Issues in Biblical Anthropology, Lecture
Key Topics
Creation (throughout)
Transgenderism (throughout)
Spiritual Being / Spiritual Body (throughout)
Transcript with YouTube timestamps
0:03okay jared johnson did you have a question you can just unmute and go okay um so with the different
0:12world views on being or however we would talk about it it seems like some of them
0:17kind of challenge each other but then when you hear the voices in our culture they all seem to agree with each other so like uh
0:25critical race theory and i’m a sexual being it would seem like they’re competitive but they
0:30the voices in our culture seem to be on the same team so is there ever discussions in like
0:36academic literature that kind of talk about how no this is better than that or is it always is it just like illogical
0:44yes that is definitely a reality of for example the lgbt movement
0:52that it is not really a coherent movement it’s in true it’s in truth a loose
0:58conglomeration of uh of movements that have
1:04gotten together and made common cause effectively against what you could call
1:10the traditional worldview or the religious worldview whatever you want to call it it’s not just christianity right
1:16but a kind of religious understanding of the human person um has has been competed against
1:24very shrewdly i would say by a group of of movements and truth and
1:30here’s one illustrator of the phenomenon you just referenced that is a real one
1:36in for example among among uh those who would identify as feminist
1:43there’s a battle that has been playing out between your traditional hard-line feminists and transgender
1:52activists such in the the new yorker did a story on this a few years ago you could look it up
1:59i’m pretty sure you could google it and find it pretty quickly very little attention paid to to this
2:05phenomenon but one of those tension points that you’re rightly raising jared um those who believe that
2:12women need to be elevated and who believe in this very strong
2:17understanding of womanhood do not have the same ideology at all with with those who would argue that
2:25there’s no such thing as gender those aren’t just different systems or
2:31you know huh they might have a little disagreement those are polar opposite systems
2:36and fourth wave feminism and third wave feminism are on
2:42completely different lily pads they do not agree with one another and they are effectively
2:48in open warfare against one another but when it comes to the public square there
2:54is common cause that is made to advance the lgbt movement or whatever you want whatever we’re dealing with
3:00in particular the bad guys are the religious types in america in broad terms you know
3:07catholics protestants certainly fundamentalists etc and so on
3:12that’s the bad group and suffice it to say that those who are not in that group have made common cause to
3:18win many many victories in the public square and will likely continue to do so even
3:24though theirs is not a coherent movement the way it would seem when you look at lgbt movement or whatever it may be
3:31framed as this does not hold together and you can
3:37say the same thing absolutely with race um you could definitely say that that conflicts sharply
3:44uh with certain tenets of the lgbt so so those who would
3:49see themselves as white men who are straight who want racial justice are in many
3:56cases not in a in a happy position when it comes to the social justice
4:03movement black lives matter are the sub because they are the ones who whether intentionally or unintentionally are in
4:09a privileged position so there again there may seem to be
4:14common cause but they’re actually they are the bad ones straight white men are the the worst
4:21ones out there so this is what happens jared when you move away from the truth
4:30you do not end up in a another version of the truth you end up in absolute chaos and and
4:36madness and contradicting claims uh so
4:41so that’s a very i’m going on here but that’s a very interesting question will that movement hold together
4:48i don’t i have no idea okay um david crandall crandall and then
4:56steve so my my question has to deal with your
5:01description of man as expressive therapeutic being and the aea authenticity expression
5:09affirmation yeah i’m not very informative but it occurred to me that a lot of the
5:15discussions that i’ve had with people they would express that but not in that
5:21way and i’m wondering how many of the people that are out there that are kind of championing this ideology really
5:29understand that authenticity is at the root of what they’re going after it seems more
5:35um openly self-centered to me rather than uh
5:42rather than them claiming to uh obtain some kind of authenticity of who they are they’re just more openly
5:48self-centered like i i am the most important person in my life and i’m going to do what’s best for me i
5:55think there’s how many people out there that are kind of championing this if you really
6:01understand that that’s what’s going on it that yeah yes i think what you can
6:08say is as with a lot of ideologies and worldviews there’s often a formal and an informal version
6:15so there’s often a you know a philosophy if you will a
6:21developed ideology but then there’s also often a uh a kind of on the street version
6:29so um
6:35you have you have movements at the ideological level
6:40in therapeutic terms that will define human personhood in terms of authenticity well that’s the high
6:47academic level then you turn on the radio and you have someone saying be true to yourself or you watch a
6:53disney movie affirming you’re the most beautiful you you could ever be or you know something like that
6:59what is that is the disney movie playing the role of the pedagogical philosopher no not
7:05formally but in what we’re seeing is we’re seeing a formal and an informal version of a worldview
7:11but you would identify those two as basically the same thing one basically the street view of the other yes i would say i would say that
7:19authenticity is selfishness i think you’re what you’re after there is right
7:26someone may not frame it that way right they may buy into oftentimes philosophy
7:31is window dressing for our lived heart condition that’s
7:37some of what i was trying to get after right when i’m saying there’s no neutrality for example we’re trying to find
7:44philosophies that voice our inner rebellion against god and if you are selfish yes one of the
7:51ways you will frame that and the rock star that i that i mentioned
7:56he wasn’t being authentic if if if the rock star says in polite society
8:04i hate my wife and kids he’s there’s going to be some kickback right i mean even in a secular you know on
8:10social media or something on twitter i hate my wife and kids i’m done with them people are gonna be like what but if he
8:18says i’m not i’m just realizing that i’m not on an authentic journey of self-discovery and
8:25personal fulfillment and i’m making other people around me less than fulfilled as well and so i
8:32need to be released from this on and on it goes well now now he’s
8:37starting to get a hearing isn’t he so it’s hard to know david when a person
8:45is genuinely believing in a system because they genuinely believe in it and
8:50it’s leading them to their conclusions which is a real thing or when they are seeking a system as
8:56window dressing for their heart condition we know the truth though we know that no
9:01matter where that chicken and egg cycle starts and ends we’re always
9:06self-justifying so yeah more to say but steve
9:13yeah um it took about 100 years for for nietzsche to get from you know
9:19nietzsche to the cover of thailand and it feels like you know a number of
9:26these other these five things he just mentioned went through have come through a lot faster than 100 years
9:33and so maybe just you know kind of looking forward it feels like we did this class and you
9:39know next year there could be a list of 10 things that are on there as far as five cultural views on humanity maybe
9:49where should we be looking and thinking and how should we be thinking to to see this stuff coming down the pipe
9:55faster
10:01that’s a good question there is definitely the phenomenon today of the sped up culture
10:08we do seem to be moving at a faster pace than in previous days some of that
10:16there’s numerous factors that account for that we’ve moved out of rural
10:23life into predominantly city life that makes dissemination and
10:29transmission of ideas a lot easier add to that social media
10:36and people being plugged in and connected and you’re going to have the development
10:41of a mono culture that’s a that’s a technical term monoculture much easier
10:48social media is going to breed that and it’s going to police that
10:55i was walking in glendale near where i’m staying for this class and looking at businesses that have
11:02clearly closed i’ve never been to glendale before but i can identify these seem to have closed recently and i was
11:09thinking one of the realities of the pandemic and the lockdown is how little
11:15debate there has been over it and how little criticism of it there has been for
11:20example think about comedians comedians used to voice alternative
11:26positions there’s not been anybody who’s engaged uh that i know of the
11:33lockdown in those terms so there’s a mono culture that has developed with the internet
11:39and with social media in particular that makes the transmission and
11:44dissemination of ideas way quicker i don’t know exactly what to
11:49tell you in terms of where to look but i want students
11:55to be always always watching so i want i want pastors and future
12:02pastors to have an awareness of what’s going on culturally
12:07in our movement i actually think we can be so sola scriptura
12:13that we can not recognize that the men of issachar for example were men who understood the times
12:21that doesn’t mean necessarily reading 17 magazines or websites a week but it does mean i
12:27think for us in the 21st century trying to have your pulse on what is happening in entertainment
12:35what is happening politically what is happening culturally
12:40and there’s there’s a broader conversation to say to have about how to find that out but um it starts
12:47with being curious and inquisitive and trying to be like the men of issachar
12:52and not master the times but at least understand what people are facing the
12:58reason we just did this first part of the class is so that i can try to equip you
13:04to then equip the people you minister to or will minister to
13:10in addressing all this that is coming at them so fast and again that many
13:16christians do not have an awareness of and to go back to my forestry metaphor
13:23are not going to be able to spot some of the vines around the tree
13:32david did you have another question no okay sorry your hand is just you’re
13:38just saying hi any last um question before we dive back in
13:47yes justin um i just wanted to add to what you were
13:54saying earlier with the did i put it in the chat but the book irreversible
13:59damage by abigail schreier i was reading that and i realized it was a feminist pointing out transgenderism
14:04like there’s a conflict there between his particular views
14:10yeah along those lines what’s be what’s happening now is really
14:16interesting because christians are finding themselves in
14:21cultural terms in the public square
14:28making arguments alongside figures like camille paglia who’s a famous feminist for example well
14:3740 years ago camille paglia was the one of the foremost public foes
14:42of the evangelical church because of people like me and because of men like you i’m i’m assuming who are
14:47complementarian um who believe that the husband is the head of his wife for example well now feminists
14:56still believe in some form of womanhood and we do as well it’s not that we have
15:02the same vision we don’t but in terms of the rollicking boisterous debate in the
15:09american public square we’re actually closer now to our former opponents
15:15fascinating times you can’t make this stuff up can you all right sixth view man is the image of
15:22god now we’re going to transition from cultural theology into biblical consideration the
15:29christian response to all of these views and many others we could mention
15:35with a core biblical doctrine the imago dei in latin
15:42the image of god which is taught for us in the pages of scripture
15:48first in genesis 1 26 and following let’s read together
15:55then god said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish
