ספורנו — נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו

Q — Why does the Torah call man "בצלם אלקים" (in God's image) rather than simply "אלקים"? And why does Hashem say "כדמותנו" — "*like* our likeness" — rather than "בדמותנו"?

A — For Sforno, "אלקים" denotes an intellect that is fully actualized (בפועל): separated from matter, complete, and therefore necessarily eternal. It applies to Hashem, to angels, and (by extension, השופטים) to human judges insofar as they exercise their שכל. Man as born is not yet that — he is "בכוח," still potential. He is called "צלם אלקים" — the image, not the thing itself — because he must acquire שלמות, specifically the חכמה that yields אהבת ה' ויראת ה'. Only then does he become an actualized intellectual being, וזה יתחייב שיהיה נצחי וקיים גם אחרי מיתת הגוף. Hashem deliberately said "כדמותנו" — "like our likeness, ולא בדמותנו באמת" — because man's likeness is conditional on his own בחירה: unlike angels (who have no choice) and unlike Hashem (whose choice is always toward good), man may go either way. If he refuses to actualize, "ישאר כוחו השכלי על כוחיותו" and he falls to "נמשל כבהמות נדמו." The two words "בצלם אלקים" thus encode both man's task and his risk.