New creation in the image and likeness of God

Lord Wilmore has written several posts lately on the new creation and spiritual rebirth. He has demonstrated that this is an ancient teaching that goes all the way back to Adam. This was in the back of my mind when I read the creation account in Genesis recently. The following passage is very well known

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26)

As a believing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I understand this literally to mean that we look like God. But I think there is more to this phrase. The original man in the Garden of Eden had a certain spiritual resemblance to God that was partially lost by the fall. As Lord Wilmore has explained, walking the covenant path is a spiritual re-creation. This path leads through Christ back to the Garden of Eden and the tree of life, reversing the consequences of the fall. It only makes sense then, that this reversal and spiritual re-creation is also in the image and likeness of God.

Spiritual re-creation in the image and likeness of God in the Book of Mormon

Alma hints at it when he teaches

14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? (Alma 5)

The God who created us in his image before the fall wants us to be spiritually re-born and regain his image. Another example is Alma 32. This post shows that Alma is a second creation account. By referring extensively to the first creation account, he explains how the word (that created the world) is a seed that can be planted in our hearts and grow to a new creation, culminating in the tree of life.

And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness. (Alma 32:31)

In the post I linked I took this as a hint to the fourth day of creation when seeds bring forth after their own kind. But the word, "likeness" is not used there. Not until Genesis 1:26, when man is created, is the word "likeness" (Hebr. דְּמוּת, demuth), used. Even though the seed grows to a tree in Alma 32, it happens within us. So the seed bringing forth unto its own likeness is not just a reference to the fourth day of creation. This is about man/mankind (Adam in Hebrew), who was created on the sixth day, and our growth into a new creation. We grow a tree of life inside us in the likeness of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, symbolizing God's love and his gift of eternal life.

I am not surprised that it is primarily Alma that teaches us about this spiritual re-creation. His personal experience in this regard was very dramatic and these verses in Mosiah 27 follow immediately after his conversion

25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

The antithesis to the spiritual re-creation in the image and likeness of God

We live in a fallen world. The path that leads to the spiritual re-creation in the image and likeness of God is narrow. There is another broad way that leads to spiritual death. This way is walked by those who break the covenants instead of walking the covenant path. To re-establish his covenants, God called a young boy, Joseph Smith to restore his church and the priesthood. He received many revelations that the early church members eventually decided to collect in a book. In November 1831, God revealed an introduction to this collection of revelations, now known as D&C section 1. 

15 For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;

16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall. (D&C 1)

Here we are at the heart of the matter. Verse 15 clearly describes the people who have strayed from the covenant path and find themselves on the broad way leading to death, as mentioned. Then in verse 16, the antithesis to the spiritual re-creation that Alma asks us to strive for is spelled out. Notice the references to the creation account in Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created man in his image and likeness. But instead of striving to be re-created in his image after the fall, man now creates "his own god" in the image and likeness of the world. This is the exact opposite of what God wants for us. Instead of walking the covenant path out of this fallen world back to God's presence, man breaks the covenant and walks after the image of his own god "whose substance is that of an idol". 

This is why a restoration was needed. In the context of spiritual re-creation, these verses are an apt introduction to the revelations that accompanied the restoration of the covenants, priesthood and church. We have now received everything we need to become a new creation in the image and likeness of God. This will result in eternal life, symbolized by the tree of life. The alternative is walking our own way after the image of our own god that "waxeth old" (another antithesis to the new creation) and "shall perish".