16:01of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that
16:07creeps on the earth so god created man in his own image
16:12in the image of god he created him male and female he created them and god blessed them and god said
16:20to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the
16:27fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing
16:33that moves on the earth this is the passage
16:40that corresponds with genesis chapter two of course the sixth day of creation i believe this
16:47is a six actual day a historical day 24-hour day
16:52and this is where we learn at the end of genesis chapter one what god does at the apex of his
16:59creative work his master work is not the seas
17:04it’s not the mountains it’s not the birds it’s not the fish it is the human person the human person
17:11then according to genesis 1 is the crown of creation
17:16so the bible begins with god creating but what we need to understand
17:22is that god’s purpose in creating is not simply to make everything as if it is on an equal
17:28footing but that god has made the earth and it teeming with life for
17:35man for humanity the human person in particular the man
17:43is made in the image of god according to these verses you see that in verse 27 he
17:49created him in the image of god so there is a sense in which i think
17:56what genesis 1 27 is getting at is not that the man is the image of god and the woman is not but that the man has
18:02what the new testament will call in ephesians 5 headship the man is created first his creational
18:09order as first timothy 2 9-15 is going to make clear matters and matters greatly matters
18:16more than we would have known simply by reading the old testament the apostle paul is going to go to creation order
18:23to ground eldership in the church as exclusively the possession of godly qualified men so god is
18:31is doing something profound in genesis 1 and 2 by creating the man first you must
18:38take pains to know that creation order matters greatly it is not an incidental
18:44fact that the man is formed first from the dust of the ground and then the woman is formed from his
18:50rib it is actually very vitally important to understand the significance of
18:56creation order again to the extent that it is going to be the basis of who can
19:03be an elder and pastor in the church of the lord jesus christ in the new testament
19:09this is the opposite perspective we get in our culture when it comes to the sexes the sexes are
19:15seen as essentially the same reality men are no different really than women there are a few biological
19:21differences yes but even those today as we’ll be talking about tomorrow at greater length
19:27can be sanded down can be medicated and overcome but in the biblical mind
19:32creation order matters tremendously and it structures nothing other than leadership in the home
19:38and leadership in the church and we can also say by some extension leadership in society all this flows from
19:46man has made in the image of god according to our
19:53likeness note that just after god says
20:00that the man is made in our image we would understand many of us
20:05some kind of reference to the broader godhead the trinity here even as man is made in divine image
20:13according to god’s likeness i don’t see a sharp differentiation between these terms
20:18image and likeness in past days and theological circles and anthropological conversations scholars have argued that image is
20:24different than likeness likeness has certain uh traits that image doesn’t have i don’t hold that view myself as you will
20:30see when you read re-enchanting humanity if you have not already nonetheless what scripture is telling us
20:36right off the bat is that humanity is the only creative work of god
20:43that is formed in these terms the human person therefore is distinct
20:49right off the bat the human person is the only created being that carries this
20:56characterization and as such what comes out of identity
21:02as image bearer ruling that’s the very next teaching of
21:08god call of god in genesis 1 26 they will rule
21:15so god is establishing a great deal here isn’t he in these verses god is establishing that
21:22he is king ultimately but that his apex of creation humanity
21:30is a kind of vice king and this vice king vice regent or vice gerund
21:36it’s called different things in theological circles means that humanity is made
21:42to rule the human race is made to rule the fish
21:48the birds the livestock the whole earth and the creatures
21:55that crawl on the earth god gives us here through the pen of
22:02our quill of moses in this verse a sense that there is nothing in all the created order
22:10that is not subject to the rule of adam and eve with adam of course
22:16having priority of creation in chronological terms they rule the fish of the sea as low as
22:24you can go effectively on the planet they rule the birds of the sky as high as you can go effectively
22:32on the planet they rule everything that is on the earth livestock they rule everything that
22:37crawls on the earth so it’s vital that we understand first that man is made in the image
22:45according to the likeness of god and then it’s vital to understand correspondingly that this image-bearing
22:54race humanity is made for a specific function function
23:02flows out of identity it is not simply that man is imago dei
23:09it’s that imago dei has a specific commission and we saw that in verse 28.
23:16the human race is made to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth
23:24and to subdue it and to have dominion again over everything
23:31everything that is on the earth everything that moves on the earth
23:38so god has already friends implanted tremendous purpose in his human creation
23:45the human race is called in creational terms to marriage this will be spelled out of
23:53course in the next chapter what it precisely it looks like to be fruitful and multiply
23:58fill the earth so that is a an absolutely essential marker of
24:04the function of image bearers and image bearers of course are called
24:09as well to subdue and have dominion over the earth that is also that vice kingly
24:16language that we were referencing in verse 26 so already just in these
24:22few verses we have our cornerstone understanding of the identity
24:27of the human person image bearer made in god’s image and we have an
24:33understanding of the function of the human person to rule to subdue to multiply to fill
24:40the earth what we learn here in in a kind of broader sense is that god loves life doesn’t he
24:48god loves life god is the creator and god has made the human race to be a
24:54kind of sub-creator race that’s actually a j.r.r tolkien term but even if you didn’t know about jarrod
25:00tolkien you would know that concept from the scripture itself of course just as god has created and filled the
25:07earth with life so humanity is called to create under god’s sovereignty of course
25:13procreate that is and fill the earth with life so our god is a god who
25:19loves creation he loves making he loves flourishing
25:26he loves thriving he wants the cosmos to team with life
25:32he made all the kinds of the animal kingdom he made birds he made flowers he made
25:38clouds he made it all he made it all for his glory but he made the man as the apex
25:45of his creation so note how earthy human existence is in genesis 1.
25:52this is an earthy race and in genesis 2 he’s going to make clear that he makes the man from the dust of
25:59the ground so humanity is an earthy being but an earthy being with a divine origin
26:07and that matters greatly for our theology of the human person we are earthy beings we’re made of dust
26:14initially the first human being is made of dust but we are made not for the earth we’re not supposed to
26:21understand ourselves as natural beings alone according to a naturalistic
26:27philosophy we are supposed to understand ourselves as made from the earth by god
26:33so the human person is made by god for god to know god the human person is
26:39made by god for god to know god that is the right understanding
26:48in terms of a starting place of human identity and nowhere else man is made in the
26:56image of god means all this entails all this means that we are made by god
27:03for god to know god we are alone the creature that can have this
27:11kind of existence with god relationship with god the
27:17turtles are not made in the image of god the salamander is not able to have any
27:23form of relationship with god it is only the human person that is made
27:30in these terms so what does this mean men this means that mankind is fundamentally a spiritual being
27:36that’s what it means it means that mankind is fundamentally a spiritual being
27:41with a theological identity spiritual being theological identity
27:47which means that you can’t understand humanity outside of this
27:53outside of these verses outside of this framing you will not know who you are as a human person
28:00unless you understand that we have a spiritual identity with a theological meaning that’s it
28:08that is the starting point for discovering who a human person is
28:15the human person is made in god’s image by extension the human person is
28:22image bearer is made by god for god to know god
28:30okay from this starting point though does everyone in christian theology agree on the nature
28:38of the image now remember this is an elective so we’re going to dive in to some kind of more specific matters
28:46than we would if we were walking through this in theology one in terms of the theology
28:52sequence at midwestern what we need to ask is what positions on
28:58the image are held and there are a bunch of different views on the image but i want to just quickly
29:04look at three because these are three of the most common or three that i
29:11believe that you should most think about with me in this class the first position on the image of god
29:17the nature of the image of god somebody says what does it mean to be me i affirm that humankind is
29:23the image bearing race but what does that mean what does that entail the first position is called the
29:29substantive view substantive view and different theologians of course different systems and traditions have their own term
29:35but we’re going to use these terms to frame our study together the substantive view means that
29:41according to miller derek’s in one proponent for example that the image is a characteristic or quality
29:48in humanity the image is a characteristic or quality
29:55in humanity something about the human person discreetly and specifically that
30:01you can identify as the image this is
30:06probably the most common view in evangelical circles the substantive view although adherents or proponents of
30:16the substantive view do not all have the same position on what precise characteristic or
30:21quality marks humanity as the image for example here are some of the
30:29positions within this position rationality the image reduces to
30:37the ability to reason that’s a not uncommon perspective
30:44in the reformed tradition for example so the ability to reason is that which
30:50separates man from the beasts many people are trying to understand and
30:56asking what exactly is the image they’re trying to understand what it is that separates humanity from the animal kingdom for
31:02example and so this is a common argument in theological circles in christian circles
31:08rationality sets us apart from animals
31:14spirituality spirituality is the image that’s it’s what constitutes the image
31:21initially so mankind is made a spiritual being you just heard me get revved up about that briefly
31:28and so what happens in the fall of genesis 3 again a real historical fall by a real
31:34historical adam according to yours very truly is that spirituality
31:39true knowledge of god that is is lost so therefore there is a strong
31:46perspective that i’m going to talk about in just a few minutes in the christian tradition that argues that the image is gone
31:52after the fall or obscured or marred or confused or distorted
31:58there’s different variations on that theme others argue that the quality in humanity that marks the
32:05image is morality the the the ability to have moral
32:11uh living rights and wrongs do’s and don’ts the apes do not gather in
32:18circles to conduct justice courtroom proceedings
32:25we are moral beings we have all these rules what happens when you get a bunch
32:31of guys together for example to play pick up soccer or pick up basketball what happens first i am a
