Likeness

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. (Genesis 5:1–3, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Ever read a passage and notice something you never noticed previously? I imagine you have. I read this passage at a men’s retreat today and something new (to me) jumped out at me. Notice in the first sentence that God made man in His likeness. Later, when Seth was born to Adam and Eve, he was in Adam’s “own likeness, in his own image.” A fallen creature.

Of course, there are physical aspects to this as God commanded them to “be fruitful and increase in number.” (Genesis 1:28, NIV 1984). But the spiritual aspect was what struck me. It only took one generation after the fall for the image of God to begin to fade into the image of man.

And it’s continued downhill since then. I remember an old Michael Keaton movie called “Multiplicity,” about a man so busy that he cloned himself to make it easier to fulfill all his responsibilities. It seemed to go well, so he made another clone. But this time it was a copy of the copy, which did not go quite so well. A quote from the movie goes, “you know when you make a copy of a copy, it’s not as sharp as the original.” The further down the line you go, the less crisp is the “image.”

This is the story of mankind after the fall. Each succeeding generation, “not as sharp as the original” from a spiritual perspective. Spiritual entropy. Mankind’s concept of right and wrong eroding over time to such an extent that society no longer accepts absolutes. So far removed from the original, that it is barely recognizable. God had to start over once (the flood), and someday there will be a new heaven and a new earth. The crisp original will be restored, forevermore. No more entropy.

My Advice – You need to be part of this new creation. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV 1984).