Creation of the Honorable Man

When I was eleven, my family went to Canada for a holiday. As many of us know, Canada is well frequented by skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts. My sister and I got on the slopes with a skiing instructor, and we had the time of our lives. But the fun came to a halt when I fell and twisted my left knee. I was hospitalized, but my knee has never been the same. I can’t walk or run at a certain angle anymore. And I know that my knee has never fully healed because healing has to do with restoration, and restoration has to do with the difference between how things were, and how things are. I remember how things were with my knee before the fall, and things are not the same. And while I had a physical fall that left me with a physical brokenness, all of humanity had a spiritual fall that left us with a spiritual brokenness.

I told this story because the doctrine of salvation must always begin with a doctrine of creation, and Rev. Abraham Park begins the fifth installment of his History of Redemption series with a rehearsal through the doctrine of creation.

Chapter 1: The creation of the honorable man

Chapter 2: The tragic fall

Chapter 3: Salvation and covenant

This morning’s message is a summary of chapter 1: the creation of the honorable man.

God who created the heavens and the earth in the beginning

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

This verse is the most compressed summary of the entire Bible. It is the very bedrock of history itself, because it says that God created. That’s the very first verb in the entire Bible: God created. And this verb in Hebrew is the qal stem of bara (ברא): through God’s command something comes into being that had not existed before

Psalm 148:5 ESV

Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.

And this word bara is unique in that it only occurs with God as the subject performing the action: no one else can do the action of bara, because God is unique in His ability to create without prior materials. Only God can initiate something without being initiated upon. And so Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century called God the “Unmoved Mover” who basically kickstarted the universe into motion.

In other words, the first verse of the Bible must erase the imprint of materialism that our society has inherited from Darwin, Hawkings, and Dawkins. There is a Creator, an Unmoved Mover, and the dimensions of time, space, and matter belong to Him. Gen. 1:1 ‘In the beginning (time), God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter).’ And the third verse of Genesis 1 tells us how He created.

Genesis 1:3 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

We see here that God spoke creation into existence. His Word possesses His sovereign authority to control and shape reality. And, having created the light, God calls the light ‘good.’ God then enforces order upon creation by separating the light from darkness. And He goes on to create an expanse, separating the waters above and the waters below. He separates the waters from the dry land, and so on.

So what this tells us is that creation follows a certain order, and it’s not just a ‘that’s the way things are’ kind of neutral order. It’s an order imposed by God upon creation. It’s His order, and His design, and so this means that not only is materialism a lie, but also the idea of morality apart from God, otherwise known as moral relativism. The idea of God’s good design erases the chant of relativism, that is, ‘I can do what I want, so long as I don’t hurt anybody.’ To live in a way that contradicts the Word of God is thus to sin against the Creator because it goes against His design.

Furthermore, the fact that God goes on to say that ‘it is good,’ must also erase the philosophical imprint of gnosticism that says that the material things are evil, that the flesh is evil, and that the human body is wicked and salvation consists of freedom from our fleshly bodies.

A biblical doctrine of creation exposes materialism, relativism, and gnosticism as false worldviews.

The Tri-personal act of creation

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Many of us call English speakers call God either ‘God’ or ‘Lord.’ And this is also often the case in the Hebrew Old Testament. There is Elohim, which appears here in Gen. 1:1 and means ‘God,’ and there is YHWH, the very name of God, which translates as ‘The Lord.’ But this elohim noun is grammatically not in the singular form, but the plural. So instead of ‘God,’ it literally reads as ‘Gods.’ However, the plural elohim noun is paired with a verb in singular form. So instead of ‘The Gods are creating,’ it literally reads as ‘The Gods is creating.’ Instead of ‘Gods create,’ it’s ‘Gods creates.’

What this implies is that the Hebrew word for God has some measure of plurality within its monotheism. For us Christians, we believe this hints at the Triune nature of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There’s a three-fold structure in almost everything about God.

Isaiah 6:3 ESV

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

And this carries on into the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All creation exists from the Father through the Son

1 Corinthians 8:6 ESV

yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

My Greek professor back in London once said something that stuck in my head. He said that theology comes from grammar. And here we see why. The prepositions ‘from’ and ‘through’ give us the primary idea of the role of God the Father and God the Son in the act of creation. All things exist from the Father. The Greek word here is ek, meaning ‘from’ or ‘out from,’ and in this case refers to the Father as the source or origin of all things.

And whereas all things exist from the Father, the exist through the Son, Jesus Christ. The Greek word here is dia, meaning ‘by’ or ‘through,’ and refers to God the Son as the means through which all things exist.

John 1:3 ESV

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

And so what about the Holy Spirit? He is the completer or effector of the work of creation. If the Word of God specifies the will of the Father, the Spirit of God empowers that will into reality. The word for Spirit is Ruah (רוּחַ): wind, breath, or life force. He is the breath that carries the Word of God, the power of the Word itself.

