The Origin Of Man
THE ORIGIN OF MAN
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27). The creation of man was the crowning of God's creation. It serves as the climax of the creation account. That account describes the origins of light, of dry land, of birds and fish and animals. Each of those creative acts were introduced with similar language:
Let there be light...
Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters...
Let the earth sprout vegetation...
Let the earth bring forth living creatures...
Now we find something different. It is a new formula. It breaks the mold of the previous descriptions of God's workings and brings our attention to a new endeavor.
Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...
There is a special care and concern taken in the creation of man. It is seen in the use of the plural: Let US make man. Some have seen this as an early indication of the Trinity. Others see it as a use of the plural of majesty. In either case, it reflects a special care and concern in God's deliberations as God prepares to create that which is special. In the Image and Likeness of God.
There is, on the one hand, a sense in which man is like the rest of creation. He is a creature along with all the rest of the creatures. He was created along with the rest of creation.
God
Man
Animals
Birds and Fish
Vegetation Heavens and Earth|
There is a barrier between God and the rest of His creation. God is set apart from His creation in the sense that He is “other” than His creation. He is unique. He alone had no beginning. He alone is infinite. At the same time, there is another sense in which man is joined to God and set apart from the rest of creation.
God
Man
Animals
Birds and Fish
Vegetation Heavens and Earth|
Man has been created in the image of God. That fact sets him apart from the rest of creation. He is not just an advanced animal. He is distinct in sharing the image and the likeness of his Creator.
Ramifications of Man's Image and Likeness. When we speak of man being in the “image and likeness” of God, this presents a problem. God is invisible. He has no outward image or likeness. How then can man be said to be made in the image and likeness of God? Theologians have suggested a number of ways.
Dominion. This is suggested in the context of Genesis 1:1-31. Following the mention of man being made in the image and likeness of God, the writer goes on to speak in the very next verse of the dominion that man is to have over the rest of creation. And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28).
Man is in God's place, the place of rulership, with respect to the rest of life on this planet. He is the divine representative on planet earth. He has been given the position of federal headship over the earth. It is because of this that man's fall was able to impact all of the rest of creation. When man fell into sin, the rest of creation followed suit because it was under man's dominion.
Wayne Grudem points out that “when the Creator of the universe wanted to create something ‘in His image,' something more like himself than all the rest of creation, He made us. This realization will give us a profound sense of dignity and significance as we reflect on the excellence of all the rest of God's creation: the starry universe, the abundant earth, the world of plants and animals, and the angelic kingdoms are remarkable, even magnificent. But we are more like our Creator than any of those things” (1994:449).
Self consciousness: Man is aware of his own existence and is able to think and to meditate upon who and what he is.
Moral reason: Man feels that he ought to do what is right. He has been given a conscience that urges him to do what is right and to refrain from doing that which is wrong. That does not mean the conscience always gives the correct answer to what is right or wrong. The Bible tells us that the conscience can be seared (1 Timothy 4:2). It can be so hardened that it becomes insensitive to that to which it was once sensitive.
Intellect and Creativity: Man has a much greater mental and intellectual capacity than is found in animals. Though animals often have keener eyesight, greater strength, faster reflexes, and a hardier stamina, it is at the point of his intellect and creativity that man is seen to be superior.
Free volition: Man has volitional capabilities and is able to make decisions. That does not mean he is able to exercise that volition apart from his nature, but he does make decisions within the realm allowed by the bounds of his nature. Such a statement does not discount or diminish the sovereignty of God. Man's free will operates within the framework of God's plan and purposes. Man's will flows through the channels laid by the sovereignty of God. The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes. (Proverbs 21:1).
Spiritual capacity: It has been said that man is the only religious animal. This is one of the things that sets man apart from the rest of creation. No animal has ever been seen building an altar or praying to God. It is true that this spiritual capacity to communicate with God has often been distorted by sin. Men have turned away from the one true God to worship idols of wood and stone. Yet even in this, man demonstrates his spiritual capacity, for there is within the unbeliever a God-shaped vacuum that he tries to fill with various religious systems and idolatries. Man is a worshiping creature. He always worships something.
