In the aftermath of my ruminations on the nature of humankind vis-a-vis Genesis 1:27, John Hobbins kindly pointed me to an essay by David Clines, “Humanity as the Image of God“, in addition to his own thoughts on these verses [here and here].
Clines’ essay considers the context for the phrase “image of God”, both internally to the Old Testament and externally to other cultural documents. He tackles a number of topics that are a daunting read for the linguistically untrained, but in the end, the exploration is well worth it. I am planning a later post on Clines’ overall conclusions, but wanted to address a related topic along the way.
One of the most interesting points of the essay was Clines’ consideration of the plural “Let us make human beings in our image” from Genesis 1:26. Clines considers a number of alternatives, but concludes that “an explanation that raises as many problems as it solves, but nevertheless seems no worse than the other possibilities,” is that this is a reference to duality within the Godhead.
As such, Clines sees God addressing his spirit, previously seen in Genesis 1:2 sweeping over the waters of Creation, as the spirit of creation, a role that echoes later in Job:
The spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. [Job 33:4, NRSV]
Clines deliberately excludes a consideration of the Christian trinity from his exegesis, preferring not to “lay down in advance the form that such compatibility will assume.” Yet I wonder if another trinity of creative agencies can be considered, one that is more in line with Clines’ suggested explanation above than explicit Father, Son and Holy Spirit labels.
First, God. The idea, the thought, the definition of what is to be created. The project manager, the reviewer, the approver. “God saw that it was good.” Nothing was created that was not conceived by the sovereign creativity of God.
Second, the Word. God’s command “Let there be…” issues into Creation and the Word creates, the Word makes it so. The Word is God’s command in action, in fulfillment, in response to the Will of God. The work of the Word is approved by God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. [John 1:1-3a, NRSV - emphasis mine]
Yes, I know this is a New Testament reference. Yet the framework exists in Genesis 1. God commands and God approves his own work.
Finally, the Spirit of God, the lifegiving breath of the Almighty. God has defined, the Word has created the form and now the Spirit fills the form with life.
[...] the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. [Genesis 2:7, NRSV]
The entirety of thought, word and deed make up our substance and role as the image of God. It would be interesting to further explore these relationships from a Jewish perspective.
