SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: MAN, CHRIST, AND HOLY SPIRIT Week Two: Human Nature. Introduction and Review

Transcription

1 SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: MAN, CHRIST, AND HOLY SPIRIT Week Two: Human Nature Introduction and Review This is the second session in a twelve-week study of the doctrines of humanity, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Last week, we discussed the creation of mankind. The first men and women were created as a special act of God, ultimately through the power of his spoken word. Humans are created in God s image, which means we are rational and emotional, inherently relational, and exercise dominion over the creation on God s behalf. This week, we turn our attention to the question of human nature. What s the Big Idea? When God created human beings, he made them in his own image and placed them in a position of authority over all the other living creatures on the earth. These first humans, and all of their descendants, were given a specific nature. There are two specific elements of human nature: we are ensouled and we are gendered. This lesson addresses both aspects of human nature, though the topic of gender will be addressed in far greater detail in the Biblical Manhood and Womanhood BFL track. What Do the Scriptures Say? Of all God s creatures, humans alone have an immaterial soul or spirit in addition to their material bodies. These terms represent the general life principle of each person, though soul often refers to who we are as individuals and spirit often refers to who we are spiritually as we relate to God. 1 7 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 (Gen. 2:7). 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deut. 6:5). 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name s sake (Psa. 23:3). 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psa. 51:10). 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16). 23 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 (1 Thess. 5:23). 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12). The Doctrines of Man, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Page 1

2 The soul or spirit of a person continues to exist after physical death, though those who are damned are considered spiritually dead or destroyed despite their ongoing existence in hell. At the end of time, the bodies and souls of all the dead will be reunited and we will once again be ensouled beings. 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin (Gen 35:18). 3 O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit (Psa. 30:3). 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28). 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul (Mark 8:36)? 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28 30). 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:19 20). 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne (Rev. 6:9). 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years (Rev. 20:5 7). Like most living creatures, humans are gendered beings that exist as male and female. This is in part so that the human race can be perpetuated through marital sexual intercourse. 26 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. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Gen 1:26 28). 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). Though both men and women are created in God s image and thus share an equality in their nature, functionally they serve in different roles in the home and in the church. Specifically, husbands are to be the heads of their families and biblically qualified men are to serve as elders/pastors in their local churches. The Doctrines of Man, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Page 2

3 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God (1 Cor. 11:3). 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands (Eph. 5:22 24). 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with selfcontrol (1 Tim. 2:11 15). 1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, selfcontrolled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God s church (1 Tim. 3:1 5). What Has the Church Said? Human ensoulment has been debated throughout church history, from the Patristic Era (ca ) to the present day. There are two areas of debate. First, Christians debate the exact relationship between the spirit and the soul. For those who argue for the trichotomist (threepart) view, the spirit represents the part of us that lives forever, while the soul is basically equivalent to the heart the seat of our emotions, intellect, and priorities. Those who hold to the dichotomist (two-part) view argue that the soul and the spirit are virtual synonyms in the Bible, though they are used differently in various passages. The dichotomist view is the most popular at the current time, though many Christians hold to the trichotomist position. The second debate concerns the origin of the soul. Some Christians argue for a traducian position, which means that God created Adam s soul, but that subsequent human souls are created through sexual intercourse. In this view, the immaterial part of us comes from our parents in the same way that the material part of us comes from our parents. Proponents of this view include Tertullian and Augustine in the early church, Augustus Strong and Millard Erickson in the Baptist tradition, and Jonathan Edwards and Norman Geisler in the wider evangelical tradition. Other Christians argue for a creationist position, which means God himself creates each individual human soul and places it in the human body, much like he did with Adam. Our bodies come from our parents, but our souls come directly from God. This view has been held by the Roman Catholic Church since the medieval era, largely because of the influence of Thomas Aquinas. It is also the dominant view in the Reformed tradition, perhaps because it is the view Calvin defended. Modern creationists include Louis Berkhof and Wayne Grudem. Many Christians are ambivalent or undecided on the traducian versus creationist debate. Examples include Martin Luther and Michael Horton. The Doctrines of Man, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Page 3

