For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. -Ephesians 1:4 

My Identity.

In my last post I began the quest on finding my place in God’s story by asking the question “Who Am 1?”.  This quest is not just for me, but for everyone especially those who have come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.  The answer to the question had to begin from the very beginning, with my and your first parents Adam and Eve. In that post, I said that when God made me, (and everyone else), He assigned me my:

Identity (made in God’s image)
Gender – Female (The Bible always equates gender with biological sex.)
Role (worshipper of God and help meet to the man).

The second part of understanding my place in God’s story is to explore my Identity.  What it means to be made in the image and likeness of God.

Being made in the image of God or possession the imago Dei is what separates humans from animals. None of the animals were made in the image and likeness of God, only humans. To be in the image and likeness of God is to have some of the likeness of God in us.  It does not mean we are gods, neither does it mean we possess the attributes of God. What it does mean is that in some ways, we have some resemblance to God.  We resemble God in that we are:

Rational beings – we can reason and make decisions
Given dominion – ruling the creation
Moral beings – able to discern right from wrong
Relational

Being made in the image and likeness of God is what confers dignity on a person. Our life is valuable because of being made God’s image and likeness. This is where my identity can be found.  I look like my Father. Just like my Father, I can think, I can rule/steward the creation under His authority, I am able to discern right from wrong and I was made for relationship, just like the God-Head. This is who I am. This is my identity.

God gave His hope and promise of a savior in Genesis 3:15 because the fall did not take Him by surprise. Nothing takes God by surprise…..God had already chosen out for Himself a people from the descendants of Adam and Eve before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4

While I do resemble my Father, I am not entirely like my Father. I am not as holy as He is, I am not omnipresent like Him, I am not omniscient like Him, in fact I am not able on my own to walk into His presence or attempt to have a relationship with Him on my own. Why? Because of sin. We all know the story. Adam and Eve were not able to keep the first commandment ever recorded with consequences. They fell for the lies of the evil one. The devil deceived them into believing that if they ate the fruit from the tree, they will become like God, knowing good and evil.  The irony was, they were already like God. They fell for the lies and deception of the enemy. What a great fall it was! That fall brough sin into the world. Since then, everyone of their descendants, everyone of us have been conceived and born into sin.

Their disobedience brought sin into the world. As God promised in the command, they died. They died spiritually that day and eventually died physically. Since then, death, disease, sickness and every bad thing came into the world and passed onto everyone one of their descendants.

Since Adam and Eve disobeyed and fell, did that change my identity?  No, the fall did not change my identity, It marred it.  Even in my fallen, sinful state, I am still an image bearer. God in His goodness and mercy did not change that. Praise His name!

After the fall, the Lord did not just leave Adam and Eve alone. He sought them out, pronounced their punishment on eat of them, but also gave them a hope and a promise to restore them back into the right relationship with Him. Genesis 3:15.

 Why would God do this? Why did He not just kill Adam and Eve and start all over again? God gave His hope and promise of a savior in Genesis 3:15 because the fall did not take Him by surprise. Nothing takes God by surprise.

God had already chosen out for Himself a people from the descendants of Adam and Eve before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 – For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.  Not only that, the names of the people of God had been written in the book of life of the Lamb had been slain before the foundation of the world for the people of God. (Rev.13:8) Hallelujah!!!

That Lamb was slain, so that the people of God, those who acknowledge their sin, repent and turn to the Lord will not perish, they will no longer be under the curse, but they will have eternal life with the Lamb of God, who is Christ our Lord.

The reason the Lamb was slain was because He took our place, we should have died. God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that His righteousness can be imputed to us. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.  My identity that was marred by sin, has been restored in Christ. So what does this mean?  It means that I am no longer my own, I can no longer live as I want, my life does not belong to me anymore to use as I please. If I am not my own, then whose am 1?  I will explore that in the next post.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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

Who am I?
I am a human being created by God in His image. (Gen. 1:26)
I am a woman. Not because I feel like a woman or look like a woman. I am a woman because God made me a woman. (Gen. 1:27)
Why did God make me? God made me to bring glory to Him (Jer. 9:23-24; Rev.4:11)
How do I bring glory to God? By knowing and fulfilling the role He has assigned to me.

When God made me, He assigned me my:
Identity (made in God’s image)
Gender – Female (The Bible always equates gender with biological sex.)
Role (worshipper of God and help meet to the man)

God did not leave me confused in any of these areas. As creator of all mankind, God assigns to everyone He has made their identity, gender and their role.

Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
From the beginning, we see God assigning Adam and Eve their identity – image bearers, their gender – male and female and their roles, Adam was created first, so the leader and then Eve was given to Adam as a help mate.

Genesis 2: 15-18, 21-23
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.

The scriptures in Genesis 1 and 2 above shows that I am the descendant of the first man and woman ever created by God – Adam and Eve. They were created sinless and perfect.

God created the man out of the earth and the woman out of the man, she was brought to the man by God and she was named by the man. Adam recognized immediately that she came out from him and was made for him. He called her ‘woman’. The man was created first to be the leader. He was to teach the woman God’s commands and lead her in the worship of God.

Being created first and given the position of leadership by God did not mean the man was superior to the woman, it meant he had a different God ordained role from the woman. God made him the head, the leader and He made the woman specifically for the man, suitable to his needs and to be his helper. (Gen.2:18).

The Hebrew word for helper is ‘ʿēzer’  The same word is often used in scripture to describe the help we get from God. ʿēzer  is the same word used for help in Psalms 121:2, Psalms 115:10, Psalms 124:8, as well in a host of other scriptures.  It is the root word for the name : Eliezer (Ex.18:4) – which means God is my help. The woman then was created to help the man be and do all the Lord has called him to be and do.

Adam, as the leader was given the very first command ever recorded in scripture with a consequence for breaking it. It was a command on how to live forever with God. All this was done before the woman came into the picture. The command is recorded in Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

So, What did Adam do with the command he was given?  How does all this help me understand my place in God’s story?  What does all this mean? We will explore that in future blog articles.

Soli Deo Gloria!