In dealing with the first of these phases of the one fact, it is necessary first to consider man according to the Divine ideal in his unfallen condition; secondly, to consider the fall, as to man's action; and thirdly, to contemplate the resulting fact man's alienation from God.
Initial act of sinI. The essential truth concerning the nature of man is contained in a descriptive expression found in the book of Genesis, and in New Testament Scriptures. He is spoken of as being "created in the image and likeness of God." In order to understand the significance of this expression, it will be best to read the whole of the Scriptures where it occurs."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 birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Gen 1:26-27)"This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him." (Gen 5:1)"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man." (Gen. 9:6)"For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man." (1 Cor. 11:7)"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of God, should not dawn upon them." (2 Cor. 4:4)
Turning to the New Testament, the word translated "image" in the first four Scriptures quoted, is the word eikon, i-kone, which suggests the idea of an outline resemblance, very literally a profile. The word translated "image " in the passage from Hebrews is the word khar-ak-tare, which simply means an exact copy, or an engraving. Thus it will be seen that both in Old and New Testaments, the expression suggests a definite resemblance, rather than an exact representation, except where, as already indicated in the letter to the Hebrews, the language is descriptive of Christ in such aspect of His Person as is peculiar to Himself, and in which men by original creation have no participation.
Passing over these Scriptures again, let the progression of thought be noted carefully. In the account of creation, it is affirmed that man was in some respect a shadow or manifestation of God. Here are two ideas, arresting thought, and not to be forgotten in the subsequent discussion. First, man is but a faint representation, a shadow merely; and secondly, the very dignity of his being lies in the fact that he is even so much as that. Perhaps the simplest exposition of the thought would be gained by a contemplation of the shadow of a man cast upon some white background, by the shining of a great light. What the shadow would be to the man, the man would be to God: like and unlike, suggesting an idea, but by no means explaining the mystery, impossible apart from the substance, and yet infinitely less in essence than the substance. Man no more perfectly expresses all the facts concerning God, than does the shadow those concerning man. Nevertheless the shadow is the image of the man, and indicates truth concerning him.
This expression never occurs in the Old Testament after the account of creation, except when in the ninth chapter of the book of Genesis, man is safeguarded from murder, the reason given being that no man has a right to destroy that which was made in the Divine image, thereby government was instituted to cover such cases. By the act of sin, the image and likeness of God in man was not destroyed but defaced, and in all the history, contained in Old Testament Scripture, is seen a degraded ideal.
Turning to the New Testament, after the completion of the work of Christ, the expression is restored in the writings of the apostle. In the Scripture first quoted, he is evidently referring to man as to the original Divine intention concerning him, and he speaks of him as the "image and glory of God." In the second reference he uses the expression of Christ, as the One Who has realized that primal Divine intention, and in Colossians he declares that the original Divine ideal may be restored through the work of Christ. In Hebrews, where it has been shown, the word is a far stronger one; it is used of Christ, Who is infinitely more than a shadow of God, seeing that He is "the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance." (Heb. 1:3)
Having thus examined the Scriptures, and the use of the phrase therein, it may be asked, in what sense was man created in the image of God? The answer to the question may be found, by suggesting another question. What is man essentially, for it is in his essential nature that he is in the image of God? Man essentially is spirit, his present body being his probational dwelling place, that through which he receives impressions, and that through which he expresses the fact of his own being. In his letter to the Romans the apostle says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service." (Rom. 12:1) The marginal reading of the Revised Version changes the word "service" into "worship," and therein lies a revelation of the true relation of the spirit of man to his body. Through the medium of the body, the truth concerning the spirit expresses itself. Where the body is presented, it is presented by the spirit, and through this devotion of the body, the spirit expresses its worship. The essential fact in man therefore is his spirit, and it is in spiritual essence that man is made in the image of God. There are secondary senses in which even in bodily form, man is a quoted, is the word eikon, i-kone, which suggests the idea of an outline resemblance, very literally a profile. The word translated "image " in the passage from Hebrews is the word khar-ak-tare, which simply means an exact copy, or an engraving. Thus it will be seen that both in Old and New Testaments, the expression suggests a definite resemblance, rather than an exact representation, except where, as already indicated in the letter to the Hebrews, the language is descriptive of Christ in such aspect of His Person as is peculiar to Himself, and in which men by original creation have no participation.
