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He was "found in fashion as a man". So, in connexion with Adam, the "image" and
"likeness" have reference to what is moral and mental.
How far, and in what direction, was Adam intended to shadow forth God Himself?
How far was he, as a creature, able to represent Deity? What limits can be set? The
reader will no doubt be acquainted with the two extreme answers to these questions.
There are some who will not allow the image and likeness to be anything more than
physical, while there are others who would deduce from this passage the inherent
immortality of the soul. The truth lies mid-way between the two extremes, and is
associated with the words that follow referring to image and likeness.
"And God said, LET US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness; and LET
THEM have dominion" (Gen. 1: 26).
We have seen that the name "Adam" is similar to the Hebrew word for "likeness".
This "likeness" was expressed in the "dominion" which was originally conferred upon
man. When sin entered into the world, however, resulting in a curse upon the earth, his
dominion over the lower creatures was impaired. When Noah, whom we can regard as a
sort of second Adam, steps out of the ark into a new world, and the word "dominion" is
no longer used, and "the fear of you and the dread of you" takes its place (Gen. 9: 2).
Man, however, is still looked upon as being "in the image of God" (Gen. 9: 6), and "in
the likeness of God" (James 3: 9).
The dominion that was given to Adam was:
"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" (Gen. 1: 26).
This dominion was a "shadow" of the greater dominion that was to be exercised by
Christ, the true Image of God, and is even included in the dominion given to
Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2: 38). David, in the eighth Psalm, sees something of this, and the
apostle Paul in the N.T. completes the story:
"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars,
which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of
man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and
hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea,
and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas" (Psa. 8: 3-8).
If we turn to the Epistle to the Hebrews, we shall see that Adam foreshadowed Christ.
The Creator of Gen. 1: 26 is addressed in Psa. 8:, and the Psalmist says that "the
heavens are the work of Thy fingers". Unless we are willing to quibble over the
difference between "fingers" and "hands", it is clear that Christ is the Creator in Whose
image and likeness Adam was created, for in Heb. 1: we read:
"And Thou Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth: and the
heavens are the works of Thine hands" (Heb. 1: 10).