32:38basketball aficionado okay and i also do enjoy soccer as well what what happens first
32:48the rules are hashed out yes okay what are we playing to in basketball
32:55we’re playing at 21. okay which version of 21 is it the version where it when you get
33:00to 20 and you miss your free throw you go you go back down to 13. or okay is it the version of 21 where
33:08twos or threes count as two and everything else counts as one okay do you have to clear um the
33:14basketball to the three point this is a game of 21 played with like two or three people and
33:19we are already at like five rules do you understand this isn’t that is
33:24that funny to you okay maybe this is just me point of moment of privilege but uh that’s a very rule-driven
33:31enterprise when supposedly you’re just going out to have fun to play sports but actually we’re very rule oriented okay so people
33:37will say not just with the game of 21 and pick up basketball
33:42that morality is what marks the human person is made in the image of god others will say freedom our freedom
33:50our free will theologians argue this it’s the capacity to have free will that distinguishes us
33:59as image bearers and there are other takes as well
34:06let me give you just one uh proponent a very famous one john calvin calvin argues essentially for
34:13rationality as the marker of the image he says this about the image in the mind
34:21perfect intelligence flourished and reigned uprightness attended as its companion and all the
34:28senses were prepared and molded for due obedience to reason and in the body there was a suitable
34:33correspondence with this internal order aquinas
34:39some centuries before calvin held a similar view he believed that rationality
34:44unto true knowledge marks the human person among all created beings so suffice it
34:50to say that there is strong representation in the christian tradition of rationality or the ability to reason
34:57as marking out the image second position on the nature of the
35:03image is what we call the relational view the relational view this is the position held by carl
35:10bart for example influential neo-orthodox theologian bart argued that man as image
35:18male and female is uniquely fitted for relationship so in genesis 1 26 when we
35:25read let us make man in our image when we’re reading that we’re hearing
35:31the three persons of the trinity who dwell together in perfect relational harmony
35:36express that now humanity is going to experience relational harmony as well so the image
35:44means that we are relational beings bart wrote this in god’s own being and sphere there is a
35:51counterpart a genuine but harmonious self-encounter and self-discovery
35:56a free coexistence and cooperation an open confrontation and reciprocity
36:02man is the rep repetition of this divine form of life it’s copy and reflection
36:09so bart goes on to say the two male and female are to him god
36:14man because they are one so this is a view that argues that when
36:20you’re when you’re trying to identify what the image is you have to go to relationality
36:26we can uniquely enjoy depth of relationship as human persons
36:32made in god’s image in the trinitarian image just as the trinity dwells together in relational harmony so
36:39we can dwell together in a form of relational harmony as well we’re made for relationship
36:45would be a simpler form of this second position
36:52i think to give a quick comment here that it is certainly true that the human
37:00person has numerous qualities and characteristics as made by god
37:05god gave us a mind god gave us emotions god gave us a soul god has enabled us to
37:12come into meaningful relationship in a unique way so these are all aspects of what it
37:18means to be human i believe but i do not believe ultimately myself
37:25in either the substantive view or the relational view of the image it’s not that
37:33these views are bereft of any important point they aren’t it’s extremely important
37:39that we have a capacity for rational thinking that’s of immense importance to understanding the
37:45human person furthermore human relationship is a massive part
37:51of what it means uh to be a person think about how weird our season of
37:57lockdown has been for example in many different respects part of what we are
38:04are are missing in many dimensions of life is human relationship we are made in all
38:11sorts of different ways for relationship the church is a family it’s the new covenant family
38:19and so there’s a great deal to say about these matters nonetheless there’s a third position that uh we
38:25should surface that is called different things but you could call it the representative view in the representative
38:33position this third position uh in my own position is going to be a variation of this
38:39third view humankind is the representative of god on earth
38:47g k beal for example has argued that in order to understand the human image
38:53you need to understand the ancient near east context let me quote what veal has said
38:58along these lines ancient kings would set up images of themselves in distant lands over which
39:06they ruled in order to represent their sovereign presence for example after conquering a new
39:12territory the assyrian king shalmaneser fashioned a mighty image of my majesty
39:17that he set up on a black obelisk and then he virtually equated his image with that of the glory of his
39:24god beale goes on to argue that adam was created then as the image of the divine
39:30king to indicate that the earth was ruled over by yahweh so what’s the point here
39:36the point is that in the ancient near east image is not some unknown concept it’s actually
39:43a pretty understandable concept in the ancient near east context and it specifically connects to kingship
39:49to rulership so when a king wants to display in a territory that he is
39:54ruling this territory what he does is he sets up a little physical image and that displays to everybody that he
40:01rules it even though he himself physically may not be in residing in that territory so it is
40:08beal and others argue with mankind as image bearer we are those who show
40:15the rule of god in the earth we represent therefore
40:22divine rulership as human persons i
40:28basically believe a um in this view um i have my own language for it i
40:35believe that we are not merely an uh a representative of god though that is
40:41key to understanding our identity i believe that we should term the image as an
40:47ontological reality in other words we in our being as human persons
40:56are the image of god let me repeat that we are ontologically
41:03the image of god in our being in our essence we are made in the image
41:11of god and therefore we are image bearers what does this mean by entailment
41:19it means that when you are looking at a human person you are looking at the image of god
41:28somebody says to you what is the image of god i want to understand it i want to know more what it is i want to do what you’re doing master seminary
41:35student i want to understand these deep theological ideas that theologians debate and frankly disagree over god loving theologians
41:42disagree over the nature of the image those in the reformed tradition those in the baptist tradition those in the evangelical tradition there is not
41:48unanimity of position on this matter so i want to understand it
41:53i believe this is me speaking i believe that when you see a man or a woman you are seeing
42:00the only living creature made in the image of god and therefore you are seeing an image bearer
42:08to see humanity then is to see nothing other than the likeness
42:16of god the human person is a living display
42:24of the rulership and existence of god
42:33that’s how significant it is to be a human person to be a human person is to
42:38be an embodied demonstration of the existence of god
42:45people say how do you know there’s a god well one biblical pointer one biblical
42:51principle along those lines is look at a human person the human person is a living
43:00emblem of god a little picture a distant
43:06glimpse but a real glimpse let’s not make this too distant
43:13let’s never soften what scripture makes solid let’s be right where scripture is
43:21let’s not underplay scripture let’s not underplay the doctrines of the word of god
43:27let’s not quiet it down and let’s not shout it out let’s not overplay scripture
43:34let’s be right where scripture is to see a human person is to see the
43:41image of god ontologically to see humanity
43:46is to see the likeness of god part of how you and i are supposed to come to
43:54believe to know that there is a god is by looking at other human
44:02beings i don’t think this is normally how we think i also don’t think this is some
44:09sort of genius theological insight i think it’s right there in the text waiting to be grabbed
44:16and believed the image then is not a quality that waxes and wanes in a person
44:25you’re not less image bearer today than you were 16 days ago
44:32you’re not more the adamic image than you were
44:39as a child the image is not a quality that waxes and wanes that rises and
44:46falls the image is not dependent for example on an environment that
44:51nurtures your ability to reason you as a human person have the ability
44:58to reason and that is a uniquely human undertaking don’t miss that there can be
45:05capacities and facets and qualities of humanity that are unique to humanity
45:10that are nonetheless not precisely the image the definition of the image there’s a
45:18lot about being a human i would argue that is unique
45:24but that doesn’t necessarily describe and capture what the image is
45:30the image has to be described and captured according to scripture it has to be defined by scripture
45:38let me just give you a quick dovetail here i really appreciate wayne grudem
45:45as one theologian i served on the council of biblical
45:50manhood and womanhood for example i was executive director and then i was the president of cbmw
45:56from 2012 to 2016. those two roles and wayne grudem is with john piper the
46:01founder of cbmw cbmw is a very important organization i would encourage you to check it out i
46:06would encourage you to support it when you’re a local church pastor if you’re not now
46:12cbmw’s of great import and wayne grudem is a massively important theologian in the
46:17evangelical movement and in my own little tiny personal life on this particular issue though i
46:24remember going to grudem’s systematic theology which is a major reference for me then
46:29and now and will be for enlightenment on what the image is if you look at grudem though he has
46:36essentially everything that god is as being that which constitutes the image you can
46:43look it up for yourself uh of course we don’t have the incommunicable attributes nonetheless
46:50there is within some very gifted very good theologians far better than me a tendency to make everything the image
46:57you understand the point if everything’s the image
47:05isn’t it the case that nothing’s really the image it strikes me that there has to be some
47:12specificity and precision about what the image is is the image everything it means to be
47:17human rationality morality spirituality relationship that’s all part of what it means to be
47:24human we’re not dismissing that but what is the image you see the image
47:29isn’t dependent on a rationality nurturing environment
47:34as if those of you on this zoom session who may have a mensa level
47:41iq are more the image than a
47:47child in your family or your church who has the condition called down syndrome
47:55if the image is rationality as john kilner the theologian has expressed in his writing then aren’t
48:01those who are smarter more image bearers than those who are less
48:08gifted intellectually you may not hold my view now or in the future but i would submit
48:16to you students that this is something you have to think through
48:21this is one of those theological matters you got to spend some time chewing on again whether or not you
48:26adopt my view or not there may be theologians by the way at tms that you have had in other classes and will have who have a different position
48:33than me please note that i am not saying that i am the only one who has ever staked out a position on this issue
48:39and i’m not saying that this is a a matter of uh determining who’s in the kingdom and who’s not or even who you should study under or
48:45all these sorts of things i actually believe in genuine eccentricity of learning
