Mankind
Why we Believe what we Believe
(The Baptist Faith and Message)
(Message 5)
Genesis 1:27
Introduction: Up to this point we have examined the
doctrine of scripture and taken an in-depth look at the nature and
characteristics of God.
As we continue our study in this doctrinal
series this morning, we come to the doctrine of man, appropriately called
anthropology. It is important to realize from the outset that the Bible is
Theocentric, not anthropocentric. That is, it centers around God and not on man.
One of the most common mistakes many well intended people make is to think that
the Bible is merely an instruction manual for mankind. To the contrary, it is
God’s revelation of Himself to humanity. It is only when we understand God for
who He is that we can understand ourselves for who we are. So it is within the
context of understanding Who God is, that is our perspective on theology, that
we are able to truly comprehend who we are and have a sure word about
anthropology.
Our text today is
found in Genesis 1:27. It is a short and simple text and yet it is one which is
loaded with significance. Not only does it positively declare what man is and
where he came from and Who it is that made him, it also declares what man is
not and how man was not made.
The Baptist Faith and Message, our
confessional statement, summarizes and encapsulates the biblical teaching on
man when it says,
“Man is the special creation of God, made in
His own image. He created them male and female as the crowing work of His
creation. The gift of gender is thus a part of the goodness of God’s creation.
In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with
freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin
into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the
command of god, and fell from his original innocence whereby his nature and
environment turned toward sin. Therefore, as soon as we are capable of moral
action, we become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of
God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the
creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that
God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore,
every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and
Christian love.”
For the purpose of our study I want to
divide it into three parts. We will begin by looking at how humanity came to
be, then move on to understand something about the nature of and state of
humanity, and finally understanding these things, we will consider what this
knowledge calls us to do.
I. How did we get here?
1) First Evolution cannot explain the
beginning of life.
2) Second, Evolution cannot explain
consciousness, which illuminates the whole world for us. We know as human
beings we are conscious. How did unconscious life transform itself into
conscious life? Evolution has no answers.
3) Finally, Evolution cannot explain human
rationality or morality. Rationality is the power to perceive something as
true. We can include in rationality the unique human capacity for language,
which is the ability to formulate and articulate ideas that comprehend the
world around us. People in the most primitive cultures developed language as a
means of rationality while cats cannot utter a single sentence.
II. Our Fallen State –
1. First of all we are created to be
persons; that is we each have individual personalities we were created for
intimate relationship, mankind, like God, can know and be known. As we
have studied the Trinity, we know that God is one God who expresses Himself in
three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each can be known and
can know others. So this is one sense in which we have been created in the
image of God.
2. Secondly, we have been created to be
eternal. The Bible tells us that God has put eternity in our hearts. In the New
Testament we read that at the resurrection some will be raised to eternal life
and others to eternal retribution, again, this speaks to the eternal nature of
man. Each person is tripartite, that it, they are made of body, soul and spirit.
The beasts of the field have bodies, they have the spirit of life within them
but they do not have eternal souls. Of all of God’s creations only man was
given an eternal soul. It is this eternal element which imprints us with the
image of God who Himself is eternal.
3. Third, we have been created in God’s
image with certain physical aspects – While God is a Spirit and does not have a
body there are things which God has given us physically which enable us to be
like Him. For instance, our eyes enable us to see. While God sees everything
and we see only some things, nonetheless we are able to see, which makes us
like Him. God hears all things, and our physical ears enable us to hear some
things, again, one of the ways wherein our physical bodies endow us with
certain qualities of the Divine. Our mouths and voices give us the ability to
speak, God speaks, and thus we are, in this way, like Him.
4. We are created in God’s moral image
– As creatures who are morally accountable to God for our actions, we have an inner
sense of right and wrong that sets us apart from animals who merely respond
from fear of punishment or hope of reward. C.S. Lewis calls this a moral
“oughtness,” that is, we know what we ought to do and what we ought not to do
(see Mere Christianity). Of all of God’s creations, man alone was given a
choice by God to obey or disobey the voice of God. The beast of the field, the
fowl of the air and the fish of the sea live by instinct, and do not possess
the ability to reason and rationalize moral, as does man. Cats don’t sit around
and discuss the nature of the person of Christ. Dogs don’t have the ability to
delve into the finer nuances of ethics and morality. Man alone was given that
ability, and in this we bear the image of our creator, who is Himself the
personification of righteousness, justice and moral uprightness. Our likeness
to God is reflected in behavior that is holy and righteous before Him and our
unlikeness to Him is revealed whenever we sin.
5. We bear the image of God in that we
were created to rule. God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over the world. He
gave them the power and the ability to rule over it. Think about it, before the
fall all of nature was under Adam’s rule. The animals obeyed his voice. He was
the king of the earth. But when he rebelled against God, nature rebelled
against him and has been in rebellion ever since.
III. What Are We To Do?
1. Live in relationship with God –
2. Live in accordance with Gods purpose
-
3. Live in accordance with Gods
principles –
4. Live to advance Gods rule and reign
–[i]