Doctrine of Man

Scripture Analysis

OT

Gen. 1:26-27; 5:1; 9:6
Man were created with the image of God
Even after the fall, we retained this image in some sense

NT

Image is being restored in those being saved
Romans 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor 11:7; James 3:9; Col. 3:10; Ephe 4:23-24

Three Views on the Image of God

Substantive (What I Am)
- Held by most
Relational View (How I relate)
- [[Karl Barth]], [[Brunner]], [[Neo-orthodox]]
- Characterized by our unique relationship with God (Deut 6:5, Mathew 22:36-40, John 14:15-23)
- Able to experience positively or negatively with God
Functional (What I Do)
- By our call to have dominion over creation (Gen. 1:26-28, Ps. 8:5-6)
  - [[Creation Mandate]]
- We are God's vice agents on Earth
The Image of God is universal with the human race (James 3:9)
The fall didn't remove this image (James 3:9, Gen 5:2, Gen 9:6)
Image is intrinsic to being a human (Gen 1:26-27)
It is probably more substantial (personality) than relational (commune) or functionl (serve)

God created humans to:
- Love, know and obey God
- Love, know, and serve others
- Exercise dominion over God's creation

Philip Hughes' View

Personality
Spirituality (religious beings)
Relational (reason, thoughts, self-reflection)
Morality (will to do the good or evil)
Authority (Gen 1:28)
Creativity (Imaginative & creative)

Moral
Spiritual
Mental
- Language
- abstract reasoning
- sense of eternity
Complex Emotional Beings
Relational
- dominion over creation
- marriage + friendship etc..
Physical
- 5 Senses -> God being able to see, hear etc..

Biblical View of Humanity

What makes human human?
- Tools making
- burial of the dead
- language
Happiness comes from:
- loving and serving God
- God is pleased with us

Origin of Humanity

Genesis 1, as the pinnacle of God's creation

Implications

We belong to God, we should follow Jesus
We're most human when we're most like Jesus
All human life is valuable because of this intrinsic worth and dignity of being made in the image of God
Personhood at conception (Luke 1:41-44, Psalm 139:13-15)
Learning and work are good because it allows us to experience God's will and dominion over creation

Image of God

[!bible] Genesis 1:26-28 - ESV 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Commune & relate to God (Jer 2:23)
Eternal

Unmarred Image of God in Jesus

Perfect relationship with the Father (John 17:21-23)
He obeyed God's will perfectly (John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38)
Loved God by doing His will and seeking HIs glory (John 17:1-5; John 14:37; 15:10)
Loved others through His incarnation and crucifixion (John 15:13-14; Matt 9:36)

Views of Humanity

~ There are some truths to these views, but not central to what it means to be human
Machine
- Valued by our productivity
- Viewed as objects, a means to an end
Animal
- Higher life form of animal
- motivated by biological drives
Pawns of the Universe
- Subject to the forces of nature
- Destiny determined by blind chance
Sexual Being
- [[Sigmund Freud]]
Economic Being
- Money as motivation
- [[Marxism]] and [[Capitalism]]
Free Being
- Self-determination is essece of humanity
Social Being
- Part of a community
- value comes from relationships

What is a man?

Why did God create man?

Secular views

Biblical View

Image of God

Male and Female

Trichotoism

Monism

Application & Importance

Dichotoism

What makes up a man?

Anthropology

Did God directly create human?

Most believers say yes.
Some say no,
- [[Theistic Evolution]], Gen 1-3 is not historical
[[Deistic Evolution]]

God did not need to create us.

He made us to glorify Himself.

Which is where we get our worth

[[Dichotomism]]

[[Trichotomism]]

Origin of the Soul/Spirit?

[[Pre-existentialism]]

[[Creationism]]

[[Traducianism]]

[[Monism]]

[[Erickson's Conditional Unity]]

What Constitutes a Man?

[[Complementarianism]]

Different roles
1 Cor 11, and Eph. 5 is normalative, and not cultural

leadership/headship of male

Adam before Eve (right of the first born)
Eve as helper for Adam
- for, corresponding to
Adam named Eve
God named human race "man" (Genesis 5:1-2)
Satan Came to Eve first, to destrupt the creation order
God spoke to Adam 1st after the fall to fix the destrupted creation order
Adam represented human race (1 Cor. 15:22)
Trinity: as the Father is head over the Son, the husband is head over the wife.
As Jesus is head over the church, the husband is head over the wife

[[Egalitarianism]]

Equal in roles

Roles of Man and Women

Male and Female

Equal in personhood and importance

Theological Points

We are not independant, we are God's
We are part of creation, so we should try to have harmony with Creation and take care of it
Unique in the image of God
- We have intrinsic value and worth because of God
- Spiritual satisfaction in God

Importance

Holistic View of Humanity
- Spiritual
- Sexual
- Pysical
- Intellectual
- Emotional
How we minister to people
- body and spiritual
Helps with present human self-understanding
- Human appears to be evil and special at the same time
Starting point of dialogue with unbeliever. In the field of:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Political Science
It's relation to other doctrines
- God, Christ, Church, Salvation, incarnation

Marriage
- one flesh (Matthew 19:16; 1 Cor 6:16, 18-20)
- Jesus & Paul
  - Church is the bride
  - Another way to reflect God
Plurality of the Godhead
- Father Mother, child
- Similar to the trinity but not exact ([[The Transcendence of God]])