Genesis 1:26

26. Let us make man in our image This form of speaking in the first person plural is explained by some as conformity to the usage of human dignitaries, who are accustomed to speak of themselves in this way; while others suppose that God here addresses the angels of his presence . Others, again, find in these words a reference to the plurality of persons in the divine nature, but the ancient readers of the record would not be likely to comprehend this meaning . Nevertheless, here may be the germ which, by successive revelations, was at last developed into the Christian doctrine of the Trinity . All things conceptual or phenomenal originate in the great, uncreated, self-existent Essence, the fountain of Deity, the Father . These things become thought and form by and through the Divine Word, by whom all things exist . These existences are objects of approval to the Spirit, the Sensibility, so to speak, of God . As God looks over the objects of creation, it is the divine feeling that pronounces them “very good . ” Accordingly, man bears the triune image of his God in having will, thought, and feeling, which correspond with our highest conceptions of Father, Word, and Spirit. Will, by which we mean the whole self-acting, conscious Ego; Thought, the only begotten and always begotten offspring of the self-acting, conscious Ego; and Feeling, or Sensibility, by which we appreciate and love; these are the personalities of man’s immortal nature. God is a spirit, and man’s immortal nature is a spirit also, bearing the divine triune impress of the Godhead. We should accordingly understand the “righteousness,” “true holiness,” and “knowledge” of Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10, as qualities or attributes of the divine image in which man was created, but not as constituting the image itself . The likeness was rather in the spiritual personality which made him Godlike as distinguished from all the rest of the animate creation . Likeness is not to be understood as something different from image, but rather as explanatory of it .

And let them have dominion This dominion is the natural superiority and headship which man holds over all the inferior orders of creation . Compare Psalms 8:5-8. Genesis 1:29-30, taken in connexion with chapter 9:3, have been supposed to show that previous to the flood man’s food was restricted to substances in the vegetable kingdom. This was probably the case; but, after all, these passages do not prove that animal food was prohibited before the flood; and possibly the skins mentioned Genesis 3:21, were those of animals slain, not for sacrifices only, but for food .