Genesis 1:26 and God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,  over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

“Let us” indicates the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were involved in creation.

Man =  adam (aw-dawm),  Hebrew word meaning a human being, mankind.

Man in this usage does not reflect the male gender but rather mankind as a whole including women.

Image =  tselem Hebrew word meaning a phantom; resemblance; representative. Representative is a word that portrays authority. Representing or serving to represent; specifically, picturing; portraying; reproducing acting or speaking, especially by due authority, in the place of or on behalf of another or others.

God placed Adam in the garden to rule and reign on his behalf, using his authority. Everything was in Adam’s control.

Likeness =  demuwth (demooth) Hebrew word meaning resemblance, shape, counterpart. Counterpart is an interesting word meaning a person or thing resembling or corresponding to another; a thing which when added to another, completes or complements it; hence a person having qualities wanting in another, and such as make him or her complete.

As much as we need God, it is important to know that God created man because he needed to fellowship with someone like him.  Our  relationship with God becomes more meaningful and significant when we realize that God wants and needs our love and fellowship.  We complete and please God when we worship him.

It is easy to say that man was created in God’s image and likeness and then go on with the rest of our life not giving another thought as to what image and likeness really means. There are some facts we need to realize.  It is hard for us to imagine looking from our sinful and corrupted flesh, that Adam and Woman were pure, sinless and perfect beings. 

I rely totally on scripture to help my mind accept and understand what really took place at the creation.

John 2:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is Spirit minded; Spirit led - so was man until the fall.

1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

God is a triune being—so is man, spirit, soul, and body.

1 John 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. and it is the Spirit that  witness, because the Spirit is truth.

God is Spirit and Truth - so was man until the fall.

1 John 3:3 and every man that hath this hope in him himself, even as he is pure.

God is Pure - so was man until the fall.

In him is no sin - same with man until the fall.

1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

God is righteousness - so was man until the fall.

1 John 4:8 He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.

God is love - so was man until the fall.

Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

God is perfect - so was man until the fall.

John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

God is greater than our heart and knows all things, man only knows what God teaches him.

God never believed it necessary to teach man about evil, however, he did teach man all that is good and perfect. Man did not know evil until after they both had eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were the first to be born again, except they were born out of the spirit into the flesh. We are born again out of the flesh into the Spirit.

Genesis 3:22 and the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Text Genesis 2:1-25  

These scriptures outline God’s original plan for Woman and Man.

vs 7  And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The Man = Hebrew, Adam (Aw-dawm) the name of the first man.

Adam was created first.   

vs 15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Adam was placed in charge of the garden. 

 vs 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat:

Adam could eat of any fruit off any tree of the garden.

Genesis 2:18 and the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

First God created animals to keep Adam company, knowing full well animals would not be enough to satisfy Adam’s needs.  Man cannot have a personal or sexual relationship with animals.   Although it is possible to engage in sexual acts with animals, having a sexual relationship with an animal is impossible for two reasons.

	First, God views any sexual activity between humans and animals as being an abomination and, therefore, forbidden.
	Second, there can be no mutual emotional or spiritual exchange between humans and animals making a sexual "relationship" quite impossible.

I am a dog lover and owner.  My dogs are very cute, very loyal, and very smart; but our communication is one sided.  They are reactors, they only do things which please me.  They do not come up with new ideas of their own, bringing them to me for discussion.  This is not a personal relationship.

Genesis 2:19-20 and out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. and Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

God never intended for women to be treated inferior to man.  God, our father, always intended that man and woman live together as husband and wife, an inseparable couple living as one in harmony forever, ruling and reigning the earth and all that is in it.   

Genesis 2:21-23 and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. and Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Adam named his helpmeet Woman; picking this name because it reflected upon their one flesh relationship.

God called them Adam.  We still follow that same God ordained principle today.  When a woman marries a man, she takes on his “sur” name, dropping her maiden name, reflecting the one flesh relationship.  However, since the fall the one flesh principle has been distorted and mankind has found it rather difficult to understand and live within God’s “one flesh” principle.

The following verse is a prophetic utterance spoken by Adam.  At the time it was spoken, there were no parents to leave.  Adam was laying down the ground rules for the marriage relationship.

Genesis 2:24-25 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

They had nothing to be ashamed about because they “knew no evil.”  When all is good around you, nothing is shameful!

