The Faith's Foundations - Part 7: Humanity

Introduction

“I wish I loved the human Race, I wish I loved its silly face, and when I'm introduced to one, I wish I thought "what jolly fun"!” ― Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

What does it mean to be human?

“We are star stuff harvesting sunlight.” ― Carl Sagan

“The brain happens to be a meat machine.”

—Marvin Minsky (died 2016, one of the leading scientists in the area of AI research)

“If man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.” ― Mark Twain

“Music is what tells us that the human race is greater than we realize.” ― Napoleon

1. Mankind is Created

Physical Nature (Gen. 2:7a; 21-25)

Genesis 2:7 (NASB95)

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2:21–25 (NASB95)

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Spiritual Nature (Gen. 2:7b)

Genesis 2:7 (NASB95)

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The Image of God (Gen. 1:26-27)

Genesis 1:26–27 (NASB95)

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

What does “image” and “likeness” mean? Some say it refers to God’s physical image. But God is not a physical being, so it cannot refer to that.

Image = consciousness, rationality, relational, emotions, creative, free will

Implications

(1) Being human (both physical and spiritual beings) is good.

Contrary to most religious and philosophical views: Plato, Hinduism and Buddhism, and Yoda (!).

“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”

The way God has made you physically and spiritually is good. You are your body and your soul. The go together to make YOU. We cannot split the physical from the spiritual. If we have not connected the dots yet, this has significance for the present cultural hot button issue of LGBTQ and the like.

(2) Every human has intrinsic worth. This is due to being made in God’s image.

… one soul made in the image of God is more precious to Him than all the starry universe. Astronomy deals with space and matter and motion; theology deals with life and personality and the mystery of being.4

A. W. Tozer

The Judeo-Christian view of the nature of a human being is the only solid, reasonable foundation for accepting the intrinsic value of every human person.

The church ought to be leading the battles against true injustice.

Racism, slavery (slavery around the world is more prevalent today than at any time in history), abortion, misogyny AND misandry

(3) We need to think about ourselves holistically. We have an obligation to care for both body and soul.

2. Mankind has Responsibilities

To God (Gen. 2:16-17)

Genesis 2:16–17 (NASB95)

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

To One Another (Gen. 1:28)

Genesis 1:28 (NASB95)

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

In her book Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey discusses this passage and highlights that theologians have called this the “cultural mandate.”

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” = develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, and laws.

Seen even in Genesis 2:24–25 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

To Creation (Gen. 1:26; 2:15)

Genesis 1:26 (NASB95)

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 2:15 (NASB95)

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

“subdue it; and rule . . .” = harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music and art.

Work is a basic good that God has created for us to do.

Implications

(1) We were designed to have a relationship with God and others.

(2) Work is good, not evil

“This means that our vocation or professional work is not second-class activity, something we do just to put food on the table. It is the high calling for which we were originally created. The way we serve a Creator God is by being creative with the talents and gifts He has given us. We could even say that we are called to continue God’s own creative work” (Pearcey, op cit, 47).

There is no such thing as retirement in the Bible.

We must have a good work ethic:

2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.”

(3) Creation care

We are to be good stewards and managers of God’s world, not just the environment as such, but what the Lord has given us: church buildings, yards, and all that these thing entail.

Just this past week I saw a wonderful gentleman with a weed whacker whacking weeks on the church’s grounds. . . .

Whether we realize is or not, the manner in which we care for our grounds and buildings reflects what we think about and how we relate to God.

Illustration of dumpy yard and nice yard. When we look at these two different houses, which one are we drawn to? The nice clean house. There is something in us, namely, the image of God, that draws us to it and recognizes that this is the way things ought to be. The nice looking house is a symbol of what the world ought to be like: pure, clean, unstained by sin. The dumpy house is a symbol of what’s wrong with the world: sin.

Unfortunately, mankind has not kept his obligations toward God, others, and the created order. . . .

3. Mankind Needs Redemption

“Redeem” = to be bought back

From the State of Sin (Gen. 3:1-7)

Genesis 3:1–7 NASB95

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

When man and woman sinned against God, they entered into a state of guilt before God.

Guilt is not the idea of feeling here: it is an objective state that a sinner finds himself in. And so, mankind needs to be redeemed, or bought back from a sinful, guilty state to a state of innocence.

But it’s much more than this. Mankind needs redemption from the effects of sin.

From the Effects of Sin (Gen. 3:14-19)

Genesis 3:14–19 NASB95

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

The consequence of sin is much more than merely being in a state of guilty. It is an entrapment—slavery—to decay and death.

And so mankind needs redemption from the effects of sin—he needs to be bought back from the nature of decay and death to a new nature of purity, goodness, and life.

But, in fact, it’s much more than this. Redemption is much more than salvation from sin, guilt, death, and decay. It is redemption to something, namely, to God’s initial intent and design of mankind at creation: to love God and others, to be good stewards of God’s creation and gifts, to be holy, to flourish, and to be robustly strong humans physically and spiritually.

Implications

(1) Sin is much more serious than we often think.

It affects everything.

The Christian understands the foolishness of the cultural belief that “we are permitted to do anything as long as you don’t harm someone else.”

Re: epigenetics

(2) Redemption/salvation is not a “one and done.”

It is a continuous act and process of God. This is what theologians call “progressive sanctification.”

Thankfully, God has a plan in place to redeem mankind from sin, death, and decay and to renew us to his original purpose and design . . .

4. Mankind has a Promise (Gen. 3:15)

Genesis 3:15 NASB95

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

“Protoevangelium” = proto - “first”; evangelium - “good news”

Conclusion

Mankind

is created

has responsibilities

needs redemption

has a promise