Editorial February 23, 1998 Issue

What about that word man?

Barbara M. Vining

Regular readers of this magazine cannot have failed to note the prominent and consistent use of the word man to describe all of God's children. What is the basis for this? In the King James translation of the Bible, in the first chapter, man is the term that specifically identifies who each of us truly is as God's, Spirit's, image: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:27). Yet, some recent Bible translations have attempted to explain who we are by substituting language that suggests a human form is God's image. This would also assume that God Himself is like humans. The Contemporary English Version, for example, renders the above verse: "So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women." How can we resolve this apparent contradiction?

Man as God's image needs to be understood more clearly by every thinker.

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