51. As regards what the image is, an image is not a likeness but is 'according to a likeness'. Therefore it is said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'. A spiritual man is an image, whereas a celestial man is a likeness or exact replica. The spiritual man is the subject in this present chapter, the celestial man in the next. The spiritual man, who is an image, is called by the Lord 'a son of light', as in John,

He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. John 12:35-36.

He is also called 'a friend',

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15:14-15

The celestial man however, who is a likeness, is called 'a son of God', in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His Name, who were born, not of blood, ¹ nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

Footnotes:

683. As regards the use twice of the verb 'did' comprehending both good and truth, it should be recognized that in the Word, especially the Prophets, one matter may be described in two ways, as in Isaiah,

He has passed on in peace, a way He has not gone with His feet. Who has performed and done this? Isaiah 42:3, 4.

Here the first statement has regard to good, the second to truth, that is to say, the first regards things of the will, the second those of the understanding. Thus 'passing on in peace' embodies things of the will, 'a way he did not go with His feet' those of the understanding. The same applies to 'performing' and 'doing'. In the Word things that belong to the will and to the understanding, that is, to love and faith - or what amounts to the same, celestial things and spiritual things - are joined together in such a way that each individual part images a marriage, and answers to the heavenly marriage. The same applies here with the repetition of the same verb.