God’s first dominion team was Adam and Woman.

Woman had not been created when God “commanded the man” Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16 and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat:

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eats thereof thou shall surely die.

Genesis 2:9 and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

There are two types of trees mentioned in this scripture, and it is important to understand that God clearly makes a big distinction between these trees.  In the past, people have just assumed that all the trees were a part of the actual garden.  That cannot be true for two reasons:

	God told Adam he could eat of all the trees of the garden, freely, no exceptions.   Genesis 2:16
	God could not have put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden because if he did, there would be a contradiction in the command making God double minded, tempting man and making his command impossible to obey. This tree belonged to Satan.

James 1:13-17 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither temps he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 

Scripture makes it very clear that God does not tempt man; man is drawn away by his own lusts, as Adam and Woman were in the fall of man.

It is also clear God only gives us good and perfect gifts.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

God instructs us that lust is alive and gives birth to sin. Sin is alive and gives birth to death.

Genesis 2:9 and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17 and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou  thereof thou shall surely die.

This was not a temptation to man!  God knew the evil in that tree.  God warned man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he would surely die and he would know good and evil.

Up to this point in time, Adam did not know there was a devil or that evil existed?  God never introduced Adam and Woman to Satan.  Think about your own children.  How much evil do you introduce to them?  Most people tell their children to avoid evil but they do not go into detail as to what evil is!

Genesis 3:22 and the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:  

God is clearly pointing out that man did not know good and evil because everything man had learned so far had come from him, good and perfect gifts.

When parents instruct their children not to touch the burner on the stove, they are not tempting the children.  They are, however, warning them or giving them a command, “not to touch it,” to protect them from danger.  This is exactly what God did for Adam and Woman.  Man was not given a choice in the matter.   He was told not to eat; if he did eat he would die.  The only choice evident here was whether man would be obedient or disobedient.

Contrary to popular belief, Adam and Woman did not commit the first sin.   The very first sin was committed by Lucifer when he rebelled against God.    Lucifer was the Archangel of the Logos, the second person in the Trinity, the Son of God.  His job was to reflect God's glory.  Scripture declares that he was an anointed cherub, who stood upon God’s Holy Mountain, he was perfect in his ways from the day he was created, until iniquity was found in him.  After his rebellion and fall,  God renamed Lucifer to "the Satan" which reflected his now sinful nature.

Ezekiel 28:12-19 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus says the Lord GOD; Thou seals up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set thee so: thou was upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shall be a terror, and never shall thou be any more.  

“Found” =  “matsa”=(maw-tsaw) Hebrew word which means to come forth to; to attain, find or acquire; cause to come on to hand; get hold upon; take hold on.

Until Genesis 3:1 Adam and Woman had absolutely no contact with Satan.  Even though they did not know who Satan was, Satan was well aware of who they were and what he needed to do to destroy them.

There are two types of trees mentioned in Genesis 2:9 including the tree of Life. The tree of Life is not specifically mentioned by name in the command, but is mentioned before and after the fall. Genesis 3:22-23. Since the tree of Life is part of the garden, then it is alluded to in the command.

Adam and Woman could freely eat of every tree of the garden. They could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If they did, they would surely die.  God did not consider the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a part of the garden even though it was in the midst.

God gave the original command only to Adam;  Woman had not been created at the time of the command. Woman received the command from man as we will see later.

In God’s original plan, Adam and Woman would be his dominion team, one complete set consisting of two individual people, working together as one flesh.  They were to reign together as kings of the garden.  They were to rule the earth and subdue it, they were to be gods of the earth.  Mankind was created for one purpose, to fellowship with God.  As long as Adam and Woman did God’s plan, that is precisely the way it was.

Genesis 3:8 and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

Adam and Woman walked with God in the garden daily.  God taught and trained them and fellowshipped with them; they walked in the Spirit not in the flesh until…   

Genesis 1:26-31  and God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. and God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. and God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. and the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Does any of this sound familiar?  Although this was indeed God’s original plan for mankind, it is hard for us to grasp who we are in Christ.   We are priests and kings who are to rule and reign over all the earth.  God always intended mankind to be his kings!

But, Woman began to do her own thing!  Through her  own free will choice, she implemented her own program.  Then Adam through his own free will choice began his own program. The result …

...the Fall.