48:50i believe in other words that you should learn from a diverse array of voices including ones that you will not always
48:55have the same position on so let that be said that’s me that’s part of what i did with my reading in the
49:00course i assigned you different texts from different authors because i want you to be exposed to different voices who won’t all agree on everything
49:08even as i myself believe in giving students what the puritans used to call a body of divinity nonetheless the image is also not
49:15inhibited by physical deficiencies because the image doesn’t derive i
49:20believe from a certain bodily state so if the image is tied to
49:27for example a certain understanding of physicality fullness of physical health something
49:33like this then if you have physical deficiencies or if your body just doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to then again the
49:40image would seem to rise or fall in the same way the image is not unlocked when a person gets married
49:45contra bart there would be a lot of contrabart in my theology let that be said but he is a significant thinker in the
49:51christian tradition so we quote him and he has been influential along the lines of defining the image i do not believe that the image flows
49:58from personal relationship even though humanity is made for relationship
50:03let that be said i don’t believe furthermore that the
50:09image is lost lost tarnished destroyed corrupted marred obscured or anything else along those
50:17lines in the fall even though i am personally absolutely a believer in total depravity
50:26i don’t only believe in it principally i’ve seen it bad theology joke that’s like a theology
50:32dad joke there will be dad jokes let there be dad jokes
50:37okay theology dad jokes uh many in the reformed tradition which
50:44i am very happily in i’m in that sandbox man six days a week and twice on sunday
50:50many do believe in the substantive view of the image and they therefore tie
50:56depravity the fall to some kind of corruption of the image or even
51:02veiling of the image that’s a common formulation today that i hear in evangelical and baptist and reformed
51:08circles that the okay maybe the image is somewhat intact this that understanding has actually been coming back in theological circles
51:15in in the evangelical world but nonetheless the image is still veiled so when you’re looking at a human
51:22person you can kind of see that they’re the image of god you can kind of see distantly
51:28a reflection of god but not really huh that’s interesting as well
51:36we’re going to need to test that in just a minute i believe instead that the human race
51:43reflects and represents the person of god even after the fall
51:50now you might be thinking does this guy this professor that tms is brought in
51:56for the winterim is he does he have some kind of modified understanding of total depravity
52:01does he have a modified reformed doctrine of sin is he sneaking something in is he one of those guys
52:07no i’m not i am as i said all in on total depravity
52:13but here’s what we need to think about we need to think about the nature of things don’t we we need to
52:20think about the essence of things as well let’s think about the the world
52:26the world is made by god pre-fall and the world
52:32continues to be the world post fall
52:37what have i just expressed i have expressed or tried to that the
52:44ontology of the world is the same
52:49pre-fall post-fall the essence the being of the world is
52:55the same even as cataclysmic as the fall is
53:01the essence of the world holds steady pre-fall post fall now let’s go to
53:07humanity i believe bringing these things together that the essence of humanity is one
53:14thing pre-fall and is the same thing postfall
53:21humanity in other words does not become in the fall subhuman
53:28does not become an animal humanity acts like an animal humanity
53:35lives according to the flesh postfall naturally every person sinner by nature
53:43so our nature is changed isn’t it in the fall we have an adam has an unfallen nature
53:51so does eve pre-fall adam’s not perfect he’s not perfect but he’s unfallen
54:00pre-fall post fall he has a sinful nature nobody trains your little kids your
54:06precious ones and mine i have three kids ella gavin ainsley ages 12 9-6 i didn’t
54:11train them i didn’t give them a master’s degree in sinning they sin naturally
54:16they acquire a sinful nature post fall because of adam’s real
54:23historical fault so nature changes doesn’t it nature changes
54:28all together in the fall not from perfect to fallen but from unfallen
54:36to fallen yet i would submit to you think this through
54:42this week and beyond i would submit to you that the ontology of humanity holds steady
54:48and that means that the image of god holds steady and that means that no one person is
54:55more an image bearer than any person any other person we are all
55:01equally image bearers and that means that being a human person is not dependent on our conduct our views of god
55:09or our moment by moment thinking and this means that we are telling
55:15unbelievers we know who they truly are we know what it means to be human
55:23you understand how all this builds up to our evangelism and our ministry
55:30to flesh and blood human people like us you’re not a beast you’re not an animal
55:37you’re not the sum total of of the sin and chaos and brokenness that you have
55:42lived in and frankly in some cases been victimized by and have victimized others
55:48by you’re not that you are a sinner yes
55:55you are fully a sinner but i know what you were made to be you were made to be an image bearer you
56:02were made to know god in other words you were made by god for god to know god
56:08that’s the purpose of the human race that’s that’s why humanity exists made by god
56:15for god specifically to know god to know god in unbroken joyful
56:22fellowship and relationship every person out there every person around you in your city in your town
56:28in your environment i believe by entailment and i’m gonna walk through some texts in just a moment to substantiate this
56:35we’re just laying laying it out here principally every person around you is an image bearer
56:43is totally fallen is far from god hates god and hates man every person
56:52there’s no asterisk here on our sin and yet every person was made by god
57:00for god to know god in terms of divine design and intentionality
57:08we may deny all this we may say no
57:15i’m a sexual being no i’m a racial being no i’m the product of
57:21evolution no i can upgrade myself and cheat death etc and so on
57:28people say all that and way more it doesn’t matter you can’t change human identity we have
57:35a fundamentally spiritual identity as human people as those made
57:41by god anthony hokuma has said this along these lines
57:46when one looks at a human being one ought to see in him or her a certain
57:54reflection of god no matter how someone acts no matter how
58:02much they rebel against god no matter how hateful they may be they
58:07cannot outrun their image bearing status they never will they cannot shed it they cannot escape
58:14it they they can’t refute it they can’t erase in themselves the fact that they bear
58:21god’s image that they are made in god’s image that they display god
58:27distantly and imperfectly they can’t change it
58:34what does this iteration of human society that you and i strangely find ourselves in try to do
58:39well more than any other society or culture in human history we are trying to erase the divine stamp
58:47on our being that’s why i signed the book on transgenderism transgenderism
58:53is the whole scale attempt of the human person to change who god made them to be because our
59:01our identity is man or woman male or female is the second great truth about humanity isn’t it
59:08the first is that we are made by god in god’s image and the second is male and female he
59:16made them male and female he created them the first truth image the second truth man and woman
59:24well people around us who would embrace transgender thought and ideology and
59:34medical practice may not be conscious of all this but
59:39what they are trying to do is erase the image and you can go a long way down
59:46the line in that wicked pursuit but you can’t
59:52succeed ultimately i believe ultimately you’re still made in god’s
59:58image you’re still the being made by god for god to know god
1:00:04nothing changes that nothing changes that
1:00:09this then frames how we engage human people
1:00:15we’re calling them we’re calling them to true humanity we’re calling them
1:00:23to to god’s design we’re calling them to god’s good intention
1:00:29and making of the human person and this then means that we engage
1:00:37sinners not as animals but as fellow human beings
1:00:44with dignity and worth every person you see
1:00:51by virtue of bearing the image every person has god-given
1:00:58dignity and worth we don’t claim that in our natural state many of
1:01:05us we don’t act on that in our sinful condition don’t misunderstand but we still have it
1:01:14this is so powerful for ministry
1:01:20especially in a secularizing pagan context like ours we’re talking a lot
1:01:27about paganism tomorrow we’re in a neo-pagan environment just as much as we’re in a secular environment
1:01:35this is a society that says if you don’t produce
1:01:43if you are dependent on others you’re not fully human
1:01:49you say really yes think about euthanasia on the one end of
1:01:56human life think about abortion on the other end why are we free to euthanize the elderly
1:02:04increasingly in the west to kill them why are we totally free to abort babies
1:02:12well among other reasons this one stands out because these are dependent these are
1:02:19dependent creatures dependent humans yes so when you’re not dependent when you’re earning a wage
1:02:27for example or consuming things you’re fine you’re good you shouldn’t be killed when you’re a
1:02:34dependent being at the end of your life in a nursing home
1:02:39or when you’re in a womb you’re not fully human and you can be killed the image of god
1:02:48says the precise opposite it says that the pastor who
1:02:54goes into a nursing home a hospital to care for
1:03:00an elderly saint who doesn’t even know that they’re a member of the church the pastor represents
1:03:07they’ve got alzheimer’s they’ve forgotten it they don’t know the name of their spouse
1:03:12anymore they don’t recognize their children when they come to visit them
1:03:17or in their home they live with them in the home of their children they don’t know them they think they’re
1:03:22a strange person who nonetheless is showing kindness to them who cares for them some of you have had
1:03:28this experience or know of this real experience we’re not egging the pudding here to make the point about the imago day this
1:03:34is real because of the fall we break down because of the fall
1:03:39many of us end up in this kind of condition whether it’s alzheimer’s or not we end up at the end of our life much
1:03:46like we came into the world like a like a child like a baby we’re dependent but even there even there that person who
1:03:54doesn’t recognize their pastor you going to to do pastoral visitation and
1:04:00pastoral care even though it may not be a hot church growth method you’re doing it because it’s a biblical principle
1:04:06because it’s a call of the pastor because the pastor is a shepherd of souls more than a church growth expert you
1:04:13going in there is a visible living embodiment of the dignity
1:04:19and the worth of this person who can’t care for themselves who can’t change
1:04:24their own undergarments but yet is made in god’s image and you
1:04:32and people in your church going to the abortion clinic near you and contending for the unborn with grace
1:04:41and truth speaking the truth the cold-blooded truth in love to women
1:04:49who really are bent on getting an abortion you know who the child is and you know the child is made in god’s
1:04:56image as an image bearer even in the womb if if any of you have a pregnant wife
1:05:02and you’ve you have no existing children running around you are already a father the child is
1:05:08not out of the womb yet granted but you’re already a father if there is a child in your wife’s womb
1:05:14that child is not a clump of cells that child is not what we call a fetus yes there are stages of development
1:05:19of course but there is a child in her womb there is a baby and congratulations you
