A Biblical View of Man.

Opening Comments:

Please make your way to the book of Genesis in your copy of God’s Word and meet me in 1:26. We have been observing God’s creative work in Genesis 1. There is so much to glean in the first eleven chapters of Genesis as it relates to our biblical world view. We have spent, 4 weeks examining God’s creative work. One thing is abundantly clear from Genesis chapter 1 is that God created the earth of be a home for the pinnacle of his creation, mankind. The creation of mankind took place in the second half of the sixth day of creation and it was God’s final creative act. With the creation of mankind, the earth has the creature that is to be its’ ruler and protector. Mankind is the climactic creation of God. This is the subject of this tremendous passage of scripture before us this morning. Let’s read God’s Word together this morning.

Genesis 1:29–31 NKJV

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:7 NKJV

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 being.

Introduction:

Everything that God creatEd in the creative week was spoken into existence by the power of His word. The voice of God spoke and creation took place. However, when it came to the pinnacle of God’s creation, man, God did something a little different from the rest of His creative work. In vs.26 you will see the word “Our”. This is the first mention in scripture of God being triune. This is the doctrine of the Trinity on display. When God says “Let us make man in our image” he is not speaking to angelic beings but to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God held a divine creative counsel with Himself in order to create mankind. Man was given the glorious honer of being created by all of the Godhead. God’s plan for the creation of man was so important that it necessitated the fulness of God’s presence, love and care. This morning in our time together, we will endeavor to view a proper view of mankind and our purpose in order to establish a biblical view of man. In order to do that we will observe together from our text this morning:

The Forming of man.

The image and likeness of God in man.

The blessing and purpose of man

1.) The forming of man. (2:7)

This is exactly what the scriptures say, that “God formed man.”

Mankind did not come into existence through natural processes, nor did he evolve from some other lower life form who came from nothing. Man was created and formed by God alone.

Formed-to mold or shape.

It is the picture of a potter with an image in his mind that He wants to create. Then he takes some clay and molds and shapes it the clay into the image in his mind. The potter has the idea of what he wants to create and he has both the intelligence and power to form his creation.

This is the case with God forming man.

God, the master craftsmen, had the idea of what he wanted man to look like and he had the power and intelligence to form man. God molded and shaped man just like a potter who forms the creation of His mind.

Isaiah 64:8 NKJV

8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

Man is the creation of God’s divine intelligence (omniscience-all knowledge) and divine power (Omnipotence-all power).

This means that mankind has great dignity and honor and not equal to any other of God’s creation. Man is the product of the mind of God, of God’s thought and heart. We came from the heart of God, from the intelligence and power of God Himself. We have been formed by the sovereign majesty of the universe.

Every other creation of God was spoken into existence instantaneously but not so with man. God took his time forming man from the dust of the ground with His own anthropomorphic hands.

No wonder the Psalmist could say

Psalm 139:14–15 NKJV

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

A.) The Physical substance- The dust of the ground. (2:7)

Martin Luther translated the Hebrew as “lump of earth.”

This means physically speaking we are nothing more than the grains of dust and dirt that lie on the ground.

Application: We truly have nothing to boast about. We are made of nothing more than a few handfuls of dirt and one day we will return to being those few handfuls of dirt. Because we are dust, this means we are utterly dependent on God for our existence. Mankind is nothing apart from the glory and dignity placed on us by God. This also shows us that all mankind are equal. No one person is any better than any other. We are all dust.

B.) The Spiritual Substance- The breath of God. (2:7)

Mankind is far more than just physical substance, we are more than just dirt. If all we were was dirt, then there wouldn't be any value to human life. (Now we hit upon the issue of a secular world view-make some comments).

God has breathed into man His very own breath.

The body of the first man, Adam, was lying upon the ground before God. It had just been formed by God from the dust of the earth. Adam was lifeless—just a human body lying there upon the ground—never having breathed. Then all of a sudden—in descriptive terms—God leaned over and breathed His own breath into Adam’s nostrils. Adam received the breath of God, and when he did, the result was astounding: he arose from the ground and became a living soul.

Breath- wind, air, spirit.

God has connected Himself to mankind in the most intimate way imaginable. He has put his own spirit into man. Man is connected to God. Man has within his body the breath and spirit of God.

The breath of God is the life of God. When God breathed into man he imparted His own life into mankind. This means that the life of man has an eternality to it unlike any other of God’s created beings. Man was designed to live and breathe forever in communion with God. That has been marred by the fall into sin but it doesn't change the value that God placed on mankind.

2.) The image and likeness of God in man (Imago Dei) . (1:27)

The Scriptures tell us here something very important about the creation of mankind and that is that man was created in the express image and likeness of God. This makes mankind the very summit of God’s creative work. Unlike the animals and the angels, humans were created to have a very special relationship with God.

