God did not commune with any animal in Eden in the sense that He communed with Adam and Eve. He did not call out to any animals, “Where art thou?” There is a unique capacity in us to have communion with Him. Nature does not choose to praise God because it does not have the capacity for spirituality. By grace, we worship God voluntarily and rationally because of our spiritual capacity.

Let us make man in our image…. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.
— GENESIS 1:26–27a

God created man specifically different from the rest of His creation in terms of bearing His image and likeness. These unique aspects of man’s creation give him great dignity.

What does it mean to be created in the image or likeness of God? That is an important question because, even as fallen creatures, we still bear, in some sense, the image and likeness of God, though every aspect is flawed by sin. The image of God in man includes three important capacities:

First, the image of God in man includes the capacity for intellect or reason. God has a mind and is perfectly wise. So when God addresses man, He does so in rational terms. For example, He says, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18).

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