Created in the image of God. (480)

Keith takes a look at some systematic theology. He presents a few points on the topic of mankind. To start out with here’s what the Baptist Faith and message of 2000 says:

Article 3 Man

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.

In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation.

Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

So, God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
Genesis 1:27 CSB

The creation of human beings represents God’s crowning act in creation.
Genesis 2:7,
God “formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

The biblical view of humanity is in direct opposition to secular humanism and evolution.

The ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras declared that humans are the measure of all things. It remains today under the banner of humanism.

The Bible says we are not the measure of all things. We are not even able to understand ourselves without God’s revelation.
“What is man, that You are mindful of him?”

(Psalm 8:4 CSB)

Our frame of reference must never begin with human beings.
The theory of evolution argues that human beings, along with all other living creatures, are simply the products of a blind, naturalistic process of evolutionary development.

By definition evolution has no room for the concept that humans are made in the image of God, The Bible affirms that humans are not accidents or mere animals living among other animals. Human beings alone are made in God’s image.

Made in God’s Image

The Bible makes clear that human beings (male and female) were created in God’s image.

Genesis 1: 27 NASB
God created man in His own image,
in the image of God, He created him;
male and female He created them.

Genesis Two: 7 NASB
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living being.
Colossians 3: 10 NASB
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him–

This does not mean we look like God. God is spirit. It means we possess certain elements of godly attributes. We have a spiritual capacity that makes us moral creatures. We can know and worship God.

Deuteronomy 10:12 NASB
“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you,
but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him,
and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Psalm 29:2 NASB
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in holy array.

Psalm 42:1
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So, my soul pants for You, O God.

Psalm 139:1 NASB
O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

Though all creation declares the glory of God, only humans have a moral consciousness

God sets humanity apart from the rest of creation, his plan of redemption is directed specifically to the salvation of sinful humanity.

Our creation in God’s image explains why we were made for work, action, communication, and reflection.

Romans two:15 NASB
in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts,
their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts
alternately accusing or else defending them,

1 Corinthians 8:7 NASB
However not all men have this knowledge;
but some, being accustomed to the idol until now,
eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol;
and their conscience being weak is defiled.

Human beings are the only self-conscious creatures. A dog may dig a hole, but it never sits back to ponder the meaning of the hole.

Birds fly through the air, but they have no idea why God made them to do so.

Fish swim across oceans, but they never write books about them

There is something in man that will not be satisfied with the seen and the temporal. Something in him cries out for the spiritual.

Man, thirsts for God.

The psalmist expresses this universal cry of the human heart when he says: ‘As
the hart panteth after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, OH God’ (Psalm 42:1).

Our spiritual capacity and ability are what makes it possible for us to fellowship with God. God made us as spiritual beings, so we have an innate desire for fellowship with Him.

We possess a soul, described in the Bible as our spiritual capacity and inner knowledge. The soul is eternal, and lives on after our bodies die.

The body is a gift from God and is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us. We are to take care of our bodies out of respect for God,

Christians must not worship the body. Our bodily needs, desires, pleasures, and pains should serve to remind us of our constant dependence on God and of God’s glory and power that He wants to reveal in us.

2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 NASB
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me–to keep me from exalting myself!
8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness ” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

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