1:05:26are a father and that’s why you contend for the unborn
1:05:31it’s not just because we don’t want clumps of cells to be dispensed with
1:05:37unnecessarily it’s because there is an image bearer in the womb
1:05:43and dependence a state of dependence being dependent on a mother for for for food in the womb and outside
1:05:51of the womb a baby does not negate human identity as made in god’s image
1:06:00these things have cash value and by the way people who have different perspectives on the image different views of the image
1:06:06theologians and pastors who hold the substantive view would agree with me on all these things
1:06:11so let that be said nonetheless i think this ontological view as i’m calling it
1:06:16underscores what we’re talking about that’s my take uh it underscores the essential reality
1:06:23that you understand that humanity is made in god’s image and nothing changes that
1:06:29and that has effect for that that has further effect by the way for evangelism and apologetics because we are not
1:06:35winning arguments first and foremost uh uh in the coffee shop or on the university campus or
1:06:41with our family members around the dining room table we are we are we are trying to glorify god that’s
1:06:46first what we’re doing in evangelism and apologetics glorify god and then we are are seeking
1:06:53as well in trying to win this person to the faith we are treating them as an image bearer
1:07:02even if they don’t seem on the face of it to deserve it even if they shout in your face even if
1:07:10they spit at you even if they come to arrest you for proclaiming the christian
1:07:17faith you still treat them as an image-bearer of course there are
1:07:23contexts where we have to take up arms and self-defense or go to war and there then we have to kill
1:07:29image bearers if somebody comes to attack your family you may have to kill an image bearer
1:07:35don’t misunderstand me i’m not softening that either nonetheless the image of god is always on our mind
1:07:42in ministry and evangelism and apologetics we’re always interacting to paraphrase
1:07:48c.s lewis with immortal beings with beings that will live for eternity
1:07:55in either heaven or hell all right uh let’s let’s uh transition
1:08:01to ask a little bit more closely this question that i’ve already surfaced
1:08:07but now i want to double click on is the image lost
1:08:12is the image lost i’ve already referenced this but i want
1:08:19i want to give it a more of a hearing because of though i don’t hold it it’s prevalence of popularity
1:08:27in in particular the reformed tradition martin luther and calvin both believed
1:08:33and voiced that the image has been lost here’s what luther said he believed by the way that the image was
1:08:38basically righteousness i am afraid that since the loss of this image
1:08:44through sin we cannot understand it the image to any extent we have lost the image
1:08:51through sin that’s the key phrase in what i just read you there luther’s view is that the
1:08:57image is the initial gift of spiritual righteousness which is forfeited in the fall
1:09:03and therefore following the fall mankind does not have justifying righteousness and therefore
1:09:10does not have the image calvin as i already referenced defined the image differently and he
1:09:17said this although some obscure lineaments of that image there’s
1:09:22a john calvin phrase yes obscure i want you to work that into conversation later today
1:09:28with a friend or your spouse say honey i i like your idea for in and out for
1:09:34dinner tonight but there are obscure lineaments to that argument that you need to think through you’re
1:09:40getting your money’s worth out of your education if you use it if you deploy it later today although some obscure
1:09:47lineaments of that image are found remaining in us postfall yet are they so
1:09:54vitiated and maimed that they may truly be said to be destroyed
1:10:00strong a strong for besides the deformity which everywhere appears
1:10:07unsightly this evil also is added that no part is free from the infection of sin okay so
1:10:15calvin’s view very quickly there are some here’s my phrase phrase of the day
1:10:21obscure lineaments of the image that remain so there’s little glimpses of the image
1:10:28but basically it’s destroyed obviously calvin of course is very
1:10:33influential in the reformed tradition and theologians working after calvin
1:10:39have argued that there are two senses of the imago day there’s the narrower sense
1:10:45and there’s the wider sense so your presbyterian tradition your christian reform tradition
1:10:50many would affirm these two senses of the image narrower and wider
1:10:57the narrower sense of the image consisting of knowledge and holiness was
1:11:03lost the narrower sense is lost in the fall knowledge and and holiness
1:11:10the wider sense is retained the ability to think
1:11:17moral freedom and so on so actually some in the reformed
1:11:23tradition hold a mediating position between where calvin would be and where for example someone like i
1:11:29would be or mark cortez would be or john kilner would be or gk beale would be those who argue
1:11:37that the image is not lost the reformed tradition has a fair number of advocates of this
1:11:43mediating position of the narrow sense is lost in the fall but the wider sense
1:11:48is retained let’s now look at biblical texts shall
1:11:55we let’s go on a quick bible tour everybody get in your carrera
1:12:00911 we’re going on the i5 okay we’re going to do this fast first
1:12:06text and what we’re doing is we’re just we’re doing some systematic theology baby we’re just compiling some texts first text is genesis 5 1-3
1:12:14genesis 5 1-3 this is the book of the generations of adam when god created man he made him in the
1:12:20likeness of god male and female he created them and he blessed them and named the man when they were created
1:12:26when adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him
1:12:31seth okay so here is genesis 5 affirming man as made in the image and likeness of
1:12:38god there’s more to say about this passage along these lines but at the very least we do not have a sense
1:12:44this is two chapters after the fall that the image is gone instead adam has a son and it’s in his
1:12:50own likeness seth is made in his image
1:12:55that’s interesting next text genesis 9 5-6
1:13:02genesis 9 5-6 for your lifeblood i will require a reckoning when somebody kills somebody else from
1:13:08every beast i will require it and from man from his fellow man i will require a
1:13:13reckoning for the life of man whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be
1:13:19shed for god made man in his own image hmm that’s interesting because
1:13:27if the image is lost here’s the argument i’m making and i’m an argument driven theologian a
1:13:32little bit more than a lay out all the positions i try to lay out the positions but i i have to work off an argument personally to understand
1:13:38an issue maybe you’re the same maybe you’re not but in this text you would see
1:13:43i think that the image is not said to be gone the image instead is affirmed
1:13:49as that which stamps humanity you shouldn’t kill somebody else in a murderous sense that
1:13:55is because god made man in his own image if the image has been lost or destroyed or obscured
1:14:02or deformed or if there are only obscure lineaments of it that remain john calvin then it would seem that this
1:14:11text has a force to it it shouldn’t have now let’s jump ahead to the new
1:14:17testament we’re not doing every text on the image but just some colossians 1 15 colossians 1
1:14:2315 speaking of christ here’s where things start to get really interesting this is why you take
1:14:29an elective on these sorts of matters he is the image
1:14:34icon in the greek of the invisible god the firstborn
1:14:42of all creation christ ah hold up christ is the image
1:14:50of the invisible god so this is going to complicate things
1:14:56because we had adam as made in the image of god and now
1:15:04we have christ as the image of the invisible god and our next text is first corinthians
1:15:1011 7 which is often not even brought into this conversation but is shocking when
1:15:15you read it first corinthians 11 of course is a a complex passage it’s hotly debated now first
1:15:22corinthians 11 3 has been scorchingly treated in the last few years about trinitarian relations
1:15:28the head of christ is god is that eternal headship eternal authority eternal submission or not
1:15:34that is an elective for another day nonetheless then we also later in the passage have
1:15:40angels coming into play and coming into play specifically because of the authority of a husband
1:15:47over his wife and the call for head coverings on the part of women
1:15:52to show that they are under the authority of their husband i believe straightforwardly from this passage that
1:15:58the head covering is not a little section of cloth that a woman puts on her head but is ideally
1:16:03insofar as she is able to have it long hair so a key marker between the sexes is
1:16:10that in general terms men have shorter hair and in general terms women have long hair i think that’s what paul is
1:16:18rather straightforwardly saying here nonetheless that is another debated matter first corinthians 11
1:16:23is not a boring chapter well in verse 7 we read this for a man ought ought not
1:16:30to cover his head since he is the image and glory
1:16:36of god but woman is the glory of man
1:16:41you can read journal articles on the image of god from whatever perspective you come and
1:16:48not see this text treated because it is tricky here is what
1:16:54cutting to the quick we’re in the final hour of class here and i will have some time for questions hopefully i think before the the day
1:17:02closes in this text i think what paul has in view is male headship here as in genesis 1 27
1:17:11remember that i don’t think he is saying that only the man is an image bearer
1:17:18i don’t think that’s what he means i will submit to you i will admit that that is a possible
1:17:24interpretation of this text excuse me but i don’t think that is
1:17:29it is a necessary one what i think reading the bible theologically knowing that ephesians 5 22 to 33 teaches
1:17:36husbandly authority uh over his wife
1:17:41i think this passage is saying that the man is the in in the place of
1:17:48headship over his wife and so he is the first representative in terms of image bearing but by extension
1:17:54by virtue of being human made from his rib of course at the end of genesis 2 she is also an image bearer okay
1:18:02we’re going to leave that aside though and just note this for our purposes because i
1:18:08know you as students i know this seminary and i know you are bible guys and if you’re a bible guy
1:18:14who affirms what the word of god straightforwardly teaches which i pray you are until the day you die or jesus returns
1:18:20then you have to affirm this clause he is the
1:18:25image and glory of god
1:18:31what’s the significance significance is that the man is straightforwardly identified
1:18:36as image
1:18:42which would seem to indicate that the image is not lost but then moving on in our rapid fire i5
1:18:51tour in 2nd corinthians 4 4 we read this about christ again
1:18:56in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the
1:19:02glory of christ who is the image of god
1:19:08there it is again are you getting the interplay here are you tracking we’ve got the man as
1:19:16the image and glory of god not speaking of the woman first and foremost the man
1:19:21by extension we think the woman is i would argue the man’s the image of god
1:19:26straightforwardly first corinthians 11 7 but then christ is the image of god
1:19:32uh oh okay we’re gonna we’re gonna have to handle this with care aren’t we moving on james three and we’re going to
1:19:37we’re going to synthesize in just a moment that’s what you do in systematics you bring text together
1:19:43and synthesize this is the universal human hand formation for synthesize james 3 8 no human being can tame the
1:19:50tongue whoo is this is this convicting every time you read it it’s convicting it is a restless
1:19:58evil full of deadly poison with it we bless our lord and father and
1:20:05with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of god
1:20:15okay theologians and exegetes to disagree over the nature of the image let it be said
1:20:21man if i am doing theology death match in a ring i’m not asking to be paired up with john
1:20:28calvin okay even though i think he is wrong on some things i still don’t want to fight him in the
