This subject can be very elusive. There seem to be no concrete answers to this question and many opinions. This can be true of issues in both science and religion. Devout Christians have debated this topic for hundreds of years.
This article will take a look at the question by drawing from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We know that God created Adam and Eve in His image.
(Genesis 1:27) God created man in his own image. In God’s image, he created him; male and female, he created them.
We also know that God has no physical image.
(John 4:24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
(Genesis 5:3) Adam lived one hundred thirty years and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
Here we see that Adam’s son was not in the image of God, he was in the image of Adam. Today, we are all born in the image of Adam, just like Seth. In the New Testament, we can look at how we are joined to Christ, and this will unlock the Old Testament verses.
Jesus describes salvation as a branch being connected to the Vine. We are joined to him as he puts the robe of righteousness around us and welcomes us. We are a new person in Christ. We begin to live for him. We want to do things God’s way. We are restored in God’s image at that very moment. Adam and Eve in the garden reversed this action. Both of them were in God because their spirits were in God. This is the way they were created. They were connected to God. Their eating the fruit was a demonstration that this couple wanted to live their own way, not God’s way. This action severed their connection with God. Their spirits and God’s Spirit were no longer joined. They were outside of God. Today, we are born outside of God and the experience of salvation brings us to God and in God. Our spirits are connected to His Spirit.
Our reconnection with God, which we receive today, is no longer like Adam and Eve’s original connection. In the garden, this couple was directly in God and connected to God. Now, there is a different plan. God the Son, our Savior, died on the cross in order to be our mediator. He is between us and God. He has reconciled us to God. Our reconciler has brought men and women back to God. We can now be in Christ, who is in the Father.
(John 4:19-20) Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
This can only happen because the Son has reconciled us to the Father.
(Romans 5:10) For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
(1 Corinthians 6:17-18 NASB)
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
As followers of Christ, we are now one spirit with our Lord; we have been restored to the image of God.
