Commentary of Charles Spurgeon, Adam Clarke & Matthew Henry
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let
them have dominion 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. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.
Vs.26-28
We have here the second part of the sixth day's work,...God evidently meant the two persons, male and female, to complete the man, and the entireness of the manhood lies in them both....That man's creation was a more signal and immediate act of
divine wisdom and power than that of the other creatures.
*that it might
not be suspected that he had been, any way, a helper to God in the creation of
the world:
*that question must be for ever humbling and mortifying to him, Where
wast thou, or any of thy kind, when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Job 38:4
And God said, Let us make man - It is
evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of
something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he
introduces the account of his creation thus;
Let Us make man. The word אדם Adam, which we translate man, --- of animal, as חיתו chaitho, marks the wild beasts that live in general a solitary life; בהמה behemah, domestic or gregarious animals; and רמש remes,
all kinds of reptiles, from the largest snake to the microscopic eel.
---Though the same kind of organization may be found in man as appears in
the lower animals, yet there is a variety and complication in the parts,
a delicacy of structure, a nice arrangement, a judicious adaptation of
the different members to their great offices and functions, a dignity of
mien, and a perfection of the whole, which are sought for in vain in
all other creatures.
In our image, after our likeness - What is
said above refers only to the body of man, what is here said refers to
his soul. This was made in the image and likeness of God. Now, as the
Divine Being is infinite, he is neither limited by parts, nor definable
by passions; therefore he can have no corporeal image after which he
made the body of man. The image and likeness must necessarily be
intellectual; his mind, his soul, must have been formed after the nature
and perfections of his God..... all the persons in the Godhead are represented as united in counsel and effort to produce this astonishing creature.
And let them have dominion - Hence we see
that the dominion was not the image. God created man capable of
governing the world, and when fitted for the office, he fixed him in it.
And God blessed them - Marked them as being under his especial protection, and gave them power to propagate and multiply their own kind on the earth.
God himself not only
undertakes to make him, but is pleased so to express himself as if he called a
council to consider of the making of him: Let us make man. ---The three
persons ---- Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, consult about it and concur
in it, because man, when he was made, was to be dedicated and devoted to Father,
Son and Holy Ghost.
That man was made in God's image and after his likeness,
two words to express the same thing and making each other the more expressive; image
and likeness denote the likest image, the nearest resemblance of any of
the visible creatures. Man was not made in the likeness of any creature that
went before him, but in the likeness of his Creator; yet still between God and
man there is an infinite distance. Christ only is the express image of
God's person, as the Son of his Father, having the same nature. It is only
some of God's honor that is put upon man, who is God's image only as the
shadow in the glass, or the king's impress upon the coin.