1:20:34death match ring ufc i don’t want him okay he’s like
1:20:40nurmagomedov the russian guy all right nonetheless this seems to indicate that there are
1:20:48that that people people are made in the likeness of god that this endures you understand you
1:20:54understand the argument okay i think
1:21:01that these passages then are teaching us that we need to be nuanced and careful
1:21:08and we need to introduce carefully some theological language about the image i’m moving now to the
1:21:15board i think the two categories we need to bring these texts together
1:21:21and make sense of them because it’s not going to be easy to make sense of them if you don’t introduce some kind
1:21:27of specific language are this full and true full
1:21:33and true thank you to the tech staff for helping
1:21:40me make these things clear and use the whiteboard i know i could write it on this contraption
1:21:46but i just i’m just i like the whiteboard i like it it’s big and it’s right in
1:21:52front of me and i can write on it full and true here’s how i think we pull together
1:21:58the man and by extension the woman as being made in the image of god the image of god and then christ as the
1:22:04image of god that is going to be a tricky deal if you do not handle with care
1:22:12because you will have christ as the image of god in exactly the same way that fallen
1:22:19though redeemed sinners are the image of god when the new testament seems to be
1:22:26signaling something to us like with flares christ is the image of god in a unique
1:22:33sense i don’t think he’s the image of god you read it for yourself
1:22:39uh out of class time i don’t think he’s the image of god in exactly the same way i am the image of god
1:22:44those passages that i was reading you and there are a few others seem to be indicating that he is image of god in a unique way
1:22:51which certainly fits with christ he and i are not the same i am not on his i am not on his level i
1:22:58am not the son of god incarnate what this means then is that i think we
1:23:04need to do this we need to say that every person is fully an image bearer every person
1:23:12is a full image bearer every person is made in god’s image
1:23:23but that christ is the true image of god
1:23:32what does this entail this entails not simply full and true image relationship this
1:23:38entails full and true humanity
1:23:44we are fully human by virtue of being image bearers that’s the extension
1:23:51every person is fully human
1:23:56as a person there are not some people who are 70 human we were getting at this earlier
1:24:01right there’s not waxing and waning of the image therefore there’s not waxing and waning of full humanity
1:24:07a patient with alzheimer’s is not less human than they were 30 years prior when they were fully functioning and not dependent on
1:24:14care the baby in the womb is fully human it’s not waiting to be human it’s not 32
1:24:22human and oh look honey now it’s 37 percent human it’s growing it’s developing you know the brain is
1:24:28forming for example week by week in the womb of course yes but that baby is a baby from conception that baby is a person
1:24:35as crazy as it seems because we have this medical technology which allows us to see the stages of development know how tiny
1:24:41it is nonetheless this is what we’re confessing a child a baby in the womb is a person
1:24:47from conception so all people even
1:24:54sinners fallen sinners are fully human the image of god but what needs to be
1:25:01what needs to happen is that we need to be remade in the image of christ the true human
1:25:09you see in adam we are fully human but it is only in christ that we will be
1:25:17truly human christ is the is the image of god
1:25:24meaning i think and i’m i’m trying to work here in systematic terms and systematicians just bring text
1:25:31together with text and try to reason it out yes meaning that
1:25:36i will only know god’s design and purpose for my human existence when
1:25:43i am in christ as dr lawson said here at grace
1:25:48yesterday in christ being a phrase used 75 times in the new testament
1:25:54that’s an important little phrase isn’t it tiny but so important
1:25:59you’re not fully human when you come to faith in jesus christ you’re already fully human from birth
1:26:06but you’re fallen in adam you’re you’re sinner you’re depraved you’re going to hell for eternity
1:26:12the only way you become truly human remade reformed
1:26:20saved is in christ the true human and then you are being
1:26:27changed and here we bring in another category of new testament texts
1:26:32from one degree of glory to another into the image of christ
1:26:41this is what several places say uh in the new testament
1:26:48romans 8 29 for whom he did for no he also did predestinate to be conformed
1:26:54to the image of his son that we might be the firstborn among many brethren
1:27:00so in other words those who are made in the image of of adam the first adam
1:27:07have to be conformed and our being are predestinated to be conformed to the image of christ
1:27:16we’re made in were made the image of god were to switch the terms were members of
1:27:23of adamic humanity were fully human by virtue of that but now we need to
1:27:30become truly human in the true human christ and christ remember this is a
1:27:37very important point as well we are like stepping among landmines here okay in a theological setting the germans
1:27:44planted them and the minesweepers did not get them all and we got to be careful because if we’re not careful we could
1:27:51read christ being the true human as christ being a tertium quid in the latin a third thing
1:27:58a third thing your christology must not lead to christ being a third thing
1:28:04do you remember this some of you have had this some of you read this i assume you’ve heard this preached christ is not
1:28:10a third substance christ is the true human he’s not a
1:28:16you understand he’s not a superhuman marvel is not calling him to be in the
1:28:21next six movies or whatever series they’re going to do next
1:28:26he’s not a superhuman he’s the true human he’s the one who shows us what
1:28:34humanity is for when you’re looking at christ
1:28:39you’re looking at ideal humanity
1:28:44you’re looking at everything that humanity was made to be
1:28:50all that humanity was made to do all that we were created to say
1:28:57all that we were created to live for everything we were supposed to think how we were supposed to use our
1:29:05body christ is that
1:29:10christ is the true human adam was made to be the obedient son
1:29:18yes adam was adam was made to know god god walked with adam
1:29:25in eden what an what an enchanted role what a privilege but adam lost it
1:29:33adam gambled it all away adam is the first one to sell his birthright isn’t he an
1:29:40eternal birthright a birthright of sonship that he throws away
1:29:46that he destroys because he follows the anti-wisdom of the serpent over the true
1:29:52wisdom of god but christ is the second adam and christ is the one who shows us what it means to
1:29:58be truly human to be truly human is not to be authentic to your inmost
1:30:06passions and desires to be truly human is to obey god
1:30:13is to worship god is to follow god
1:30:18is to submit to god is to love god that’s true humanity
1:30:28the people around us who are authentically living in sin are not living true
1:30:35humanity they’re fully human in this framework in this system that i’m trying to sketch
1:30:41for you but they’re not anything close to truly human
1:30:46the christian alone not by our efforts but by god’s grace is being changed
1:30:54into the image of the true human what this means is you’re already in
1:31:00christ positionally through justifying faith the moment you place your faith
1:31:05and trust in christ you’re positionally in christ you have union with christ but now you’re being
1:31:12sanctified to break i mean all these things are just working together theologically to show
1:31:18us the glory of christianity of lived christianity you’re being sanctified which is to say sanctification is
1:31:26nothing other than looking more and more and more like
1:31:31not the first adam but the second not the one who is only fully human but
1:31:39the one who is truly human he’s not a superhuman he’s the true
1:31:45human he’s everything that we are supposed to be that we’re not but everything
1:31:54by god’s grace that we are becoming
1:32:02second corinthians 3 18 we all with open face beholding as in a glass
1:32:10the glory of the lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory or from one degree
1:32:19of glory to another even as by the spirit of the lord we’re
1:32:24looking more and more like the sun like christ colossians 3 9-10
1:32:33do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have
1:32:40put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator
1:32:47sometimes people go to this text colossians 3 9-10 and they say
1:32:53see this means that we lost the image of god and what paul is saying here not
1:33:00explicitly no mind you but implicitly is that now in faith in salvation
1:33:07were being renewed in knowledge unto the image of god so we we adam was the image of god
1:33:14then we stopped being the image of god now in faith in salvation we’re becoming the image of god again that’s how they
1:33:20read this text that’s a possible reading nonetheless i don’t think it’s a necessary one
1:33:26in other words i don’t think the text forces me to adopt that position instead i think the text is saying
1:33:33actually the new self is created
1:33:38by christ so so then the the self that i’m being renewed into
1:33:46that i’m i’m living into and becoming more like the new self
1:33:52is actually renewed in knowledge after the image of christ i think that’s
1:33:59a better reading of that text
1:34:04so to summarize here all this means that um we failed to be the image of god
1:34:10pre-conversion it means that those of us who are fully image bearers
1:34:17and now are saved are being remade into the image of christ we we
1:34:23looked like our father adam and now we look like our spiritual father
1:34:29i understand what i mean jesus christ more and more and more and more
1:34:38we did not keep the dominion mandate just like adam did not so
1:34:44even though we continued to be the image of god the function of the image has
1:34:50gone totally awry make sure you get that nuance
1:34:55in my presentation to understand this i pray this puts this together for you biblically a
1:35:01very debated subject the image of god the meaning um
1:35:06and part of what you need to do is you need to make sure that you you make very clear that even as the image does
1:35:13hold steady if you believe this case
1:35:19nonetheless the function does not hold steady pre-fall post-fall the function goes off
1:35:24the rails we take anti-dominion don’t we
1:35:31in adam in our sin in other words we try to rule the earth
1:35:38at some level but we don’t do it for god’s glory we take dominion of our world
1:35:45in adam in our sin but we don’t do it for god’s glory do we we multiply and fill the earth even to
1:35:50the extent that we get married and have a family we don’t do it for god’s glory we’re we’re carrying out anti-dominion
1:36:00in our sin we’re not building up the earth as god intended from the
1:36:05foundation of all things we’re we’re undoing it
1:36:10even if it looks constructive even if we build i don’t build a house or something like this well that would seem to be a positive
1:36:15work of dominion i suppose in human terms and societal terms civilizational terms
1:36:21you could label it that but if it’s not done to the glory of god it’s not keeping the dominion mandate to the
1:36:28glory of god i actually think along these lines this is an now i’m a little bit of a jag here
1:36:33but it does in one sense glorify god for an unsaved husband and wife to have
1:36:40children that’s the creational design of god well
1:36:46it’s that’s what we would want people to do more of the creational design of god
1:36:52rather than less we don’t want more people to gender bend and become transgender for example
1:37:00nonetheless even even a couple who
1:37:05who marries according to god’s design and has children they’re still not doing it to god’s
1:37:10glory are they so we have to handle with care on this point there’s a sense in which god is honored
1:37:17when even unbelievers live out divine design but there’s another sense
1:37:23in which he’s not honored because whatever is not done in faith
