Anthropology: The Study Of Man

Anthropology
The Study of Man 4 What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him?
And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?

5 Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God,
And dost crown him with glory and majesty!

6 Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. (Psalms 8:4-8).

What is man? The Psalmist asks this as a rhetorical question. It expects no actual answer. What is man? Is he worthy of God's consideration? No. The only reason that God considers man is because of God's own mercy and grace.

We can imagine that David wrote this Psalm one evening as he looked out into the silver starlight over Jerusalem. He sees the splendor of the heavens and he bursts forth in song. As David looks at the awesome works of the Lord, he asks why would such a God ever bother with mankind.

Go out and look at an anthill. Those ants are so much smaller and so much more insignificant than you are. The gap between God and man is infinitely greater than that which is between you and those ants. And yet, God has not only bothered with man, but He has crowned him with glory and honor and has appointed him over the creation and has put all things in subjection under his feet.

Mankind today is going through an identity crisis. He is seeking to find out who and what he is. He is looking for meaning to his life. He is searching for some basis of self-worth. He has not been able to find the answer to this quest in modern science. Modern science told he that he is merely a chance happening, a random collection of genetic mistakes. This left him without any basis for self worth.

Postmodernism came along and rejected the conclusions of modernism, but has nothing with which to replace it. Man has been left to try to re-invent himself, knowing that such re-invention is too shallow a foundation upon which to find his needed self worth. The only real answer to man's identity crisis is found in the Word of God. By looking into the Scriptures, I can learn who I am and what I am. It is here that I can find that I have worth. God has declared that I have infinite worth, since He paid an infinite price for me when He sent His Son to die in my place.

It is a common phenomena that the way we think about ourselves is not based upon how we see ourselves, but upon how we think that others think of us. The Christian is to have a different perspective. He is to see himself based upon how God thinks of him. God has said that you are valuable. He has placed infinite value upon you. You were made in His image and after His likeness. You can know who you are and what you are.

Man has been given an exalted in creation. That position will one day be exalted even higher. The writer to the Hebrews says that man is only a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:7). That is quite high. That is higher than anything else in creation. But this lower status is not permanent. It is only for a “little while.” There is coming a day when man will be equal to the angels. Jesus said that those who attain to the resurrection of the dead will be like the angels (Luke 20:34-36).