How did God create man?
After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of the man, endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall.
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Neither! God said Let there be… and there was.
Whatever you might think came first it was not first, it was second. God is first in all things and because of that we call Him the Creator.
We have a history and we began as dirt. Evolution likes to fancy our origins as stardust or primordial soup or any number of silly conjectures. No! just plain ole dirt. ”Earth”ly to the core.
Our heavenly aspirations should always be anchored in that we are designed to be earthly. There is nothing wrong or bad about being of earth. To be clear, just because we came from dirt doesn’t make us less than dirt.
“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 2:7, Genesis 1:27
“Were not the soul some kind of essence separated from the body, Scripture would not teach that we dwell in houses of clay, and at death remove from a tabernacle of flesh; that we put off that which is corruptible, in order that, at the last day, we may finally receive according to the deeds done in the body. These, and similar passages which everywhere occur, not only clearly distinguish the soul from the body, but by giving it the name of man, intimate that it is his principal part.”
John Calvin, ICR book 1 chapter 15
So mankind is far more than dirt. We’re image bearing clay. Calvin helpfully expands on this idea,
“I presume it has already been sufficiently proved, that the image comprehends everything which has any relation to the spiritual and eternal life. The same thing, in different terms, is declared by St John when he says, that the light which was from the beginning, in the eternal Word of God, was the light of man (John 1:4).
The likeness must be within, in himself. It must be something which is not external to him but is properly the internal good of the soul.”
John Calvin, ICR book 1 chapter 15
So mankind is both physical (clay) and spiritual (spirit). Not physical only. Not spiritual only. Both spiritual and physical. We were made from earth (clay) to be united to heaven (spirit). One single person, two parts: body and soul.
After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image, having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it:and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change. Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.
Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 4 paragraph 2
An important detail not yet considered is the relation between mankind and womankind. Indeed from the very beginning distinction was made between these two. Genesis 2:22: “The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man.”
It should be noted that the circumstance that led to this fashioning of woman from man was after the first pronouncement of something deficient in creation. It was “not good”…for man to be alone.
God is not saying that His plan was not perfect, for it was. Instead, in revealing, “it was not good”, He is highlighting that there was an important pretext to the formation of woman out of man.
Two different, but same kind of beings would make one complete union or marriage – two made to be one.
Multiplication from this union would be important both before and after the fall. It is important that the command to be fruitful and multiply was give immediately after their creation and with blessing.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28
God designs to bless mankind (male/female) through the relationship to one another by reflecting the intimacy of interpersonal union. There is a similar union of two separate things, body and soul in each person. This union of two persons then carries this pattern and design into relationships between two persons. In a purposeful and substantial way, the relationship between the Son and His church is reflected in this creation mandate of marriage. The convergence of these ideas together are helpful, instructive and divine.
Calvin again helps clarify this idea:
“…as man was undoubtedly created to meditate on the heavenly life, so it is certain that the knowledge of it was engraven on the soul. And, indeed, man would want the principal use of his understanding if he were unable to discern his felicity, the perfection of which consists in being united to God. Hence, the principal action of the soul is to aspire thither, and, accordingly, the more a man studies to approach to God, the more he proves himself to be endued with reason.”
John Calvin, ICR book 1, chapter 15
It should come as no surprise that attacks on these basic, fundamental and clear categories of male and female, marriage, have taken front and center in the culture wars. The enemy HATES God and of course anything bearing His image will equally be hated and opposed and redefined. Such is to be expected of fallen image bearers who also HATE God and suppress and deny Him.
The making of mankind in the image of God and in righteousness is the right place to start. Regretfully that state of mankind is not our current experience. Image bearing and righteousness may be where we started but the bulk of our experience thereafter is best summarized in this way:
“Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”
Ecclesiastes 7:2
This condition of fallenness and sin is serious. The impact of our fall is quite dramatic, yet not such that we became other than image bearers. R.C. Sproul in his book, The Hunger for Significance comments about this,
“By taking sin seriously, we take man seriously. Evil may mar the divine image and cloud its brilliance, but it cannot destroy it. The image can be defaced, but it can never be erased. The most obscene symbol in human history is the Cross; yet in its ugliness it remains the most eloquent testimony to human dignity.”
This obscene symbol of the cross is what C. S. Lewis makes front and center in this profound statement related to the incarnation. The necessity of the incarnation on account of our sin should jerk us out of the wrong lane as we consider,
“Non-Christians seem to think that the Incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence in humanity. But of course it implies just the reverse: a particular demerit and depravity. No creature that deserved Redemption would need to be redeemed. They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.”
― C.S. Lewis,The world’s last night: and other essays.
The cross of Christ and His sacrifice for us, dirt birthed creatures who bear His image, was of such magnitude that there is no larger step down which the Infinite could make. Christ took on our return to dirt (death) and triumphed over it. This ability to triumph over death (the curse) is in part what brings Him to say Matthew 10:28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Man and woman, image bearers, have the breath of God which distinguishes them from all of His other creatures. This breath or spirit of God makes us much more than simple dust.
“then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
Ecclesiastes 12:7
The returning of the spirit of man to God is what Jesus refers to while upon the cross. He comforts the man hanging beside Him with, “…Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’ Luke 23:43. Both of these men’s bodies would lie in the grave that very evening. Upon the one was put the life of the other. This transaction would later be declared by Paul in Colossians 3:10: “and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”
The Creator is the Redeemer, the Redeemer knows how to re-create that which was ruined under sin. We the redeemed are therefore to “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ephesians 4:24
From Dust to Glory, R. C. Sproul’s whole Bible overview trumpets…This is our story and we love to proclaim it.
Lyrics
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above
Of Jesus and his glory
Of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story
Because I know ’tis true
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do
I love to tell the story
‘Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest
And when, in scenes of glory
I sing the new, new song
‘Twill be the old, old story
That I have loved so long
I love to tell the story
‘Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ray Charles / William Fischer / Katherine Hankey
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