Humans Made in the "Image of God"--What Does That Mean?

The very first two humans were made in the image of God. But what does that really mean?

Made in the "image of God" simply means that people are spiritually like Jehovah God Almighty to some extent. He has given humans some of the spiritual aspects He has: the ability to think and reason, an innate knowledge of right and wrong, a conscience, a full spectrum of emotions, and the need for spiritual things in order to be truly happy. On top of all that, Jehovah has also graciously granted us free will, the power to make up our own minds regarding things concerning us.

Beyond this, humans are not in the exact image of God. If we were exactly in Jehovah's image, we would be like His clones or something of a similar nature. If we were exactly in His image, we would not have fallen into sin, for "God cannot be tempted by evil." (James 1:13, American Standard Version) The first woman, Eve, was tempted by evil, so she fell into imperfection from perfection. Her husband Adam followed in her footsteps. As they reproduced to populate Earth, their children were born in their own image; this is how the entire human line has inherited a sinful nature. Instead of being more in the image of God, we are now more in the image of our first ancestors.

Therefore, any claims that say "Since we're made in God's image, and some of us are liars, murderers, cheaters, homosexuals, fornicators; it means that He must possess all of these qualities Himself" are not only invalid but greatly profane and distort Jehovah's nature and glory. Jehovah is an absolute holy God who forbids people to practice these positions. To say He has these very attributes He prohibits is using His name in vain, thus breaking one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) And to say God created us to be sinners when He will punish unrepentant sinners is accusing Him of being unfair and unjust, contrary to His true nature: "He loveth righteousness and justice: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah." (Psalm 33:5)

In conclusion, we are in the image of Jehovah because we can think and reason, make decisions, possess love, express happiness and sadness, among other spiritual traits. Other than this, we, as mere creations, stand far below are Creator. How can we possibly compare to the most supreme Being of the universe?

Lastly, remember, after God created humans, He examined His creations and proclaimed that they were "very good." We were made in perfection, but we have abused our free will to go against God's wishes for us. Jehovah always uses His free will to do good; we have used our free will to do bad. This is one main reason why we have fallen short of God's glorious image. May we return to Jehovah to re-possess what is rightfully ours; let us wisely use our free will to achieve the image of God!