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Bracketed in red pen in my trusty old NIV:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. -Genesis 1:27
The handwritten note in the margin says:
"identically & equally valuable in God's sight."
And I'm caused to wonder:
At what point did the early readers of this book begin to dissect that phrase and to separate, to denigrate, the place of women in the heart of God?
Here were are, so early in the scriptures--we're in CHAPTER ONE of GENESIS, for crying out loud!--and somehow, someway, women became almost immediately "less than" their male counterparts, according to history. But if this line is read contextually, not so.
The way I read this verse, the fourth word in, "man" is to be read as "mankind" or "humankind." That is not some feminist wish-it-were-so, that is contextual reading, based upon what seems to be God, making a point to clarify (after the semicolon) that "them" is meant to parallel that too-oft-misinterpreted-throughout-history-word "man" at the beginning of the verse.
As a writer, I tend to play out thoughts like this as a scene. Here's what I see in my imagination when I read this verse. (You may picture something different, that's cool. But go with me for a sec.) I picture God, dictating the creation story to Moses. He's jazzed. It's taking a while because, you know, Moses is a rather stubborn guy and carving words into stone? Time-consuming. But even though God is really excited to share how he brought earth and light and life out of nothing with the guy he especially picked to be his scribe, he's patient. It's just how he is. I picture him saying something like this:
God: "So I created man in my own image."
*pause for carving*
and then *pause for Moses to realize that means HE also is created in God's image*
Moses: Me too? In your... whoa.
God: *nods* "That's right. In the image of Me, I created them."
Moses: *tilts head* "Them?"
God: "Yes, them. Male and female, I created them. Write that down. It's important."
I wonder how many times since that originally carving, a female reader of scripture has come across those lines and paused, blinked, and wondered if everything she had been taught (out of context) pertaining to her feminine identity was wrong. Perhaps she had grown up in a legalistic, chauvinistic, or even barbaric home or culture. Perhaps her early introductions to Genesis had focused on how, as a woman, she was little more than a standard bearer of original sin and a vessel for producing a quiver full of sons. I wonder if, upon reading that phrase, her eyes simply skimmed over it, seeing herself not as the "them-as-connected-to-man", but as... an afterthought.
Or did she pause to reflect about the eternal nature of God? An eternal nature that precludes the need for afterthought.
How many times did my eyes skip over this bit of creation until I realized that it applied to me in a personal way?
I don't know. I don't remember when I drew that red bracket or made that note in the margin of my trusty NIV, only that I believe it to be true.
Surely I'm not the only one who has paused upon this verse. I have to wonder if, every time that verse causes a reader to pause, God heaves a mini sigh, shakes his head the tiniest bit, and then smiles and whispers across the reader's heart, "Yes, I mean both of you. I created both of you in my image."
Male and female. Created in the image of God.
But... huh? How's that again? That's messed up . . . isn't it?
Not really. Because I really don't think God is nearly as hung up on physicality as we are. I think his "image" goes way deeper than our rudimentary and shallow definition of the word.
I believe it was author, poet, and storyteller Steven James who opened my eyes to the prismatic depth of this concept of being created in the "image" of God and how it relates not only to our physical appearance, but to our abilities, our creativity, our need for beauty and art and truth and so much more than we appearance-obsessed Americans allow ourselves to grasp. (side note: if you haven't read any nonfiction by Steven James, I suggest you start with his very beautifully written Sailing Between the Stars, one of my all-time favorite nonfiction titles. But really, everything of his I've read is gold, so... grab what you can and dive in!) When I look at that idea of "image" and hold it up to my version of the definition, mine is so lacking that it seems almost insignificant.
In the big scheme of eternity, does it really matter what God looks like? Hardly. I'd wager that even when we get to heaven we won't be able to look him square in the eye--at least not for a long time! I mean, hello-oo, Glory! Before you send me angry emails, let me be clear: I'm not saying that God does not look like us physically (well, vice versa. You know what I mean.), he very well might. But it's not his physical appearance that makes this verse of scripture really sing in my heart. What matters is what of his image he has injected into us.
And that he's put it into all whom he created in his image, regardless of societal or culturally mandated gender roles.
Male and female he created them.
You, me, him,her, us.
Outward appearance, bah. We were identically and equally created in the image of God. An image that goes deeper than skin.
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