We may put it this way: The chief principle of the Reformed truth, the truth of Scripture, is that God is absolutely all, the perfectly Holy One, and that man is absolutely nothing of himself. And when we say that man is nothing, that is only because we have a hard time expressing a negative. On the one hand the fact is that man is a creature. He is likened in Scripture to a piece of clay molded by the Potter. That simply points to the fact that man had nothing to say about his creation. He had nothing to say about the kind of creature he would be, or about what nature he would receive, or about what position he would occupy in the world in relation to God. That was all sovereignly determined for him. And therefore man, by virtue of his creation, is nothing in himself. He is only what God made him to be. And, as we shall see presently, God made man a good creature. Man was good. But on the other hand we also stand reminded that man fell. He sinned. And through his sin he became so absolutely incapable of doing any good, that he cannot even think of attaining salvation, does not and cannot will his salvation, still less do anything unto his salvation. He is dependent entirely upon the grace of God. As we shall see, the Lord willing, when we get to Q & A 8 of the Catechism, he is so corrupt that unless he is regenerated by the Spirit of God he can do no good whatsoever. That is the truth.
That is the basic principle of biblical theology and of the biblical doctrine of man. So that when you hear a preacher who exalts the Lord God as the absolutely sovereign, the perfectly Holy God, and who on the other hand exposes man as totally depraved, dependent entirely upon God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus for his salvation, you may say that that preacher is sound. Wherever God is glorified and exalted most highly, while man is most deeply humiliated, there the truth is proclaimed. Of that you may be sure. And wherever man is exalted in any way except by faith in Christ Jesus, you have a corruption of God's revelation. That also is true. But according to the calling God has given us to preach the gospel, we call your attention to the truth concerning man's misery, concerning our misery. We begin by calling your attention to God's creation of man. The focus this morning, therefore, will not be so much on our misery, but on that wonderful state from which we fell. God's creation of man, therefore, serves to show us how far we have fallen. As we continue our study of the Heidelberg Catechism, the Lord willing, we shall consider the effects of the fall and the extent of man's depravity, and therefore the wonder of our salvation. But today the theme is:
MAN, GOD'S GOOD CREATION
I. HIS NATURE
II. HIS RELATION TO GOD
III. HIS POSITION IN THE WORLD
I. WHEN WE CONSIDER MAN'S NATURE, WE FIND THAT HIS WAS A UNIQUE CREATION.
GOD CREATED ADAM, ACCORDING TO GENESIS 1:26,27, IN HIS OWN IMAGE.
This is a truth of critical importance. Don't overlook how the Catechism introduces this subject. Having entered into the subject of our misery, the Catechism asks the question: "Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?" That is the question, a very, very serious question. You and I stand before the perfect law of God, as that law is the revelation of His perfect holiness. And we see that we have not kept that law, and cannot keep that law, but are prone by nature to hate God and the neighbor. Thus the question: "Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?" If the answer is yes, then there can be no hope at all. If God created man wicked and perverse, if God would be the Author of this wickedness, there would be no salvation possible. But the answer of the Catechism immediately points us to the beginning, and says, "By no means!" God is not the Creator of evil. Man is the cause of his own misery. For God's creation of man was perfect. He created man good.
So good was man, such a handiwork of God was he, that he bore the image and likeness of God Himself! "And God said—He spoke within Himself as the Triune Being, consulting in the fellowship of His Being as Father, Son and Holy Spirit—Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:26,27).
That means, for one thing, that God created man different from all the other creatures of His creative handiwork. That is plain not only from what we read in that first chapter of Genesis, but also by what is told us in Genesis 2:7. "And 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." That text is often misunderstood. You must not look at that as if God formed a sort of clay statue, and then made that statue come alive by breathing into his nostrils a living soul. That is not what the text means. That is not what the text says. It says that man became a living soul. What we have here, therefore, is one act of God with two aspects. In that one act of God by which man became a living soul, there are two things revealed about the nature of man.
