What does it mean when God said mankind was created in “our” own image?

The Bible tells us the first humans were Adam and Eve. The rest of the human family have their lineage through them.

“Let us make man in our own image and likeness” refers to the cooperative work of God and his first angelic creation, the Word, or Logos in Greek, who later became a human being. This is Jesus in his pre-human existence.

John 1:1-3,10:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was [a] god.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing that exists came into being. He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him, and the world did not recognize him. He came to the things that were his own, and his own people gave him no welcome.

John 1:14: (NASB) And the Word (Logos) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

He had a level of glory and in a very unique position as the “only begotten” from the Father.

1 Corinthians 8:6: …there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. 

Simply put – creation is of the Father by the son.

John 17:5: (NASB) Now, Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. Jesus understood and remembered where he came from while he was human on earth.

1 Corinthians 8:6: There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. We understand this verse to mean that God is the great architect and planner of creation. He did not consult with others when He made His wonderful plans.

Jesus before he became a man carried out His Father’s designs. He was the master builder.

Proverbs 8:22-30: The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth…When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above…when He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman.

Just as we identify a famous building by its architect’s name, so do we with creation. We never say this building was built by the chief foreman of construction.

In the case of creation of all things and of humans, Jesus was God’s chief foreman. God was the architect.

To learn more about the details of creation in Genesis listen to, “What Profound Secret Does Creation Reveal? Contradictions (Part V)”