Sermons
Psalms 8:4
WHAT IS MAN
INTRODUCTION
Biblical anthropology focuses on the bible’s revelation about humans, especially our original creation. Man has always wanted to know who he is, where he came from, what is his purpose of being here, and finally, where is he going. The Bible tells us who we are, where we came from and where we are going.
The doctrine concerning the origin of man has generated many arguments and theological discussion and many theories have been put forward.
The atheistic evolutionist: Say’s that man is the accidental and random product of a blind and none personal series of chemical and biological event
Theistic evolutionist: Teachers one God, the creator of matter who chose the method of evolution to bring all things including man into the state of existence.
The Bible strongly refutes those theories. The origin and creation of man clearly state, that God is the author, creator and originator of man. In Gen.1:26 man’s creation was decreed and in Gen.2;7 says and the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. So dust of the earth and the breath of God are the material and spiritual element that make up the man.
So the Psalmist asked the question what man that God is mindful of him is. There are five terms for man in the Hebrew text. Adamah, Ish, Gibbor, anthropos andEnosh. The Psalmist used the word Enosh for man to speak of man not according to the state of his creation but as fallen into a state of sin and misery and mortality.
What is man? The Scripture gives many answers to this question, ask the prophet Isaiah what is man and he answer man is grass, all flesh is grass and all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field.
Ask David what is man he says man is like to vanity his days are as a shadow that passed away.
What is man that God should take notice of him, as a sinful and an unclean creator, and we may wonder to amazement: what is an unclean creature that God should magnify him? Will the Lord indeed put value upon filthiness and fix his approving eye upon an impure thing.
In Ezekiel 16:8 now when I pass by thee, and look upon thee, behold thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea I sware unto thee and entered into covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine.
Inside of every man is the image of God which cannot be lost and God is mindful of this image, he would visit him its not a visit of judgment , but to show mercy, to deliver and to bless. Man is the last and fullest expression of God’s thought, it only through man, made in God image that God could rightly reveal himself.
In conculsion, The Bible gives us exclusive, reliable information not only about God but also about ourselves. The origin nature and destination of man cannot be known apart from what God has revealed in his word and accept this revelation as absolute truth and base our understanding on it. If the heaven stood alone, there would be silence, but when man was created, there was an eye mad to see, and a heart to feel, a voice to proclaim God’s praise. The Old Testament witnesses to the apparent insignificance of man in the creation and yet, look at the place of honor that has been given him. The author finds in the psalm a witness to the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus through whose suffering man’s salvation was won. What is man??