In Genesis 1, God creates man in His image. That is a truly great thing and sets us apart from any other creature because no one else is said to be awarded that same privilege. Man in the image of God is the reason for the death penalty, instantiated in Genesis 9, repeated in the Mosaic Law, affirmed by Jesus, and reaffirmed by Paul. Genesis 9:6 reads: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”
It’s clear that being made in the image of God is something spectacular and awesome, so it’s somewhat surprising that the bible gives no further details as to what exactly that means. That’s why I would like to give some educated guesses for it here. I believe the combination of these make up the image of God in us since individual points can also be attributed to other beings.
First, we are free moral agents. As opposed to animals, which only act on instinct and are incapable of making moral judgements, we are capable of it. Angels, however, are also free moral agents because some of them decided to rebel against God, yet angels are not said to be made in God’s image.
Second, we can relate to God. So do angels, after all they see him in all his glory, but we are different in the aspect of salvation. Angels are irredeemable, so they cannot experience salvation like we can, they don’t relate to God like we do. 1 Peter 1:12 mentions that, talking about salvation: “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things into which angels long to look.” Angels observe us to learn more about God’s grace and salvation, lived out by Christians.
Third, we are able to procreate. Angels are not, but animals are, too. By God’s design, we procreate in the God-ordained institution of marriage, which seals together a man and a woman as one flesh. Also, though God still creates every baby, we are physically responsible for creating human life made in God’s image. As a soon-to-be father I can say that it’s one – if not the – most amazing thing I have ever experienced.
Lastly, we were given dominion over this earth. God gave all of creation for man to rule over right after he created man. Paul even says that we will judge angels. We were made as rulers right under God over all creation.
All these aspects together make us different than all other created beings. There is no biblical support for these being tied together with being made in the image of God, so take it as an educated guess. Either way, it’s difficult not to stand in awe of how great God created us!
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“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed” oh oh I smell an infitine loop (wait not infinite, just one cycle per human, minus the last guy) Would you care to elaborate on why on some occasions, you take the bible literally, while on others you don’t? And I don’t mean the practical, functional aspect (of course you don’t take it literally when the literal meaning doesn’t make any sense), but the justification on being picky on something that is allegedly perfectly true (i.e. word of god). Greetings from a post-age-of-enlightenment-country, Thomas
Thomas,
I do take the bible literally = normally, all of it. It’s all about context. This passage speaks about the penalty for murder. So if you murder someone, the penalty under the Noahic covenant and under the Mosaic law was death, instituted by the government = God. Paul, in Romans 13, affirms it, that’s why I believe in the death penalty for murderers. Notice that killing a murderer is not murder itself, so no infinite loop.
Christoph
Hey Chris. That doesn’t answer my question. First of all, when you take this passage literally, you end up with this funny loop, no question about it. Your excuse it that the first “sheds blood” means murder and the second “blood shall be shed” means punishment. But literally it says “sheds blood” the first time and “blood shall be shed” the second time, not “murders” the first and “is punished by death” the second time.
By the way I read genesis 9 (nkjv) before I worte my first reply because I thought there could be some kind of reference to murder, (which wouldn’t even excuse not taking 9:6 literally), but it doesn’t. There’s no distinction between killing in an accident, in war, as punishment, or any other specific kind of killing. It just talks about a reckoning for lifeblood, so the executioner must be killed as well (according to the literal meaning).
Cheers, Thomas
Thomas,
Literally doesn’t always mean literally
That’s why I put “normally” behind what I said. That is, it takes into account the context, figures of speech, etc.
Also, you cannot just take one verse out of Scripture and build a theology on it. You take the whole of Scripture. In this case, like I mentioned in the blog, you take the Mosaic law and NT teachings to figure out what God means by Genesis 9:6. You will notice that nowhere else (if indeed this is what it means here) does the bible speak about humans killing each other off in an endless circle because of this verse, so you have to conclude that it means something else: punishment for murder.
So, the general rule: look at all of Scripture and interpret the unclear verses in light of the clear. I agree there could be some ambiguity in this verse, so this is extra important.
I actually wrote a little article about how to interpret Scripture earlier last year: http://blog.zerodeviation.net/2007/04/hermeneutics/
An extra note: You will notice that Genesis 9:6 is written in kind of a poem formatting, indicating that it’s indeed something other than prose in Hebrew. That factors in, too.