Being the Church:One in Faith - Human Nature.

Being the Church:One in Faith - Human Nature.

The Journey so far....

Part 1 = Being the Church. 8 studies focusing on our Calling to be Together; Witnesses; to be in the Spirit; to be Disciples; to be Worshipers; to Care; to be Different and to Suffer.

Part 2 = Being the Church - One in faith. 11 studies We have so far looked at God as Trinity; God’s attributes of the love, grace and sovereignty of God, and the Holy Scriptures as fully trustworthy for faith and conduct .

Tonight’s study is a comprehensive look at what the Bible teaches about human nature!

“The dignity of all people, made male and female in God’s image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.” (Article 4: Evangelical Alliance Statement of Faith).

We are going to break this down into 6 sections:

1. “all people, made...in God’s image...”

Mankind is created in the “image and likeness of God” (Gen 1:26) which describes the special status of the human race, male and female, as God’s representatives in the created order.

“Every person needs to feel significant. We want our lives to count. We yearn to believe that in some way we are important and that hunger for significance-a drive as intense as our need for oxygen-doesn't come from pride or ego. It comes from God because he wants each of us to understand how important we are. ... We must seek our roots, our origin, and our destiny so that we can know our present value...We can help each other realize that we are persons of significance being made in the image of God.” - R. C. Sproul

The first indication of this spiritual significance is found in Genesis 2:7 where God breathed into Adam’s lifeless body the “breath of life” and “the man became a living soul.”

Now we use the phrase “image of God” a lot but are not always very clear as to what is meant by it.

Most think of the idea of “image” as synonymous with “likeness of God” but this does not really help us to arrive at an understanding.

The more important question is, in what way are we “like” God?

For example we are not like God physically speaking because when Adam was created there was no physical image of God to whom he was likened and God has qualities that we do not possess such as omnipotence; omniscience; omnipresence, etc.

(i). We are like God RATIONALLY speaking.

So one way to think about “image” is to think of our likeness to God in terms of the rational faculty of the human soul which makes it possible for us to think in the way God thinks.

This includes both the intellectual and moral capacity of humans

(ii). We are like God RELATIONALLY speaking.

Augustine (354–430) added relational to rational and claimed that the image of God is a reflection of the Trinity, the human mind consisting of memory, intellect, and will, all of which are necessary for it to function properly but each of which is distinct from the others.

This explains why the only “not good” thing in an otherwise perfect world was that “man should be alone”. We were created for relationship!

(iii). We are like God REGALLY speaking.

Humans were created to “reign” with God as vice-regents on earth. His representatives on earth with dominion to “rule over” all that God has created(Gen 1:28).

The created order that has been entrusted to the human race and that has not been removed by the fall, even though it has been perverted to wrong uses, with dire consequences for the rest of creation.

Cue the FALL and all this was somewhat marred by sin!

Augustine argued that this “likeness” was marred because of sin, fallen human beings retain their rational faculties but lose their relational status, damaging their proper relationship to God, one another, and the rest of the created order.

And the world of men and nature suffer accordingly - violence; cruelty; destruction, etc.

However all is not lost - the image of God remains! This is why people are capable of great good as well as great evil; of creative genius as well as destructiveness.

“When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their follow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them.” - John Chrysostom

Question 1 - How does/should knowledge that we are made in the image of God impact on our lives; our attitudes and our self-esteem?

2. “The dignity of all people...”

Belief that humans are made in the image of God rules out any kind of discrimination based on race or ideas of human worth by achievement!

Things like handicap; intellectual prowess; developed cultures and civilisations does not make some humans more important than others and cannot justify the destruction of some types of people based on such pretexts, whether via genocide; holocausts; eugenics; abortion or euthanasia.

Racism for example - the belief that some races are inherently superior and therefore justify discriminatory practices, has no justification in Scripture.

African slavery could only exist if Europeans and eventually American people de-imaged Negroes. As Martin Luther King jr., said: “Slavery in America was perpetuated not merely by human badness but also by human blindness. ... Men convinced themselves that a system that was so economically profitable must be morally justifiable. ... Science was commandeered to prove the biological inferiority of the Negro. Even philosophical logic was manipulated [exemplified by] an Aristotelian syllogism: All men are made in the image of God; God, as everyone knows, is not a Negro; Therefore, the Negro is not a man.”

While Scripture recognizes diversity among human groups based on geography, language, ancestry, and spiritual state, it stresses the unity of all people as made in God’s image and as descendants of Adam and Eve.

The Bible clearly states that as image bearers, humans are to live harmoniously with each other and reflect the character of a God who “shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). The first human, Adam, is racially unidentifiable and the Hebrew term adam simply means “humankind” and makes no reference to race. He is representative head of humanity.

In fact, the divisions of humankind into people groups are not introduced until Genesis 10. and arguably is a human construct consequence of human sin and rebellion.