Passing over these Scriptures again, let the progression of thought be noted carefully. In the account of creation, it is affirmed that man was in some respect a shadow or manifestation of God. Here are two ideas, arresting thought, and not to be forgotten in the subsequent discussion. First, man is but a faint representation, a shadow merely; and secondly, the very dignity of his being lies in the fact that he is even so much as that. Perhaps the simplest exposition of the thought would be gained by a contemplation of the shadow of a man cast upon some white background, by the shining of a great light. What the shadow would be to the man, the man would be to God: like and unlike, suggesting an idea, but by no means explaining the mystery, impossible apart from the substance, and yet infinitely less in essence than the substance. Man no more perfectly expresses all the facts concerning God, than does the shadow those concerning man. Nevertheless the shadow is the image of the man, and indicates truth concerning him.
This expression never occurs in the Old Testament after the account of creation, except when in the ninth chapter of the book of Genesis, man is safeguarded from murder, the reason given being that no man has a right to destroy that which was made in the Divine image, thereby government was instituted to cover such cases. By the act of sin, the image and likeness of God in man was not destroyed but defaced, and in all the history, contained in Old Testament Scripture, is seen a degraded ideal.
Turning to the New Testament, after the completion of the work of Christ, the expression is restored in the writings of the apostle. In the Scripture first quoted, he is evidently referring to man as to the original Divine intention concerning him, and he speaks of him as the "image and glory of God." In the second reference he uses the expression of Christ, as the One Who has realized that primal Divine intention, and in Colossians he declares that the original Divine ideal may be restored through the work of Christ. In Hebrews, where it has been shown, the word is a far stronger one; it is used of Christ, Who is infinitely more than a shadow of God, seeing that He is "the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance." (Heb. 1:3)
Having thus examined the Scriptures, and the use of the phrase therein, it may be asked, in what sense was man created in the image of God? The answer to the question may be found, by suggesting another question. What is man essentially, for it is in his essential nature that he is in the image of God? Man essentially is spirit, his present body being his probational dwelling place, that through which he receives impressions, and that through which he expresses the fact of his own being. In his letter to the Romans the apostle says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service." (Rom. 12:1) The marginal reading of the Revised Version changes the word "service" into "worship," and therein lies a revelation of the true relation of the spirit of man to his body. Through the medium of the body, the truth concerning the spirit expresses itself. Where the body is presented, it is presented by the spirit, and through this devotion of the body, the spirit expresses its worship. The essential fact in man therefore is his spirit, and it is in spiritual essence that man is made in the image of God. There are secondary senses in which even in bodily form, man is a
quoted, is the word eikon, i-kone, which suggests the idea of an outline resemblance, very literally a profile. The word translated "image " in the passage from Hebrews is the word khar-ak-tare, which simply means an exact copy, or an engraving. Thus it will be seen that both in Old and New Testaments, the expression suggests a definite resemblance, rather than an exact representation, except where, as already indicated in the letter to the Hebrews, the language is descriptive of Christ in such aspect of His Person as is peculiar to Himself, and in which men by original creation have no participation.
Passing over these Scriptures again, let the progression of thought be noted carefully. In the account of creation, it is affirmed that man was in some respect a shadow or manifestation of God. Here are two ideas, arresting thought, and not to be forgotten in the subsequent discussion. First, man is but a faint representation, a shadow merely; and secondly, the very dignity of his being lies in the fact that he is even so much as that. Perhaps the simplest exposition of the thought would be gained by a contemplation of the shadow of a man cast upon some white background, by the shining of a great light. What the shadow would be to the man, the man would be to God: like and unlike, suggesting an idea, but by no means explaining the mystery, impossible apart from the substance, and yet infinitely less in essence than the substance. Man no more perfectly expresses all the facts concerning God, than does the shadow those concerning man. Nevertheless the shadow is the image of the man, and indicates truth concerning him.
