MAN: THE REMARKABLE REFLECTION OF GOD
TEXT:
Gen.1:26-27 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
INTRO.:
A. Some think that the "image of God" referred to in our text speaks of man's intellect, emotion & will & that that is the
"remarkable reflection" of God in man. While it is true that man is like God in these areas - above the animals - there is something
more to God's reflection in man. Others believe that man has lost his free will & his ability to lift himself out of spiritual death, but has retained his power to think, love, his sense of right & wrong, justice & injustice, etc. & while the above is true there is still more to "MAN: THE REMARKABLE REFLECTION" (of God).
B. In this series we have considered -
1. "THE BIBLE: OUR BELIEVEABLE BOOK" &
2. "THE BLOOD: OUR BOUNTIFUL BENEFACTOR"
& today we will examine carefully...
3. "MAN: THE REMARKABLE REFLECTION" (of God). Just how was man made in the "image of God"?!
I. MAN REFLECTED GOD'S IMAGE:
A. A Trinity in Unity:
Gen.2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground (BODY), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (SPIRIT); and man became a living soul. (SOUL).
I Th.5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Body: the seat & instrument of the senses. With our bodies we experience & sense the world around us. The body is the
instrument of expression for the soul. (We think, we do.)
2. Soul: the seat of the emotions: love, sorrow, sympathy, etc. The soul is the instrument of expression for the personality, logic,
thought, etc.
NOTE: Both man & the animals have a body & soul. Animals are capable of some limited thought, emotion, etc.
SOUL: A word with two distinct meanings in the Bible:
1. That which makes a human or animal body alive. This usage of the word soul refers to life in the physical body.
🔷The best example of this usage are those passages in the New Testament in which the Greek word for soul is translated as life. 🔸"For whoever desires to save his life [soul] will lose it," Jesus declared, "but whoever loses his life [soul] for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 🔸For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" <Mark 8:36-37>.
🔷This idea is also present in the Old Testament. 🔸For example, the soul of a dying person departed at death <Gen. 35:18>. 🔸The prophet Elijah brought a child back to life by stretching himself upon the child three times and praying that God would let the child's soul come back into him <1 Kin.17:19-23>.
2. The word soul also refers to the inner life of man, the seat of his emotions, and the center of human personality. The first use of
the word soul in the Old Testament expresses this meaning: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul)" <Gen. 2:7>. This means more than being given physical life; the biblical writer declares that man became a "living soul," or a person, a human being, one distinct from all other animals.
The soul is described as the seat of many emotions and desires:
🔅the desire for food <Deut. 12:20-21>,
🔅love <Song 1:7>,
🔅longing for God <Ps.63:1>,
🔅rejoicing <Ps. 86:4>,
🔅knowing <Ps. 139:14>, and
🔅memory <Lam. 3:20>.
🔶In the New Testament,
Jesus spoke of his soul as being "exceedingly sorrowful" <Matt. 26:38>.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, proclaimed that her soul "magnifies the Lord" <Luke 1:46>.
John prayed that Gaius would "prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers" <3 John 2>.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
C. Spirit: the seat of the knowledge of God.
I Cor.2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
ILLUS.: 🟣Christ had a body, soul & spirit. In His body He sacrificed Himself on the Cross & when He satisfied His Father's righteous demands He said: "Father, into Thy hands I commend my SPIRIT."
🟣When He died His BODY was placed in the tomb, His SOUL
descended into unseen world called Hades & His SPIRIT was committed unto God.
1. God's Temple:
a. God chooses to dwell in a house of 3 rooms. The O.T. Tabernacle & Temple carries this image.
1) The Outer Court (or Court of the Gentiles) corresponds to the body. It is in the body where sacrifice is made. Rom.12:1
2) The Holy Place corresponds to the soul; the place of fellowship & service (shewbread, incense, etc.)
3) The Holy of Holies corresponds to the spirit; the place of intimate communion w/God alone.
b. Before the fall God dwelt with Adam. (Adam was the original Temple & every subsequent temple is patterned after the
original.)
c. After the fall He dwells within man thru regeneration.
