Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology

 Anthropology:
The Doctrine of Man
What does the Bible teach about
humanity?
Why God Made Man
 Why God Made Man: God’s Glory
• God did not create humanity because
there was something lacking in himself; he
is self-sufficient
– Acts 17:25: …nor is He served by human
hands, as though He needed anything, since
He Himself gives to all people life and breath
and all things.
 Why God Made Man: God’s Glory
• He created man according to his mere pleasure
– Ps 115:3: But our God is in the heavens; He does
whatever He pleases.
– Eph 1:10-11: …with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the
summing up of all things in Christ, things in the
heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have
obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to His purpose who works all things after
the counsel of His will.
 Why God Made Man: God’s Glory
• He created man to manifest and magnify
his own glory
– Ps 8:1: O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is
Your name in all the earth, Who have
displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
– Rom 11:36: For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory
forever. Amen.
 Why God Made Man: God’s Glory
• He created man to manifest and magnify his
own glory
– Col 1:16: For by Him all things were created, both in
the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities—all things have been created through Him
and for Him.
– Rev 4:11: Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to
receive glory and honor and power; for You created
all things, and because of Your will they existed, and
were created.
 Why God Made Man: God’s Glory
• Thus man’s purpose is found in explicitly
bringing glory God, to magnifying the fame
of his name.
– Isa 26:8: Yes, LORD, walking in the way of
your laws, we wait for you; your name and
renown are the desire of our hearts (NIV).
– 1 Cor 10:31: Whether, then, you eat or drink
or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
 Why God Made Man: God’s Glory
• And since it is in bringing glory to God that
we find our true joy and satisfaction, we
can also say that we have been created to
enjoy him forever
– Ps 16:11: You will make known to me the
path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures
forever.
The Creation of Man
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• Man was directly and immediately created
by God in his image
– Gen 1:26: 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.” God created
man in His own image, in the image of God
He created him; male and female He created
them.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• Man was directly and immediately created
by God in his image
– Gen 9:6: Whoever sheds man’s blood, By
man his blood shall be shed, For in the image
of God He made man.
– Jas 3:9: With it we bless our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse men, who have been
made in the likeness of God.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– An image is something which resembles and
represents something else
– A likeness is that which resembles something
else
– To the original audience, “Let us make man in
our image, according to our likeness” would
have meant, “Let us make man to be like us
and to represent us.”
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– We can gain more insight into what it means
to have been made in the image and
according to the likeness of God from the
following passage:
– Gen 5:3: When Adam had lived one hundred
and thirty years, he became the father of a
son in his own likeness, according to his
image, and named him Seth.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– At the very least we can say that humanity is
God’s image and likeness in the same way
that a son is his father’s image and likeness;
– That is, there is resemblance…
– And there is representation (esp. in the
ancient world).
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– In addition, it is important to note that
although there is a slight difference in
meaning between the terms,
– It is not substantive, which explains why they
are often used interchangeably.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– Sometimes, just the term “image” appears:
– Gen 1:27: God created man in His own
image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
– This is especially significant since it follows
immediately upon God’s declaration
concerning the creation of mankind (see Gen
1:26).
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– Sometimes, just the term “image” appears:
– Gen 9:6: Whoever sheds man’s blood, By
man his blood shall be shed, For in the image
of God He made man.
– Col 3:10: …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.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– At other times, only “likeness” appears
– Gen 5:1: This is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day when God created man,
He made him in the likeness of God.
– Jas 3:9: With it we bless our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse men, who have been
made in the likeness of God.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– The passages that teach that man has been
made in the image and likeness of God are
meant to affirm a basic truth;
– Namely, that man is like God and exists to
represent God on earth.
– Attempts to reduce the image and likeness
solely to man’s dominion, righteousness,
agency, etc. unduly limits the meaning of the
terminology.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– This is not to say that there are not some
specific characteristics that are more closely
related to the idea of being God’s image-
bearers.
– For example, Scripture clearly connects the
idea of exercising dominion with the bearing
of God’s image.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– And this makes sense, as the exercise of
dominion over the created order is a way in
which we act as God’s representatives on earth.
– He has ultimate authority, but after making us in
his image and likeness, endows us with the
privilege of being his deputy rulers, to cultivate
and keep, to care for all that he has made.
– See esp. Ps 8
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• What is the image and likeness of God?
– Nevertheless, we may add to this any
characteristic that we may find explicitly set
forth in Scripture or that we may legitimately
infer from Scripture that teach us of
characteristics shared between God and man;
– For the expression refers to any and every
way man is like God.
Jesus and the Imago Dei
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• Jesus is the image of God par excellence,
uniquely and absolutely
– 2 Cor 4:4: …in whose case the god of this
world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving so that they might not see the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.
– Col 1:15: He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation.
 The Creation of Man:
The Imago Dei
• Jesus is the image of God par excellence,
uniquely and absolutely
– Heb 1:3a: And He is the radiance of His glory and the
exact representation of His nature, and upholds all
things by the word of His power.
– John 14:9: Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long
with you, and yet you have not come to know Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father;
how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Man’s Natural Condition
 Man’s Natural Condition
• As the bearer of God’s image, man was
created upright, without sin.
– Gen 1:31: God saw all that He had made,
and behold, it was very good. And there was
evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
– Eccl 7:29: Behold, I have found only this, that
God made men upright, but they have sought
out many devices.
 Man’s Natural Condition
• As the bearer of God’s image, man was
created upright, without sin.
– The portrayal of the state of paradise in
Genesis 1-2 demonstrates man’s natural and
original righteousness.
 Man’s Natural Condition
• As the bearer of God’s image, man was
created upright, without sin.
– Eph 4:23-24: …and that you be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which
in the likeness of God has been created in
righteousness and holiness of the truth.
– Col 3:10: …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.
 Man’s Natural Condition
• As the bearer of God’s image, man was
created upright, without sin.
– Since Christ is the image of God
– And since Christ is sinless, wholly upright
– It follows that man was made originally
righteous
 Man’s Natural Condition
• As the bearer of God’s image, man was
created upright, without sin.
– This should not be understood as a “childlike
innocence”;
– Instead, it means that man was endowed with
a positive righteousness, inherent in his
nature.
– Man and woman were created positively
good, not morally indifferent.
 Man’s Natural Condition
• Man was capable of dying, but did not
have to die so long as he continued in
obedience.
– Gen 2:16-17: The LORD God commanded
the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden
you may eat freely; but from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat from it you will
surely die.”
 Man’s Natural Condition
• Man was capable of dying, but did not have to
die so long as he continued in obedience.
– Gen 3:22-23: Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the
man has become like one of Us, knowing good and
evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take
also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—
therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden
of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was
taken.”
The Constituent Parts of Man