This expression never occurs in the Old Testament after the account of creation, except when in the ninth chapter of the book of Genesis, man is safeguarded from murder, the reason given being that no man has a right to destroy that which was made in the Divine image, thereby government was instituted to cover such cases. By the act of sin, the image and likeness of God in man was not destroyed but defaced, and in all the history, contained in Old Testament Scripture, is seen a degraded ideal.
Turning to the New Testament, after the completion of the work of Christ, the expression is restored in the writings of the apostle. In the Scripture first quoted, he is evidently referring to man as to the original Divine intention concerning him, and he speaks of him as the "image and glory of God." In the second reference he uses the expression of Christ, as the One Who has realized that primal Divine intention, and in Colossians he declares that the original Divine ideal may be restored through the work of Christ. In Hebrews, where it has been shown, the word is a far stronger one; it is used of Christ, Who is infinitely more than a shadow of God, seeing that He is "the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance." (Heb. 1:3)
Having thus examined the Scriptures, and the use of the phrase therein, it may be asked, in what sense was man created in the image of God? The answer to the question may be found, by suggesting another question. What is man essentially, for it is in his essential nature that he is in the image of God? Man essentially is spirit, his present body being his probational dwelling place, that through which he receives impressions, and that through which he expresses the fact of his own being. In his letter to the Romans the apostle says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service." (Rom. 12:1) The marginal reading of the Revised Version changes the word "service" into "worship," and therein lies a revelation of the true relation of the spirit of man to his body. Through the medium of the body, the truth concerning the spirit expresses itself. Where the body is presented, it is presented by the spirit, and through this devotion of the body, the spirit expresses its worship. The essential fact in man therefore is his spirit, and it is in spiritual essence that man is made in the image of God. There are secondary senses in which even in bodily form, man is a shadow of Deity. As the body of man is the expression of his spirit, and the spirit is the image of God, so through the tabernacle of man's spirit there are made certain suggestions
concerning God Himself.
The present study however, is confined to the essential fact. Within the spiritual fact of man's being there are three constituents. These have been variously described. Perhaps at once the simplest and most lucid analysis is that of Kant. He speaks of intelligence, emotion, and will. It is in the possession of these things that man is in the image of God. God is a Spirit, having intelligence, having emotion, having will. Man is in the shadow of God. He also is a spirit, having intelligence, having emotion, having will. In all these things he is but a shadow, that is to say, there are limitations upon these facts in human nature, which in the Divine are illimitable and consequently not to be perfectly understood of men, It has been objected to the doctrine of the personality of God that the thought of personality implies limitation. This, however, is to argue from a false hypothesis. Perfect personality is unlimited, so that personality is only perfect in God, and is imperfect in man. In God intelligence is unlimited, emotion is unlimited, will is unlimited. In man all these facts are found, but in each case within limitations. He does not know all things, his intelligence being limited, his emotional nature also can only act within comparatively narrow limitations, and the exercise of his will is limited by the demand for a cause, which is never perfectly found within himself
Man as originally created, was not only in the image of God. He was also made to live in union with God, so that all his limitation might find its complement in the unlimited life of the Eternal. It is a great mistake to think of man as made, and then put into some position, where he might rise or fall, according to the capacity of his own personality. It is rather to be remembered that he was created in the image of God, and then put in the probationary position through which he was to pass unharmed to some larger form of existence, if his life were lived in union with the God Who had created him. If however he chose a separate existence, and cut himself off from union, in that act, he would encompass his own ruin, he would fall.
This intended life of union with God may be described in two ways, as personal fellowship, which is holiness of character; and as cooperative activity, which is righteousness of conduct. For a full understanding of what this meant, it is useless to tarry in the Garden of Eden. There, in the account of creation, a faint suggestion is given of the Divine intention is necessary, however, to come to the last Adam, the Man Jesus, for a full appreciation of this Divine intention. In Him unbroken fellowship with the Father manifested itself in holiness of character, and unceasing cooperation with God expressed itself in absolute righteousness of conduct.
