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What does the biblical perspective emphasize about human nature? essay
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In our textbook Grudem presents many ideas about why humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation. I think to be a human means to be created by God in his image. Genesis 5:1-2 says, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created” (ESV). Grudem presents the fact that God didn’t need to create man. That God didn’t need humans for fellowship or to glorify Him. Grudem on page 188 states “this fact guarantees that our lives are significant.” “Fullnes of joy is found in knowing God and delighting in the excellence of his character” (Grudem, 189).
The biggest difference between us and all other creation is we are made in God’s image. Genesis 1:26
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis1:1.) God’s perfect wisdom created everything. In Genesis 1 and 2 we can see that God has loving and gentile nature when He created the earth and heavens. God created man in his image and we are the only creation that God breathed in the breath of life for human beings (Genesis 2:7). God did not do this for any of other creations but only for humans. The Bible has many scriptures that tell us how creative God is. Genesis 1;26 states “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created all of this for us to have fellowship with him.
In placing humankind within this world, it is the intent of God that humans enjoy this world and flourish in it through a continuing relationship with Him. And God said, “Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness, to hold sway over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens and the cattle and the wild beasts and all the crawling things that crawl upon the earth” (Genesis 158-159). Therefore, He creates a human in His image, the image of God. God did not want man to be alone and decides to fashion a companion from the rib of man. “And the Lord God cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed over the flesh where it had been, and the Lord God built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman” (Genesis 160). Upon learning of this the human said, “This one at last, bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh, / This one shall be called Woman, / for from man was this one taken” (Genesis 160). Human beings occupy center stage in this account of the world’s origin, but are held in low regard in Mesopotamian and Greek creation stories. In Enuma Elish, Marduk spoke to Ea of his idea for the creation of humankind, but Ea was the actual creator who devised how it should come about. In the Sixth Tablet, Marduk says, “My blood will I take and bone will I fashion / I will make man, that man may… / I will create man who shall
Similarly, the Bible says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”(Genesis 1:27).
Humans can think, feel, and reason which differentiate them from the rest of God’s creation. The ability to reason enables human beings to think and reflect on their own nature and the nature of God. The bible teaches us that God created man in his image and likeness. In the beginning of creation human nature was perfect because we were created by God. Genesis 1:31 describes Human beings were created very good by a loving God”. God created humans to operate their lives according to wisdom under God’s kingly reign (Diffey, 2014). God’s purpose in creating mankind was to work and serve (Genesis 2:15), and have dominion over earth (Genesis 1:26-28) The fall of Adam and Eve separated humanity from God and wisdom. This act plunged all of humanity into a history characterized by idolatry (Diffey, 2014), and is the root cause of all human
“26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’” Genesis 1:26a, 1:27
Where Genesis I describes a more ordered creation - the manifestation of a more primitive cultural influence than was responsible for the multi-layered creation in Genesis II - the second creation story focuses less on an etiological justification for the physical world and examines the ramifications of humankind's existence and relationship with God. Instead of Genesis I's simple and repetitive refrains of "and God saw that it was good" (Gen 1:12, 18, 21, 25), Genesis II features a more stylistically advanced look at "the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens" (Gen 2:4). While both stories represent different versions of the same Biblical event, Genesis II is significantly more complex than its predecessor and serves both to quantify the relationship between God and his creations and lay the foundation for the evolving story of humankind as well.
Pico begins his essay by informing his readers that he knows where humans stand in the divine order of the world. Pico believes that humans were the last creatures created by God, and that God's purpose, in creating them, was to fulfill his desire for someone to appreciate the great wonders and beauties of his world:
Man, in this instance, can be taken as emblematic of humankind in general, as the proclamation of Man’s dominion occurs at a very early stage of Creation, when Man still consists of only one individual. As Genesis moves farther in time, it redefines Creation with increasing specificity as it also delineates new hierarchies. For example, in the third chapter Man (in the male sense) is given dominion over Woman (Genesis 3:16) and as mankind grows into varied tribes these too are given a kind of structure, as when Ham’s descendents are made subservient to the other children of Noah (Genesis 9:25). Indeed, much of Genesis is comprised of relating genealogies, which are hierarchical by nature.
...ed a part to him. First we see God as omnipotent then we see God asking where Adam and Eve are hiding (Not being omnipotent). With the creation of mankind God loses some part of his Godliness and he gains some humanity. God has a little human in himself and we have a little God in us. But the main point still is the same, God is the authority over man and will remain this way. I also feel that the God in the bible is truly no different than the Gods of Greece for example. The God of ancient Greece acted just like humans, the only difference was that they were immortal. The God of the bible seems to act just like humans, shows love, anger, regret, learns from mistakes and so forth. So in the end God shows flaws and learns from mistakes. God is like humans, maybe this is why we don?t understand God sometimes because we can?t understand other people and their actions.
This quote from the bible tells us that we are all created in the eyes
The basic idea of this analogy is that we were created in God’s image and likeness so possess qualities like those of God but as we are inferior to God we experience these qualities in lesser proportion to God. John Hicks example of the term ‘faithful’ helps to explain this analogy, as he states that men, woman and dogs can be faithful but the faithfulness of a man and woman is clearly very different to that of a dog. However there is a recognisable similarity between the two, otherwise we would not think of a dog as faithful. In the case of the analogy between the dog and human beings, true faithfulness is something we know within ourselves and a dim and imperfect likeness of this is in the dog and is known by
In the Bible, it is mentioned that humans are made “in His image”. What exactly is an image? Dictionary.com defines an image as “a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible”. Something that sticks out in this definition is the word “physical”. God’s presence and immanence in His creation are real. He did not create mankind and then decided to leave us. He cares for us. God made His creation in the likeness of Him!
Mankind was created in the image of God as confirmed in Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (NIV). God has revealed much about Himself in the Scripture and, as Christians, we need to study the Word of the Lord and apply what we learn about the characteristics and qualities of God to our daily lives. Being made in the image of Christ should be reflected in our worldview and affect all aspects of our lives, including how we conduct ourselves in our chosen professions. “The image of God, therefore, includes both who man is and what man does.” (Closson, 2016).
After a particularly insightful semester in Wheaton's Theories of Origin's class I have reached the conclusion that our uniqueness is in this sole fact: God chose us. I believe that humankind existed prior to these two chosen representatives; however without the ability to interact with God as we do today and throughout the Bible. Specifically, I believe that in the Garden, God gave Adam and Eve souls: an indescribable connection to Him that allows for us to communicate with God in a way that is unique. This connection is what separates us from animals and our own creations. The existence of our soul is needed for the redeeming Sacrifice of Christ to provide us with salvation from our sins and the ability to ascend to heaven.
In George Herbert’s Man, Herbert gives homage to God, and the centrality of man. The main point of the poem assumes that since God is the greatest being of all, and God created humanity, then human beings are great as well - greater than credit is given. It focuses on the concept that man is a microcosm, or a small-scale model of the world, and that every part of the body has a facet of the world of which it is equal.