Trichotomy vs. Dichotomy

 Trichotomy or Dichotomy
• Is man made up of three parts, body, soul,
and spirit?
• Or is he two parts, immaterial and
material, body and soul/spirit?
 Trichotomy or Dichotomy
• Scripture’s emphasis is on the unity of man’s
material and immaterial parts (whatever amount
we may think there are).
– Gen 2:7: 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.
– 2 Cor 7:1: Therefore, having these promises,
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement
of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
 Trichotomy or Dichotomy:
Arguments for Dichotomy
• Scripture uses “soul” and “spirit”
interchangeably
– Either the soul or the spirit departs at death
– Man is said to be either “body and soul” or
“body and spirit.”
– Everything that the soul is said to do, the spirit
is said to do, and vice versa, including sin.
 Trichotomy or Dichotomy:
Arguments against Trichotomy
• The Trichotomist him- or herself will admit some
amount of elasticity in the Bible’s use of the
relevant terminology.
• The watershed texts supposedly asserting
anthropological trichotomism are poorly
exegeted at worst or inconclusive at best.
• Trichotomism has been the base for the
espousal of other, more serious errors.
• Dichotomy is the dominant teaching in the
history of the church and in evangelical
scholarship.
The Origin of the Soul

Creationism or Traducianism?
The Origin of the Soul: Creationism
• Creationism teaches that at the moment of
conception, God immediately creates the
souls of every person.
– Gen 2:7: 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.
– Eccl 12:7: …then the dust will return to the
earth as it was, and the spirit will return to
God who gave it.
The Origin of the Soul: Creationism
• Creationism teaches that at the moment of
conception, God immediately creates the souls
of every person.
– Isa 57:16: For I will not contend forever, Nor will I
always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint
before Me, And the breath of those whom I have
made.
– Zech 12:1: The burden of the word of the LORD
concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who
stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the
earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.
The Origin of the Soul: Creationism
• Creationism teaches that at the moment of
conception, God immediately creates the
souls of every person.
– Heb 12:9: Furthermore, we had earthly
fathers to discipline us, and we respected
them; shall we not much rather be subject to
the Father of spirits, and live?
 The Origin of the Soul:
Traducianism
• Traducianism teaches that our body and
soul are created together by the natural
generation of the sexual union.
– Gen 2:2: By the seventh day God completed
His work which He had done, and He rested
on the seventh day from all His work which
He had done.
 The Origin of the Soul:
Traducianism
• Traducianism teaches that our body and
soul are created together by the natural
generation of the sexual union.
– Gen 2:21: So the LORD God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then
He took one of his ribs and closed up the
flesh at that place.
– 1 Cor 11:8: For man does not originate from
woman, but woman from man.
 The Origin of the Soul:
Traducianism
• Traducianism teaches that our body and soul
are created together by the natural generation of
the sexual union.
– Rom 5:12: Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered into the world, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men, because all sinned.
– Heb 7:9: And, so to speak, through Abraham even
Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still
in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
 The Origin of the Soul:
Traducianism
• Traducianism teaches that our body and
soul are created together by the natural
generation of the sexual union.
– The apparent benefit of traducianism is that it
seems to exculpate the Lord from the charge
that he creates a sinful soul in mothers’
wombs.
 The Origin of the Soul:
Creationism or Traducianism?
• Though I can see the possibility of
traducianism, I find the exegetical
evidence less convincing that that which is
set forth in defense of creationism.
 The Origin of the Soul:
Creationism or Traducianism?
• In addition, I would argue that God still is not the
author of evil in the case of creating souls
immediately in mothers’ wombs.
• Since God uses secondary causes, including
evil ones for the accomplishment of his
purposes, we would suggest that it is possible
and consistent with God’s providence for him to
give each child a soul that has tendencies to sin
which are similar to that of the parents.
 The Origin of the Soul:
Creationism or Traducianism?
• Nevertheless, since the evidence for both
positions is scanty and relatively unclear, it
seems best to be tentative in our
conclusions.
• Even Augustine, after addressing the
subject several times in his writings,
ultimately concluded that he did not know.
 Conclusion
• Next time…
• The Fall of Man