What is the essential nature of man?
What is man? Is he anything more than a mere animal? If he is different from animals, what makes him different?
Genesis 1:26-27 tells us the distinguishing factor, setting man apart from animal. Man was made in the image of God. The image of God? What does that mean. It means that, unlike animals, man can think. He doesn't run on instinct. He can make choices, reason, have preferences, have motivations, etc. All the personal attributes god processes, man also has because God gave them to him.
When God created man, He created him to be righteous.
Genesis
The Hebrew word 'tob' used in this verse, translated in the NIV as 'good', can refer to quality as well as to moral goodness.
Man was righteous, never having sinned. But God didn't want a bunch of automatons. So He gave man a choice. The ability to obey or disobey. And then He gave them a rule. Just one, not that hard to keep track of and obey, right? Unfortunately Adam and Eve found it to hard to obey. They broke Gods one rule and imediately, things went wrong for them.
Seperation! Everything began to separate. First, the relationship between man and God was severed. Genesis 3 tells us all about mans becoming separated from God. It let's us know that the intimate relationship previously shared was gone and Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. Man was also separated from
Genesis
The passing of blame here signifies the beginning of mans' separation from other men. Here they are no longer united. They now have an 'every man for himself' attitude. Thirdly, man became separated from nature(animals, plants, etc.).
Genesis
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
Genesis 3:17b-19 - "Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
So because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, all of man kind would now be sinful.
Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned
But that's not the end. God did not turn His back on the people he created. We have not been deserted to live our despicable lives with no rescue. God chose to save us from our unrighteousness. Now of course, unrighteousness must be punished. So the only way to save us from our unrighteousness is by way of punishment. But God declared that the only punishment equal to our crime was that of death.
Romans 6:23a - For the wages of sin is death
So someone had to die in order for our sins to be payed for in full. And not just someone. It had to be an innocent party. For if the person paying the price was sinful, it would be what he deserved and would not be able to save himself or anyone else. So an innocent person had to be found. Unfortunately.......
Romans 3:32 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
There was not a single member of the human race that could be the sacrificial lamb. So God, out of His love and mercy did the unthinkable. He sent His only son to the earth, and allowed Him to be taken and killed by men. Jesus Christ became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This allowed us to be once again united with God.
Romans
18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Being made righteous by Jesus' death, we are no longer separated from God. But just as Adam and Eve were not robots, we also are not. We can still choose to sin. And our nature is still inclined toward sin. So at this point, man's nature is evil. Unlike the common teaching of today, man is not 'basically good'.
The essential nature of man is evil. He is still in the image of God, but he lacks all attributes related to righteousness. But now, he has a way to escape from that evil that resides in him. God has provided the way.
Great post! I really like how you used lots of scripture to back up your points, it seems like that's something that a lot of people don't do!
ReplyDeleteOh and I subscribed to your blog via google reader, so I'll definately be reading! I look forward to more great posts!