Tselem means shape, resemblance, figure, or shadow, and nothing in the word is abstract. Genesis 1:26-27 says God made man in His tselem, and the same word is used of Adam begetting Seth in his own likeness and image (Genesis 5:3), where no one disputes that it means physical form. It is also used of idols, such as carved images, the golden calf, and the figures Isaiah mocks (Exodus 20:4; Leviticus 26:1; Psalm 106:19-20; Isaiah 40 and 44), and those images plainly resemble what they copy. Consistency therefore requires that the same word, used of God and man, mean form and shape. Even the Interpreter's Dictionary admits that concrete physical resemblance must be considered. The parallel word demooth (likeness) means model, shape, and bodily resemblance, as in Genesis 5:1 and Ezekiel 1. The meaning "shadow" supports this, because only something real and solid casts a shadow. The Greek icon carries the same sense and also implies a direct relationship between the original and its image, as with a child who is the spitting image of a parent. God's image in man includes intellectual, moral, and spiritual likeness, but the overwhelming usage refers to bodily form and shape. Man is made bodily in God's image, so God has a spiritual body with form. Claims that the image is only character contradict the plain usage of these words and amount to doubting what God says about Himself.

Tselem (Strong's H6754), translated "image" in Genesis 1:26, comes from an unused root meaning "to shade." It denotes a phantom, an illusion, a resemblance, a representative figure, an idol, or a vain show. It is an outline or representation of an original, the way a shadow outlines the one casting it. The same word appears in Exodus 20:4 and Leviticus 26:1, where God forbids graven images. It also marks humanity as made in God's own image, and people remain in that image after the fall, though it is marred. Metaphorically it describes people as shadows, phantoms, or fleeting, senseless beings who go through the motions of life unless they have hope in God. Psalm 39 and Psalm 73 show this: those who live only for the things under the sun, driven by the senses, are vapors and walking shadows whom God despises as a dream when one awakes. The image alone is only an outline. God intends more than a shadow, and demooth, "likeness," supplies the substance. Likeness is the resemblance of a son from the blood of his father, which God began by breathing His own life into Adam. Choices made in God's way fill the outline with substance. Those called now are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, truly born into the likeness of God.

The Hebrew word *tselem* (H6754), translated as "image," is central to understanding how God reveals Himself in relation to humanity. In Genesis 1, God declares that man is made in His image and likeness, using *tselem* alongside *demooth* (likeness). While some argue that this does not include physical form and shape, the overwhelming usage of *tselem* in context points to outward bodily appearance. If man is made in the image and likeness of God bodily, then God must have a body, an outward form and shape. Moreover, *tselem* is used not only for God but also for idols, indicating observable form and shape that can be perceived by human senses. To deny that *tselem* includes physical form when applied to God, while accepting it for idols, is inconsistent, as the same word carries the same implication of tangible appearance in both cases. God's consistent revelation in Scripture shows Him with form and shape like a man, aligning with the meaning of *tselem* as something visible and recognizable.