Outline
1. The Origin of Man
a. The Importance of Special Creation
b. The Fact of Creation
2. The Time of Creation
a. Gap Theory
b. Day-Age Theory
c. Young Earth view
3. The Nature of Human Being
4. Human Composition
5. Fall of Man
6. Purpose of Human Creation
I. The Origin of Man
a. The importance of Special Creation
If man evolved as a product of chance (as evolutionists teach), then the ideas of sin and salvation really make no sense. If there was no supernatural origin, then why would there be a supernatural destiny (salvation in heaven)? (If random fate caused a man to be, then random fate must determine a person’s character.) In fact, an eternal destiny for man after death would be no more likely that dogs or dandelions living eternally if evolution were true. Only if man was uniquely created by God and in God’s image does it make sense that man is accountable (sin) and has a destiny (salvation or judgment). The real motive behind the evolutionary theory, it seems, is to eliminate the need for God and His revelation about sin and salvation.
b. The Fact of Creation
Presuppositions of Creation
a. The existence of God. The Bible assumes the existence of God (Gen.1:1 – although it is also “provable” by various logical arguments – Psalm 19; Rom.1:19 ff. See the handout “Does God Exist?”).
b. The eternality of God. For God to create He must Himself exist prior to anything else. The eternal nature of God answers the nagging question that evolution cannot, “How can something come to be when there was nothing?”
c. The reliability of scripture as God’s Word. The way we know about the creation of man and the world is through the scriptures which God revealed. At least seventeen times in Genesis 1 and then throughout scripture, God is said to be the creator.
The Process of Creation. “By faith we understand that the world was made at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3, NIV). The all-powerful God created something out of nothing (sometimes called ex nihilo). But then God did use previously created materials to form the bodies of living things (Gen.2:7,18-22).
2. The Time of Creation
Two other views of creationists are presented here in addition to the literal six-day view of creation.
a. The Gap Theory
Genesis 1:1 – An original perfect creation of all things (except man).
A gap of undetermined time during which Satan fell, a flood and the Ice Age destroyed life, thus creating the fossil record.
Genesis 1:2 and following – Six days of “re-creation” including Adam and Eve.
Problems
The suggested arguments from the biblical text are weak (See Ryrie, Biblical Theology, p.183,4).
The view arose about the same time as modern geology, seeming to be merely an attempt to harmonize Genesis and geology.
b. The Day-Age Theory
The word “day” in scripture can refer to other periods of time that 24-hour solar days (Genesis 2:4; Psalm 20:1, etc.).
Perhaps the six “days” of creation were long indefinite periods of time rather that 24 hour days.
Problems
The view seems to minimize the creative power of God; as if He needs more time to do something so great as creation.
This view also seems to first accept uniformitarian geology and then try to harmonize scripture to that.
c. The “literal six-day” or “young earth” view
The most normal understanding of the six days of creation are that they were literal 24-hour solar days. The cataclysmic global flood of Genesis 6-8 is responsible for the geological record (See Whitcomb, Genesis Flood, The Early Earth and Dillow, The Waters Above).
God created the world with “apparent age.” Plants, animals and man had some appearance of age when God made them. So it’s not surprising that the rest of the universe has “apparent age.” Our earth could be as “young” as 6,000 years old (4000 B.C.) according to the chronologies of Genesis (and confirmed by the scientific research of creationists).
This view of the earth as “young” instead of “billions and billions” of years old is very different than most modern scientific theory. But the view is nonetheless scientifically sound. The Institute for Creation Research and other academic associations have produced many materials supporting the biblical view of creation versus evolution – a study which goes beyond the scope of this brief outline.
3. The Nature of Human Being
A. What does it mean to be in the “image of God?”
Man is said to be made in the “image of God” (Gen.1:26,27). Only with a view of special creation by God could this be possible.
1. We reflect God in personality. We reason (intellect), feel (emotion), and choose (will).
2. We reflect God in function. Gen.1:26 connects the ideas of sharing God’s image with sharing His rule or sovereignty over creation.
