02/14/2024
Churchianity teaches that we (you and I) were created in the image and likeness of God, but is that really what the Bible teaches? Let’s find out. Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, but the sons of Adam are born after the image and likeness of Adam.
* ”This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.“ Genesis 5:1-3
Humans aren’t born into this world with God’s nature. We’re born into this world with a sin nature and a heart inclined towards evil.
* ”Now the earth was ruined before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold it was ruined because all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.” Genesis 6:11-12
* ”When Adonai smelled the soothing aroma, Adonai said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, even though the inclination of the heart of humankind is evil from youth...“ Genesis 8:21
* ”Behold, I was born in iniquity and in sin when my mother conceived me.“ Psalms 51:7
* “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable—who can know it?“ Jeremiah 17:9
* ”Are you also still lacking understanding?” Yeshua said. “Don’t you grasp that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then is ejected into the sewer? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and those things make the man unholy. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. These are the things that make the man unholy; but to eat with unwashed hands does not make the man unholy.” Matthew 15:16-20 TLV
Does this sounds like the image and likeness of the Holy One of Israel? Not to me. So it’s clearly seen that God through Scripture has revealed that human beings are born with a sin nature like Adam when he corrupted his way with God (“So then, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, in the same way death spread to all men because all sinned.“) Romans 5:12.
Humans aren’t made into the image and likeness of God until they come into covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ.
* ”Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them.“ Ezekiel 36:26-27 TLV
* ”But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “I will put My Torah within them. Yes, I will write it on their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people.“ Jeremiah 31:32
* ”For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Adonai. I will put My Torah into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write it. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.“ Hebrews 8:10
This is what being born again looks like. We were born in sin after Adam’s likeness and we must be born again by repenting and placing our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon the rebirth the Holy Spirit of God to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
* ”Yeshua answered him, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.“ John 3:3, 5
* ”They were born not of a bloodline, nor of human desire, nor of man’s will, but of God.“ John 1:13
* ”Therefore we were buried together with Him through immersion into death—in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.“ Romans 6:4
* ”For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.“ Romans 8:29
* ”Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.“ 2 Corinthians 5:17
Upon closer examination of the Scripture one can clearly see message of the Bible is that because of the sin nature we aren’t born in the image and likeness of God. We must be restored back to God through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Only then can we truly inherit the nature of God through the rebirth of the Holy Spirit.