Created to Create
It can be easy to think of the arts and creativity as a luxury in a fast-paced world, yet God calls us to be creative and to create good things. Because we are all created by God in His image, creativity is an essential dimension of every sphere of the Christian’s life. Christians are called to communicate through beauty in order to more fully imitate God.
In Genesis 1:27, we learn that “God created man in his own image.” The word “image” in this passage is translated from the Hebrew word “tṣelem.” This word derives from a root word meaning “to shade,” and the Hebrew word for shadow, “tsel,” comes from tṣelem. Literally, tṣelem translates to “image,” “representation,” or “likeness.” While scholars don’t all agree on how significant the etymology of tṣelem is to its meaning, its linguistic history provides a helpful metaphor illustrating how God created humans as shadows, or reflections, of Himself.
To fully understand tṣelem, it is worth noting its other uses throughout scripture. In the genealogy of Adam in Genesis 5, verse 3 states that “when Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth (ESV).” This verse also uses tṣelem to describe Seth’s resemblance to his father.
In the same way that Seth is an image bearer of his father, we were made in the image of our Heavenly Father.
However, tṣelem is not always used in a positive way to describe the reflection between God and human, or father and son. In many instances, such as in 2 Chronicles 23:17, the word used to describe the images and idols of Baal are referred to as tṣelem. This very different example highlights how the word “tṣelem” emphasizes physical representation.
Understanding how humans were created in the image of God is important in understanding what God commands of us. As we live our lives, we strive to become more like Jesus. Another way to think about this is striving to bear the image of God in our lives. Like a shadow, we show the properties of God in our lives to the world so that people can see them. Those who reflect the image of God well lead others to Christ through their representation of Him.
From the beginning of the Bible, God is first introduced to us in Genesis as a creator. Through beautiful poetic language, we learn that God created the heavens and the earth, and all that inhabits it. If we are to be shadows of God, we are also called to create.
Genesis also gives us guidelines for the nature of our work. After creating the world, God says that “it was very good.” As image bearers of God, this means that we should strive not only to create, but to create good, beautiful things. God’s creative nature also includes His modes of communicating with us. The Bible itself is a beautiful example of God imparting information to us through poetry, metaphor, and parables.
Through human hands inspired by God, God reveals Himself within the words of the Bible. The word “inspire” is derived from the Latin word “inspirare,” meaning “to blow upon, breath into.” We therefore understand the Bible to be “God-breathed.”
In the Bible, we learn important information about God’s nature through Jesus’s parables. These parables are told by Jesus in a way that involves healthy discussion and interaction.
In many books of the Bible, such as Ecclesiastes and the Psalms, people wrote beautiful poetry inspired by God that reveals wisdom and spiritual guidance. The action of God revealing himself through people’s poetry serves as a beautiful illustration that we can use for inspiration when striving to reflect a shadow of God in our lives and creative pursuits.
This is not to imply that we must write another canonized work of Scripture, but that we should look to the Bible for inspiration in the things that we create because it brings us closer to understanding God and serves as an example of how God uses work created by people to reveal Himself.
As we live our lives, let us look to God in His word and creation. Using His example of creating “good” things, let us reflect the image of God like a shadow through our actions and creative pursuits.