Anthropology: The Doctrine of Man

I. The Importance of the Doctrine of Man

A. How important is the doctrine of man?

Psalm 8:4 ESV

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

“It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the doctrine of man.”[1]

The Westminster Catechism begins with the question,

1. What is the chief and highest end of man?

Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.

Another ancient catechism, written by the Waldensians before the Reformation, begins this way,

1. What are you?

A creature of God, rational and mortal.

These catechisms were handbooks designed to be tools to help teach the youthful Christians and they begin with the doctrine of man.[2]

A. Why is the doctrine of man so important to study?

The questions “What is man?” has far reaching implications for our existence.

Biblical worldview: Essence determines Existence

Existential worldview:

Existence determines Essence

“Today, however, this question about man is being asked with a new urgency. Some have observed that people today are no longer much interested in questions about ultimate reality or ontology, but they are vitally interested in questions about man.”

“There are many reasons for this. One is that since Immanuel Kant the problem of epistemology (how do we know?) has become primary, whereas the problem of ontology (what is ultimate being?) has become secondary.”

“The rise of existentialism as a philosophical, theological, and literary way of thinking has brought a new emphasis: namely, that man’s existence is more important than his essence—that what is unique and unrepeatable is more important for understanding him or her than what he or she has in common with all other persons.”

“Existentialism, therefore, is a new way of asking the question ‘What is man?’ As belief in God becomes more rare, belief in man is taking its place; and so we are witnessing the rise of a new humanism.”[3]

Strange New World, How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution, by Carl R. Trueman

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In his book Trueman argues that in order to understand how this world thinks about intimacy (Homosexuality, LGBTQ+, sexual revolution, etc.) you must first understand how this world thinks about the idea of the self (anthropology). Our world has radically redefined the way everyone thinks about the individual and that corrupts and distorts the idea of intimacy.

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Expressive Individualism- “holds that each person has a unique core of feeling and intuition that should unfold or be expressed if individuality is to be realized.” —Robert Bellah (American scholar)[4]

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Notice the words “feeling” and “expressed.” What is ultimately important is that your sense of individuality is to be realized and the only way to do that is to express your unique core of feeling and intuition.

Existence determines Essence (Identity)

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“The culture of authenticity is one where each one of us who has his/her own way of realizing our humanity, and that it is important to find and live out one’s own, as against surrendering to conformity with a model imposed on us from outside, by society, or the previous generation, or religious or political authority.”[5]—Charles Taylor (Canadian philosopher)

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What Taylor is explaining is vastly different from the way our culture understood the individual throughout most of human history. The individual for most of history was shaped and effected by the community. His or her identity, morals, and virtues were shaped by looking out and around at others. Now, the way everyone in our society thinks about the individual, the way we live authentic lives is when each one of us has our own way of realizing our humanity. It is of the utmost importance that we live out our own humanity. We cannot surrender ourselves to conformity with any model imposed upon us from the outside, be that society, the previous generation, religion, or government.

Biblical Worldview: Essence (Identity) determines Existence

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“In short, the modern self is one where authenticity is achieved by acting outwardly in accordance with one’s inward feelings.”[6]—Carl R. Trueman

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This idea, that to be an authentic human being, one must act outwardly in accordance with one’s inward feelings, has led to the idea that sexuality is no longer something we do, but our very identity. This kind of erroneous thinking is what leads to such vicious backlashes the moment you attempt to put any kind of standard or rule that forces people to conform to anything other than their own feelings.

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“If the individual’s inner identity is defined by sexual desire, then he or she must be allowed to act out on that desire in order to be an authentic person.”[7]‌

Trueman traces this philosophy back to guys like Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and Carl Marx, among others. ‌

Did you know that our culture is dominated by the corrupted thinking of a man like Sigmund Freud?

‌“What do people demand of life and wish to achieve in it? The answer to this can hardly be in doubt. They strive after happiness; they want to become happy and to remain so.”

