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The first time God made mention of His image was when He was creating man. He said, "Let's make man in our own image and likeness." When God said image, He didn't mean it in the physical way, and this is because He is a spirit and not a mortal. We can see this in the scripture below:
John.4.23 - But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 - God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
When God said in His image, He actually meant His spirit. Our true form is actually that of a spirit. Our flesh/body is merely just a container or a shelter housing our true form, which is spirit. God created us spirit after Him. He is our father, and He is a spirit, so that automatically makes us spirit as well.
When it comes to likeness, God was referring to His nature, in essence, His attributes and qualities. God shows us the nature of His being in Psalms 17:15. It reads:
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Our nature as children of God is righteousness. This was the form we were actually made of by Him, but man delved into what he wasn't meant to, and this ended up corrupting our nature. We see this in Ecclesiastes 7:29.
Everything God created was good, including man. Genesis 1:21 tells us of this truth. Adam was the exact depiction of the image and likeness of God until he fell. But God, being a loving Father, wanted us to regain that state and had to send us His son so we could be reconciled.
This reconciliation was to make people know the person of God through us. We are the medium by which God's nature can be revealed. God's expectation is for people to see us and see Him by the attributes (likeness) we exhibit. God can't reveal Himself physically because He is a spirit.
That's why we need the manifestation of the spirit to help us reveal the nature of God through us. When we allow the spirit to have full control, it begins to express the nature of God.