In his image

DEVOTION

GENESIS

IN HIS IMAGE

Gen 5 1-32

5:1 This is the written account of Adam's line.

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man." 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. 6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. 7 And after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died. 9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died. 12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 And after he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died. 15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16 And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died. 18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. 25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died. 28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died. 32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

NIV

It seems right to include the entire line from Adam to Noah and his sons in one lump sum. The purpose of this whole line is to show us the ten generations from the first man to beget all living humans before the flood, to the man who beget all human beings after the flood. But also to give us a full account of the line from which Jesus would come into the world. There is one point of interest in the first section of this regarding Adam having son in his own likeness, after God had made him in his own likeness. What we can be sure of is that Seth was not in the likeness of God as either are we.  Adam was created by God in his own likeness, His moral character, his knowledge, righteousness and provisionally his immortality. From what we know had Adam remained faithful to God he would have remained immortal. But because of disobedience he lost that provision of immortality. This is the image in which he had his sons. They were as the same image as their father, disobedient to God and mortal. This is how we came into this world, disobedient to God and mortal. We all carry that original sin of Adam and the consequence of it. None of us are born in that image of God that Adam was. We are all born in the image of Adam and will die as he did. We also are born with the knowledge of good and evil and therefore we are able to choose to engage in the evil at our own discretion which certainly is not the image of God. However because of all this God choose to make a way for us to regain that which we lost, our immortality. Certainly not of the body, but definitely of the spirit. This does leave us a question about the death of Adam. Although he was created with this provisional immortality, was his physical death still imminent? Was the death God spoke to him about a spiritual one? Our physical death is surely imminent but God has provided a way for our spiritual life to continue as an immortal, once again in his image. When we are in Christ God sees us as in his image, although we still remain in the image of Adam. This is somewhat a mystery as to how that can be, but it is nevertheless the truth. How can we still have sin in us yet in Christ we have been declared innocent and have been reinstated into immortality? This is only due to the grace of God, his divine unmerited favor type of grace. God desires his creation to be as he intended it to be. We cannot ever be that due to our own actions, our own good works, or being good people, or good believers, trying to obey all the laws or commands of God. Nothing we can do will eliminate the result of Adam’s disobedience. Some denominations make a difference between original sin and personal sin. We are all guilty of original sin, but we can become free of personal sin, living a life free of this type of sin. But that is so unrealistic, so impossible, and so idealistic. The reality is our sin is forgiven, the original sin we have because of Adam, and our own disobedient sin. Although it is true, we should not simply continue to sin just so he can forgive us, we will not ever be totally free of all sin in this life. We try as hard as we can to stay free of sin, yet it seems to creep in at the most inappropriate times. This is why we need Jesus. Without him we would forever be in the image of Adam.  But now, because we have accepted Christ, we are in his image.