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What is the American dream? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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“This endeavor has two sides, a positive and a negative aim. It aims, on the one hand, at an absence of pain and unpleasure, and, on the other hand, at the experiencing of strong feelings of pleasure.”[8]—Sigmund Freud

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Now can you guess what Freud suggested as the strongest possible feeling of pleasure? Intimacy!

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And if what it means to be an authentic individual is by acting outwardly in accordance with one’s inward feelings, what kind of world are we left in? Trueman calls it a strange new world.

This is why the study of anthropology is so important! If you get the order of essence and existence reversed, then you are worldly in your thinking!

Why do so many people root their identity in their preferred brand of sexuality?

Because they have bought into the lie that their existence (what makes them feel unique and happy and authentic) is what determines their essence (identity). That is a sad way of thinking, and it leads to sinful and wicked views of humanity.

“The simple answer is that sexual desire has emerged in the last one hundred years as a primary category for understanding our identity. In biblical times or in ancient Greece, sex was regarded as something that human beings did; today it is considered to be something vital to who human beings are.”[9]

How does a biblical view of man’s essence lead to a proper understanding of his/her existence? The Biblical view is that your essence, your identity, the way you were created by God leads to your existence. Your existence (the how and why you are human) is determined by your Creator. God created your essence, He made your identity and that and that alone must be the driving factor of our existence.

Any view of man that considers some “aspect of the human being to be ultimate, apart from any dependence on or responsibility to God the Creator, each of these anthropologies is guilty of idolatry; of worshiping an aspect of creation in place of God. If, as the Bible teaches, the most important thing about man is that he is inescapably related to God, we must judge as deficient any anthropology which denies that relatedness.” — Anthony A. Hoekema

Doxological purpose for creation

Romans 11:36 ESV

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

This doxology (along with many other doxologies in the Bible) captures the key purpose for which God created the world—for his own glory. The three prepositional phrases in this verse describe the comprehensive scope of God’s purpose. “From Him” (ek autou) explains that God is the creator. God made the universe and everything in it. “Through Him” (di autou) explains that God is the sustainer. By his eternal power and wisdom, God sustains the universe and directs its course. “To Him” (eis auton) explains that God himself is the goal of creation. This telic use of the preposition eis reveals that the universe is inherently God-centered. He is the first and last cause of “all things” (ta panta). This theological reality cannot be overemphasized. A God-centered approach to theology radically affects how one understands and applies Scripture. The doxological conclusion of Romans 11:36, “To Him be the glory forever,” summarizes the proper response all creation should have toward the one true God.”[10](pg. 22) Douglas Brown

Are there still remnants of non-Christian anthropology in our thinking about man?

Example: Middle Ages commonly accepted a scholastic view of man. This was a mix between a Christian view and a view popularized by Aristotle. This led to a false division between flesh and spirit. This view is still with us today in our thinking. There is a common notion among Christians that “sins of the flesh” (like adultery) are far more serious that “sins of the spirit” (such as pride, jealousy, self-centeredness, racism, and the like). This stems from a faulty anthropology that evil has its roots chiefly in the body.

How does our view of the human person help us better understand God (e.g, does the truth than man has been made in the image of God teach us something about God as well as something about man?)?

What lights does our anthropology shed on the work of Christ? What light does our view of man shed on soteriology, on the doctrine of the church and the doctrine of the last things?

What relevance does a Christian anthropology have for our daily life? How does the Christian view of man help us better to face the pressing problems of today’s world?

II. Man as a Created Person

‌What is one of the basic presuppositions of the Christian view of man?

- The belief that God is the Creator, and we are a creation or creature of God. (Gen. 1:1, 27)

A. Man is a creature

What is an obvious implication of the fact that humans are all created by God?

- Humans do not exist autonomously or independently; we are entirely depended upon God.

Nehemiah 9:6 ESV

6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

What key truths do we find about man in this text? God made us and He preserves us.

Preserve- חיה, Piel participle, this is a being verb. It is used in the causative sense in this verb. God causes us to be, He causes us to have life or to stay alive.

