Born in the Image of God or Adam?
Relevant Scripture
Genesis 5:1-5 . . . This is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.”
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
Isaiah 43:1 . . . “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.”
Isaiah 53:4-6 . . . Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Matthew 20:28 . . . “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
John 3:16-18 . . . For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 5:15-17 . . . But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many (Enoch and Elijah are the two exceptions). But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:14-17 . . . For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
John 14:15-17 . . . “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Acts 2:1-4 . . . When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:36-39 . . . “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Galatians 4:4-7 . . . But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
Essay by Mike Stone from gracecoach.com
Genesis 5:3 tells us that every human being after Adam, except Jesus Christ, is born in the image and likeness of Adam rather than in the direct image of God. Adam forfeited the life of God that was in him when he disobeyed God’s one and only command, and this one act is the reason that sin and spiritual death have been passed on to every human being. To grasp this concept fully, we need to revisit the beginning in the Book of Genesis. The root of our spiritual death is found there, while the remedy comes through Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Testament.
God created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him (Genesis 2:7). The Scriptures state that Adam was made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:1-2), which signifies that God’s Spirit was alive in Adam.
Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to care for it, where two trees were central: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave Adam one command: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16-17). This command demonstrated God’s gift of free will. Despite this freedom, Adam and Eve chose to disobey, deceived by the serpent. As a result, the Spirit of God departed from them, and they experienced spiritual death. The life of God that once dwelled in Adam departed, leaving him spiritually dead.
Adam and Eve’s death was spiritual, not physical. Adam lived for another 930 years before his physical death (Genesis 5:5). At 130 years old, Adam had a son, Seth, in his own image and likeness (Genesis 5:3). This implies that Seth, like his father, was born spiritually dead and in need of divine life.
For us, this means we all are born into the world in the image and likeness of Adam, lacking the Spirit of God and needing spiritual life and renewal. This perspective challenges the common belief both in secular contexts and within many churches. As Paul writes, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). He also states, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22), and, “And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:49).
The essential issue of Christianity is not merely that we are sinners needing forgiveness, but that we are born spiritually dead and in need of life. This fundamental truth is often overlooked. It is the single greatest reason why God sent Jesus into the world—to give us new life and reverse the curse that was handed down to all humanity.
That is why in John 3:16 Jesus says that if you believe in Him you will not perish (spiritually), but have eternal life (spiritually). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
In John 5:24 Jesus reinforces this point with clarity. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
In Romans 5:12, the Apostle Paul contrasts Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross with the salvation offered through faith in His resurrection, using the phrase “how much more” to highlight the profound difference. The verse says, “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” This comparison underscores that if God could reconcile us while we were still His enemies through Christ’s death, we can be assured of our salvation through the life and resurrection of Jesus.