THE IMAGO DEI REVEALED THROUGH GENESIS, Part 1 - Introduction

 Imago Dei Revealed Through Genesis by Dr. Andrew Corbett, 5th January 2026, from Melbourne, Australia  

Part 1, Introduction

This is the first sub-series in the grander Imago Dei series. It is the first series because the Book of Genesis is the first book of the bible, and appropriately so because Genesis means “beginning”. Yet as I will show throughout the grander series it is not the very beginning – that will be referred to in the New Testament documents (Jn. 1:1, 17:5; 1Cor. 2:7; Titus 1:2; 2Tim. 1:9; Jude 25). In the meantime, I will commence this series “in the beginning” described in Genesis 1:1 from which we will see that God is the introduced as the Creator and humankind is introduced as the created.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2

Genesis 1 introduces several biblical motifs that will contribute to how we understand their use throughout the remainder of canon of Scripture including: day, night, heavens, light, darkness, good, waters, “God said”, and “be fruitful”. In addition to this motifs which become the basis for many biblical symbols and metaphors, the account of the creation of humankind as male and female “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27) becomes one of the most important biblical verses about: the uniqueness of humankind, the foundation for the rule of law, homo religiosus, human rights, and anthropological teleology.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image (Heb. tselem), after our likeness (Heb. demuth). 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.
Genesis. 1:26-27

Theologians tend to use the Latin term for “the image of God” – imago Dei. Remarkably for such a profound biblical concept (either as tselem or demuth), only occurs four times directly in the first nine chapters of Genesis:

(2) Gen. 5.1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, He made him in the likeness (demuth) of God.

(3) Gen. 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness (demuth), after his image (tselem), and named him Seth.

(4) Gen. 9.6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image (tselem).

Jewish theologian, Michael Wyschogrod, wrote chapter in Die Hebräische Bibel und ihr zweifache Nachgeschichte: Festschrift für Rolf Rendtorff zum, 65 Geburstag, “The Impact of Dialogue with Christianity on My Self-Understanding as a Jew,” regards Genesis 1:26 as “the single most powerful [verse] in the Bible.”

As we proceed in our study through Genesis I am going to argue that its introduction in the opening chapter marks one of the predominant themes of this book. As such I will demonstrate that the book has been ordered in a way that we are able to see why certain people did not live up to this created purpose and how Genesis concludes by giving an example of someone who did. The reason that this is an important way to regard Genesis is that establishes a literary sophistication one might reasonably expect from a book claiming to have divine inspiration and authority. Secondly, it will be shown that this positive example exhibits Christological qualities that will contribute to the Hebrew expectation of what the Messiah would be like.

The immediate explication for us is to recognise that all human beings are created as imago Dei. This should consequently lead us to treat all people with inherent dignity and respect. It should also remind us that as imagines of God we have a responsibility to exhibit character qualities deserving of the God we image. For the Christian, this gives us a recognition of our need for the infilling with the Holy Spirit to help us to be the light to the world that Christ spoke of and the bear the good fruit of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul wrote of in Galatians 5. At the very least it should also cause us to be more prayerful for our souls to honour Christ.

Part 2 - The Imago Dei Revealed Through Genesis, Part 2 - Philosophically

Dr. Andrew Corbett.

EDENIFICATION

GOD AND GARDENS

I love beautiful gardens. Although I appreciate walking through a temperate rain forest and admiring the natural flora, I especially appreciate a well-planted and maintained garden. And it seems that so does God. Throughout the Scriptures, garden language is used to describe God’s presence and blessing. This is powerfully seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And even after mankind fell from innocence and was expelled from God’s garden paradise, Eden, God’s original “Creation Mandate” still summoned mankind to Edenify the earth. Ultimately, in the new heaven/earth God’s dwelling place with mankind is described as being in a garden (Rev. 22:1-5). In fact, it seems that God went to great lengths to ensure that the earth could indeed be Edenified. Because, after God had created the universe, and He focused on our extraordinary planet, He designed our planet to have the unique qualities making lush gardens possible:

* a finely-tuned gaseous atmosphere;
* a perfectly tuned gravitational rate (9m/sec);
* a biosphere that ensures symbiotic replenishing;
* a water to land ratio which distinguished saltwater from fresh-water;
* water in three states (including icy snow-capped mountains located strategically around our planet near the equator ensuring a continuous supply of melting-ice fresh water);
* tectonic plates which help to distribute nutrients ;
* microbial life;
* sea life;
* volcanic and earthquake activity distributing minerals into the food chain and precious metals nearer to earth’s surface;

He then reserved a special mountain-top field where He planted a garden. It was a life-giving garden with  many fruit trees, a stream of mountain fresh water flowing through it (that would eventually flow down the Edenic Mountain and become four rivers – Gen. 2:10).  

