This is a recollection module good for High School Students.
According to the Scriptures, humans are not an evolutionary accident but a special creation. Human beings were purposefully produced by God to fulfill a preordained role in His world. They have peculiar qualities that somehow reflect the nature of God Himself and set them apart and above all other created beings.
1. Created in the image and likeness of God
*Selem – Hebrew word for “image” which bears a strong physical resemblance to the person or thing it represents.
*Demuth – Hebrew word for “likeness” as reflecting this image in such qualities as goodness, grace, and love.
*After the FALL (sin of Eve and Adam) retained the “image” but lost the “likeness”
*Neither of the words imply that persons are divine.
*Likeness but not sameness
2. Persons are made body-soul-spirit
Genesis 2:7 says, “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” In creation God endowed persons with a spiritual aspect of life. This passage says that man became a soul, not that he had a soul. A person is both body and soul, or more accurately, body-soul. The Old Testament supports this holistic view of persons who are not segmented into parts known as body, soul, and spirit.
BODY
PHYSIOLOGICAL
(World-Consciousness)
RELATES TO ENVIRONMENT
SOUL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
(Self-Consciousness)
RELATES TO OTHERS
(mind, emotion, will)
SPIRIT
SPIRITUAL
(God’s-Consciousness)
RELATES TO GOD (intuition, conscience, communion)
3. Share in His rational nature
People have the power to think, analyze, and reflect even upon abstract matters. They cannot be defined by or confined to material attributes. As God is spiritual (John 4:24), persons are spiritual. This spiritual kinship makes possible communication with God.
4. Human persons have the purpose
They have an instinctive need to be something and to do something. They have a responsible intuition and an inner call to duty. The human race has a unique sense of “oughtness.” Humans are moral creatures. They can and do make moral judgments (Gen. 2:16-17). Persons have a censoring conscience which they may defy. They are choice makers; they can obey their highest instincts or follow their most morbid urges. A human is the only creature who can say no to God. Humans are autonomous persons. God endowed them with the freedom to govern their own lives.
Baltimore catechism: humans are created to know. Love and serve God and to be happy with him in the next
5. Fellowship with God made possible
No person could have a meaningful relationship with a robot. Real fellowship can take place only between two authentic persons. God created “man” in His own image because He wanted a relationship with another sovereign person.
Sharing: Share 1 word/phrase (New discovery or rediscovery from the input)
23. After the FALL retained the “image” but lost
the “likeness”
Neither of the words imply that persons are
divine.
Likeness but not sameness
24. 2. Persons as Body-Soul-Spirit
• BODY
• PHYSIOLOGICAL
(World-Consciousness)
• RELATES TO
ENVIRONMENT
• SOUL
• PSYCHOLOGICAL
(Self-Consciousness)
• RELATES TO
OTHERS
(mind, emotion, will)
• SPIRIT
• SPIRITUAL
(God’s-Consciousness)
• RELATES TO GOD
(intuition, conscience,
communion)
25. 3. Share in His rational nature
People have the
power to think,
analyze, and
reflect even
upon abstract
matters.
26. • They have an
instinctive need to be
something and to do
something.
• They are choice
makers.
• They are autonomous
persons.
• They had the freedom
to govern their own
lives.
27. Real fellowship can take
place only between two
authentic persons. God
created “man” in His
own image because He
wanted a relationship
with another sovereign
person.