In the first place, God made man out of the dust of the ground, so that man was related to the earth. He was an earthly creature. Man, as far as his present existence is concerned, is entirely related to the earth. That is an important truth from a practical point of view. Otherwise we might easily be confused in the face of death. Our life is entirely of this earth—as far as our human nature is concerned. That is why, in the face of death, even the people of God often do not want to have the earthly house of this tabernacle dissolved. That is not sin. That is natural. Now, the child of God will face death with contentment in God's will. That's another question. But the fact remains, as far as this human nature is concerned, we don't want to get away from the earth. That often becomes very evident in the body. This body may be severely afflicted, broken down, barely functioning; but it will cling to this earthly life. It is only from the principle of an altogether different life which is not of this earth, the life of regeneration, that we have the hope of heaven in our hearts. But even when the Christian, from that life of heaven within him, longs to go home to heaven, his body will fight to stay here. We are of the earth earthy. That is emphasized in the fact that God formed man out of the dust of the ground.
In the second place, by that one act of God revealed in Genesis 2:7, we are also shown that man was made a being specially related to God. I will develop that relationship presently, in my second point. But with respect to man's nature, God created him a spiritual being, and therefore different from the animals. Animals also were created from the dust of the ground. But in a different way. With the animals God simply called them forth. With man, however, God formed him and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Man was created a personal, physical being, not only; but a psychical being, that is, with a spiritual, soul life. That is man. But to understand man's nature, to understand ourselves, it is necessary that we consider what the Bible means when it speaks of God creating us after His own image.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT MAN WAS MADE AFTER GOD'S IMAGE?
That Adam was made in God's image, after His likeness, means very simply that man was created to look like his Creator. That is the most simple explanation of an image. An image is that which resembles the original. But when we say that, we certainly have not said enough. In what way was Adam like his Creator? That is also a very important question. A wrong answer here will bring you outside the realm of Christianity.
In our day it is commonly taught in many circles that man was created a god. God is within him. The problem is that man was not conscious of being divine. He was unaware of that image of God within him. So the history of man is really the story of man coming to consciousness of his own deity, God coming to self-consciousness in man. That is the heart of New Age philosophy. And that is nothing new. New Age philosophy has its roots in the heresy of ancient Gnosticism. And even farther back, we hear the devil himself speaking his lie in the garden, when he made God out to be a liar, and said to the woman, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." The deceiver is always trying to advance that same lie. "Tear God off His throne! You shall be God!" That New Age philosophy is not found merely in the Eastern religions which are permeated with Gnosticism. It has permeated much of the nominally Christian church world. It is the self-esteem gospel of much of Christian psychology. Instead of God is good, man is good. But that is not at all what is meant by man being created in God's image. Man is not God. Man is and remains a creature. Even into eternity, in the new heavens and the new earth, you and I will be known as creatures of the Most High. That truth must always be maintained. And although God dwells with man, yet He remains infinitely above him.
So again we stand before the question: What is meant by man being created in the image of God? That it means that man resembles God in a creaturely way is evident from comparing Scripture with Scripture. Just turn three or four chapters to Genesis 5, and compare verses 1 and 3. In verse 1 we read: "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him." Then in verse three we read that Adam "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." This comparison implies that even as the son of Adam resembled his father, so Adam, who in the genealogy of Luke 3 is called the "son of God," also resembled his Creator. It is true, and must be maintained, that what is infinite in God was only finite in man. God always remains God alone, and man the creature and dependent. But clearly it must be asserted that man resembled God.
A further study of Scripture reveals how man resembled God. On the one hand, he was created a rational moral creature, a thinking, willing creature. Or we might put it this way: Adam was formed a creature capable of bearing God's image. In all his gifts and powers, in heart and mind, intellect and will, man bore a creaturely resemblance of his Creator. A cow cannot bear the image of God. A dog cannot bear God's image. No animal can bear the image of God. Only man can bear that image, because man was formed a rational and moral creature.