4 Human gender has only become a debated matter in the modern era. Beginning in the 1700s, the Moravians advocated that women could preach; they attributed this to God pouring out his Spirit in a new way during the last days. This view carried over into Methodism, and from there into the Holiness movements and Pentecostalism. While these groups allowed women to preach and teach in mixed assemblies, they did not normally ordain women to formal vocational ministry. In the late nineteenth century, some Christians became influenced by secular feminism, arguing the Bible is simply wrong or outdated when it comes to gender roles in the church. Most mainline denominations moved from allowing women to preach to actually ordaining women to pastoral ministry. Many Wesleyan and Pentecostal groups also came to support women in pastoral ministry, which was an understandable evolution from their earlier position. Baptists and Reformed Christians were mixed on this issue, with some supporting women in ordained ministry and others rejecting the view. During the latter three decades of the twentieth century, a similar debate began to rage about gender roles in the home. Normally, one s view of women in ministry was closely connected to one s view of gender roles in the family. During the 1980s, the traditional view of gender roles came to be called complementarianism, because advocates of this position argue God created men and women to perform different but complementary roles in the home and church. The more progressive view of gender roles became known as egalitarianism, because proponents defend full equality of the sexes in both nature and roles. Most mainline Protestants hold to egalitarianism. Evangelicals are divided on this issue, though as a general rule most conservative evangelicals are complementarians. In our confessional statement, the Southern Baptist Convention affirms a complementarian view of gender roles in the family and the church. In recent years, American culture has become increasingly comfortable with aberrant views of gender and sexuality, including homosexuality and transgenderism. Needless to say, both of these practices represent departures from biblical norms; homosexuality is explicitly condemned in both the Old and New Testaments. Many mainline Protestant groups have experienced schism or are on the verge of splitting over the ordination of homosexuals and the validity of homosexual marriage. Most evangelicals reject homosexuality on biblical grounds, though there is evidence that a growing number of egalitarian evangelicals are adopting a more open view of homosexuality. According to our denominational by-laws, the Southern Baptist Convention refuses to cooperate with any church that affirms homosexuality as an acceptable option for Christians. In 2009, FBC Durham stopped cooperating with the Yates Baptist Association in Durham because that group includes churches that embrace homosexuality as an acceptable Christian lifestyle. What Should We Believe? Human beings are ensouled creatures that will live on beyond physical death. We are a combination of physical and immaterial components, with the latter constituting the part of us that results in our unique individuality and relates to God either positive or negatively. Virtually all Christians agree on this basic understanding of human nature, though there is debate about the finer points. The dichotomist view seems more convincing than the trichotomist position, though this is ultimately a speculative matter that has little effect on the Christian life. The Doctrines of Man, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Page 4

5 As for the origin of the soul, there are few biblical texts that would help to make a firm case for either view. The important issue here is believing that life begins at conception, which includes the immaterial aspects of humanity. The origin of human souls is ultimately a mystery, though we know that God is ultimately the Creator of those souls, even if he creates them through the secondary cause of human sexual intercourse. Humans are also gendered creatures that exist as either male or female. Men and women are equal in nature and dignity, but they perform different roles in the home and in local churches. The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) and the Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition each affirm a complementarian view of gender roles. The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. 2 The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God himself declared to be very good, serving as God s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. In God s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments. 3 How Should We Then Live? Living for Eternity: All human beings will exist forever. Physical death is inevitable for all people except those currently alive at the time of the Second Coming, but death is not the end. Even those who experience spiritual death/destruction will continue to exist, though their existence will be horrible. Because we will all exist forever, it s important that we live with an eternal perspective. Decisions we make in this life have eternal consequences. This is especially true of decisions related to conversion and evangelism. The Doctrines of Man, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Page 5

6 Gospel-Centered Gender: The biblical/traditional view of gender roles is not a matter of opinion it s a picture of the gospel (Eph. 5). We should conform our homes and our churches to the scriptural pattern, which means male leadership. We should defend this view in a culture that is hostile to it. But we must defend biblical manhood and womanhood in a humble, healthy, and winsome way. This means we must be willing to speak out against individuals and groups that promote abusive or manipulative understandings of male leadership. Recommended Resources Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan, 1994), pp John Piper and Wayne Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 2 nd ed. (Crossway, 2006). Wayne Grudem, Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism: Biblical Responses to the Key Questions (Multnomah, 2006). Andreas Kostenberger and David Jones, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation, 2 nd ed. (Crossway, 2010). The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood maintains a helpful website ( with hundreds of resources defending a biblical view of gender roles. Albert Mohler s website ( contains dozens of resources related to the gender and sexuality, especially contemporary cultural challenges. In 2005, Andy Davis taught through the doctrine of humanity during ACTS on Wednesday nights. You can find outlines and audio of his lessons in the Sermon Audio section of the FBC Durham website. Notes: 1 Mankind, Doctrine of, in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2 nd ed., ed. Walter A. Elwell (Baker Academic, 2001), p Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article XVIII: The Family, available online at The final sentence is cited from Article VI: The Church. 3 Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition, Article 3: Creation of Humanity, available online at The Doctrines of Man, Christ, and the Holy Spirit Page 6