For Creating Man
At the centre of the gospel story and the plan of redemption is an important central fact. This is one of the main points that aligns us with God and pivotal to what the scriptures says, “Let Us Make Man in the Image of God”. This the most powerful thing in the entire universe.
What is it?
The Free Will of Man.
It is the most powerful thing in our universe because not even Our God can go against the Will of Man. It is in the Free Will that a man is made in the Image of God. God being all powerful is able to what ever He likes, but chooses, uses His Free Will not to do certain things. This ability to decide what to do and what not to do produces a freedom of existence that is uncommon in any other creatures or beings.
Man was placed in an environment where he needed to make choices not to do certain things while acting to do other things freely that were for the betterment of Mankind. The issue was he was in a perfect world and there were no opportunities to exercise the right not to do certain things because there were no rules about what was right and what was wrong.
Without ‘that’ tree which, was in the midst of the garden, the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”, Man had no way of fulfilling his role of being God-like. Here is the central point of the first chapters of Genesis. Man had to decide to take up the challenge and whereby be disobedient to God, he was told not to eat of “that” tree. Also, he was told that in the day you eat of “that” tree you would certainly die. This was a good reason not to eat of “that” tree.
If he eats of "that" tree he will 'become like' God and being 'like' God he is able to made decisions for himself now. There is an aspect here where Adam takes on a role similar to the Last Adam, Jesus.
I will discuss why Jesus was described as The Last Adam and not the Second Adam or why this terminology is used at all later.
There is a secondary aspect, but just as important, that Man is “Made in the Image of God” which I will expound next. Follow the link to the next section.
PaulT.