II. MAN'S IMAGE OF GOD MARRED:
A. Spiritual Death: (Remedy: Regeneration)
1. The moment Adam sinned he died spiritually, i.e., his fellowship, union w/& his relationship to God were immed. broken.
ILLUS.: I cut off a flower with its stem from the plant. It is cut off from its source of life. It is potentially dead, but the actual
withering process may be delayed by placing it in water which will keep it apparently alive for days. But the final result is death. So
too man, after the fall continued to live physically for a time, but the result was bodily as well as physical death.
B. Physical Death: (Remedy: Resurrection)
1. In the fall man became more like the brute beast than the spiritual being God intended.
2. In line w/this God dealt w/him in harmony w/his degraded condition.
a. Even his diet was changed to than resembling that of a beast than of a being created in the image of God.
Gen.3:17-18 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and THOU SHALT EAT THE HERB OF THE FIELD.
QUOTE: M.R. DeHann, p.149 The Chemistry of the Blood:
1️⃣"Before the fall he (Adam) was restricted in his diet to "herb yielding seed.".(fruit, beans, peas, tomatoes, egg plant, etc.)
2️⃣But now since sin has entered into the world, God adds to man's normal diet the class of herbs called 'grass' in the Script." Here undoubtedly is the basic reason why children dislike that class of foods comprehended in the name of 'grass.' All parents who read (this) know how difficult it is to make our children eat those foods which are so necessary for their normal development, such as lettuce, spinach and cabbage." On the other hand it is a well known fact how fond children in general are of fruits."
C. Spiritual Death: (Remedy: Glorification)
CONCL.:
👉"Man's trinity has been disrupted & can never be restored till the Spirit of God imparts w/in him a new nature.
👉All attempts to fix up the body or soul must meet w/failure. It is doing nothing more than a clever piece of undertaking work. The undertaker may patch up the body, putting on the paint and the rouge, smoothly patting down the hair, & dressing up the corpse so that it looks so life like & natural that one would almost expect it to sit up in the coffin, but it nevertheless remains a corpse & in a very short time will be as repulsive a corpse as if it had never been taken care of by the mortician.
Jesus said: "Ye must be born again!"
Gen.1:26-27 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
INTRO.:
A. Some think that the "image of God" referred to in our text speaks of man's intellect, emotion & will & that that is the
"remarkable reflection" of God in man. While it is true that man is like God in these areas - above the animals - there is something
more to God's reflection in man. Others believe that man has lost his free will & his ability to lift himself out of spiritual death, but has retained his power to think, love, his sense of right & wrong, justice & injustice, etc. & while the above is true there is still more to "MAN: THE REMARKABLE REFLECTION" (of God).
B. In this series we have considered -
1. "THE BIBLE: OUR BELIEVEABLE BOOK" &
2. "THE BLOOD: OUR BOUNTIFUL BENEFACTOR"
& today we will examine carefully...
3. "MAN: THE REMARKABLE REFLECTION" (of God). Just how was man made in the "image of God"?!
I. MAN REFLECTED GOD'S IMAGE:
A. A Trinity in Unity:
Gen.2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground (BODY), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (SPIRIT); and man became a living soul. (SOUL).
I Th.5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Body: the seat & instrument of the senses. With our bodies we experience & sense the world around us. The body is the
instrument of expression for the soul. (We think, we do.)
2. Soul: the seat of the emotions: love, sorrow, sympathy, etc. The soul is the instrument of expression for the personality, logic,
thought, etc.
NOTE: Both man & the animals have a body & soul. Animals are capable of some limited thought, emotion, etc.
SOUL: A word with two distinct meanings in the Bible:
1. That which makes a human or animal body alive. This usage of the word soul refers to life in the physical body.
🔷The best example of this usage are those passages in the New Testament in which the Greek word for soul is translated as life. 🔸"For whoever desires to save his life [soul] will lose it," Jesus declared, "but whoever loses his life [soul] for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 🔸For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" <Mark 8:36-37>.
🔷This idea is also present in the Old Testament. 🔸For example, the soul of a dying person departed at death <Gen. 35:18>. 🔸The prophet Elijah brought a child back to life by stretching himself upon the child three times and praying that God would let the child's soul come back into him <1 Kin.17:19-23>.
