In the Image of God lecture notes

• Humanity was created to rule because we were created in the image of God who rules.
• The sovereignty of man is like the sovereignty of God—a sovereignty of service.
• Both men and women make up the image of God because God is plurality in unity (Trinity).
• The Old Testament focuses on the unity of God because polytheism was the predominant challenge in those days.
• God rested on the Sabbath because salvation was complete.
• Israel rested on the Sabbath to show trust in God’s blessing.
• The Garden of Eden was a geographical temple like Mt. Sinai would be to Israel later in the Old Testament.
• Humanity was created to care for creation and pursue beauty. Human beings were created to worship through obedience.
• Woman was created as man’s helper. But this does not mean that woman was created to do the “grunt work.” Woman was created to be man’s helper in the sense that she was his savior—enabling him to fulfill God’s command to cultivate, till, and keep the garden. No masculine dominance exists in Genesis 2 (See Psalm 30:2 and Ephesians 5).
• The gold, pearls, and lapis lazuli placed in the Garden of Eden were a challenge to man to grow aesthetically.

Source: Genesis: Week Two: In the Image of God.