Meaning, commentary and cross references
Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”In other translations
KJV · King James Version
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
NIV · New International Version
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
WEB · World English Bible
God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
What does Genesis 1:27 mean?
John Gill · Exposition of the Entire Bible, on Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image,.... Which consisted both in the form of his body, and the erect stature of it, different from all other creatures; in agreement with the idea of that body, prepared in covenant for the Son of God, and which it was therein agreed he should assume in the fulness of time; and in the immortality of his soul, and in his intellectual powers, and in that purity, holiness, and righteousness in which he was created; as well as in his dominion, power, and authority over the creatures, in which he was as God's viceregent, and resembled him. The Jerusalem Targum is, the Word of the Lord created man in his likeness; even that Word that was in the beginning with God…
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Genesis 1:26–28
He created him male and female, Adam and Eve - Adam first, out of earth, and Eve out of his side, ch. 2. It should seem that of the rest of the creatures God made many couples, but of man did not he make one? (Mal 2:15), though he had the residue of the Spirit, whence Christ gathers an argument against divorce, Mat 19:4, Mat 19:5. Our first father, Adam, was confined to one wife; and, if he had put her away, there was no other for him to marry, which plainly intimated that the bond of marriage was not to be dissolved at pleasure.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
John Calvin · Commentaries, on Genesis 1:27
So God created man The reiterated mention of the image of God is not a vain repetition. For it is a remarkable instance of the Divine goodness which can never be sufficiently proclaimed. And, at the same time, he admonishes us from what excellence we have fallen, that he may excite in us the desire of its recovery. When he soon afterwards adds, that God created them male and female, he commends to us that conjugal bond by which the society of mankind is cherished.
John Calvin, Commentaries (Calvin Translation Society English text). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Context: Genesis 1:24–30 (WEB)
24God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so. 25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. 26God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
Cross references
- Matthew 19:4
He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
- Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
- Genesis 5:1–2
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness.
- Mark 10:6
But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.
- Genesis 2:21–25
The LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
- Ephesians 4:24
and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
- Psalms 139:14
- Isaiah 43:7
everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’”
Key words
In the Baptist Catechism
- Q14. How did God create man?
God created man male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.