we have until we return to a state of nothingness. If we believe that we were created to serve and appease the gods or some higher power(s), then it becomes impossible to truly believe that human life has any real value. And it gets a lot easier to use and abuse one another to get a “leg up” with whichever god I am trying to appease (i.e., war in the name of a god, human sacrifice, etc.).
But as we have seen before, the Bible tells us a completely different story from the very beginning.
The (Second) Creation Story
Genesis 1 tells us the story of God creating the world in six days and ending his creation to “rest” or delight in it on the seventh day. It also gives the account of God creating humanity–male and female–in his image and likeness. And then the chapter closes with what seems to be a complete account of creation.
Or does it?
When you keep reading, you suddenly find yourself reading what seems to be another creation story. Not a new creation story, but another recounting of creation with some additional details.
But this time, instead of focusing on God's creation of the universe, it’s focused on the creation of humanity.
Previously, we were told that humanity and the beasts of the earth were created on the same day. And this would track for a person in the ancient world whose creation stories compared humanity to cattle. Humanity is just another kind of “beast” that walks the earth.
Except they’re not!
Genesis 1-2 takes the time to show a clear difference between humanity and animals. And this is a very different narrative from what the other creation myths told.
In Genesis 2:18-25, God says that out of all his creative work, there was one thing that was not good: Adam, the first and only human, was alone. We were created to live within a loving and self-giving community, just as God does as Father, Son & Holy Spirit (but that’s a topic for another day). So, as the story goes on, God created Eve–the first woman–to be his partner and community.
But there’s actually more in between these two moments that tell us something really important about who we are and our place in this world. When God decides that it’s not good for Adam to be alone, we are then told that God created all of the animals and made them pass by Adam, who saw them and named them. But at the end of this process, “there was not found a helper fit for him…” (Gen. 2:20). Or, in other words, there were not any that were like him to end his “aloneness.” For everything that this verse can tell us about men and women, it can also tell us something powerful about humanity.
We’re not just another member of the animal kingdom.
Humanity may scientifically be classified as “mammals,” but make no mistake, we are not beasts. Humanity is something altogether different. We may have been created out of the substance of the earth (like animals), but we were created from God’s goodness and nature. We may have both been created out of the earth, but only humanity had the breath of God breathed into them.
We may have both been created out of the earth, but only humanity bears the image and likeness of God.
But what does that even mean?
Great question!
The Imago Dei
Several biblical scholars and leaders throughout church history had some ideas about what it means to bear the image of God (or the Imago Dei). Maximus the Confessor said it was our self-determination, our free will, our ability to choose. Basil the Great said it was our intellect and our ability to reason. Others believed it is our ability to create and govern the rest of creation. These can certainly be part of bearing the Imago Dei. But I like what Gregory of Nyssa had to say about it in his writing, On the Making of Man. He said,
“I would have you understand that our Maker also, painting the portrait to resemble His own beauty, by the addition of virtues...by which His true form is portrayed: not red, or white, or the blending of these, whatever it may be called, nor a touch of black that paints the eyebrow and the eye, and shades, by some combination, the depressions in the figure, and all such arts which the hands of painters contrive, but instead of these, purity, freedom from passion, blessedness, alienation from all evil, and all those attributes of the like kind which help to form in men the likeness of God: with such hues as these did the Maker of His own image mark our nature.”
In other words, bearing the image of God doesn’t mean we physically look like God–two eyes, a mouth, a thinking brain, etc. It means that we were created to bear God’s nature–his blessedness, his purity, his love and kindness, his generosity, his goodness…the things that make God good!
And there’s an important reason for that–one that every ancient reader of Genesis would have picked up on in the text immediately.
The kings of the ancient world ruled over many regions. Some of their empires were massive. There were also times when the king would leave his empire to go conquer more lands. So what these kings did is create statues in their likeness/image and placed them all throughout their cities and land. They placed them all over newly conquered lands. And these statues represented the king’s authority and power, his laws and ways. So even if you weren’t in the presence of the king but stumbled upon one of these statues, they would remind you who is king. They would remind you of who he was, what kind of a king he was, and the ways of his empire. Even if the king was not physically present in his kingdom, these statues functioned as his representatives. In the presence of these representatives, it was as if the king were there with you.
Back to Genesis.
God created humans in his image and likeness as his representatives. He placed them in his domain (his creation), so we would represent his rule and reign by bearing his nature–his goodness! So that wherever we are in this world, the rule and reign of God would be present. Our very existence reminds all creation that God is Lord and God Most High!
And even though sin and rebellion came into the world and into our hearts and began to distort that image of God, it was never lost! Jesus came to untwist the image of God in us and restore us to the fullness of life. And when we follow him and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into Christlikeness, the image of God is restored. And everywhere we go, as we live and love and serve like Jesus, we take our rightful place in creation as representatives of the Creator and his goodness!
That’s value! That’s importance! We were not created to be slaves or cattle. We were created to represent the very rule and reign of God!
So no matter how far you may feel you are from bearing the image of God rightly, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s right there within each and every one of us. And it’s worth honoring!
Every human has value. Every life has a purpose. Every person was created good! And at minimum, we can treat people with the dignity that the image of God in them is due.
That’s the creation story that Genesis tells.
And it’s a good one!