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)
WHY DID GOD CREATE US? For what purpose? The Westminster Shorter Catechism answers, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
Speaking originally of the scattered exiles of Israel whom God promised to redeem, Isaiah 43:6–7 agrees:
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
In the first chapter of Genesis we don’t read that man was created for God’s glory, but in God’s image. What’s the difference? Not much. As Sinclair Ferguson has noted, “In Scripture, image and glory are interrelated ideas. As the image of God, man was created to reflect, express, and participate in the glory of God, in miniature, creaturely form.” The Heidelberg Catechism agrees, “God created man good, and after his own image, in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love him
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