Still more—and here is where we get into the contents of the image—from the beginning Adam was gifted with knowledge, righteousness and holiness. He knew God in such a way that he lived in an intimate fellowship with Him. That you and I know God with the spiritual knowledge of fellowship in Christ Jesus is only because the image, lost in the fall, has been restored in us by the Spirit's work of regeneration. That is what we read in Colossians 3:10. But Adam was created with the knowledge that gave himself intimate fellowship with his Creator. His mind was in tune with the mind of God. It was so from the beginning. Oh yes, that knowledge was capable of further development. Adam didn't know anything about computers and airplanes and automobiles and the like. His knowledge was capable of development. But his mind was pure. He knew God in such a way that the whole creation was transparent to him. He could look at every creature and through that creature see God. That was Adam's knowledge. Not a theoretical knowledge. The knowledge of love, God's love for him and his love for God. Adam knew his God; he knew the world; and he knew himself in relation to God and the world. In the midst of the world, showing forth the wonders of God's power, with all creation spelling the name of God, Adam stood as the true prophet, drinking in the knowledge of God and glorifying the God of his life from day to day. Can you even imagine what that must have been like?
Adam was also righteous. His righteousness was not like ours. It wasn't the righteousness that you and I now enjoy in Christ Jesus. Our righteousness is imputed to us, reckoned unto us by God through grace. Our righteousness is only through the work of Christ. That is not the righteousness with which Adam was created. He knew no guilt. The law did not condemn him. His life was a life characterized by love. His will stood in harmony with God's will. He loved to do the will of God. That was Adam's righteousness. That implies the knowledge, of course. Seminarian Laning very capably pointed that out to us last Sunday. There is no righteousness without knowledge and there is no true knowledge without righteousness and holiness. These three elements of the image of God in man are inseparably related. Don't forget that. But Adam stood upright before God. That is how God created him.
And so he was also holy. There was no sin in Adam. His
body and soul, his mind and will and desires, were all pure, consecrated to the living
God. He lived to do God's will. Adam was not indifferent to the things of God. God was the
focus of his life. He was devoted to serving God in all things. According to Scripture,
that is what it means that Adam was formed after the image of God. True knowledge,
righteousness and holiness filled his entire being. Daily he would have fellowship with
the living God, his soul being overwhelmed with the consciousness of God's presence, and
with the awareness of God's wisdom and power and glory and goodness. But that brings us to
our second main point today.
II. BEING CREATED IN GOD'S IMAGE IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT MAN INTO A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP TO
GOD.
ADAM WAS CREATED A COVENANT CREATURE.
This too we must understand, if we are to understand the seriousness of man's sin and the extent of his depravity. The covenant—let's review that briefly. We shall have many opportunities to consider this truth from different perspectives as we proceed through the Catechism. The covenant, after all, is a truth that permeates all of Scripture. It is a truth that has its source in the very life and Being of God as the Triune God. So when we come to Lord's Day 8 we will see the truth of the covenant at its very source. But the covenant is the living relationship of fellowship and love within the Godhead, first of all, among the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit live and love and act together in a relationship of perfect fellowship and communion. But God's purpose with respect to His creation was to reveal that covenant life to the creature outside of Himself. He would do that in Christ, in the highest possible sense. In Christ Jesus the tabernacle of God is with men. God became flesh and dwelt among us, John writes. That was God's purpose from the beginning, as is evident both from Ephesians 1 and from the first chapter of Colossians. God would take us into His own covenant life through Christ.
But with that purpose and to that end God created Adam a covenant creature. The covenant was not something established after the fall. It was given with man's creation. To stand as a creature made after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, as one who could have fellowship with the living God, that implies that Adam stood in such a relationship. And so it was that God walked with him and talked with him in the garden.
BUT THAT COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WAS NOT COMPLETE IN ADAM.
God created man good. But man was not heavenly. To put it philosophically—because clearly this was not God's purpose: If man had not sinned, he would have lived forever in the garden of Eden. But that is not eternal life. Eternal life is heavenly life, life in Christ, life on the other side of death, life begun by regeneration and the resurrection. Adam did not have that life. Adam was earthly. Though Adam lived in perfect fellowship with God, He could not know God as we know Him in Christ and shall know Him in heavenly glory. He knew God as Creator and Sovereign Friend. But Adam did not know Him as Savior, not, I say, as he was in the beginning.
