Made in the Image and Likeness of God | What Does it Mean?

Created in the Image and Likeness of God
Today I'll be sharing about the fact that we are made in God's Image & Likeness.
This notion has been misinterpreted by some people who have created false doctrines from it. Some have combined it with New Age beliefs and created heresies. Some have called themselves God Almighty. One pastor with a very big following said this. Some of his followers excused him and said he did not mean what he said, others said that it was a slip of the tongue. However, this was not the first time he has alluded to himself being God Almighty.
What do you understand by being made in God's Image & Likeness?
Let's start by looking at what the Bible says:
Genesis 1:26-27 God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (27) God created man in his own image. In God’s image, he created him; male and female he created them.
Mankind was different from the animals that God created. People have interpreted image and likeness in different ways. One interpretation is that man has a spirit, soul and a body. This is perceived as form of trinity reflecting God's nature as the Triune God for example. Another notion is that man was given the ability to choose i.e. a free will. Animals do not have a free will. They seem to be programmed and to live by instinct.
Man is a spirit and God is Spirit as we are told in John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Man's spirit and soul dwell in a physical body in this physical realm. Sin alienated man from God but Christ has reconciled mankind to God through faith in Jesus Christ. As a result the Bible calls us, that have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, the righteousness of God on earth.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example of mankind for godliness. This is what the Bible says in:
Romans 8:29
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
We are to shed off the old sinful nature and be conformed to Christ's image through knowing Him (our Creator).
Colossians 3:9-10 Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, (10) and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
One day we will reach the full potential of who God created us to be i.e. to be like Jesus Christ as a man.
1 John 3:1-2 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. (2) Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
God is Light. Jesus called us children of light and refers to us as the light of the world. In Daniel 12:3 we read that we shall shine like the stars of the sky in the future. This all tells us that God has imparted one of His characteristics to manifest.
Although we are created in God's image and likeness we are not His equals. Certain characteristics are exclusive to Him.
These characteristics or attributes are often called the non-communicable attributes of God. They are not shared with any other being.