But aren't "Image" and "Likeness" the same thing?
Not quite.
The Hebrew word for "image" here -- tselem -- has the meaning "to shadow forth"; i.e. cast a shadow on the world. God's Chosen People are to show forth His might and glory to the whole of the world.
The Ten Commandments (in one of the forms they appear in Genesis) forbid the worship of images -- and we are as forbidden to worship ourselves (images of God) as we are forbidden to worship physical objects (statues, books). We all know people who suffer from Narcissism -- who are so bound up in themselves that they cannot see or understand or love others.
"Image" then, is something in the outer, physical world, that we see with the body's eyes. It is how we (as individuals or as a people) appear to others. We need to be careful of the image we project -- of the example we give.
"Likeness" -- Hebrew "demwuth" -- is an interior resemblance. The closest resemblance that the ancients could imagine was that of a father who begets a son -- Genesis 5:3 - Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image. We often see sons who are the spitting image of their fathers, and who act like them -- image and likeness. We will come across the word "beget" again, later in this series of essays.
"Likeness" was also the condition the ancients thought necessary for things or people to communicate with one another. It is because we are like one another that we can can talk to our families, and our friends -- strangers from the same city are a little less like us, and people from different lands are even less like us, and much harder to understand.
So we see in the Bible's story of creation, that mankind (and specifically Israel) are created to shadow forth the Glory of God among the nations, and to be like God, as a child is like its father. This is a striking difference from the stories that the cultures who surrounded Israel told about their gods, and their beginnings.
In the Sumerian, Assyrian, and other cultures (from whom the Biblical authors borrowed images and ideas), humans are the cattle or slaves of the gods, to be exploited or slaughtered at the whim of the deities. Not so Israel, where God promises Noah that He will not destroy the earth and his people.
A god promising to protect his people from outside enemies was very common; a God promising to protect His children from Himself was unheard of. A marvel -- a God of Love!
The Church thus teaches that we -- you and I and the family down the way -- are not just a bag of skin & bones with a job and a mortgage. We consist of Body, Spirit, and Soul.
"Body" is easy to see, easy to take apart, and relatively easy to understand. We share the quality of a physical body with animals, plants, and even one-celled organisms -- all one extended family.
"Spirit" (Latin "spiritus"; Greek "pneuma"; Hebrew "nefesh") comes from the idea of breath as the "vital essence" -- that which does not breathe (a rock, for instance) is not alive. Certainly, a body which no longer breathes is no longer alive. (Modern technology can detect signs of life for a little longer -- but not much.)
We also speak of persons without bodies as "spirits" -- the older word is "Ghost". God the Father has no body (Jesus does!), the Church teaches -- nor does the Holy Spirit (whom we older speakers of English remember as "the Holy Ghost" :) More on this anon, when I talk about "God".
"Soul" (Latin "anima"; Greek "psyche"; Hebrew "ruach") is that part of us that thinks, decides, imagines, and is self-aware, and aware of others like ourself. Some animals -- our ape cousins, whales & dolphins, dogs, cats and others -- seem also to be aware, have emotions, and plan; they seem to have less complex souls than we do, and certainly cannot express themselves as we do.
And it is in this Soul that our likeness to God resides -- like Him, we are aware, we think, we feel, we have free will, we have immortality. From this likeness to Him flows our right to human dignity (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and our duty to treat other humans, animals, and even the earth itself with respect and good stewardship.
We are all His creatures, and from those of us to whom are given great gifts -- His Love and Likeness -- much is to be expected.