Man continues to be in the image of God today, although that image has been tarnished and diminished by sin. At Creation|Man made in the image and likeness of God|
At the Fall|God's image in man distorted, but not lost|
At Regeneration|Man enters into a progressive recovering of more and more of God's image|
At Christ's Return|Redeemed man will be completely restored to God's image.|
It is due to our understanding of man being in the image of God that we have a basis for seeing others with worth and dignity. Because we are in the image of God, we can say that...
Racism is wrong because we are all descended from the same parents who were made in the image of God.
Abortion and euthanasia involve taking the life of that which is in the image of God.
Civil rights are based on the idea that all men are created in the same image. Genesis 9:6 is specific to link the reason that murder is wrong is because murder involves the slaying of one who is made in the image of God. The evolutionist has no basis for seeing racism as wrong since a particular race or people might be seen as having a higher position up the evolutionary scale. He has no basis for seeing value in the unborn or in the aged because he holds instead to the survival of the fittest and they do not qualify. He has no basis for supporting civil rights for all people because not all people are equal. The Man's Body and Soul: 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. (Genesis 2:7).
Man's body was formed of dust from the ground. This is a play on words. ~d'a'h' (Ha-Adam) was formed of dust from hm'd'a]h' (Ha-Adamah). Man's very name is taken from the source from which his body is created. Yet the creation of man's physical frame was not the sum of his existence. He is more than a biological entity. There is something special about His substance, for the Lord Himself is seen inbreathing life into him.
(The Hebrew actually speaks of God breathing into his nostrils the “breath of lives.” But we should not read too much into this plural usage. It is a Hebrew colloquialism to speak of life in the plural. Some have tried to take from this plurality that man was made as a trichotomy: a body, a soul and a spirit. But a careful study of these terms shows that the Scriptures do not always make a distinction between soul and spirit.)
There is a sense in which we were all once like Adam before he received this breath of life. We were all once spiritually lifeless. We were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). We could do nothing to make ourselves alive. It took a creative act of God to bring spiritual life into us. The fact that the body was created by God underscores the fact that the body is intrinsically good. This stands in contrast to Greek thought that said the spirit is good while the body is bad. Yet the creation of man's physical frame was not the sum of his existence. He is more than a biological entity. The Lord then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being, literally, “He became a SOUL” (vp,n<). The soul speaks of that inner part of a man. It is your life force. It is who you are apart from your physical body.
James tells us that the body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26). Likewise the Preacher speaks of how a man dies and then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Speaking from the vantage of one who looks at life “under the sun,” he elsewhere says that the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. 20 All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20). Thus for physical life to be present, it seems evident that there must be both soul and spirit. In view of all that the Bible says concerning the spiritual life, one is tempted to maintain that the spirit is somehow created and/or enlivened by the process of regeneration. However both James 2:26 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 describe the human spirit as being a functioning part of mankind in general and not merely on behalf of the regenerate man. When Moses wished to speak of all of the human life that died in the flood, he described it as all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life (Genesis 7:22).
Man's Rulership: And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28).
We have already noted that man was given dominion and rulership over the world. This was a delegated position as he was called to rule the earth on behalf of God by virtue of the fact that he was made in the image and likeness of God. That likeness was distorted by man's fall into sin. When man sinned, he gave up his right to rule over creation. The created was cursed on his behalf. Animals became wild and would threaten him. Thorns and thistles rose up against him. The plant kingdom would no longer serve him and he must labor over crops in order to eat their produce. To this day, the creation groans and travails over the effects of the curse. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8:22). But there is hope. The same Christ who died for us to redeem us from sin will also one day redeem the world from the effects of the curse.
19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21).
Just as man was enslaved to sin, so also the entire creation today suffers under the effects of sin. In the same way that we have been delivered from the bondage of sin, so also the creation looks forward to a coming deliverance.
