Anthropology
The Doctrine of Man

Key passage: Psalm 8:4-6

I.       Introduction

•      The branch of theology devoted to the study of the human race is labeled “anthropology.”

•       The word “anthropology” comes from two Greek words, ánthrōpos, which has the general meaning for man or human being, and lógia, which infers study or science.

•       Anthropology is the study of the eternal questions of life: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?”

II.    Views of the Origin of Man

•      Fiat creation: Creation out of no existing materials (Hebrews 11:3)

•      Naturalistic (atheistic) evolution: Everything can be accounted for by natural processes.

•      Theistic evolution: God involved in the idea of creation but only at the start.

•      Progressive creation: (accepted by some neo-evangelicals) God created new forms of life gradually over a period of hundreds of millions of years (Hugh Ross).

•      Recent - Eden theory:  Adam and Eve were an island of creation within a sea of evolution.

III. Evidence of Revelation for Fiat Creation

•      The Bible is the only source of revelation, for no one else but God was there.

•      Story of creation is presented as historical fact not as true myth. At least 17 times in Genesis 1 God is said to be the Creator. (See also Ex. 20:9-11; Psalm 8; Psalm 104)

•       New Testament evidence for creation out of nothing:

•      Matt 19:4-6; Hebrews 11:3

•      John 1:3 -- absolute beginning of all created things

•      Colossians 1:16, 17 -- a creation held together by God's power

IV. The Nature of Man

•      At Creation (Genesis 1:26-27)

•      In Gen. 1:26, it is apparent that man’s creation was accomplished by a divine Creator.

•      The evolution of man is refuted by the fact that man alone was created in the image of God, being the pinnacle of God’s creation.

•      The passage states that man was made in God’s “image.” The Hebrew word for image is tselem and means a representation or likeness sometimes in a concrete sense.

•    Adam’s offspring was in his own image (Gen. 5:3).

•    Man is not to commit murder because man is created in God’s image (Gen. 9:6).

•    Deified idols were also called “images” (Num. 33:52; 2Chr. 23:17) and their worship was prohibited (Deut. 4:15-19).

•    Likeness (demuth), is a synonym of “image” (tselem) and means resemblance or similitude (Gen. 1:26 cp. 27 cp Gen. 5:1) and sometimes in an abstract sense.

•      “The “image of God” does not mean that man was created to look like God because God is a spirit (Jn 4:24). However, man is in the image of God in the sense that he was created as God’s representative to rule and exercise dominion over all the earth and its creatures (Ge 1:26; Ps 8:4-8).

•      The image of God included intellect and rational ability such as to exercise dominion and carry out responsibilities (Ge 2:15, 19-20). This is evident with respect to man’s ability to understand and interpret God’s revelation from His Word (2Ti 2:15; 2Ti 3:16-17).

•      It included a spiritual dimension in which man could worship and have fellowship with the Creator (Ge 2:7; 3:8-9; Ps 95:6; Ecc 12:1; Ro 1:25). This is especially true when man becomes spiritually alive in Christ through the Holy Spirit (1Co 2:9-16; Ep 2:5).

•      It included God’s communicable attributes and a moral conscience to distinguish and choose between good and evil (Ge 2:16-17; Ge 3:1, 6, 10).

•      In summary, God created man in His own image to be a spiritual, moral, intellectual, volitional, and emotional representative of Himself.

•      As a New Creation

•      The question can be asked, “When man sinned did he destroy the image of God?”

•    The answer is that man did not destroy the image of God when he sinned but he marred it.

•      Sin has affected every part of man as a spiritual, moral, intellectual, volitional, and emotional being. However, when a person becomes a believer he is a new creature in Christ and God begins to renew in him the “image of God” (Col 3:10).

•      God’s goal of sanctification in the life of every believer is to conform him to the image of Christ (Ro 8:28-29).

•    God uses all things and every situation to accomplish this.

•    God has predestined all things to accomplish this.

•    God’s ultimate goal is for every believer to be in the likeness of Christ, who Himself is not only God, but the perfect “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15; Ep 4:24).

•      The Immaterial Aspect of Man

•    Biblical Trichotomy -- Man is made up essentially of three elements, which are the body, soul, and spirit (spirit is separate from the soul).

•    The Trichotomy View suggests that the body relates to self, the soul relates to the world, and the spirit relates to God (1Co 2:14). The spirit is where the spiritual aspect of man resides (1Co 5:5; Ro 1:9).

•      Explanation of Soul and Spirit

•    At times, soul is interchangeable with spirit, but quite often it is used in reference to man’s whole person. In other words, when speaking of the fact that man is material and immaterial, the term soul is used.

•    When man’s immaterial aspect is in view, the term spirit is often used. Since Paul deals primarily with the “inner man,” the term spirit is used predominantly in Paul’s writings.

