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My pastor says that only men are made in the image of God, not women. He's not a sexist. He believes the verse in Galatians which says we are all one in Christ Jesus but he says God only created Man in His own image because God looks like a Man/Man looks like God. He showed me a lot of scriptures from the King James Bible which proved he was right. His biggest proof text was 1 Corinthians 11:2-16.

Can you please give biblical support for his position?

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  • Dear potential answerers: note that Biblical Basis questions can only be answered by explaining the perspective asked about. For this question, that means answers must support the position that only men are made in the image of God. Answers saying that men and women are made in the image, or that now no one is in the image of God, will not be permitted. If you are skeptical that anyone actually teaches this, then feel free to close the question as unclear.
    – curiousdannii
    Feb 7, 2021 at 4:09
  • We have other questions about the image of God you might be interested in answering if you don't think that only men are made in the image of God.
    – curiousdannii
    Feb 7, 2021 at 4:11
  • I've decided to close this as unclear for the moment, until we can get a clearer and unambiguous quote from a church which does teach that only men are made in the image of God. Sadly I have no doubt that there is such a church, but I don't have evidence of it myself.
    – curiousdannii
    Feb 7, 2021 at 6:50
  • Why are you asking for biblical support for this position? Your pastor has given you the biblical passages he considers support his position. Feb 9, 2021 at 21:24

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26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl[i] on the earth.”

27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. (Genesis 1:26-27)

The confusion is in verse 27, which says him then them.

Adam was created in the image of God, which is the "He created him". Then in chapter 2, Eve is created by removing one of Adam's ribs.

At the time when Adam was created, there was no Eve yet, and Adam was created in God's image. At that point in time, only Adam was created in God's image, and Adam constituted a complete image of God.

However, after Eve was split off from Adam, Adam and Eve - male and female - collectively constitute the image of God. Neither man nor woman as individuals hold a complete image of God. God can create people by Himself, but it takes a pair of people - a man and a woman - to create more people (scientific pretensions set aside).

So only Adam was made in God's image, but he did not retain that complete image for long; once Eve came on the scene, he was part of a team.

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  • I'm not really sure this quite gets at the position the question asks about, but it is at least a lot closer than the other responses which were removed.
    – curiousdannii
    Feb 7, 2021 at 6:48
  • Yeah, well it was a tricky answer to give, as I also don't think it is the correct way to understand the image or God, but if you were to try to support the position Biblically, it is the best I could come up with. Feb 8, 2021 at 15:10