God Created Humankind
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Key Verse: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Selected Scripture: |
AFTER THE EARTH WAS prepared, God next continued his Creation. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.” (Gen. 1:27) The verse does not say, “the earth or waters brought forth man,” as those who falsely believe in an evolution theory would purpose. “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” (chap. 2:7) What God formed out of the earth was only a form, man was not yet alive. It would take the life power of God to give it vitality. Man then became “a living soul”—a sentient being capable of sensation, perception, and thought.
Man was created as an earthly image of God. This is expressly declared, and the declaration is confirmed by Christ Jesus, “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?” (Matt. 19:4, Mark 10:6) This also shows us that there is a vast difference between mankind and every other living creature that was created. Man possesses a moral consciousness as a free moral agent, the ability to reason, and the ability to make intuitive decisions. These reasoning faculties allowed man to have a sense of justice, to know the difference between right and wrong. Adam was physically, mentally, and morally perfect, satisfactory to God, and created in his image. (Gen. 1:31) He was superior to all other creatures. Then, “God … made he a woman.” (chap. 2:22) The object of the creation of Eve was to be a suitable help for man, and for the purpose of the propagation of the race. God blessed them with everlasting life at their command, if they continued in harmony with him.
Like God, man also had a dominion, and it was over “every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (chap. 1:28) He was given “every herb bearing seed, … and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” (vs. 29) The Garden of Eden was brought to full perfection; the rest of the earth was in the condition that God intended it to be.
The man and woman in Eden were responsible to replenish the earth with a new order—mankind; to subdue the earth for human use; to have dominion over the animal creation; to eat herbs and fruits; to till and keep the garden; and to abstain from eating of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (chap. 2:17) Mankind was created in innocence, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to a simple test, and warned of the consequences of disobedience. The woman would fall through lack of knowledge, and the man, deliberately. (I Tim. 2:14) It was God’s intention to restore his sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocence ended in judgment and expulsion from Eden.
We are told that God finished his creative work, and “he rested on the seventh day from all his work.” (Gen. 2:1,2) The physical earth is a good storehouse of blessings, a good place for the exercise of man’s powers, for his discipline and development and for his everlasting home and dominion.—Mic. 4:4-8