This verse teaches that all of us, all of God’s creation, are dependent upon Him for our continued life. God not only made us, he causes us to continue to have life, or he preserves us.

Acts 17:24–25 ESV

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Acts 17:28 ESV

28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

What is Paul teaching us about anthropology in this text?

“We owe, Paul is saying, our very breath to God; we exist only in him; in every move we make we are dependent upon him. We cannot life a finger apart from God’s will.”[1]

B. Man is a Person

What does it mean to be a person? What is the difference between being a creature and being a person?

- To be a person means to have a kind of independence- not absolute but relative.

- It means that we can set goals, and set out to accomplish those goals.

- It means that we possess freedom. We are free to make our own choices (in accordance with our natures)

- A person is not a robot. Our course is not totally determined by outside forces.

C. A Mysterious Paradox

A Human being is both a creature and a person- we are created persons.

What does it mean that we are a creature? Absolute dependence upon God.

What does it mean to be a person? Relative independence.

What is the problem with this definition? How can we be both at the same time? “This, now, is the central mystery of man: how can man be both a creature and a person at the same time?”[2]

Do these verses emphasize the creaturehood or the personhood of man?

Romans 9:20–21 ESV

20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

Galatians 6:7–8 ESV

7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Joshua 24:15 ESV

15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

This is why we call this a mystery. The fact that man is both a creature and a person is a paradox. Yet it is a paradox that Scripture clearly teaches. And because the Scriptures teach both we must believe both, even if we don’t fully understand it.

Which truth, man’s creaturehood or personhood, do secular anthropologies deny? What is the result?

- They have a distorted view of man.

- They see man as separate and apart from God. Anytime we deny that we are wholly depended upon God as His creatures we become idolaters. We replace God with some aspect of ourselves.

- We also deny that we are in any way responsible to God.

Some Christian anthropologies deny the personhood of man. What is the result?

- Humans become puppets or robots with God pulling the strings or pushing the buttons.

“The creaturehood and the personhood of man must be held both together and in tension. When theology stresses creaturehood and subordinates personhood, a hard-faced determinism surfaces and man is dehumanized. … When personhood is stressed to the exclusion of creaturehood, man is deified and God’s sovereignty is compromised. The Lord is left standing helplessly in the wings as if man had the power to veto the plans and purposes of God.”– Robert D. Brinsmead

What implications does man as a created person have on the doctrine of sin?

- Why was it possible for Adam to fall into sin? Because he was a person, able to make choices.

- Yet, even in Adam’s sin he was still a creature, dependent upon God.

“God, so to speak, had to furnish man with the strength with which he sinned; the magnitude of man’s sin consists in the fact that he used God-given powers in the service of Satan.”[4]

What implications does man as a created person have on the doctrine of salvation?

- Is salvation a work of God or a work of man? From beginning to end it is all a work of God’s grace. (Eph. 2:8-9)

- Man is a creature fully dependent upon God. Man cannot be redeemed from sin and rescued from his fallen state without the intervention of God’s grace. We are in utter dependence upon the mercy of God.

- But man is also a person and that implies that we have an important part to play in salvation.

John 3:18 ESV

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

What implications does man as a created person have on the doctrine of sanctification?

- What is progressive sanctification?

- “Sanctification may be defined as that operation of the Holy Spirit, involving man’s responsible participation, by which he renews man’s nature and enables him to live to the praise of God.”[5]

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Work Out- agricultural term, “cultivate” the salvation God has given you.

“Work out what God has worked in; apply the salvation you have received to every area of your lives—work, recreation, family, life, culture, art, science, and the like.

We must take an active part in our advancement in Christlikeness! Personhood!

But, on the other hand- God is the One who gives us the desire and the ability to do His good pleasure. Creaturehood!

“The harder we work, the more sure we may be that God is working in us.”

God treats us as both persons and creatures. And we must make sure our anthropology constantly keeps these two truths in a mysterious tension.