By Nikko Wheeler
Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness’… So God created mankind in his own image.” The first question one might ask after reading this verse is…
Why did God create us in his image?
God did not need to create humans at all. We were not made because He was lonely or required to be served. God is an eternal and complete being, communing with himself in love. Consequently, our being created was not for His benefit but ours. Our creation by God allows us to come to know Him. Though there are undoubtedly several intrinsic qualities we have been gifted due to our being made in God’s image, one of the most prominent characteristics of His which we reflect is to create. While it may be apparent that being created in God’s image has gifted us with many traits reminiscent of Him—most prominently to create—there remains a more profound question…
What does it mean to be created in God’s image?
When one contemplates what it means to be created in the likeness of God, one response may be that it is because humans possess uniquely abstract traits that are an echo of God, such as “reason, morality, language, a capacity for relationships governed by love and commitment, and creativity in all forms of art” (ESV Study Bible). Being made in God’s image explicitly enables us to exercise the very characteristics he has endowed us with, facilitating a better understanding of Him. And while we can cultivate a better understanding of God by flourishing as image bearers, there is something unfathomably appropriate about developing our knowledge of God through our ability to create, being His creations ourselves. Which brings us to our primary question…
Why do we create?
God, the Creator, created us in His image so that we can also create. In creating, we exercise one of the qualities God has bestowed upon us that nurtures a relationship with Him. When we create for the same reasons God creates—such as in creating us—and do so in a manner pleasing to God—in love, joy, peace, and generosity—we come to understand God better. As we come to understand God, we come to know God. And as we come to know God, we draw nearer to God. And as we draw nearer to God, we learn what true love is. As John puts succinctly in 1 John 4:16, “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
Just as God created us in his image so that we may come to know and love Him more, so can our creations reflect Him, enabling us to develop an understanding of Him further and, in turn, love Him more.
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