Who are we? What are we? Why do we exist? The Greek word for a human being is ?????p?? (anthropos) and so this study of humanity deals with the topic of biblical anthropology.
Who are we?
First of all, we are the children of Adam. Adam was named for his origin, because his name refers to the ground from which he came.
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. (Genesis 2:7 NASB)
In contrasting Adam and Christ, God reveals to us through Paul, the difference between our earthly inheritance and our heavenly hope.
The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven… And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:47-49 KJV)
The Bible also describes the origin of humankind as created in the image and likeness of God.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness… So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 NIV)
Both male and female bear the image and likeness of God. So it obviously does not mean the bodily shape of one gender or the other. The phrase “in our image” (?????, TSEH-lem) also means a resemblance. The phrase “according to our likeness” (???????, de-MOOTH) also means similitude of external appearance.
Do these phrases about the image and likeness of God mean that our bodies are literally like God’s? Remember that descriptions of God reveal Him as everywhere at once and therefore not limited to a particular outward form.
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:24 KJV)
What the concepts of being created in the image and likeness of God do is set humanity apart from the animals, with a different purpose. Where Adam and Eve failed, we have the choice of fulfilling, putting on the new man, new self or new nature.
… and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24 NKJV)
Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. (Colossians 3:10 NLT)
There are several possible explanations of this. The more common views are that being created in the image and likeness of God means that we have a similar but limited ability to reason, to rule over the earth and we were created to have a relationship with God. This is why Adam was also referred to in a genealogy as the son of God.
Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God. (Luke 3:38 NLT)
Apart from rare and unfortunate genetic abnormalities, we are also male (?????, ish) and female (???????, isha), designating a difference in physical stature and strength, but not a difference in intellectual capacity or status before God.
“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. (Genesis 2:23-24 NLT)
What are we?
The English word soul is a very fuzzy word, with too wide a variety of meanings to be exact. It is used in different ways throughout different translations of the Bible, for a variety of concepts. Sometimes it translates a word meaning a life or living being, sometimes a person’s body, and sometimes a person’s spirit. We say in English that someone IS a nice soul, meaning the person, and we say they HAVE a body and soul, meaning physical and spiritual parts. One biblical example shows how the English word soul can mean the whole person.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7 KJV)
Other translations use the word “being” (NIV, NASB, NKJV), “person” (NLT), and “creature” (ESV) instead of soul. So the word soul is not a very exact word in English. That is why many people prefer to be more precise and use the word spirit when referring to the non-material part of a human being.
Most Bible passages use the word soul to mean the spiritual side of a person. The majority of biblical descriptions refer to us as essentially two components. In simple terms we could call it a material part and a non-material part, a body (physical) and a soul (or spirit).
Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 NLT)
The Bible also refers to us as consisting of three parts, a body (physical), soul (in this case meaning a mind that can reason or think) and spirit (the non-material component).
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23 NASB)
The Great Commandments to love God and neighbor further suggest a four-fold union of heart and soul (psyche) and strength and mind. After Jesus had confirmed the first commandment, He said the second was like it.
He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27 NIV)
All these are different ways of looking at the same thing, everything that we humans are.
Why are we?
Humanity was created to have a relationship with God, but as in all good relationships there has to be trust. Our most ancient ancestors failed a simple test of faithfulness in their first dealings with God, and all human history tells of the tragic consequences that we still experience because of that disappointment.
The breakdown in trust is told by way of a forbidden tree, God’s command and His warning to the first humans.
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:15-17 KJV)
This event included the first couple’s disobedience, a serpent’s deceit, followed by the woman’s reasoning disobedience and then the man’s passive disobedience.
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. (Genesis 3:1-6 NLT)
The immediate result of the episode was their shame over their nakedness and desire to hide from God.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:7-8 NIV)
God then arrived on the scene to make his decision regarding the couple. He questioned the man.
“Where are you?”... “Who told you that you were naked?”... “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:9-11 NLT)
He questioned the woman.
“What have you done?” (Genesis 3:13 NLT)
He judged the serpent.
“Because you have done this, you are cursed…” (Genesis 3:14-15 NLT)
He judged the couple.
“By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:16-19 NLT)
He provided clothing in consideration of their embarrassment over their nakedness and banished them from His garden.
And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife… So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. (Genesis 3:21-23 NLT)
God instituted the death penalty for murder with the thought that humanity was made in the image of God, and despite humanity’s disobedience blessed them in their reproduction.
“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” (Genesis 9:6-7 NIV)
Ever since, human history has been cursed with a mixture of both good and evil.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. (James 3:9 NIV)
God was well aware of the possibility that our first parents would sin and had a plan all along in His Son Jesus Christ, who would become the firstborn of many.
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29 NLT)
And so the marvellous and wonderful thing is this: God’s plan moves beyond the failures of our first parents and our subsequent human inadequacy, to bring about our full conformation to his image, in that we will bear the image of the heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49 NASB)
Who can save us from the snake that still continues his deception? There is good news in Jesus Christ, who is the image of God in a higher sense.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV)
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15 NIV)
We are called to put on the new self, reborn in the image and likeness of God. We have taken off the old self,
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:10 NIV)
We are children whose inheritance has been to bear the consequences of our first parents’ decisions. They were created in the image of God, but fell short of their full potential. In Jesus, we have a far greater inheritance, to be regenerated in the fullness of the image of God. God loves His children and has a plan to save us. That’s who we are.
Discussion
Who are we human beings in relationship to God? What are we made of? Why is humanity in the plight that we are? How has a loving God provided for reconciliation and a wonderful future for us? Why has He given us the freedom to choose to seek Him or not?