In order to an appreciation of the meaning of fellowship with God there must be remembered the analysis of personality already referred to, intelligence, emotion, and will. In unfallen man the limited intelligence was nevertheless enlightened, and was able to
understand the things of God. Limited emotion was nevertheless enkindled towards the things thus known, and man loved God and all He loved. The limited will was yet energized by the superior and Infinite Will of God, and so chose ever the things that were in harmony with that Will. Thus in unfallen man there was to be found enlightened intelligence, enkindled emotion., energized will, wholly within the realm of the Divine Sovereignty.
Then beyond that personal fellowship, there was cooperative activity, which is righteousness of conduct. And again the analysis of personality may be taken as the basis of consideration. All activity is the outward expression of an inward intelligence. The enlightened intelligence of unfallen man, appreciating the things of God, the deeds of the life of such a being were in perfect harmony with the purposes of God. The emotional nature of such a being, appreciating and loving the things of God, became the spring from which streams of action emerged, which were all moving in the Divine direction. In such a being the will exercised its highest function in choosing the things of God, and the activities of the life were therefore always those of partnership with the enterprises of God. The old word spoken to the father of the race was "have dominion." In the midst of a wondrous creation God set man. The creation in which man found himself had not yet realized all the possibilities of its own being. It waited the touch of man in cooperation with God for that realization. God put man into a garden to dress it, and to keep it. The preparation of man's work was of God, the creation of the worker was of God, there was perfect fitness between the work to be done, and the workman prepared, and while man lived in fellowship with God, and cooperated with God, all creation recognized his leadership, yielded to his dominion, and moved along the line of a new progress towards a yet more wondrous beauty and perfection.
These truths are yet evidenced by the power of man even in a fallen condition. All the cultivation of flowers, all the inventions of science, are in the last analysis, but man's cooperation with God, issuing in new forms of beauty, and fresh forces of utility. A very simple illustration in floral culture is that of the chrysanthemum. But a very few years ago it was looked upon as an old-fashioned garden flower, very sweet, but very simple. Today it is one of the most gorgeous and marvelous of decorative blossoms, so beautiful in the length and delicacy of its petals, so poetic in its restless waviness of beauty, and so splendid in its possibility of color, that it has well been described as "a rose gone wild with joy." (Dr. Joseph Parker) The possibility of this beauty always lay within the modest garden flower, and the development thereof has been wholly due to man's discovery of certain laws of Nature, which laws are eves the thoughts of God.
So also in the realm of scientific discovery. Let a map of the world be taken, and let the hand be placed upon the centers where such discoveries have been made, and it will invariably be found that the hand is resting on a land where the light of the Christian revelation has most brightly shined. These things but go to prove that it is in cooperation with God that man is capable of highest activity, because in cooperation with God he realizes the perfection of character. Unfallen man, then, was a being like God, in the essentials of his nature, in that he was a spirit having intelligence, emotion, and will. Unfallen man realized the highest possibility of his being in a life of personal fellowship and cooperative activity with God.
There yet remains one other fact to remember, concerning the unfallen condition of man. He was placed in circumstances of probation. That is to say, the stronghold of his nature was his will. It was for him to choose whether he would abide in that relation to God, which would ensure his fullest realization of possibility, or whether he would by severance from God encompass his own ruin. It was a terrible and awful alternative. Yet unless it were offered to man, the highest fact of his being would be atrophied, for will power, having no choice, ceases to be of value. Thus in the garden of his activity God marked the limit of his possibility by two sacramental symbols. Both were trees. The one was the tree of life, of which he was commanded to eat. The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was forbidden. Between these lay an endless variety of which he might or might not eat, as pleased himself. Of the tree of life he must eat, and thus he was reminded, in a positive symbol, of his dependence for the sustenance of his being upon God. Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he was forbidden to eat, and thus he was reminded of the limitation of his freedom within the government of God. Finite will is to be tested, and it will stand or fall as it submits to, or rebels against the Infinite Will of the Infinite God. Thus unfallen man was a being created in the image of God, living in union with God, cooperating in activity with God, having the points of the limitation of his being marked by simple and definite commands laid upon him, gracious promises luring him to that which was highest on the one hand, and a solemn sentence warning him from that which was lowest on the other. He was a sovereign under a Sovereignty, independent, but dependent. He had the right of will, but this could only be perfectly exercised in perpetual submission to the higher will of his God. The whole fact is summarized concerning essential human nature in the exquisite couplet,