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,
and there He put the man whom He had formed.
Genesis 2:8

Into this divinely planted garden the Lord brought the man. This was a garden that God loved. He charged ’Adam — His image-bearer —  with the privilege of tending it, for it was a mystical garden. It had at least two supernatural trees and welcomed many supernatural heavenly beings, including the Lord Himself, as regular visitors. It seems that God was showing ’Adam that this is what He wanted him to do to the rest of the planet – to Edenify it.

¶ The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15

 

GOD CREATED MAN TO BE A GARDENER

Not only was the Lord a regular visitor to the garden He had planted (as intimated in Genesis 3:8), but even after mankind were expelled from Eden’s divine garden, gardens (and mountain-top gardens in particular) became associated with man meeting and walking with God. Even after Eden it seems that God loved to be associated with gardens and His blessing upon a land is frequently described in horticultural terms.

For the LORD comforts Zion;
He comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Isaiah 51:3

JESUS, MOUNTAINS & GARDENS

Perhaps this is no more apparent than in the life of the incarnated Christ. He often met with His Father in a garden at the top of the Mount of Olives called Gethsemane – and especially as He approached His cross (Luke 22:40-46).

¶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to his disciples,
“Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”
Matthew 26:36

And it was not without significance that when the body of Christ was buried it was buried in a garden tomb.

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
John 19:41

 

BUT WILDERNESS

If gardens are symbolic of God’s presence and blessing, wilderness, barrenness, deserts are symbolic of the devil and his presence. 

¶ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Matthew 4:1

But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel (the devil) shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel (the devil).
Leviticus 16:10

EDENIFICATION

But God’s original “Creation Mandate” for mankind was to take dominion over creation (Gen. 1:28-30). God introduced mankind to what this looked by bringing him into the garden He had planted on Mount Eden. It was a holy garden. In one sense Eden was a temple because a temple is where God dwells, and God and man can meet. This is actually an apt description of Eden. But if this is the case, then it might reveal that God not only wanted ’Adam to make the earth like Eden – a lush, fruitful, garden paradise – but also where people anywhere on earth could meet with God. Therefore, Edenifying, is not just about planting and maintaining (a) beautiful garden/s, it’s also about introducing people to God, so that they too can be reconciled to God and meet regularly with Him wherever they are. This is why I hope that our world increasingly experiences Edenification. And I hope that both aspects of this Edenification might be evident around our church grounds, our church’s 300 or so ambassadors, and especially from our pulpit for generations to come.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
Revelation 2:7

Your pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

Remembering WHY Eden - Created To Add Value

He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
Psalm 107:35

The opening verses of the Bible introduce us to the God who always improves. From void to vegetated, the Invaluable One took an interest in an obscure spiral galaxy where a small solar system had just emerged. Three planets away from this unusually sized star was a recently cooled planet covered mostly by water. He then began to improve - added value to - and these improvements culminated in the divinely gardened area He named Eden. But Eden was supposed to be the place from which man was to leave. Instead, rather than leaving it, man was removed from it. And even though hundreds of thousands of generations have since been, the memory of Eden, though feint, is etched intuitively into each of our memories. The lessons from Eden had not been fully drawn down by our First Parents, yet the elementary principles they gained about what improving looks like - and have been genetically passed down to us. As feint as this memory of Eden is in each of us, it has still been sufficient for us, the descendents of Adam, to literally change the world...

FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING

Land emerged. Seas formed. Oceans originated. The process of building the right conditions for life on this earth, due to its vast and necessarily varied deposits of water, enabled the creation of the smallest microbial life forms. These tiniest creatures would make possible the vast nutrient reserves in earth's soil and sea - so that vegetation could begin to flourish. Herbivores, carnivores, then mankind. An improving and necessary order. All created at the appropriate time. Each dependent upon each. A progression from inhospitable to inhabited.

¶ You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain,
for so you have prepared it.
Psalm 65:9

I said earlier that God 'began to improve', but more accurately it should be said that 'it appeared that God began to improve'- for even in the first creation event from which our planet eventually coalesced, He was improving. But we are forgiven for thinking that it was at this time that He began to improve, because the greatest addition of value took place after everything was created. God didn't create new atoms to form man. He took pre-existing material and formed it, shaped it, fashioned it, and breathed into it. He added nothing to the universe in order to create man - except value.

