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To: Jeremiah Jr; roamer_1; boatbums
Are you still hawking that fake Hebrew as if it were Biblical text?

Not that it changes your analysis.  It would be flawed in either Greek, Hebrew, or English. God did make man in His own image, and "man" includes woman. But "image" or the more general term "likeness" cannot have reference here to God having biological genders. He is the Eternal Spirit, and has no need of biological reproduction:
John 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
So then the only manner in which this likeness can be reconciled with the nature of God is to see it in terms of the spiritual characteristics of God. We know for a fact this likeness does NOT have to do with gender:
Mat 22:30  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
And this is consistent with our new nature in Christ uniting as as one spiritual family, without being classified by those human biological differences that define our present existence:
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus
So it becomes evident that our likeness to God, which is certainly greatest when we shall all be with Him in eternity, does not entail biological gender.

So the likeness must be spiritual, because that is Who God is. But we do not need to have all of God's characteristics to be like Him spiritually. An image is a represenation, not the original thing being represented.  And it can be a great deal less than the original, and still be a good likeness, an image that reminds you of the original.

As believers, we acquire that likeness by being renewed in our spirit, becoming a new person patterned after God Himself.  In what sense? In tems of righteousness and holiness, the core of which, as Jesus taught, is love, not according to the Old Covenant exoskeleton of numbered rules and the liturgy of sacrifice, but according to the fullness of the Spirit dwelling in us, flowing from within us like rivers of living water, expressing the love of God in all we think and do:
Eph 4:23-24  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;  (24)  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Indeed, one can argue the whole point of God's redemtive plan was and is to restore us to the image of God that we lost when we fell into sin:
Rom 8:28-29  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  (29)  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
And so one day all who are called by grace into the fellowship of the Son will also be conformed to His image, which certanly does not mean we will all look like Him, but we all will "be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2.




1,038 posted on 07/09/2014 8:47:05 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: Springfield Reformer
"Indeed, one can argue the whole point of God's redemtive plan was and is to restore us to the image of God that we lost when we fell into sin"

Amen.

One could also argue (I'm speaking as a madman)that what Jesus did for us was an insanely desperate last ditch effort at RESCUING us from His perfect justice!

We will all front up to the TERRIBLE,AWESOME ALL CONSUMING FIRE FROM WHICH NOTHING IS HID when this mortal coil is gone.The perfect sacrifice of His ONLY begotten Son is the ONLY hope of surviving the encounter! What kind of love is that!

Some appear to think we are vying for a place in an exclusive country club where only the very best might just make it in.God invites "whosoever" and has made a way for us,that,to say the very least, was incredibly expensive.

Mephibosheth sat at the King's table (on someone elses account) but I wouldn't mind betting he didn't sit himself down and start mouthing off the vilest accusations that pass for 'theology' in this here RF.

Rather he would have sat down,shut his yap,and listened to what the King and His court might discuss...all the time wondering..."what is thy servant,that my Lord should look upon a dead dog such as I?"

I so love and hate this RF.

Thankyou so much for writing SR.Your posts are always encouraging and uplifting and God knows we need it!

1,042 posted on 07/09/2014 10:32:56 PM PDT by mitch5501 ("make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall")
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