And therefore we recognize from Scripture that God had
something else in store for Adam. All would lead to Christ. And in Christ the image of God
would be revealed in a way that Adam could not reflect that image. In Christ the image of
God would be revealed perfectly, as the Covenant Head, the Savior of the world. And in
Christ you and I would be taken into the life of God's fellowship and love, redeemed from
all our iniquity. Adam was created a covenant creature. His relationship was only the
beginning. His was a relationship with God that would be fulfilled only in Christ. Because
Adam is not the firstborn of every creature. But as we read in Colossians 1, Christ is.
Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And He is the
head of the body, the church. Adam will be God's creature to point us to Christ.
III. AND SO WE CONSIDER, FINALLY, HIS POSITION IN THE WORLD.
ACCORDING TO THE COUNSEL OF GOD, ADAM WAS CREATED THE HEAD OF THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE.
We will have opportunity to say more about this in the coming weeks. When God created him, God gave him the calling to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. To Adam belonged the calling to bring forth the human race. God created him to stand at the head of that entire race. Which means that legally, Adam represented us in his covenant relationship to God. And in his place as the legal head of the whole human race he also bore the calling to consecrate himself and all things to the living God. He was given dominion over all things earthy. He was king under God—prophet, priest and king in God's covenant. So that his mandate was, as we saw in Lord's Day 2, to love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength in all things. That was Adam.
But Adam fell. He fell. In that covenant relationship to God, he sinned. As a covenant creature he fell. And consequently all the sin of man is forever covenant sin, sin which brings separation from the fellowship and love of God. Instead of friendship there is enmity. Instread of love there is hatred. Instread of light there is darkness. Instead of righteousness there is iniquity. Instead of holiness there is corruption. Man's whole nature is turned about by sin. He is lost, hopelessly lost. His friendship with God was replaced with a friendship with Satan. And don't forget, as the head of the human race Adam fell. His guilt became your guilt and mine. And with guilt comes punishment, the punishment of death and corruption. So that you and I are compelled to confess, as the psalmist writes in Psalm 51: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." The fruit of the womb, even in its very conception, lies under the power of the guilt of Adam's sin. We must explain that further in the coming weeks. But are you prepared to confess this depravity as your own? We are hopelessly lost. In ourselves we have nothing for God.
BUT, BELOVED, THIS IS MY ONLY COMFORT IN LIFE AND DEATH: THAT I AM NOT MY OWN, BUT BELONG TO MY FAITHFUL SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
In Christ there is the restoration of the covenant for sinners such as we. In Christ there is the redemption that alone is the basis for that renewed covenant fellowship with God. In Christ there is the power of deliverance from sin and death and corruption, from that corruption from which I could never deliver myself or even want to be delivered, so dead in sin am I. My comfort is in knowing that in Jesus Christ God has revealed Himself to me as the One Who loves me and Who poured out His love in my heart by His Holy Spirit. He has revealed that unto me by His gospel. Though I am nothing, He is everything. And He has made me His. What an amazing gospel!
You will see, reflecting on all that we have taught this
morning in our entire exposition of the Scriptures, God is at the center of all things.
All things are ours, yes. We may say that now, as those redeemed by Christ. All things are
ours, yes. But we are Christ's and Christ is God's. For His own name's sake God made all
things. We read it in Proverbs 16:4: "The LORD hath made all things for himself:
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." For His own name's sake He is also
forming a people unto Himself, a people who know that He is everything; that they in
themselves are nothing. God is the center of all things, the absolutely Holy God. He is
the Source of all things, and in Him is the purpose of all things. And therefore we who
are Reformed are concerned about God first of all, and about man as he stands in
relationship to God. We are concerned about God's glory. How does God realize His own
glory in all His works, even through me? The fall of man is for the purpose of revealing
God's glory. In Christ He shall reveal Himself in all His glory. That we must see. God is
all; we are nothing—except in Christ. Is that your confession? Amen.
Preached: 1) Randolph PRC 7/7/96 (am)
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