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Objective

In this lesson, we’ll discover that God created human beings in His image to know Him, fellowship with Him, and bring glory to Him.

Key Verse

Psalm 139:14: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Introduction

There are many ways to define a human being. Biology tells us about our physical makeup—cells, organs, and systems working together. Psychology explores how our minds function and process emotions. Sociology examines how we relate to one another in families, communities, and cultures. All of these perspectives offer valuable insights about who we are.

But Scripture starts with the most essential truth about human identity: We are beings created by God in His image to know Him and worship Him. This foundational truth shapes everything else we understand about ourselves—our purpose, our relationships, our destiny, and our deepest needs.

When David considered the glory of God’s creation, he asked an important question: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4). This is the question we must ask when we consider what the Bible teaches about humanity. In this lesson, we’ll see that Scripture gives us clear answers to our questions.

Here are the main points we will study together:

• The creation of mankind by God
• The nature of mankind as image-bearers of God
• The purpose of mankind to glorify God

The Creation of Mankind

Some people today deny that human beings were created by God. They believe that all life came into existence by accident through natural processes over millions of years. They suggest we started as simple organisms that gradually evolved into the complex beings we are today. The Bible completely rejects this false and inadequate explanation for human existence.

Modern science has revealed the incredible complexity of the human body—from the intricate design of DNA to the amazing coordination required for even simple actions like walking or speaking. David was not a scientist, but he knew what God had revealed to him about our creation:

Psalm 139:13-16: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Genesis gives us the most complete account of God’s creation of the world and humanity. God spoke everything into existence by His powerful word. He created everything out of nothing—a truth that requires faith to accept but one that Scripture clearly teaches:

Genesis 1:1-3: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Psalm 33:6-9: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

Hebrews 11:3: By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

The first two chapters of Genesis describe the six days of creation followed by a day of rest. Christians hold different views about whether these represent literal twenty-four-hour days or longer periods of time. While we should allow room for faithful believers to interpret these details differently, what matters most is the central truth: God deliberately and purposefully created everything that exists, including human beings.

On the sixth day of creation, God created mankind in His image—a truth that sets us apart from every other creature. Notice that this passage makes it beautifully clear that both men and women equally bear God’s image:

Genesis 1:26-27: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

This truth is foundational to how we understand human dignity and worth. God deliberately created humanity as male and female, and both reflect His image equally. Neither gender is superior to the other in terms of bearing God’s likeness, though Scripture teaches that men and women have different roles and complementary gifts.

Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:21-22: So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Some people deny that Adam and Eve were real people, treating them as merely symbolic figures. However, it’s important to note that the New Testament writers, including Luke and Paul, refer to Adam as a real person who was created by God and who sinned against his Creator:

Luke 3:38: …the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Romans 5:14: Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

1 Corinthians 15:22: For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

The Nature of Mankind

Genesis tells us that human beings were created “in the image of God.” What does this remarkable truth mean? While the Bible doesn’t explain this concept fully in Genesis, Scripture does give us important insights. Like our Creator, we are moral, spiritual, rational, emotional, and personal beings.

(Notebook Moment: Take a moment to think about what it means that you bear God’s image. How does this truth change the way you see yourself and other people?)

First, we are moral beings. Unlike animals, we have an innate sense of right and wrong. This moral awareness is written into our hearts by our Creator, even when people have not heard God’s written law:

Romans 2:14-15: Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.

Second, we are spiritual beings. While our bodies are formed from the dust of the earth, God breathed spiritual life into us, making us capable of relating to Him:

Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Third, we are rational beings. God gave us the ability to think, reason, learn, and reflect. God even invites us to reason with Him about spiritual matters. However, our human reasoning alone is not sufficient to bring us to saving knowledge of God:

1 Corinthians 1:20-21: Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Nevertheless, God can use our ability to think and reason to draw us toward His truth, as we see in several biblical examples:

2 Kings 5:10-14: Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Acts 17:2-4: As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

Fourth, we are emotional beings. We experience joy, sadness, anger, love, and the full range of human emotions. This reflects something of God’s own emotional nature—He delights in His creation and experiences grief over sin. The entire range of human emotion is expressed throughout Scripture, especially in the Psalms.

Fifth, we are personal beings designed for relationships. We live in fellowship with other people, reflecting the perfect fellowship that exists within the Trinity. This is why God placed us in families and gave us the church as a community of believers.

Christians hold different views about whether human nature consists of two parts (body and spirit) or three parts (body, soul, and spirit). This is not an essential doctrine, and we should not argue strongly about our particular view. However, Genesis 2:7 seems to suggest a three-part nature:

• “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground” ➜ Body
• “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” ➜ Spirit
• “and the man became a living being” ➜ Soul

The Purpose of Mankind

Why did God create human beings? Scripture reveals at least three interconnected purposes for our existence.

First, we were created to care for and rule over God’s creation as His representatives on earth:

Genesis 2:15: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Second, God designed us to experience intimate fellowship with our Creator. This was not an afterthought—it was central to His purpose in making us. David speaks of this deep longing for God throughout the Psalms:

Psalm 84:1-2, 10: How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God… Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect fellowship with God before sin destroyed this relationship:

Genesis 3:8: Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Through Jesus Christ, fellowship with our Creator has been restored for all who believe:

2 Corinthians 5:18: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

1 John 1:3: We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

(Notebook Moment: How have you experienced fellowship with God in your own life? What draws you closer to Him, and what pulls you away from Him?)

Third, and most importantly, we were created to bring glory to God by reflecting His character and image in the world:

Isaiah 43:7: …everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

Ephesians 1:11-12: In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Sin has marred and distorted God’s image in us, but Christ came to restore that image and create something new in our lives:

2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Notebook Moment: In what practical ways can you reflect God’s image more clearly in your daily relationships and responsibilities?)

Conclusion

What wonderful comfort we can find in knowing that God created us! He knows us more intimately than we know ourselves because He is the one who made us. Every detail of who you are—your personality, your gifts, your appearance, even your struggles—is known to the God who formed you with His own hands.

Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…

When you feel misunderstood by others, remember that your Creator understands you perfectly. When you feel overlooked or unimportant, remember that the God of the universe took special care in making you. When you wonder about your purpose in life, remember that you were created to know Him, fellowship with Him, and bring glory to His name.

Because God created us in His image, every person who has ever lived will someday stand before their Creator. This reality gives urgency to our calling to share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. The same God who created us has also provided the way for us to be reconciled to Him through His Son. This is the message we should be sharing with the world today—that the God who created us loves us and has provided a way for us to come home to Him.

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