He then took an interest in an undeveloped patch of ground a few dozen square miles in size and formed a well planned, magnificently beautiful garden called Eden. Even before an animal had been permitted to enter this sanctuary, God took Adam and led him into this garden. The Great Gardener then charged His representative with care for this great Garden. "Dress, till, and keep it." Improve it! Maintain it! And by maintaining it, you will be adding value to it. Everything you do to earh should be inspired by what I have modelled for you in Eden. Now, go, subdue the earth! There is a faint memory of Eden etched into the soul of every person. Many don't know it's there. But their propensity to Edenise everything they possess is instincive. Some supress this divinely implanted instinct. A rare few seem to let it flow freely, graciously, and gracefully.These are His people who add value to not only what they posses, but to their world- whether it be things, people, organisations, their field of interest or profession, and systems they use. They are value-adders. They leave a place better than they found it. They make a business more profitable. They train those who benefit from it. They leave a motel room tidy. They walk down the road and pick up rubbish. They leave the store having smiled at and thanked the sales assistants and cashier. These value-adding people are therefore valuable people.

What do you see in your world? Barreness, void, waste, distraction? In one of the greatest movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne, the wrongly convicted prisoner, doesn't see what everyone sees. Instead, because of what he can see, he helps establish a library, acquire new recreational equipment, gain special privileges for his fellow inmates, and eventually true justice and the opportunity to redeem himself.

God has embedded onto our world almost invaluable potential. When the right value-adder realises and aspect of this potential-

# The Sahara Desert (currently growing a few kilometers a year), could be turned into lush forest. 

# Famine (one of the defining features of a 'Third World' country) could be permanently eradicated. 

# Cities beset with crime, violence, graffiti, and vandalism could become centres of innovation, creative arts, higher learning, and exquisite gardens. 

# The mega-cities of the world nearly all have rampant air, water and soil pollution, could enjoy: clean-air, fresh-water, lush and fertile garden cities, minimal crime, thriving economies, and social cohesion. 

# Schools that are trahed and truant, with the poorest educational outcomes, the least qualified teachers and the most disinterested students and parents could become hubs for their commnties, where the peer pressure from students would prevent graffiti, vandalism or littering; where parents enjoy volunteering, only the best teachers can work there, and educational outcomes are second to none.

People who reflect Eden are not always grand visionaries. They don't always change the world, or even history. But they make the world a better place- and leave it all the better for having been in it.Yet I fear I may have just undersold the value of even the least value-adder. The mother who teaches her children to be polite and courteous, the sister who plays with her younger sibling and helps her to comprehend some of the enormous dangers of the vast world - such as the impact of asphalt on knees or how a second wipe can stop embarrassing itches - may well be (and indeed probably are) changing the world and making history!

Adam was created to leave Eden and subdue (add value) to the entire world. Instead, rather than leave Eden, he was removed from Eden. Rather than subdue the earth, the today's sons of Adam have largely been hoodwinked into not subduing because somehow 'Mother Nature' knows best. But the earth is not our 'Mother' and it has been designed to bring forth immearsurable value which can only happen if it is apprpriately subdued.

Adam's time in Eden was meant to be a launching place where he imbibed the heart of his Improving Creator. God has an unstoppable passion to improve! Surely you've noticed that when you spend time in prayer, Bible study, or Theological contemplation, that it is not too long afterwards that you get your best ideas and highest levels of motivation to improve yourself and your world.

¶ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.
Second Corinthians 2:14

It was said of the squire that you could always tell when he had spent a deal of time in his rose garden. When he walked into a room, the fragrance of his roses filled the room and lingereg long after he left. The New Testament describes believers who have soaked themselves in Christ as bearing His fragrance wherever they go.

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
John 12:3

I wonder if our church can be a source for adding value to our world? Can we make our world richer - because we recall Eden and it's original purpose. It's one of the reasons why I would love to see our grounds (and yet-to-be created gardens) become a cause of wonder and enjoyment for many. Because how we present our communal space is a sacramental display of how we respond to the God of Improvement to a world that desperately needs the right kind of improving.

He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
Psalm 107:35

Yet more importantly, I wonder if we can each pool our value-adding abilities and enrich the lives of one aother so significantly that quite literally we change the world and the course of human historyand become a cause for many to realise how magnificent, how glorious, how wonderful and how beautiful our Jesus is? Consider how you can add value to your world - those you interact with, the space you utilise (even if you don't own it). Together we can remember Eden's message. And won't that be a gift of improvement to our Lord!

¶ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2

Ps. Andrew