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The BibleTexts.com Bible Commentary Textual Commentary on Genesis 1:26,27 by Robert Nguyen Cramer, BibleTexts.com |
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The text of Genesis 1:26,27
KJV <Strong's #> - 26 ...God <0430> said <0559>, Let us make <06213> man <0120> in our image <06754>, after our likeness <01823>: and let them have dominion <07287> over the fish <01710> of the sea <03220>, and over the fowl <05775> of the air <08064>, and over the cattle <0929>, and over all <03605> the earth <0776>, and over every <03605> creeping <07431> thing that creepeth <07430> upon the earth <0776>.
KJV - 26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
NRSV - 26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
NAB - 26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." 27 God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.
TEV - "The Story of Creation" - 26 Then God said, "And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small." 27 So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, 28 blessed them, and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. 29 I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; 30 but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food" -- and it was done. 31 God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and morning came -- that was the sixth day.
Commentary on Gen 1:26,27
The New American Bible, an excellent translation and study Bible [book review at http://www.bibletexts.com/reviews/bibles/nab.htm), translates Gen 1:26,27 as follows:
Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.
The following are Bible dictionary definitions of the Hebrew word adam, which is used in Gen 1:26,27; Gen 2:5,7,8, and in more than 500 other verses throughout the Old Testament:
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (edited by Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978, page 9)
1. a man... 2. coll. man, mankind... 3. Adam, first man... 4. city in Jordan valley...
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume 1 (edited by Botterweck and Ringgren, translated by John T. Willis, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1977, page 75-87)
'adham, meaning "man" or the proper name "Adam"... usually appears in prose texts with the article, and in poetic texts without the article. Predominantly, this word occurs as a collective singluar designating a class (as "man" in English), and therefore can be translated by "mankind" or as a plural "men." At the same time, it is often used of individuals... and functions adjectivally ("human") or indefinitely ("someone"), but never appears in the plural or in the construct... {page 75}
The use of the word 'adham in the OT presents one of the strongest evidences for ancient Israelite universalism. In most passages using 'adham, including the earliest texts, it is clear that this word is not intended to refer particularly to Israelites, but to all men... {pages 83-84}
A Theological Word Book of the Bible (edited by Alan Richardson, New York: Macmillan, 1950, page 15)
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 A.D.) in his Exhortation to the Greeks 10, as found in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Genesis I-II, edited by Andrew Louth and Marco Conti (Downers Grove, IL, USA: InterVarsity Press, 2001, page 29) wrote:
For "the image of God" is his Word (and the divine Word, the light who is the archetype of light, is a genuine son of Mind [the Father]); and an image of the Word is the true man, that is, the mind of man, who on this account is said to have been created "in the image" of God and "in his likeness," because through his understanding heart he is made like the divine Word or Reason [Logos], and so rational [logikos].
...The key to interpreting Thomas suggest instead that everyone, in creation, receives the innate capacity to know God. (Page 46.)
...According to both the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals that the kingdom of God, which many believers, including Mark, expect in the future, not only is '"coming" but is already here -- an immediate and continuing spiritual reality. (Page 49. See also Luk 17:20,21, and other early gospels, including the Gospel of Mary Magdalene 8:15-20.)
...After dismissing those who expect the future coming of the kingdom of God, as countless Christians have always done and still do, Thomas's Jesus declares that
the kingdom is inside you, and outside you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will see that it is you who are the children of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty, and it is you are are that poverty. (Page 54 and Tho 3.)
...According to Genesis, "in the beginning" there was , first of all, the primordial light. For Thomas this means that in creating "adam [humankind] in his image," as Genesis 1:26 says, God created us in the image of the primordial light. Like many other readers of Genesis, then and now, Thomas suggests that what appeared in the primordial light was "a human being, very marvelous," a being of radiant light, the prototype of the human Adam [i.e., "man," the translation of the Hebrew word adam used in Gen 1:26], whom God created on the sixth day. This "light Adam," although human in form, is simultaneously, in some mysterious way, also divine. Thus Jesus suggests here that we have spiritual resources within us precisely because we are made "in the image of God." Irenaeus, the Christian bishop of Lyons (c. 180) warns his flock to despise "heretics" who speak like this... What Irenaeus here dismisses as heretical later became a central theme of Jewish mystical tradition -- that the "image of God" is hidden within each of us secretly linking God and all humankind.
Thus Thomas's Jesus tells his disciples that not only he comes forth from divine light but so do we all... (Page 55.)
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1996-2002 Robert Nguyen Cramer
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