God did not view any of the nations as inherently superior or inferior to the others. In Genesis 12, God promised to bless “all the families of the earth” through Abraham and his offspring.

Quoting Isaiah 56:7, Jesus emphasized that the temple should be “a house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17).

Finally Paul makes it clear that Jews and Gentiles “are all one in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:11–19).

“We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love.” - John Calvin

3. “The dignity of all people, made male and female...”

This rules out sexism.

Sexism is the belief that one gender is inherently superior to the others and therefore justifies discriminatory practices.

This is ruled out here because the Bible makes clear, both male and female are created in the divine image, making them equal to one another.

However there is also a divine order in creation which helps distinguish the equal but different, complimentary roles of male and female (1 Cor 11:3, 8–9; 1 Tim 2:13) that are applied in Scripture to marriage; family life and the Church but which bring with it also different levels of increased responsibility and accountability for those called to lead. (Eph 5:22–33).

Incidentally we need to celebrate gender; it is not a human construct it is a divinely ordered norm for human kind and biologically speaking you are either one or the other.

Finally at this point a word from Francis Schaeffer:

“If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today.”

4. “...made...in God’s image to...love, be holy and care for creation...”

God’s purpose in creating human beings is to be constructively relational.

to love because it is the foundation and motivation for doing no harm to our neighbour. 1 Corinthians 13 shows us show this love reflects itself in relational terms and it is massively challenging, for a fallen humanity.

to be “holy” is required relationally because holiness is purity and a pure heart can do no harm to its neighbour.

to “care” for the creation, speaks of the stewardship expected of us as God’s agents in looking after the earth and its resources. God created the human race and gave it the right to rule over what he had made in order to bring out this potential. Creatures cannot create from nothing; we have to work with what God has given us. But we also know that there is an ongoing development of creation’s potential that will continue until the end of time.

“Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other-that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. If everyone could see the image of God in his neighbor, do you think we would still need tanks and generals?” - Mother Teresa

5. “...yet corrupted by sin...”

It is clear from Scripture that the image of God is retained despite the fall, sin, and corruption.

So for example, murder is prohibited because all people bear God’s image (Gen 9:6) and James argues that we should avoiding cursing people who “have been made in God’s likeness” (Jas 3:9).

Sadly,although fallen human beings retain the image of God but use it in order to further their rebellion against him.

What should have been our greatest glory has instead become our deepest shame. We have ben given great dignity, but our rebellion against God has made us guilty of abusing the great gift and influence that he has given to us.

6. “...which incurs divine wrath and judgement.”

The Bible makes it clear that people are judged because of their fallen human nature.

Romans 5:12 - “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 - “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Adam as representative head of mankind, disobeyed and this resulted in the transmission of sin into the human race, via procreation.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden the consequences of this act of disobedience were, (i). An immediate sense of guilt and shame. (ii). The desire and effort to hide themselves from the face of God. (iii). The immediate judgment of God upon the serpent(the Devil - Rev 12:9;2 Cor 11:3) the man, and the woman. (iv). Expulsion from the garden of Eden and prohibition of access to the Tree of Life “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Gen. 3:22) - Note the only tree of life people need is Christ Himself (see Rev 2:7;22:2).

This knowledge of human nature led the Church to coin the doctrine of original sin:

This teaches that as a result of Adam’s fall, all mankind are sinners by nature, having a propensity to sin that underlies every actual sin and makes us fundamentally selfish and self-gratifying.

The nature of this sin is that it is “any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God”(Westminster Shorter Catechism Q and A 13). - not simply the wrong that we do in breaking God’s holy law but the good that we fail to do when we know we ought to do it! - see 1 John 3:4;James 4:17;Rom 3:23.

Question 3 - Read 1 John 3:4;James 4:17;Rom 3:23 and discuss how these should enable us to have a realistic sense of what we are like by nature and how dependent we are on God.

The ultimate consequence of sin is that it robs us of relationship with God, renders us spiritually dead and hostile to God and puts us under God’s wrath and, where there is no repentance and faith, in danger of final judgment...

Romans 8:7–8 - “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”

This leads us in our Basis of Faith logically to the next statement. We believe in...

“The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ – born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.” (Article 5 Evangelical Alliance Basis of Faith).

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”(1 John 3:2).

“Christ is the most perfect image of God, into which we are so renewed as to bear the image of God, in knowledge, purity, righteousness, and true holiness.” - John Calvin

Question 4 - How does the knowledge that we are gradually and ultimately being conformed into the image of Christ, encourage you when you consider your current imperfections?

“True religion is a union of God with the soul, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul, or in the apostle's phrase, it is Christ formed in us.” - Henry Scougal

Question 5 - What can you do every day to celebrate the image of God in you and develop your likeness to your Heavenly Father?