3. There is perhaps some sense in which we reflect God in form. Although God is spirit and not body (John 4:24), our physical form was designed by God as appropriate means of reflecting Him. Even in our eternal state we will fellowship with God in our transformed “spiritual” yet physical body (1 Cor.15:44).
The fact that man can communicate and fellowship with God and even reflect God’s moral character (when regenerated – 2 Peter 1:4), indicates perhaps the real depth of man sharing God’s “image.”
4.Human Composition
Christian theologians have much discussed whether man is essentially 2 parts (Material and Immaterial) or 3 parts (Body, Soul and Spirit). Here are the basic arguments plus a third moderating position.
a. Dichotomy view (2 parts)
a. Only the distinction between our material and immaterial features are indisputable.
b. “Soul” and “Spirit” are sometimes used interchangeably in the Bible (Job 27:3).
c. God gave only the “soul” at creation (Gen.2:7).
d. Jesus said the “Body” plus the “Soul” equals the whole person (Matt.10:28).
b. Trichotomy view (3 parts)
a. Hebrew 4:12 seems to teach that “soul and spirit” can be “divided.”
b. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 describes man as “spirit, soul and body.”
c. The “spirit” seems to be that part of man which relates to God (our spiritual being) and is regenerated, while the “soul” is that which relates to man (our emotional being).
c. Multi-faceted view.
It may well be that the argument is somewhat unnecessary and that both views reflect truth about man’s nature. We are at least material and immaterial. Our immaterial includes features such as soul, spirit, heart, conscience and will. In some cases these features are perhaps truly distinguishable (soul and spirit) while other times the features overlap (spirit, heart, conscience). See Charles Ryrie, Survey of Bible Doctrine pp.104-107 for more discussion of this third view.
5. The Fall of Man
A. The literal reality of the fall. The Fall of Man (the entrance of sin into humanity) was a specific historical event. Adam and Eve were real people (Matt.19:3-5). They committed a particular sin (Genesis 3). That sin affected all of mankind (Rom.5:12-21).
B. The test (Genesis 2:15-17). Adam and Eve were clearly told the privileges of their home in the Garden of Eden and the prohibition: they were not to eat of one certain tree. There was no other temptation in the garden. There was simply a single choice to obey or disobey God.
C. The temptation (Genesis 3:1-5). Satan chose to appear in an animal form – a serpent (Even today he usually does not want to be seen or known as he really is.). His approach was to first question God’s goodness (“Has God said, you shall not eat…” – 3:1). Then he blatantly denied God’s justice – that there were consequences for sin (“You surely shall not die” – 3:4).
D. The sin (Genesis 3:6). When Eve had listened to the serpent and doubted God’s words, she saw and desired the fruit and ate it. She then furthered Satan’s temptation by giving Adam the fruit. He also listened, doubted, saw, desired and then ate. This sin was unique in that they sinned without having a sin nature. They sinned only by choice. The rest of mankind is now sinful by nature and by choice.
E. The results of the Fall
1. On the Serpent (3:14). The serpent was condemned to crawl (3:14). All the animal kingdom in fact was affected by the Fall (Rom.8:20).
2. On Satan (3:15). Satan’s kingdom would forever be opposed (“enmity”) by Eve’s godly descendants (believers). Christ (a descendant of Eve) would deal the death blow to Satan (“head”) on the cross, although Satan was allowed to cause Christ to suffer (“heel”). This verse is the first revelation of the gospel in the Bible.
3. On Eve and women (3:16). Women would 1) always have pain in childbirth, 2) struggle with the desire to rule over her husband (see “desire” 4:7) and yet, 3) be in a supportive rather than ruling role. The New Testament confirms these effects (1 Cor.11:3; 14:34: Eph.5:24,25; Titus 2:3-5; 1 Peter 3:1,5,6).