We have to be careful not to make this mean something that the Bible doesn't say. For instance, this doesn't mean that because we have physical features (fingers, toes etc) that God also has those. (God is a Spirit). This doesn't refer to mankind having a soul, biblically all it means to have a soul is that you have life. The Bible says that all creatures have souls. (breath, consciousness, animated life). This doesn't mean ability to reason, even some animals posses the ability to reason. This doesn't mean the ability to be moral, even animals, in their own way can possess a kind of morality consistent with animal behavior. (My dog knows its not ok to bite someone.)

What then does it mean to be created in the “image and likeness of God?”

A.) The power of immortality-

Man lives beyond this earth, forever just like God. When God breathed into man the breath of life, God gave him a spirit, an immortal breath, a life that lives forever like God.

God went beyond what he had made in the animals with the creation of man.

God made animals living souls, that is he gave them an earthly life and a temporal breath. But, God made man a spirit that is just like Himself, just like His very own life.

Apparently, no animal is a spirit; animals are only souls. As living souls, they are enabled by varying degrees to breathe, to reason, and to relate. But none of them have the inherent power to breathe eternally. But man does have that power,. Man is spirit, even as God is Spirit. Man is not only body and soul as are the animals of creation. Man is not only a breathing, living soul for this earth. Man is a spirit, an immortal being made both for this earth and eternity.

B.) The drive and ability (choice) to worship

Man not only has the soulish ability to reason and to relate, but he has …

• an unquenchable spiritual drive and ability to reason after God

• an unquenchable drive and ability to relate to God

No earthly animal has this spiritual drive and ability.

The Bible does ascribe to souls varying abilities, but no animal soul has the drive and ability to reason after God nor to relate to God.

Worship is a spiritual drive and ability, an ability of spirit only, of man only. Just like animals, man knows and understands the things of this earth; but man is to know, believe, and understand God first and foremost.

Isaiah 43:10 NKJV

10 “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.

Man is to worship God. God is Spirit, and man, who is created as spirit, is to worship God in spirit and in truth.

We have to understand something though, the image and likeness of God within mankind has been marred by sin.

In the fall, man exercised his God given ability to worship but chose to worship himself other than God. Now, while his spirit is eternal, it will dwell in eternal death in hell apart from God unless he comes to Christ for redemption. Only then can that image and likeness of God within man be fully restored.

3.) The blessing and purpose of man. (1:28-31)

God blessed both man and woman.

In vs.28-30 we get a picture of a meeting held between God and the man (Adam) and woman (Eve),sometime after the creation of woman.

(Genesis 1 is an overview of God’s creative act, while Genesis 2 goes back and gives more detail to the creation of man, the garden, and the creation of woman).

In blessing the pinnacle of his creation God told them why they were created and placed on the earth.

A.) The blessing given to man.

The Privilege of God’s presence, of fellowship with God

the privilege of life, both life abundant and life eternal

The privilege of being created in the image of God, of being the crown and summit of His creation

The privilege of living upon earth with all its provisions for food and beauty

The privilege of being male and female, of having the companionship of one another

The privilege of reproduction, of filling the earth with their own species

The privilege of having animals as fellow companions on earth

The privilege of ruling and reigning over all the creatures of earth

The privilege of work, of finding satisfaction and fulfillment in subduing the earth—through research, discovery, development, and growth

B.) The Purpose of man.

God gave the man and woman three tremendous purposes for their being upon the earth.

1.) They were to reproduce and fill the earth.

Notice, that unlike the animals that God created, He created only one man and one woman. By doing this God established the family. A one man and one woman relationship meant to last forever and to produce offspring.

2.) They were too subdue the earth.

This means they were to:

• to rule and master the earth

• to look after and care for the earth

• to investigate, research, and discover the earth’s resources

• to develop and use the resources of the earth

• to manage the earth with all its provisions and resources

We need to realize that scripturally the earth was made for mankind and not mankind for the earth. The world gets this backwards. The earth was given to mankind as both a gift and a duty. It was to be under the care of the man and the woman and their offspring.

The christian worldview teaches that the environment in which we live does matter to God, but it does not matter more than the man that he placed within it. Mankind was placed in charge of the environment and was able to use it to the betterment of mankind. The earth was given to meet mans needs.

3.) They were to have dominion over the animals.

This means that they were to rule over, to master, to control, to manage, to look after and care for. (The same as subdue) Animals are not more important than mankind. We are to care for and manage them, but we are not to sacrifice the spread of humanity to do so.

Conclusion:

You have seen this morning the value that is placed on humanity by God.Human life has intrinsic value and dignity bestowed upon us by our creator, therefore we protect it, nourish it and cherish it. (Give the gospel and talk about how God cares for the soul of man while also talking about humanity being marred by sin.)