Ten Theses on the Doctrine of Man from Genesis 1–3

Question 1

Man is the Apex of creation.

Answer 1

1. God is primary and we are secondary.
   
   1. Bahvink says in volume 2 of his reform dogmatics, “Humanity represents God’s highest, and richest self-revelation. And consequently the head and crown of the whole creation.”
2. Man is the crown of God’s creation. But creation does not exist for man, man still exists for God.
3. Louis Birkhoff will state, quote “man, is not only the crown of creation but is also the object of God’s special care.”
4. Only upon the creation of man does, God declare that creation is very good.
5. Reflecting on Genesis 1 David, in Psalm, 8 reminds us that man was made a little lower than the Heavenly beings. And yet all things in creation have been placed under his Dominion.

Question 2

Man is created as a result of the immediate creative action of God

Answer 2

1. Man is the product of the Breath of God, who breathed life into, man.
2. Man is the result of the special creative activity of God.
3. The longest narrative in the creation account centers on God’s creation of mankind, where he breathes his very life into, man.

Question 3

Man is created in distinction from God, but is dependent on God

Answer 3

1. Genesis 1 teaches us, a fundamental distinction between the Creator and the creature. And because God is the creator, the creation is dependent on him but is distinct from him.
2. Creation and creatures must then submit to his rule and reign as the Creator and problems arise when the creature seeks to take the place of the Creator
3. Romans, 1:18
4. What we need to see is that the infinite Eternal Sovereign all-powerful God creates this world out of nothing and as a result creation must submit to his lordship and care.
5. When we deny this basic Creator-creature distinction, inevitably we end up attributing to Creation Godlike qualities.
   
   1. It’s why we worship things that are made from our hands.
   2. If we don’t recognize the Creator God, we will inevitably attribute to other things what should be attributed to God.

Question 4

Man is created in the image of God.

Answer 4

1. Humans are unique among God’s creation.
2. Humans are animals created in the image of God.
3. Only humans are created in the knowledge and righteousness and Holiness of God.
4. Humans are to be God’s representatives on Earth. We are to reflect his Beauty, his dignity and his character. We are to resemble the likeness of God because we are his image.
5. God himself is a creative rational being and therefore, we have a ground for creative activities.
6. When we think through the image of God, we understand that in scripture the image unfolds along a four-fold state.
   
   1. We have the image of God in creation.
   2. The image of God after the fall.
   3. The image of God in Redemption.
   4. And the image of God and Glory.
   5. To borrow from Anthony Hokema, We have the original image, the perverted image the redeemed image, and the perfected image.

Question 5

Man was created to reflect both gender, equality and gender distinction.

Answer 5

1. God creates man the image of God.
2. We understand that includes God creating male and female as equal but distinct genders.
3. Defined not only by biology but defined by we might even say ontology that God has given us gender as a category of the image of God.
4. We’re trying to actually preserve the Dignity of females as well as the Dignity of males, that male and female gender identity is something to fight for because there’s inherent dignity and being a woman in his Dignity and being a man and that reflects God’s design for us as humans. It’s an important part.
5. There are ways in which men and women distinctly reflect God’s character in ways that are unique to them. One way to look at this is to actually trace out maternal metaphors that are used to describe God in the Bible. We don’t have to be so afraid of becoming a feminist or an egalitarian to acknowledge that there are maternal ways, the Bible describes, the way God cares for Israel and cares for us and it draws upon female metaphors to do that.

Question 6

Man was created with both a soul and a body

Answer 6

1. We are living souls.
2. Genesis 2:7.
3. We are embodied people. Your body’s matter.
4. We cannot disembody individuals to suggest that all that matters is your soul, that God only wants your mind, your soul.
5. There is inherent dignity in our bodies. And the way we treat our bodies the way we treat one another right, stems from the very fact that God has made us in His image and what a treat each other and to treat our bodies with honor and dignity.
6. Caring for our bodies, physical exercise is important, eating healthily is important. Getting rest is important, basic hygiene is important. And there’s a theology that undergirds those things.
7. When we talk about the body we’re talking about how to steward what God has given us and that we worship the Lord body and soul.
8. We can’t just love him inwardly and then be our bodies and submission. No, we actually have to develop a healthy view, the human body. We’re living souls.

Question 7

Man is the recipient of God’s revelation

Answer 7

1. The point is we need God to know God.
2. Man would not have understood the cultural mandate. Man would not have understood the Sabbath principle. I would argue man, would not understand the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil unless God explicitly communicated to him, how to conduct himself in God’s Temple Garden.
3. Man was the recipient of God’s special Revelation before the fall.
4. It’s my belief that in the new Heaven and new earth we will be recipients of new revelation. That it will be true of Glory of our lives and Glory that, our lives will depend on God, giving us instruction, that is pertinent to that dispensation to that, new world to that new creation.

Question 8

Man is created in Covenant with God

Answer 8

1. It’s impossible to live in God’s created world and to be outside, the purview of a covenant.
2. If you live in God’s created world, you are in a covenant relationship with God.
3. Covenant is the Matrix in which these things relate to each other. Covenant makes life happen.
4. We see that, for example, in how the entire Narrative of Genesis 1-3 is crafted by emphasizing the categories of benediction and malediction of blessing and cursing.
   
   1. Blessing and cursing are not invented in Deuteronomy. They are introduced in the garden. When you look at blessing in Genesis 1 and cursing in Genesis 3, both of those are explicitly Covenant categories. And I think they indicate that man is created in Covenant fellowship with God.

Question 9

Man is made for communion with God

Answer 9

1. All of these creations are in Covenant for the purpose of communion.
2. The Bible opens with a pronouncement of blessing and a call to worship.
3. To be truly human means to be in full fellowship and communion with God.
4. You will never know what it’s like to be fully human until you enjoy full communion with God.
5. Real humanity won’t fully be realized until we see Jesus face-to-face.
6. Sadly, we have sinned against God. We are incapable of sustaining communion with him because we deserve his judgment.

Question 10

Man has sinned against God and stands in need of a redeemer.

Answer 10

1. The Bible begins with God who is not only creator, but priest.
2. The first benediction in the Bible, was not given by Adam, or Aaron, the first benediction in the Bible is given by God.
3. God is the one who blesses creation on the fifth day, humanity on the sixth day, and the Sabbath on the seventh day. Life in the garden is lived under the umbrella of God’s blessing, his countenance, his smile, his happiness, so that we can enjoy fellowship and communion with him.
4. Genesis 3 God’s smile turns into God’s frown. His benediction becomes a malediction, blessing becomes cursing as a result of Adam’s sin. And so God curses the serpent, curses, the woman, and curses the man for their rebellion. Again, it’s the antithesis of the blessing of Genesis 1. As a result, humanity no longer lives under the umbrella of divine favor, but under the hand of God’s judgment. Sadly. The blessing that is enjoyed in Paradise is lost to quote Milton as a result of the Fall. What’s stunning about that is that the rest of the Bible tells the remarkable and unexpected story of how God’s blessing from creation is restored, by means of God’s gracious covenant through his deliverer, through his Messiah. Now of course, hints of how this is going to be done is spoken to Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses and David and Ezekiel and others. By the time we get to the New Testament, we learn that the fount of God’s blessing is ultimately revealed in God’s son. And the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus turns God’s cursing into a blessing by becoming himself a curse on the cross for us. So that those who are in Christ are eternally and gloriously forgiving and blessed for all eternity. So blessing, that is lost is blessing regained gained through the lamb.