Psalm 33:6 ESV

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

Psalm 104:30 ESV

When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

And so we can say that creation is a tri-personal action in that all three persons of the Triune Godhead participated by fulfilling different functions in one act: The Father wills, the Son executes the Father’s will, and the Spirit completes the Son’s work.

And we see such tri-personal actions of God in His work of salvation as well.

1 Peter 1:2 (ESV)

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

The creation of man

Genesis 1:26–27 ESV

Then God said, “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.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

On the sixth day, God creates man in the image and likeness of God.

Tselem (צֶלֶם): to symbolize, to define a contour, a replica, a representation

Demut (דְּמוּת): to be like, to resemble

In what ways do human beings image or resemble God? To answer this question is like looking in a mirror and asking, which part of this mirror image resembles me? And the answer is everything. Every single thing about us human beings images God. But we can divide them into four categories, namely, the moral, rational, spiritual, and physical image of God.

The moral image of God

Ephesians 4:24 ESV

and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

The moral image of God here is described as the true righteousness and holiness. This is the image of God that was broken when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden, seeking instead a false righteousness instead of the true righteousness. They ate the fruit, seeking to be less dependent on God, seeking to undo the created order God had enforced upon the world. On the contrary, true righteousness only comes from knowing the Word of God that created the world. And so the Apostle Paul says that this new self can only come about through knowledge. Knowledge of what? Knowledge of the Word of God.

Colossians 3:10 ESV

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The rational/intellectual image of God

Human beings also image God in their intellectual capacity, especially when compared with other animals. We don’t have sharp claws, fangs, exceptional speed, or a body built for hunting. We don’t even have night vision. And yet we have so far outstripped the other animals and have risen to the top of the food chain through the use of our intellect. However, sin also affects our intellect and subdues our intellect to our carnal instincts and appetites. In our thirst for pleasure, we become like irrational animals.

2 Peter 2:12 ESV

But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,

Jude 10 ESV

But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

The philosophical sins we spoke about earlier, of materalism, relativism, and gnosticism manifest from the corruption of this rational image of God. How do we know? Because such false worldviews make it easy for people to satisfy their sinful carnal desires. It is a case of believing something because you want it to be true, not because you know it to be true.

The Apostle Paul calls this the suppression of the truth.

Romans 1:18 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:21 ESV

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

The spiritual image of God

There was a big debate in my systematic theology class back in London over whether animals had spirits or souls, or whether spirits and souls were the same thing or not. I argued that animals have souls but no spirit, since they possess will, emotions, and intellect, but do have possess a capacity to worship God. Anyways, what we do know is that spirits and souls are different, if not in their substance, then at least in their function. So the Apostle Paul talks about the sanctification of the spirit, soul, and body, denoting the spiritual, rational, and physical aspects of the human being.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is spirit, and so man also possesses this spiritual image of God. This spiritual image expresses itself in an inclination toward the spiritual things, rather than the worldly things. Those who have spirituality can know God, experience God’s presence moment by moment, and walk with God in spiritual fellowship.

See, a key feature of the creation story in Genesis is that not only does God create human beings, but He speaks to them as well. He never does that with anything else. And He commands the humans to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion over the earth.

Likewise, when God created Adam, He breathed into him the breath of life.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

And His first words to Adam ratified a covenant.

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

So the spiritual image of God is the covenantal relationship that is shared only between man and God. It is the covenantal relationship established by the Word of God, otherwise known as the breath of life. And it is this covenantal relationship that grants us eternal life.

John 17:3 ESV

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

The physical image of God

The human body also points toward God, in that many of our physical traits reflect God’s own abilities. For example, our ability to see points ever so slightly to God’s own sight. Our ability to hear points to God’s own listening ears when we pray.

Psalm 94:9 ESV

He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?

And our bodies now await redemption, to put off the mortality that has come upon us because of sin, and to put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:53 ESV

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Romans 8:23 ESV

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Conclusion

These four ways in which we image God were corrupted because of sin, but we must remember what things were like before the fall in order to know what salvation looks like. We must know what it means to be human beings, all the splendor and beauty and honor that once belonged to us, and the relationship we once had with God, untainted by sin.

‘It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.’ - C. S. Lewis

The world has tried to tell us that it’s a worthy endeavor to live in pursuit of pleasure, in pursuit of comfort, in pursuit of whatever the world has to offer us. But this morning we’ve examined what it really means to be a human being: we are the very image of God in this world. In fact, the Bible tells us in Eccl. 3:11 that God has put eternity into our hearts. So in this year 2023, let us embrace the eternity within us. Let us not suppress the Word of God in order to live the way we want. Let us instead embrace our Creator God’s good design upon this world. And, in so doing, let God look upon us and say, ‘You are very good.’