1:37:29does not glorify the lord a text that brings all this together
1:37:34is first corinthians 15 42-49 this is my final text for you today
1:37:43first corinthians 15 42 so it is with the resurrection of the dead paul writes
1:37:48what is sown is perishable what is raised is imperishable it is sown in dishonor it is raised
1:37:56in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a
1:38:03natural body it is raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body there is also
1:38:10a spiritual body thus it is written the first man adam became a living being
1:38:16the last adam became a life-giving spirit but it is not the spiritual that is
1:38:21first but the natural and then the spiritual the first man was from the earth a man
1:38:29of dust the second man is from heaven as was the man of dust so also are those
1:38:37who are of the dust and as is the man of heaven so also are those who are of
1:38:44heaven just as we have borne the image of the man of dust
1:38:51we shall also can also be translated let us also bear the image of the man
1:39:00of heaven well this i think brings all this
1:39:07to a synthesis point the first adam was from the earth and created from dust
1:39:14this man’s image verse 49 we have born
1:39:21we are image bearers we are the image of god
1:39:27in adamic terms full humanity but that doesn’t get it done
1:39:36like our father adam we return to the dust we were not made for the dust adam was
1:39:42not made from dust to be dust was he but that is precisely what transpires in our
1:39:50existence we are of earth and when we die
1:39:56we return to the dust that is not how god wanted things to go
1:40:03in terms of his design i mean i’m not speaking of his will of decree i’m speaking of his design
1:40:09but the good news is that even though adam’s destiny is our own man of dust return to the dust we can
1:40:17claim the destiny of the second adam we can rise from the dust
1:40:25we can inherit a spiritual body that cannot suffer decrepitude the spiritual
1:40:32body that is spoken of here in verse 44 in which we are raised
1:40:37will not suffer corruption it is sown perishable it is raised
1:40:45imperishable it is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory it is sown
1:40:52in weakness does that not feel applicable to our current moment in 2021
1:40:58sown in weakness are not people all around us experiencing the weakness
1:41:06of illness of various kinds is not our world absolutely
1:41:12petrified of weakness fearing death at every turn is not our
1:41:18society now ordered around the fear of death but though sown in weakness
1:41:25the body is raised in power this is how you come to understand that
1:41:32you must not have adam as perfect in eden there’s a lot of
1:41:38threads that are coming together at this point in the class a lot to pull together
1:41:44i hope they all come together adam was not perfect remember adam adam’s body was perishable
1:41:54but the the body of the second adam in resurrection is imperishable and that is the body
1:42:00we shall soon have we will have not an adamic body do you understand
1:42:08not an identic body but a body that is oriented to eternity
1:42:16a spiritual body because of the last adam
1:42:22we will inherit a body that cannot break down that cannot be weak that cannot be
1:42:28killed adam could be christ cannot be in his resurrection
1:42:34body so too that is where we are headed
1:42:42does doctrine preach yes it does people don’t need something better than doctrine or something different than
1:42:49doctrine people need second adam doctrine
1:42:54the people who you minister to now and the people you will minister to in days ahead are in a world and a
1:43:02culture that is under the domain of death really and truly and thus that enslaves people to the
1:43:10fear of death friends please hear me in in our natural state in normal
1:43:15conditions humanity is enslaved hebrews 2 14 to 18 to the fear of death you can’t
1:43:21undo it you can’t take a pill you can’t go to therapy sessions you can’t have
1:43:26positive life experiences you can’t juice cleanse you can’t get enough money there’s
1:43:32nothing you can do to overcome death or the fear of death enslavement
1:43:37to the fear of death the only thing that can objectively undo the fear of death is the cross of christ and the faith
1:43:44that it brings that is the only solution to the fear of death so the people you minister to
1:43:49now and later are enslaved at some level to the fear of death per hebrews 2.
1:43:56and they need doctrine they need to hear that they need not be enslaved to the
1:44:02fear of death that christ is resurrected and is reigning and ruling now in his
1:44:09resurrection body and that they will have a resurrection body
1:44:14like his that is imperishable that is incorruptible that is raised
1:44:22in power that is our eternal destiny christians evangelical
1:44:28christians reformed christians disagree on some of the details about how we get to the eternal
1:44:35state revelation 21-22 there is some disagreement and we will
1:44:41put things together slightly differently even bible-loving christians will
1:44:46along those lines nonetheless this is where we are headed ultimately to this
1:44:54resurrection body and that is what christ the true human
1:44:59shows us all right
1:45:05all this means that eden as i have said was never perfect and adam was not christ eden and adam
1:45:13were unfallen but not perfect you need to help people understand that
1:45:18and that means that salvation is not merely restoration unto eden and adam
1:45:23but salvation is yes in keeping with god’s creative design god’s creational
1:45:30design but is more than that it is an escalation and a transformation of creational design the body we will
1:45:37have at the end of all things the resurrection body is a better body than the body that adam had so we are
1:45:45not merely restored to adam or to eden people think that people use this
1:45:50language creation fall redemption restoration no
1:45:55it’s not ultimately restoration it’s greater than restoration though it is in keeping with god’s
1:46:02divine design from the foundation okay what are entailments of the imago day that we
1:46:09have laid out what does all this mean now in just a few points to double click on and then i
1:46:15will take any closing questions at the end of class today we have just just slightly over 20
1:46:20minutes and then we’re done uh entailments first first entailment of the doctrine of the imago day
1:46:29the creator creature distinction the creator creature distinction this is
1:46:35a phrase that we owe to the westminster apologist and theologian cornelius
1:46:42ventil it is one of the most important phrases you can learn in theological education it has nothing
1:46:49less than explosive ramifications it’s a biblical concept more than any other theologians concept
1:46:56but certain theologians identify these things and it is one that will reframe
1:47:01your understanding and reframe the understanding of the people you minister to in terms of how they see god and how
1:47:06they see themselves specifically god is the creator and we are just creatures
1:47:12the human person then contra the way people all around us think in a bunch of
1:47:18those views that we were talking about at the beginning of class is not divine we are not deified
1:47:25we are not little gods there is only one creator and everything else
1:47:33is part of creation all we are are creatures
1:47:41the fundamental delusion of sinful humanity is that we can be a creator we can be
1:47:49what did satan say you will be like god
1:47:56that is the fundamental human temptation in one form or another and it takes many
1:48:02forms to think that you and i to think that human people can be like god no no no no
1:48:11the bible’s first doctrine is that god is
1:48:18creator and no one else is before you ever get to salvation and
1:48:24redemption before you get to christology before you get to last things even before you get to providence the
1:48:31doctrine of creation is first the truly the first
1:48:37tenet of christian theology in biblical terms on page one is that god is creator
1:48:44and the entitlement of that the direct teaching of that same page of the bible is that
1:48:50no one else is when we’re seeing look a bunch of you
1:48:56guys are out here in california southern california in particular so you know a little bit about celebrity
1:49:02culture i mean who among us are like gods to people but celebrities and they are
1:49:10treated i mean think about how athletes for example are treated athletes now are almost not quite but quasi-deified
1:49:20there is no one who is like god the greatest among us so-called is
1:49:26just a creature the tallest among us gets what eight feet off the ground
1:49:35that’s all you get you can tell there’s a little um vengeance in me in saying that in in
1:49:41scoffing at those who are tall we won’t comment further on that but uh man that’s not very tall god is
1:49:49infinitely above the creation we are just creatures we are just creatures
1:49:56we must not therefore by the lie that we can become like
1:50:02god and people all around us in ministry who we minister to are falling prey to that lie they are believing in one form or
1:50:09another many forms as i have said that they can be like god the fundamental way by the way that humanity
1:50:14believes that lie is that we trust our own wisdom we follow our own principles our own precepts we
1:50:21do what we want to do in the simplest terms that is being like god
1:50:26trying to what happens in eden
1:50:32as satan foments the fall is not an unrepeatable non-repeatable event
1:50:38it’s a unique event but it’s the same event that plays out in every human heart in the garden of every person’s
1:50:45existence until jesus returns and makes things right
1:50:51van tilt said this all the facts of the universe are of necessity god
1:50:57created god-dependent facts therefore men ought to see that god is
1:51:02man’s creator and his judge i’m not trying to win you
1:51:07to westminster east theology i disagree with westminster and vantill on different points
1:51:14nonetheless van till is the one following bavink and kuiper in the dutch reform tradition who does
1:51:20the most to promote what is called the creator creature distinction and that is an explosive reality for us to think
1:51:27through and it will have effect in ministry in all sorts of ways if you use it if you apply it the second
1:51:35entailment of the image is that we need to recognize the creature
1:51:41creature distinction the first is the creator creature
1:51:46there’s god and then there’s man the image of god and everything else below man
1:51:53secondly is the creature creature of distinction man is distinct from the beasts by virtue of
1:52:00being imago day we are not an evolved animal we are not an animal we are not like a dog we are not like a
1:52:07cat we are distinct from the animal kingdom this is obvious to a group of
1:52:15christian seminary students it is not obvious to people around us they are believing that they are animals
1:52:24they are believing that lie and we must therefore in ministry proclaim the
1:52:30creature creature distinction we are not like the animals cats and dogs are not
1:52:38children it is a unique thing to fly now does anyone else ever feel like everyone
1:52:44now flies with an animal it’s gone from no one flying with an animal probably a very very few people
1:52:50out there need to fly uh with an animal um more to say there but
1:52:55most of us do not but animals are now replacing children now you and i can see
1:53:02that in different manifestations and we can go that’s silly that’s not real people
1:53:07believe these truths people believe these ideas i should say not truths people believe these things these these world views these thought
1:53:14systems and then they live by them and so what we need to do
1:53:19following van till and others is we need to show that the christian system is the only
1:53:25true system and we need to make clear that our faith
1:53:31is the true faith it’s not just that you need to share the gospel with unbelievers
1:53:36it’s that you need to show that the whole enchilada is the truth and everything else is a
1:53:44lie now there may be contact points of the unbeliever and of unbelieving systems
1:53:50with the true system with biblical christianity yes but you’re not just sharing the gospel
1:53:57with people are you in terms of evangelism you’re showing them that their entire house is