5. Man's Sexuality: And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).
Genesis 1:1-31 describes the creation of both the male and the female. The term “man” in this passage is therefore to be treated as gender neutral. Man was both male and female. The details of the forming of separate genders is set forth in the second chapter of Genesis.
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18). The woman is designed to be a “helper suitable.” Of special interest to us is this term “helper.” ‘Izer (rz<[e) is the noun form of the Hebrew verb 'Azar (rz[), “to help.” The noun is used most often in the Old Testament, not to describe the role of the woman, but rather to describe God Himself in His helping us (Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7; Deuteronomy 33:26; Deuteronomy 33:29). This helps us to understand that woman was not created to be a mere underling (we would never think of defining God that way), but rather as one who standing beside and works together with him. It was not until later, as a result of the fall, that sin brought about a change which has been reflected all throughout history.
It should be remembered that there was not a separate word in the Hebrew (or in the Koine Greek) for husband and wife. Normally when you see the word “husband” in the Hebrew, it is either ISH (“man”) or BA'AL (“lord” is the same term used of the false god of the Canaanites). By the same token, when you see the word "wife" in the Old Testament, it is nearly always the Hebrew word ISHA (female of ISH) and can be translated simply as “woman.” The context makes it clear that all women are not designed to be helpers standing with all men, but rather that this is descriptive of a special husband and wife relationship. The foundation for this relationship is described in this chapter. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
There are three verbs used in this verse. They describe the action involved in the making of a marriage.
• Leave.
There is to be the breaking off from the old family as the two people come together to begin their new family.
• Cleave. The couple is now to be glued together. There is a releasing from the first relationship so that there can be holding to this new relationship. This is the ordinance of marriage.
Every once in a while, I come across someone who has the idea that marriage is what takes place in sex. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marriage involves a commitment. It involves the joining of two people so that they become a single entity.
• Become one flesh. The joining together of a husband and wife is physically manifested in their sexual union. This was designed to bring them into a physical intimacy that is to mirror their emotional and spiritual intimacy. Both marriage and sex were instituted by God before sin entered the world. The perfect environment of the Garden of Eden included sex and marriage.
Reproduction is not mentioned in this chapter. Genesis 1:1-31 relates the command to multiply and fill the earth, but no such injunction is repeated here. This implication is that the sexual union is to be more than a mere means of procreation. It was designed to consummate and to bond a marriage.
Marriage involves a separation from the previous son/daughter relationships and a binding together of the two marriage partners in a new relationship. This is a commitment. It involves a joining of two people so that they become a single entity. This is physically illustrated in the sexual union, but it does not end there. It extends to every area of life. You are no longer two separate people. You are now a single entity. This is not an easy process. When two people who have totally diverse backgrounds get together and try to become one, there is going to be friction. It will be like two porcupines who try to snuggle up together to keep warm. There will invariably be sticking points. This takes place because you each have been brought up with a different set of customs, a different set of values, and a different set of ideas.
I've heard couples comment, “Those things won't matter because we are so much in love.” Then, three weeks into the marriage, that loving wife tells you to take out the garbage and you answer, “I'm not supposed to take out the garbage. After all, my father never took out the garbage.” Do you see the problem? It is that you were each raised under a different set of house rules. Many of those house rules were unspoken. They were simply understood. But that new marriage partner is unfamiliar to the new mate's house rules. It takes some time for a new couple to adjust and to redevelop their own house rules. That is why in-laws can be such a problem. When a young couple go to visit the parents, the child of those parents knows and understands all of the unspoken house rules. But the partner of that child is in unfamiliar territory. It is like trying to graft a lemon onto an apple tree. There is friction and that friction can turn into trouble. The joining of two people into one is meant to be permanent. It is “till death do you part.” I believe marriage in the church today would be transformed if each couple going into marriage accepted the presupposition that there is no way out. If there is no way out, then you will have to solve any relational problems that arise. The moment you consider divorce as a fire escape, it will not be long before you are moving in that direction.