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours to make them Thine." (Tennyson)
The fall, as to man's actionII. In considering the Bible account of the fall of man, it is necessary first to note carefully the process of his temptation. In the story of Genesis is clearly revealed the great distinction between testing and tempting. Man's position in the economy of God was one in which he was in the place of testing. That testing became definite enticement towards evil through the agency of evil already existing, and expressing itself through its prince, the devil. The method of the enemy was full of all subtlety. He first asked a question which was calculated to create the sense of restricted liberty, and so cast an aspersion on the goodness of God. To paraphrase the question, he said, In this garden is there some tree forbidden to you? Are you at any point of your will limited and restricted? The answer of the woman admitted the limitation, a limitation which certainly existed. Then the very essence of evil is seen in the interpretation of that limitation. Whereas the limitation in the purpose of God was wholly beneficent, and intended to hold man within the only sphere in which he could make progress towards the largest and fullest possibility of his being; the enemy suggested that it was imposed by a desire on the part of God to keep man from progress and enlargement of capacity. Thus it is seen that at the back of the method of the devil is an aspersion cast upon the character of God. Man was made to question the goodness of law. Appealing to the intelligence of man, the enemy created an aspersion, which was calculated to change the attitude of his emotion, and so capture the final stronghold, that namely of his will. He declared that man's intellectual nature was prevented from development by this limitation. By this declaration he created in the mind of man a question as to the goodness of the God Who had made the law, and thus imperiled the relation of the will to God, as he called it into a place of activity outside, and contrary to, the will of God.
Then came the actual fall, and its essential characteristic was that of independent
action. The wisdom and the love of God having been called into question, man instead of taking counsel with Him, concerning this suggestion of evil, ailed independently, and in that act of self-separation from God, he fell from the sphere in which it was possible to realize all the infinite meaning of his being, into that of utter and irremediable ruin. All the rivers that have made sad the life of man, had their source in this turning of the will of man from its proper channel, that of community of action with thy will of God, into the channel less rush of undetermined and ungoverned activity. By taking of the fruit of the forbidden tree, man desecrated the sacramental symbol, because he had departed from that sphere of life of which the non-partaking tree was the confine. By the assertion of his own will he dethroned God and enthroned himself. Man as to spiritual essence sinned when listening to the tempter, he doubted the love, and decided to act as against the will of God. That inward and spiritual fall of man found its expression in the overt act of taking that which God had forbidden.The resulting fact, man's alienation from God
III.
The issue of the act is revealed in the words "so He drove out the man." (Gen. 3:24) Man by his own decision and deed has separated himself from God. God by the necessity of the being created judicially separates man from Himself. Having violated the covenant man is put outside its benefits. The life of dependence upon God was the life of union and cooperation with God. Man having chosen the position of independence, is now cut off from union and cooperation. To say this, is to declare that by his own act, man has become separated from that fellowship with God which constitutes his holiness of character; and from that cooperation with God, which is the condition of righteousness of conduct. He has passed into a region where the essential powers of his being can find no fitting field of operation. He retains the essential facts of his being, but they cannot be perfected, because they have lost their true sphere. Henceforward his intelligence must be bounded by its own limitation, as it is severed from the Infinite Knowledge. So also his emotion must become dwarfed as to capacity, because it has lost its perfect object in the loss of God. His will, a magnificent ruin, will perpetually attempt to secure mastership and yet will never succeed, because it has lost its own true spring of action, and its own Master. Man distanced from God has not lost the powers of his original creation; he has lost the true sphere of their exercise. His intelligence is darkened, his emotion is deadened, and his will is degraded. Darkened intelligence henceforth will see only the things that are near. The spaciousness of the spiritual condition has ceased, and man will look at material things in semi-blindness, which is at once tragic and pathetic. Deadened emotion, a heaven-born capacity, will attempt to satisfy itself wholly within the realm of the earth, and love being set wholly upon the things material, will forever be wounded in their loss. Degraded will, ever attempting to be authoritative, masterful, will always be thwarted, beaten, overcome. Out of this dire and desolate ruin, God hears the call for a Deliverer.
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