What Is Man Series

It is said that Socrates was obsessed with one central aim in his search for wisdom: To know himself. The basic question is what is man? This is a legitimate question.

When a young man leaves home traveling aimlessly in search of “finding himself” he is looking for the answer to an important question. He is most likely going to end up looking in the wrong places for the answer. What does the revealed Word of God say about this?

We should know something about the answer to what is man because, well, because we are human. Man does not find his ultimate meaning by going out to search for it. His value has been bestowed upon him by God. The truth of Jesus statement is telling.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

The Christian view of man gives every individual a sense of identity. In the Bible we see the origin of man created by God. The Word of God is where we should go on our journey to finding ourselves. In this journey we are hitchhiking through the chapters of the Bible.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

One of the most basic presumptions of Christian belief is that God is our creator. He created everything. In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. God created Man. There is the union of a man and woman for the beginning point of human life, but God is the origin.

Man is a created being, and all created beings are totally dependent on God. As a creature I cannot move a finger or speak a word apart from God.

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21)

Man comes into being because God willed it. God existed in eternity and acted to bring man into being.

Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. (Psalm 100:3)

Man cannot become truly independent of God. He may declare himself to be independent of God, but he is not. Every breath you take every beat of your heart is from God. That is why stewardship is all our life rightfully belonging to God.

The way man is made is a stark contrast to how the creatures and livestock were made in Genesis 1:24. There it is for the livestock, let the land produce. Beyond the union of our parents, beyond the sustaining provision of the earth we look to God who created us.

Man did not originate through chance process of evolution, but by a conscious purposeful act of God. There is a reason for man’s existence, a reason which lies at the intension of the supreme being.

Human life has ultimate value. This is because man is created in the image of God. Man can make decisions, set goals and man possesses freedom. Humans are very different than robots. When we move our fingers, we move them.

When we speak, we are the ones who determine the words. Only man is said to be made in the image of God.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)

Because we are created in the image of God, we are valuable. The sanctity of human life, the sacredness of human life is extremely important in God’s scheme. Even after the fall of man murder was prohibited. It is because man is made in the image of God.

Man, even as a sinner possessed the image of God. For this is the grounds of prohibiting murder. You may wonder what would man be like if sin had not tainted him. How would we then be in the image of God. We look to Jesus Christ to find the answer.