•    However, ultimately man is not described as a spirit (immaterial aspect), but as a living soul (whole person).

•    Furthermore, man is multi-faceted and is described with other aspects such as, heart, conscience, mind, and will.

•      The Transmission of Man’s Being

•      The material aspect of man is passed on by natural generation. But how is the immaterial aspect passed on?

•      There are several traditional views:  Preexistence; Creationism; and Traducianism.

•      Pre-existence theory:

•    Came from Greek philosophy

•    Theory held by some in Roman Catholic Church

•    God created all the souls when He created Heaven and Earth.

•    This view gives no account of Adam’s sin, Orthodox Christianity has never held to this view, and it is not consistent with biblical teaching.

•      Creationism:

•    This view teaches that the parents create the body by natural generation but only God could create the immaterial soul at the moment of conception (Nu 16:22; He 12:9).

•    God did not create the soul with sin, but it came in contact with inherited guilt through the body. Christ could only be sinless if God created His soul

•    Charles Hodge defends this view, as do many other Reformers along with Roman Catholics

•      Traducianism Theory

•       This view promotes that the soul is transmitted along with the body through the process of natural generation.

•       William G. T. Shedd argues that:

•He 7:10 describes a rational act on the part of unborn Levi.

•Ge 2:1-3 argues that God rested on the seventh day from all fresh acts of creating.

•Under the Creationism Theory, each sinless soul created by God would have to fall.

•Man is always seen as a union between body and soul.

V.    The Fall of Man

•      Genesis 3 is the key passage

•      Views of This Passage

•      Liberal: The fall was a legend and there was no truth or factual basis for the account of Gen. 3

•      Neo-Orthodox: The fall was an allegory, not factual, but a lesson on sin from Gen 3

•      Orthodox: Gen. 3 is a literal and historical account

•      Why we hold the orthodox view:

•      Jesus held to the literal and historical account of Genesis (Mt 19:4-5).

•      The Scriptures affirm the account of the fall of man as a fact (1Co 15:21-22).

•      If Adam’s fall was a myth then Christ’s death could also be a myth (Ro 5:12-21).

•      Aspects of Genesis 2&3

•      Adam and Eve were created innocent an upright in a perfect environment. Therefore, their sin stemmed from a simple choice to disobey (Ecc 7:29).

•      Adam and Eve were given several responsibilities (exercise dominion - Ge 1:26; be fruitful and multiply - Ge 1:28; cultivate the ground - Ge 2:5, 15)

•       They failed by disobeying God’s one prohibition, which was not to eat from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Ge 2:9, 16-17).

•      The Process of the Temptation:

•     Satan’s first approach to deceive Eve was to question God’s Word, “Yea, hath God said?” (Ge 3:1). This remains Satan’s proven method even to this day.

•     Satan’s second approach to deceive Eve was to question God’s character. Satan implied that God was not truthful (Ge 3:4) and that He was withholding good (Ge 3:5).

•"Satan was evidently trying to get Eve to believe that God was not good if He withheld anything from them....by contrast Satan's plan allowed them to do the very thing God would not permit. This was Satan's counterfeit." -- C. C. Ryrie

•      Satan tempted Eve from three aspects (Cp. 1Jn 2:16):

•    Lust of the Flesh (“good for food” - Gen 3:6a)

•    Lust of the Eyes (“delight to the eyes” - Gen 3:6b)

•    Pride of Life (“make one wise” - Gen 3:6c)

•      Eve may have been the first human to sin, but Adam, as mankind’s representative, sinned and brought sin and death upon all mankind (Ro 5:12).

VI. The Result of the Fall

•      The serpent was condemned to crawl (3:14).

•      Satan was set at enmity with the seed of the woman and permitted to give Christ a painful but not deadly wound (3:15).

•      Eve and women were assigned pain in (3:16).

•      Adam and men were assigned to unpleasant labor because of the cursing of the ground (3:17-19).

•      The race experienced broken fellowship with God or spiritual death, physical death, and exclusion from the benefits of Eden, a geographic and spiritual symbol of that broken fellowship (Rom 5:12-21).

VII.          The Ramifications of the Fall

•      Sin breaks fellowship with God (1Jn 1:9).

•      Contrary to Satan’s lie, sin always includes a penalty (Ro 6:23).

•      Sin always has far-reaching consequences.

•      Christ is the only solution to fallen man, both in atonement (He 2:17) and temptation (He 2:18).

 

Acknowledgements: 

This material adapted from:  A Survey of Bible Doctrine, C.C. Ryrie; notes provided by Daryl Hilbert, Grace Bible Church of Gillette, Wyoming; and notes provided by Dr. Ken Baker, Cork Academy, Cork, Ireland