4. On Adam and men (3:17-19;23,24). The ground was cursed so that sustaining life would require difficult and painful labor (3:17-19a). Man would now die (3:19b) and Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden (3:23,24).
5. On the human race (3:7,8). Mankind experienced a sense of guilt (“made a covering” 3:7) and a loss of fellowship with God (“hid themselves” 3:8). Sin also brought death upon the race – both physical and spiritual (Eph.2:3; Rom.5:12).
6. Purpose of Human Creation
As we have seen from the introduction that every creation of God have a purpose. In the following discussion we will be seeing at some of the purposes the humanity is created for.
a. To Know God
Man is made to know God, so that he is not truly man unless he knows God. His whole manhood depends not only upon the grace of God in creation, but upon such a communication of his word of grace that the image of God becomes engraved. Man has been created as an intelligent being in order to know God in such a way that in the act of knowing man is brought to re-live consciously, and in a qualitatively different fashion, the very movement of grace in which he is created and manifested in being, so as to be carried beyond himself in the responsible union with God in whom he finds his true life and felicity.
b. To Be Priests of Creation
The work of a priest is to mediate between God and humanity. But when we see the phrase, ‘priests of creation’, it gives us an idea where humanity is created to mediate between creation and God, where humanity is also part of creation. Torrance identifies the role of human being as a string in multi stringed instrument, where the harmony of the strings brings out sweet music, which should be balanced and tuned to each other. Priestly work of mediation is fulfilled in the course of cultural activity, where we understood the pattern of intangible and corporeal tools with which we array and acquaint ourselves with life together. Christ is the best example we have to know the relational purpose of humanity.
These can be seen in three relations: those between the human person and the created order, between the human person and God and between the human person and other persons. The aim of the destiny of humanity is to incorporate humanity into the kingdom of God. “That the human person is created in the image of God simply means that human persons are placed within, and constituted by, a network of relationships that enable the human person and the created order not only to exist but to reflect the divine order in their reciprocal and complementary relationships to the glory of God and towards the fulfillment of God’s will and purpose.”
c. To find finality in Christ
The destiny of humanity is to have the complete definitive of the image of God. As for us the knowledge and the complete revelation of God is given in Jesus Christ. The point of contact or correspondence between God and us is given to us in Christ alone, who is truly human. Pannenberg adds to the above point where he says that Jesus is the only imago Dei, and that all others need to be renewed after his image in their relation to God, and the humanity can have the final realization to the creator only in the light of the incarnation of the eternal Son as a man.
To know humanity, its mission and destiny, one have to know the humanity of Christ through whom we can know the beginning, middle and ending of humanity. The complete image of God was historically accomplished with Jesus Christ and in which others may participate by transformation into the image of Christ. Basic to the personality of each individual is the destiny of fellowship with God. That this is the destiny of all of us as God’s creatures is finally clear only from the NT message of Christ, which links the coming of the Son of God in the flesh to over come sin and death with the matter of the goal of human life.
d. To Experience the Eschaton
Torrance says that humans are eschatological beings determined by Christ and leaning towards the future. The ultimate hope of every Christian is to have the eschatological experience of participating in the reign of Jesus Christ over God’s creation. Grenz notes that the goal of God is that as the Son, Jesus Christ be preeminent within a new humanity stamped with the divine image.
Therefore, the humankind created in the imago Dei is none other than the new humanity conformed to the imago Christi, which leads us to eschatological community of glorified saints.
Hughes says that, “human’s true destiny was always intended to be crowned with glory and honor, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,” participating in His lordship over all the works of God’s hands. Because it is the end toward which creation was always dynamically directed, the paradise regained in Christ is more glorious than the paradise lost in Adam.”
Paul declares that the same Spirit who brought about Jesus’ resurrection and who will work this transformation in those who belong to Christ constitutes them as heirs of eschatological glory. Believers all ready share the final destiny of Humanity through the power of Holy Spirit, which is revealed in Christ Jesus, who is already affecting the eschatological reality or the new man in them.
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