1:54:03made of cards and it will ultimately crumble even if there are certain select contact
1:54:10points of their system with the true system
1:54:17in evangelism and apologetics an entailment of these two ideas that i’m laying out here
1:54:24i have just three more very quickly when you’re engaged in conversation with
1:54:30an unbeliever you’re not trying to convince them and show them how similar their thought is
1:54:37to christianity if they if they understand that there’s a
1:54:43creator god if they proclaim that then you’re very happy to seize on that but their system even there isn’t the
1:54:50true system you understand you’re trying to show them ultimately
1:54:56how their system is not biblical christianity they’re not believing the truth
1:55:04they’re believing a lie they’re believing a system that ultimately collapses
1:55:10so yes oh you okay you believe that every human person is special okay well
1:55:17that’s interesting i believe that every human person is made in the image of god so there’s a certain you know resonance of your system and
1:55:24mine but your system isn’t true your disney fied self-esteem quest
1:55:30is not ultimately going to succeed you you need to show them that their
1:55:35thought is not ultimately leading to biblical paths of wisdom
1:55:41so what we do in apologetics and evangelism honestly in a very serious way as we show
1:55:47unbelievers that they’re not believing the truth and we’re not going to win
1:55:52cultural respectability points by showing unbelievers by by projecting this kind
1:55:59of edges sanded off christianity where we’re this nice neat palatable
1:56:05tame version of christianity that will then if we would just sand down the doctrines if we’d stop
1:56:11talking about hell if we’d stop making christianity exclusivistic if we wouldn’t call wives to submit to their husbands on and on it
1:56:17goes then we would really win people to the faith because then there would be a palatable
1:56:22understanding of christianity that the unbeliever would just fall down to accept that is not biblical apologetics and
1:56:29evangelism biblical apologetics and evangelism is very happy to have dialogue over these
1:56:35issues and and seeks to speak the truth and love and will acknowledge points of contact but is always acting
1:56:44as a hammer to destroy an unbiblical worldview not out of hate
1:56:50but out of love to win the unbeliever to the true worldview what did paul say
1:56:56what did paul say in 2nd corinthians 10 3-6
1:57:02i’m going to speak at the truth and love conference in just a few weeks and i’m going to
1:57:08preach on this passage what did paul say that he was trying to do
1:57:13in his ministry to unbelievers the weapons second corinthians 10 4 the
1:57:19weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh they’re not fleshly
1:57:25they don’t fit with the natural man the natural by extension the natural man doesn’t
1:57:31like them they’re not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds
1:57:39whoa paul whoa ease off buddy destroy strongholds yes destroy
1:57:45strongholds we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion
1:57:53raised against the knowledge of god and take every thought captive to obey christ
1:58:00paul is in the business in his ministry of destroying strongholds which means
1:58:08the next clause destroying arguments and every lofty
1:58:14opinion the gospel is balm it is medicine for the soul but it is
1:58:22first a hammer it destroys strongholds and we will
1:58:29destroy strongholds when we preach and teach and proclaim the imago day the creator creature distinction the
1:58:35creature creature distinction that we are not like the animals third we see in this doctrine what it
1:58:40means to be truly human i won’t spell this out at great length but we have talked about this already to be truly human is not to follow your
1:58:47lusts passions and inmost desires and people are not just unbelievers are not just doing bad things
1:58:53unbelievers are following ungodly desires and passions because of an ungodly heart
1:59:00that’s why there is poison fruit on the on the poison tree
1:59:07it’s because of an unbelieving heart that then follows ungodly desires
1:59:14the reason you are tempted to lust the reason you are tempted to look at images you should not look at
1:59:21and watch videos you should not watch is because not just you do bad things
1:59:28but because you have desires and passions in you that are
1:59:34strong and too much evangelical christian
1:59:39fighting of sin is behavioristic only and does not get to the root of the
1:59:45matter to the desires even for christians i mean so we need to understand that we’re not
1:59:52being truly human when we follow those those coursing passions in us the nature of true
1:59:58humanity is very simply two words jesus christ that’s what it means to be
2:00:05truly human fourth entailment of the imago day we
2:00:10have a foundation and ground for all ethics you have no foundation and ground for
2:00:16ethics outside of the bible and outside of the imago day there is no reason to be ethical to
2:00:22any human person outside of the imago day that’s how significant it is take it
2:00:28away ethics collapses there’s no ethics
2:00:34take the imago day away take god away because you have to take god away for taking the imago dei away
2:00:40and you can do whatever you want you see we’re back where we started in
2:00:45the beginning of this class death of god theology people want god to be dead or at the very least
2:00:54inconsequential because then you can you think live however you want
2:01:01but if there is the imago day everything changes everything changes
2:01:08and now you’re not just a biblical christian who has a relationship with christ with the father through
2:01:16christ by the spirit now there is a claim on your life
2:01:23to be salt and light everywhere and now you treat
2:01:31every human person as if they are a god made being
2:01:39now there are ethics now there is morality now there is a
2:01:45right way to live and a wrong way to live and fifth and finally
2:01:51entailment now there is a foundation for human dignity and human delight
2:01:59human dignity and human delight now in christ the true human
2:02:07the true image the image of god as paul will call him now we understand
2:02:14why all human life is meaningful should be meaningful
2:02:21and now we understand how we may be happy and how our hearts
2:02:27may be glad in god it is not ultimately an atom everybody
2:02:35who follows unbiblical soteriology is ultimately following adam somehow
2:02:42following adam and making adam’s mistake it’s the devil’s own mistake it’s the
2:02:48devil’s own trap it’s the trap the devil fell into before adam fell into it
2:02:54wanting to be like god wanting to be like god following your own wisdom
2:02:59you need to say this to unbelievers in your life is the devil’s own trap and the devil’s
2:03:06own fate somehow every unbeliever is following adam but
2:03:12we by god’s sheer grace not by us we are following
2:03:18christ and in christ there is true delight and there is true joy at your right hand
2:03:26psalm 16 11 says our pleasure is forevermore so it is
2:03:34in christ okay that brings to a close my
2:03:40first day lecturing now are there any hands
2:03:47as we close we’ll have to make it quick but does anyone have a question something they want to chase
2:03:52down as we conclude for the day just a couple minutes left yes david
2:03:59uh you talked about adam being made in a careful perishable body as evidence that he was
2:04:05not perfect am i understanding that correctly correct okay uh christ was also
2:04:10incarnated in a perishable body yes that’s true
2:04:17adam has a resurrection or will have a resurrection body that is unperishable just as christ has a
2:04:23resurrection body that is unperishable in fact all humanity will have unperishable
2:04:28resurrection bodies whether redeemed or not so i’m not sure how that argument helps
2:04:35your case um adam has a
2:04:42perishable body that is unfallen christ has christ is very interesting on
2:04:49this count because yes christ’s body is perishable
2:04:55it’s true but adam was subject to death
2:05:01in a way that christ indicates that he is not subject to death christ
2:05:06lays down his life no one takes it from him but he lays it down so there is a
2:05:13distinction to be drawn between adam and christ even though you’re right
2:05:19christ takes on a fully human body nonetheless christ is not the same
2:05:25as adam when i was talking about christ as imperishable i was talking and i said
2:05:32i’m referring to his resurrection body so adam
2:05:39in his adamic form did not have a resurrection body did he his body was
2:05:46unfallen but it is not a resurrection body so there’s a distinction between adam
2:05:51and christ that we have to draw that’s what i’m after
2:05:58okay that’s fine yeah it is it is the case that
2:06:05adam could not have had the resurrection body that that christ had even if adam for example had uh
2:06:13obeyed god in eden and not eating the forbidden fruit his body is still perishable
2:06:19christ the second adam by virtue of his vindication in the resurrection gains a
2:06:25body that cannot suffer corruption
2:06:31so i’m talking just to be clear david i’m talking we’ve got a nuanced conversation because we have different stages of the life of
2:06:37christ right where christ is incarnate i was talking specifically as paul is
2:06:43about the post-resurrection state of christ and saying that shows us what the true
2:06:49human experience is that shows us what by extension the true human body
2:06:55is meant to be don’t think then that adam’s body is the true human body and i’ll get i’ll
2:07:02get back an edenic body think that you’ll be getting a
2:07:07new jerusalem body that that’s what i’m after you’re right about the in-between part of the incarnation and
2:07:14there’s more to be said there that wasn’t what i was chasing down um but that’s the
2:07:20perishable imperishable distinction i’m drawing it’s ultimately the post-resurrection state of christ
2:07:27okay i hope that makes more sense we can still we can still talk that’s what i’m after anyway um
2:07:35vitale am i i’m sorry it’s far away yeah correct okay uh i had a question about
2:07:41the what is the state of the image of god in our glorified bodies in our glorified states
2:07:48are we going to be the true image of god or how will christ still be superior or unique to us in the eternal
2:07:56state good question christ is always the true in my formulation which i think i hope
2:08:03is a biblical formulation trying to make it one christ is always and utterly and only the true human
2:08:13he is always to switch it from uh to switch it from the terminology that we’re using here
2:08:19back to explicitly biblical terminology he is always the second atom
2:08:24right we are never the second atom but we are in the second atom now
2:08:33and we will be in the second adam fully without sin in the eternal state so we are never
2:08:42the true human as he is the true human because he is the son of god but we are
2:08:49truly human in the eternal state there our humanity is has is made true
2:08:56and it’s not being progressively changed we are now we are now like christ in terms of being
2:09:06united to him without sin
2:09:13we’re truly human that what you were after yes
2:09:21yeah i just want to see the distinction being made there oh yeah yeah
2:09:28i’m not um i’m not giving you mormonite theology here where you become
2:09:33god right you don’t become christ you have to have you must
2:09:40always and ever have hard frankly hard distinctions right um you can have this conversation in all
2:09:47sorts of areas the love of god right i mean we’ll have we’ll have we will experience perfectly
2:09:55without interruption uh without limitation the love of god yes in the eternal state
2:10:03but we will never experience it as god that’s part of where this is part of
2:10:08where the creator creature distinction actually gets you we apply it first and foremost to creation yes
2:10:14but when you hold it you recognize even in glory you’re still a creature aren’t you
2:10:20you’re never the creator you’re never divine we remain that’s how significant our
2:10:27commitment to creaturelyness is as christians we are we are glorified
2:10:35but we never transcend creaturely status in heaven in the eternal state ever
2:10:43we’re always creatures whereas christ is not christ is not a creature
Standing Before God, This We Are and No More 