This is seen in one of God's first commands to man: Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Man became God's personal representative on earth, with authority over all other living creatures.

But man was also given special dignity. Being created 'in the image of God' does not mean that he was made the same size or shape as God (we have seen that God does not have 'size' or 'shape'), nor that man was a miniature of God, possessing all his qualities in small quantities. It means that man was created as a spiritual, rational, moral and immortal being, with a nature that was perfect. In other words, he was a true reflection of God's holy character.

What is more, man gladly and constantly chose to obey all God's commands and as a result lives in perfect harmony with Him. Man had no 'identify crises' then! He knew exactly who he was and why he was in the world, and he obediently took his God-given place.

But not only was man totally fulfilled and completely satisfied with his position in the world, God was satisfied with man! We know this because the Bible tells us that when his work of creation was complete, with man as its crowning glory, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. At that point in history, perfect people lived in a perfect environment in a perfect relationship with each other and in perfect harmony with God.

That is hardly the situation today! What happened?

All words in italic type (other than book titles) are quotations from the Bible.