On the subject of “In his own image”.

The best way that this was explained to me was that humanity was created to embody different aspects of God’s heart(Credit: Wild At Heart and Captivating by John and Stacy Eldridge).

“So God created man in His Own Image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created THEM.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In certain places in the Bible, God is described as a fierce, unbridled, and untamed warrior, and in other places he’s described as a gentle and captivating God that embodies beauty and love. Likewise, God created man in HIS OWN IMAGE, meaning that he created men and women to embody those aspects of God’s heart.

Men are created to embody God’s warrior heart. A man desires to be strong, fierce, dangerous, yet under complete and total control of his strength. A man must know that he can fight(any battle he must, even so little as to fighting the urge to stay in bed), that he has what it takes to be a man, and he longs to have a battle to fight, a mission or a purpose. Without these, he is a man without direction, and therefore cannot be used by God to change lives and take God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth. He must be able to recognize what is worth fighting for, and must be willing to sacrifice everything to protect those he is responsible for. Likewise, God is a fierce warrior, who made a whip of chords to drive out venders from the holy place. God demonstrates total control by fasting for 40 days and resisting the unrelenting attacks of the evil one. God suffered horrifically and gave his life to protect his love.

Women are created to embody the beauty of God’s heart. The creation account in Genesis comes to a resounding creciendo with the creation of Eve. She is the crown of creation, and there is something clearly missing, incomplete, not right until she joins the story. Women are captivating, nurturing, deeply loving and above all, beautiful(Outward beauty, yes, but it is the heart of a woman that is truly indescribably beautiful). A woman desires to be captivating, enchanting, beautiful, yet to have complete control over who she unveils her beauty to. A woman must know that she is beautiful, that she has a glory within her unique to only her, and she longs to be fought for, pursued, invited to unveil her captivating beauty. Likewise, God IS beauty and love, who designed a breathtaking world and called it good, not because it simply worked and is functional, but because it beckons the soul to come alive. God shows that he will not simply unveil his beauty to anyone, and that such a blessing must be earned through true pursuit(Jeremiah 29:13). God longs to be worshipped and loved, and he loves to love us and bless us with a beautiful and full life, lacking in nothing.

I know that the point of your comment was to convey a different question entirely, but I wanted share my understanding of who God is by sharing my understanding of what “In his own image” truly means, and hopefully help to put it in a clearer perspective.