Genesis 1:26-28

"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 birds of the heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over everything that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 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 moveth upon the earth."

"And God said, Let us ..." The plural word [~'Elohiym] is used here; and the most logical understanding of it is that of seeing in it a foreshadowing of the doctrine of the Trinity revealed ages afterward in the N.T. Such views as making it like an editorial "we," or the majesterial plural, or as an inclusion of angelic hosts or other heavenly beings are totally inadequate. It cannot be believed that God discussed the creation with the angels and included them as participants in His decision to create man. John 1:1, which affirms that the Word was God, and in the beginning with God, and that without Him there was nothing made that hath been made, supports the thought that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (revealed in Genesis 1:2 as active in the creation) should be understood as included in "us" and "our" here. Thus, it appears from the very beginning that God is represented as a compound unity.

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ..." It is the kinship of humanity to God Himself that shines in this, a conception that is launched here and is never diminished until the God-Man Himself, "The Lamb standing as though it had been slain" (Revelation 5:6), is seen in the very midst of the throne of God! The great Christian doctrines of the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth are part and parcel of this.

As to the manner in which God made man in His image, it is significant that man himself is a trinity - having mind, spirit, and body. Three classes of institutions are required in human societies to deal with human disease or failure in these three specific areas: penal institutions for gross spiritual failures, hospitals for the diseases or injuries of bones and joints, and psychiatric wards for the mentally deficient. Other phases of human likeness to God are seen in such things as freedom of will, moral responsibility, intellectual achievement, and creativity. Needless to say, the divine image has been grossly eroded in many of Adam's rebellious and sinful children. Nevertheless, even in his fallen state, man retains something of the image of God, for every human being is potentially the beneficiary of the blood of Christ and an heir of everlasting life.

"And let them have dominion ..." This is another quality of man's kinship with the Eternal. The intention of Almighty God in the creation of man is revealed to have been the placement of man over the earth and all that is in it, an intention frustrated in part by man's rebellion in Eden, but finally realized despite all hindrances and delays in the era of the "new heavens and the new earth." "Thou madest him (man) a little lower than the angels; Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands" (Hebrews 2:5-7). This passage, of course, refers to the humiliation of Christ, whose being made "a little lower" than angels actually means "made lower for a little while," in the matter of his passion and death; for the same passage indicates that man, as he was created, ranked higher than angels, for, "Not unto angels did he subject the world to come," an honor reserved for man. See more on this in my commentary on Hebrews 2. As Christ came into our world without sin, his true rank therefore was that of Adam, as God had created Adam, and before the Fall. Following Christ's humiliation for a brief time in the passion and death, he ascended to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens; and thus, in the person of Christ, man has already achieved the dominion mentioned here, a dominion to be more completely realized in the final resurrection.

"In the image of God ... male and female created he them ..." This means that woman also is made in the image of God.

"And God blessed them, and said ... Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ..." The procreation and nurture of the continuing generations of mankind upon earth is a God-ordained privilege and commandment.

"Replenish the earth ..." This does not envision a re-population of the earth, but the spread of mankind throughout all the world. There is no record of previous populations that sometimes are alleged from what is written here to have existed prior to humanity. The passage should be translated, "Fill the earth and subdue it."[11]