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[ noun ] similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things
Examples : "man created God in his own likeness" Used in print (Jaroslav Pelikan, The Shape of Death: life, death and...)The biblical symbol for this affirmation is expressed in the words : `` So God created man in his own image ; in the similitude of God he created him '' . There are some passages in the writings of Irenaeus where the image of God and the similitude are sharply distinguished , so most notably in the statement : `` If the [ Holy ] Spirit is absent from the soul , such a man is indeed of an animal nature ; and , being left carnal , he will be an imperfect being , possessing the image [ of God ] in his formation , but not receiving the similitude [ of God ] through the Spirit '' . There are some passages in the writings of Irenaeus where the image of God and the similitude are sharply distinguished , so most notably in the statement : `` If the [ Holy ] Spirit is absent from the soul , such a man is indeed of an animal nature ; and , being left carnal , he will be an imperfect being , possessing the image [ of God ] in his formation , but not receiving the similitude [ of God ] through the Spirit '' . Thus the image of God is that which makes a man a man and not an oyster ; the similitude of God , by contrast , is that which makes a man a child of God and not merely a rational creature . He does not mean to say that Adam lost the similitude of God and his immortality through the fall ; for he was created not exactly immortal , nor yet exactly mortal , but capable of immortality as_well_as of mortality . |
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