What Does It Mean That We Were Created in the Image of God?

Being made in the image of God is not a vague spiritual idea. It is a specific design that includes authority, fruitfulness, and purpose, given equally to male and female before either was ever physically formed.

Many of us have heard the phrase "made in the image of God" our whole lives. We say it so often that it can start to feel vague, like a nice idea rather than something with weight. So let's actually slow down and look at what that phrase is doing in the text, because it's carrying more than most of us were ever taught.

What Does It Mean to Be Made in the Image of God?

Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV) says, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion...' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them."

Notice these two things never get separated in the text. Image and dominion show up in the same breath. God didn't design you to simply reflect Him and then leave you standing there with nothing to do. The image came with assignment attached. Authority. Responsibility. A piece of the earth that was yours to steward.

And look closely at who that verse includes. Male and female He created them. Both. Same image. Same dominion. Same day. Whatever you've absorbed over the years about one gender carrying more of God's image than the other did not come from this verse.

What Does the Bible Say About "Be Fruitful and Multiply"?

Right after that, God blesses them and says be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Most of us hear that and immediately think about children. I need to stop you right there before you carry that weight any further than it's meant to go.

If you've walked through infertility, if you've lost a baby, if children simply haven't been part of your story, the enemy will take this verse and twist it into a measuring stick against your life. That is not what this verse is for.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." Being fruitful and multiplying was never only about children. It includes every place in your life where God's character gets reproduced through you, in the people you disciple, the wisdom you pass down, the love you pour out. You have been fruitful in ways you may have never given yourself credit for.

Created Before You Were Formed

All of this, the image, the dominion, the fruitfulness, was spoken over you in spirit on day six, before Adam was ever formed from the dust in Genesis 2. He created you before you stepped foot on this earth. Before your mama gave birth to you, He had already created you, in spirit, with purpose attached.

That's the bonus piece I want you to hold onto. Both genders received the same purpose from Him. Not a lesser version for one and a fuller version for the other.

So here's what you need to shed today. Shed the belief that being made in God's image is just a phrase. Shed the belief that you carry less of Him than someone else does. Shed the belief that your story, your body, your circumstances somehow made you less fruitful in His eyes. None of that is in the text.

What is in the text is this. You, yes you, were created in the image of God. You, yes you, were given dominion. You, yes you, were declared fruitful before your life ever looked the way you hoped it would.

Take this to the Word yourself. Proverbs 15:4, Matthew 12:36-37, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 1:3-6, Galatians 5:22-23.

What This Means for You

Where might you be believing something about yourself that contradicts what God actually said about you in His image?

This continues The Designer You series. Last time, we looked at why so many of us don't feel as powerful as God says we are. Next, we'll talk about why faith requires action and what that actually has to do with formation.

If a written post stirred something in you, wait until you hear it taught live. I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, "The Designer You," is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.