Created to be Like the Creator Youth Bible Study Curriculum

Brief: Jesus is renewing the image of God in us.

(Printable Student Sheet)

 

Needed: picture of human and chimpanzee (included)

 

Recap

We’ve been reading about how God created the World, and we read about how God made all the animals on sea creatures and all the flying creatures, including water and winged dinosaurs, on Day 5, and about how God made all the land animals, including land dinosaurs on Day 6. But that’s not all that God did on Day 6. He also created humans on Day 6.

 

Scripture: Genesis 1:24-27; Genesis 5:2-3; Colossians 3:9-10; John 1:1

Read Genesis 1:24-27

It’s interesting that humans were made on the same day as the land animals. Humans are a lot like some of the land animals, monkeys in particular.

In fact, did you know that humans and chimpanzees are 98% the same, genetically speaking? 

If humans and chimpanzees are 98% the same genetically, doesn’t that give us a good clue that humans must have evolved from chimpanzees? Or that chimpanzees and humans both have a common genetic ancestor? 

Do humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor? (No. We have a common designer.) 

Read Genesis 1:26-27

So what does it mean to be made in God’s image?

It means that we share in some of God’s qualities. We’re loving, creative. We have free will. We know right from wrong. Etc. 

Sin twisted the image of God in us, so we’re not perfect anymore. That image is still there though. Humans are completely evil. 

 

Read Genesis 5:2-3

Whose image and likeness was Seth created in? (Adam’s.)

Seth wasn’t made perfectly in God’s image like Adam and Eve were. He inherited the twisted or marred image that came from Adam. We inherit the marred image from our parents.

The good news is that Christ is making us perfect again so that we can go back to being that perfect image of God that He created us to be. 

Read Colossians 3:9-10

God said, “Let us make man in our image.” Who is God talking to? (The other members of the Trinity.)

What are the three parts of the Trinity? (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)

The Son is also named something else in Scripture.

Read John 1:1

“Word” in Greek is logos, which also means “thought.” Jesus is God’s thought.

The Holy Spirit is God’s spirit. God the Father keeps those two things together, His thought and His spirit. He’s like the body. So God has three parts; the Father or Body, the Son the mind or thoughts, and the Spirit or spirit. 

Humans also have these three parts; our body which houses and unifies and connects our mind and spirit.

So to be in the image of God means to have these three parts; body, mind, and spirit, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

But God’s parts, the Son and the Holy Spirit, His mind and His spirit, exist outside of Himself and even work independently of God the Father. It is God the Son that comes to earth and dies, not God the Father. It is God the Holy Spirit that indwells believers, not God the Father.

So, can our parts, our mind, and spirit exist independently of our body as God’s does? Can your spirit and mind exist outside of your body? (Yes.)

At death, the spirit leaves the body and lives on.

But does your mind go with your spirit or stay with your body?

It goes with your spirit. You can still think in Heaven. You still have your personality in Heaven. Your brain is what physically produces your thoughts, but it’s not the same thing as your mind. Your mind is what makes you you. It’s your personality.

So you can have a spirit and a mind outside of the body, just like God the Son and God the Holy Spirit exist outside of the body of God the Father.

To be made in the image of God means to have a body, a mind, and a spirit.

Now, these three parts of us are damaged, twisted, because of sin. Our spirits are corrupted by the sinful nature. Our minds often can’t see God’s truth clearly because of sin in our lives. Our bodies get weak and die as a punishment for sin. But we are all still in the image of God, and we’re trying to have that image remade in us because we all still have those three parts, and one day, those parts will be made perfect again by God, just like they were in the beginning. Our spirits will be perfect, and we won’t sin. Our minds will be able to understand the way God wants us to, and our bodies will be made strong so that we will never die again.

So the question now is, Why did God create us? What was His motivation? Why didn’t God just stop on Day 6 with the animals and the chimpanzees? Why does He keep working with us to restore us and perfect our spirits and minds and bodies again?

We can ignore God. We can insult Him. But God only wants one thing from us. He wants to be in a relationship with us. He wants to love us. He wants to hang out with us. That’s why He made us. That’s why Jesus volunteered to die for us and save us from our sins. That’s why God continues to work with us. He loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us.

And if God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe, wants to be in a relationship with you, that is a humbling thing. How can you say no?