Let us make man in our image

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Larry1700 said:
I have not ever taken the time to look up the Church’s teaching on this, but I like to believe that the plural words in Genesis refer to God the Trinity. There’s another verse in Genesis speaking of the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters. In John, we see “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
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Larry,

Though I am not Jewish, I do have the TORAH (a gift from my Jewish friends). This quote from the commentary on Genesis might be helpful:

THE TORAH, A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition, General Editor W. Gunther Plaut, General Editor, Revised Edition, David E. S. Stein, Union for Reform Judaism, New York, pages 4-5:

“The name that describes the Creator in Chapter 1 is אֱלהִים (Elohim), and throughout the Bible this is a term for gods in general and Israel’s God in particular. It is a word with a plural ending (-im). When it is used for pagan gods it commands a plural adjective or verb, but when denoting the One God, the verb assumes the singular. Elohim is an expanded form of El, a term current also in Canaanite religion. In Genesis, El always appears with either another expanding term (El Elyon, “God Most High”; El Shaddai, “God Almighty”), a place name (El Beth El, “God of Beth El”), or another identifying term (El Avicha, literally, “God of Your father”). Occasionally also, the divine relationship to humans becomes a description for God (Pachad Yitzchak, “Fear of Isaac”: Abir Ya’akov, “Strength of Jacob”). Such a multiplicity of terms is one way in which human language attempted to express the essentially inexpressible nature of the Divine.”

As Christians, we can’t really find evidence of the Trinity in Elohim, since Elohim is used for both the One True God and pagan gods.

Peace,
Anna
 
Anna_Scott said:
Larry,

Though I am not Jewish, I do have the TORAH (a gift from my Jewish friends). This quote from the commentary on Genesis might be helpful:

THE TORAH, A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition, General Editor W. Gunther Plaut, General Editor, Revised Edition, David E. S. Stein, Union for Reform Judaism, New York, pages 4-5:

“The name that describes the Creator in Chapter 1 is אֱלהִים (Elohim), and throughout the Bible this is a term for gods in general and Israel’s God in particular. It is a word with a plural ending (-im). When it is used for pagan gods it commands a plural adjective or verb, but when denoting the One God, the verb assumes the singular. Elohim is an expanded form of El, a term current also in Canaanite religion. In Genesis, El always appears with either another expanding term (El Elyon, “God Most High”; El Shaddai, “God Almighty”), a place name (El Beth El, “God of Beth El”), or another identifying term (El Avicha, literally, “God of Your father”). Occasionally also, the divine relationship to humans becomes a description for God (Pachad Yitzchak, “Fear of Isaac”: Abir Ya’akov, “Strength of Jacob”). Such a multiplicity of terms is one way in which human language attempted to express the essentially inexpressible nature of the Divine.”

As Christians, we can’t really find evidence of the Trinity in Elohim, since Elohim is used for both the One True God and pagan gods.

Peace,
Anna
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Hey Anna. I just noticed reading through this thread that the last post, prior to yours, was in 2007, four years ago. Just didn’t know if you had noticed this. I’m not sure you will get a response from Larry1700.

Hope you are well.

Steve
 
SteveVH said:
Hey Anna. I just noticed reading through this thread that the last post, prior to yours, was in 2007, four years ago. Just didn’t know if you had noticed this. I’m not sure you will get a response from Larry1700.

Hope you are well.

Steve
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Hi Steve,
I didn’t notice it, until after I posted. The thread was listed on the first page of threads on the non-Catholic forums–which usually indicates a current thread.

You’re right. I probably won’t get a response.

My bad, 😉
Anna
 
junk said:
Yes.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas:

Whether the angels are more to the image of God than man is?
…
First, we may consider in it that in which the image chiefly consists, that is, the intellectual nature. Thus the image of God is more perfect in the angels than in man, because their intellectual nature is more perfect, as is clear from what has been said (58, 3; 79, 8).
…
Augustine excludes the inferior creatures bereft of reason from the image of God; but not the angels.
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Aahhh…I am not sure,if I accept your understanding of Aquinas. Angels more closer to God in terms of their intellctual nature,because both are pure spirits,but as for image?
 
Nicea325 said:
Aahhh…I am not sure,if I accept your understanding of Aquinas. Angels more closer to God in terms of their intellctual nature,because both are pure spirits,but as for image?
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Hey Nicea,
I can’t believe someone else posted on this thread. I accidentally revived it today, not realizing the last post was from April 1, 2007. 😊

Peace,
Anna
 
Valke2 said:
Similarly, although we read that we are created in God’s image, does anyone believe that we are equal to God?
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No, we were created in the likeness and image of God which could mean that man carries the ability to make judgments or to fulfill the law/ maybe to deliberate and interpret the law over every living thing. Adam was given a commandment in Genesis 1:28 "“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”and so we see this same commandment in Exodus 21:1-24:18. These are the mishpatim - ordinances, judgments, rules which you (Moses) are to set before them (Israel). Prior to Exodus, we read about the compassion in the law - or precedent in the law from Abraham, so than man has the ability to argue or to question the law. Each prophet seems to give rise to what man’s image and likeness really means with God.

Genesis 18:22 “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not [t]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You!”

While Genesis 1 notes the verse as, "27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. This seems likely that when God spoke he commanded both man and woman to rule over, but toward the end of Genesis - God gives out the punishment but with the thought that a redeemer would come to restore what had happened in the garden, giving thought to the love between God and Man to restore him.
 
SteveVH said:
I think there was a reason you revived it. At least I have learned something. Thanks!

Steve
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You’re welcome, but I had just recently finished reading “The law before the Law” by Steven Robert Wilf, that gave me a lot of information on this topic and now I’m reading “The Five Books of Moses” by Robert Alter. What I’m really interested in reading is about the first camp site that the Israelites came to after leaving Egypt.
 
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