The Doctrine of Humanity[1]
What makes us authentically human? According to Gen. 1:26-27, humanity is fundamentally a community. God created “them” and “us;” this does not teach individualism. Man was not complete when he was alone; he needed woman. Even when Adam walked with God in the garden, God said to him, “it is not good for man to be alone.” Humans were not made to be in private relationships with God in solitude, but they were to have fellowship with God as a community. Some of the most meaningful times in worship are in the midst of the congregation worshiping as the community. God is One, but God is three distinct persons in relationship with one another. It only makes sense then that humanity would also be created as two (male and female), not one. We are created in the image of God, which involves being a community; this is especially seen in the marriage between a man and a woman. We have the same natures, but we have distinct and separate personalities. This may be the closest illustration to the Trinity that we can visualize and understand.
We are also created to have a relationship with the earth. We were created for the earth-it is our home-and we are to subdue it, care for it, and rule over it. We are to multiply and fill it.
We are created in the image of God. As His children, we are literally His image bearers. One who bears God’s image is one who bears His image as a child; this is also seen in how children bear the image or markings of their parents. We are not begotten of God, but created by God. This is seen in Gen. 5:1-3. It is why Paul says we are adopted as sons, and why John says we are His children. Children are to be in relationship with their parents in obedience and honor. When we are redeemed we are made sons of God, and to be authentically human we are to be in relationship with God and displaying his characteristics.
To know how to do this, we must look to His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 5:3). “Abba” is the word Christ uses at Gethsemane , and it is a term of submission and subjection to the will of the Father. At some point every Christian must mature to the point of submitting and subjecting their own lives to God’s will. The blessing of companionship in Gen. 1 is actually a command in verse 28. To live as we are intended to, we must have three distinct relationships, one with God, one with other humans, and one with the earth. We cannot separate our relationships to other humans from our relationship with God. We must leave our gifts at the altar. God loves the person in the pew beside you as much as He loves you, and you cannot love God without feeling the same way about that person. When the relationships of the people in the church become more private than communal, it kills the community. The body of Christ comes together to worship God as such, and not just for personal benefit.
We need one another (Eph. 4:17-24). We are the new man, we are all members of one body, we are not each individual brides of Christ, but rather the Church as a whole is the bride of Christ. This includes all believers, past, present, and future. In Eph. 4:25 we read that we are to speak truth to one another. If you lie you destroy peace. In v. 26 we learn that we are to deal with anger appropriately, in v. 28 that we are to work with those in need to minister peace with one another, and in v. 29 that we are given mouths for the benefit of the community, to speak words of peace.
As far as our relationship to the earth goes, as we have already seen in Gen. 1:26-28, we are to rule over the earth and fill it. We were also created from the ground itself. In Isa. 65, we learn that the Lord will bring a new Heaven and a New Earth, and in Rev. 21 we are told about it. Furthermore, in 2 Peter 3:13, our hope is the New Earth. The scriptures teach creation, fall, and redemption, and the redemption begins after the fall and culminates in our new bodies. They will be immortal and incorruptible in the New Earth, our eternal home. This now leads us to the make-up of man.
The Make-Up of Man
Man is a direct creation of God and is not descended from any other being. God created man. Man was created in a state of innocence; this means that evil was absent from him until the fall. Man is both physical and spiritual (1 Cor. 6:19-20 and 2 Cor. 5:10). These passages teach that the body is the partner to the soul. If we do not relate to God as physical beings, we do not relate to Him at all. To think about God we must use our minds-our brains-which are physical. We relate to God in physical ways. We praise Him with our tongues and lips, we long to know Him in our hearts, and we want to see Him with our eyes. Man is a dichotomy of body and soul/spirit. The soul and spirit are one, and only Christ can separate the two (Heb. 4). Generally when the term soul is used, it relates to the world, and the term spirit relates to God and spiritual things, but these are one and cannot be separated.
The body and soul come into existence through creation in the womb, and are borne into sin at conception. This is compatible with the doctrine of original sin (John 4:23 and Rev. 21:3). The fall is a real historical event. The first temptation cast doubt on the truthfulness of the word of God. The second questioned the goodness of God. Human response put a curse on natural creation, and instead of man ruling over it, the relationship became “man vs. creation.” This caused human mortality and made man subject to physical death (Heb. 9:27). This also caused spiritual death, or separation between man and God in time. If nothing is done to remedy this during man’s life, it leads to the second death (Eph. 2:1 and Rev. 20:14). Man inherits Adamic Sin (Rom. 3:23). It is in our nature. We are born totally depraved.
Application:
When we portray man in art we are to do two things. First, we must remember that man is created in the image of God. This realization should affect how we treat other people in our daily lives. Secondly, we must portray man truthfully, which means that on many occasions we must be portrayed as fallen and in need of redemption. When someone portrays man’s fallen nature in such a way that it is being glorified, it must be considered poor art. Some examples of this are the glorification of rape or the murdering a police officer, or even portraying drunkenness as something to be enjoyed. This does not mean that dealing with these issues in art is wrong, it just means that when they are dealt with they must be portrayed for what they actually are- depraved actions of a sinful race.