2. The word soul also refers to the inner life of man, the seat of his emotions, and the center of human personality. The first use of
the word soul in the Old Testament expresses this meaning: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul)" <Gen. 2:7>. This means more than being given physical life; the biblical writer declares that man became a "living soul," or a person, a human being, one distinct from all other animals.
The soul is described as the seat of many emotions and desires:
🔅the desire for food <Deut. 12:20-21>,
🔅love <Song 1:7>,
🔅longing for God <Ps.63:1>,
🔅rejoicing <Ps. 86:4>,
🔅knowing <Ps. 139:14>, and
🔅memory <Lam. 3:20>.
🔶In the New Testament,
Jesus spoke of his soul as being "exceedingly sorrowful" <Matt. 26:38>.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, proclaimed that her soul "magnifies the Lord" <Luke 1:46>.
John prayed that Gaius would "prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers" <3 John 2>.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
C. Spirit: the seat of the knowledge of God.
I Cor.2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
ILLUS.: 🟣Christ had a body, soul & spirit. In His body He sacrificed Himself on the Cross & when He satisfied His Father's righteous demands He said: "Father, into Thy hands I commend my SPIRIT."
🟣When He died His BODY was placed in the tomb, His SOUL
descended into unseen world called Hades & His SPIRIT was committed unto God.
1. God's Temple:
a. God chooses to dwell in a house of 3 rooms. The O.T. Tabernacle & Temple carries this image.
1) The Outer Court (or Court of the Gentiles) corresponds to the body. It is in the body where sacrifice is made. Rom.12:1
2) The Holy Place corresponds to the soul; the place of fellowship & service (shewbread, incense, etc.)
3) The Holy of Holies corresponds to the spirit; the place of intimate communion w/God alone.
b. Before the fall God dwelt with Adam. (Adam was the original Temple & every subsequent temple is patterned after the
original.)
c. After the fall He dwells within man thru regeneration.
II. MAN'S IMAGE OF GOD MARRED:
A. Spiritual Death: (Remedy: Regeneration)
1. The moment Adam sinned he died spiritually, i.e., his fellowship, union w/& his relationship to God were immed. broken.
ILLUS.: I cut off a flower with its stem from the plant. It is cut off from its source of life. It is potentially dead, but the actual
withering process may be delayed by placing it in water which will keep it apparently alive for days. But the final result is death. So
too man, after the fall continued to live physically for a time, but the result was bodily as well as physical death.
B. Physical Death: (Remedy: Resurrection)
1. In the fall man became more like the brute beast than the spiritual being God intended.
2. In line w/this God dealt w/him in harmony w/his degraded condition.
a. Even his diet was changed to than resembling that of a beast than of a being created in the image of God.
Gen.3:17-18 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and THOU SHALT EAT THE HERB OF THE FIELD.
QUOTE: M.R. DeHann, p.149 The Chemistry of the Blood:
1️⃣"Before the fall he (Adam) was restricted in his diet to "herb yielding seed.".(fruit, beans, peas, tomatoes, egg plant, etc.)
2️⃣But now since sin has entered into the world, God adds to man's normal diet the class of herbs called 'grass' in the Script." Here undoubtedly is the basic reason why children dislike that class of foods comprehended in the name of 'grass.' All parents who read (this) know how difficult it is to make our children eat those foods which are so necessary for their normal development, such as lettuce, spinach and cabbage." On the other hand it is a well known fact how fond children in general are of fruits."
C. Spiritual Death: (Remedy: Glorification)
CONCL.:
👉"Man's trinity has been disrupted & can never be restored till the Spirit of God imparts w/in him a new nature.
👉All attempts to fix up the body or soul must meet w/failure. It is doing nothing more than a clever piece of undertaking work. The undertaker may patch up the body, putting on the paint and the rouge, smoothly patting down the hair, & dressing up the corpse so that it looks so life like & natural that one would almost expect it to sit up in the coffin, but it nevertheless remains a corpse & in a very short time will be as repulsive a corpse as if it had never been taken care of by the mortician.
Jesus said: "Ye must be born again!"
