The Source of Man's Inner Life Part 2

Man is a mystery. The physician who spends his life studying the human anatomy will be the first to admit that he does not understand man. Man in his entirety cannot be comprehended. One must not seek to divide man into parts, saying that God is responsible for one part and parents for the other. Such division leads to serious error. Man must be considered entire. Likewise, to study the Divine Triunity and lose sight of one God is serious error. The Father is the eternal Father; the Son is the eternal Son; the Holy Spirit is the eternal Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Spirit work together in creation, in regeneration, in prayer, in lives of individual Christians, and in the glorious resurrection of the saints. Thus, man must be considered as a whole, not parts.

The Psalmist asked, “What is man that You take thought of him...” (Ps. 8:4 NASB UPDATE). The following seven descriptions of man offer endless study on the subject. (1) As created, man is God’s masterpiece (Ps. 139). God made man in His image and after His likeness with distinction between them. Although depraved man fails to honor God because of his ungodliness, he retains the image. God’s creation of man was unique. His creation is distinguished from all of God’s other creative acts. (2) As a sinner, man is the devil’s puppet (Eph. 2:1-3). (3) As regenerated or saved, man is a trophy of God’s grace. (4) As a saint, man is Christ’s reproduction. As a result of growth and development, regenerated man manifests saintly characteristics (Gal.2:20). (5) As a temple, saints are God’s dwelling place on earth (I Cor. 6:19, 20). Since the Spirit indwells the temple, Christians are admonished to glorify God in their bodies and to present them as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). (6) As a servant, man is God’s channel of blessing to others (John 7:37-39). When the Lord called Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans, He told him he would be a channel of blessing. (7) As glorified, man will be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son (Rom. 8:29). They shall be like the Lord Jesus Christ (I John 3:2). Christians should desire to know all that is revealed in the Holy Scripture about the origin of man. They do not want to go beyond that which is written, use their imaginations, form their own ideas, and then seek to conform the Scriptures to their preconceived ideas. Christianity does not give one the authority to say that error is right. Desire for the knowledge of truth eliminates sentimentality.

The apostle Paul addressed the Athenians, acclaiming that God is the Originator of human life (Acts 17:22-28). The Athenians spent their time learning some new thing. They were too superstitious (religious). One can be religious and do as he pleases, but a Christian desires to do as God pleases.

The religious Athenians had an altar with the inscription, “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” (Acts 17:23 NASB UPDATE). Paul began his message to them by exalting the eminence of God, showing that God is active in human affairs. He is active in providence. He enables man to draw his every breath. Paul proceeded to exalt the transcendence of God (v. 24), declaring that He gives and sustains life. No man can lengthen his life one second. He then reverted to the eminence of God, proclaiming that on earth man lives, moves, and has his being in God. Man is God’s offspring (v. 28). God’s creative ability is not something in the distant past. He originates human life. He is Creator. The apostle again reminded the Athenians of the transcendence of God (v. 29). Since man is the offspring of God, he must not liken the Godhead to gold, silver, or stone. God overlooked this in the past, but He now commands all men everywhere to repent because God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world (vv. 29-31).

Man was created a whole being, and his every act is that of the whole man. Some erroneously teach that man has two parts. They say that his lower part sins, but his higher part does not. That teaching leads to antinomianism. The whole man sins. Both soul and body have been purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ, although the body has not yet been redeemed. After the first chapter of Genesis, Scripture nowhere speaks of the origin of the soul alone, but it emphasizes the origin of man.

The soul of Jesus Christ was made an offering for sin (Is. 53:10, 11), and His body was crucified. He was subjected to intense pain, and He died in the flesh. God did not die, but His human nature, which He assumed in His incarnation, did. He died in the body and had power to resurrect His own body.

The Lord Jesus died for the whole man, not his soul only. “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (I Cor. 15:19 NASB UPDATE). Those who have been saved by the grace of God are redeemed but not wholly. Redemption of man will not be completed until the redemption of his body. Glorification of the body awaits the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord told His disciples, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28 NASB UPDATE). Their souls were already redeemed; therefore, He referred to the redemption of their bodies. The apostle Paul told the Roman saints: “...now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11 NASB UPDATE). How could their salvation be nearer than when they believed? He spoke of salvation of the body, not the soul.

Christianity deals with the relation of the whole man to God. There is no localized, religious part of man. Distinctions are made between heart, flesh, and spirit; but Christianity is not specifically related to one part of man as such. The Lord Jesus said that evil proceeds from within a man and defiles the whole man (Mark 7:21-23). Thoughts which proceed from his heart become the center of his life.

As a man thinks within himself, so he is (Prov. 23:7). Ability to think is man’s greatest possession. The animal kingdom does not possess that quality. Thinking is comparing, combining, and arranging the actual contents of one’s mind. His heart-thought or purpose is the true man. He is not the man his mouth often declares him to be: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives. Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established” (Prov. 16:2, 3 NASB UPDATE). Depraved man does that which is right in his own eyes; thus, he becomes a law unto himself. God perfectly knows man; furthermore, He knows his thoughts from afar (Ps. 139:2). Nothing takes the infinite God by surprise. He knows what every person thinks now and what he will think forever.

Man cannot know a person by listening to his words or observing some of his actions. A person’s whole course of life, its pattern, and disposition reveal himself. Close friendship enables one to learn another’s thoughts. A man’s many statements and actions may be compiled and examined in the light of the word of God to determine his real self. He who unveils himself to his friend and is found wanting will become his bitter enemy. The claims of God reach beyond right action and demand right thoughts. The law searches the secret intents of the heart.

Redemption provided by Jesus Christ includes in its scheme the sanctification of redeemed man’s thoughts. His thoughts are brought into obedience to the mind of the Lord (II Cor. 10:1-5). Spiritual weapons bring every thought into captivity to obey Christ. All thoughts of man outside of Jesus Christ are evil (Gen. 6:5). Regenerated man does have evil thoughts to creep in, but they come from without. The intent of redeemed man’s heart is to express appreciation to God.

A dualistic concept of man, with one part closer to God than the other, leads to serious error. One must not view man’s body as less valuable. Therefore, no Christian can do as he pleases with his own body. He has been purchased with a price; consequently, he must do that which pleases the Lord. His body belongs to the Lord and must be used to glorify Him. Thoughts, as well as bodies, ought to he kept clean.

Paul’s thoughts expressed in Philippians 1:21-30 were far removed from gnostic dualism which teaches that the soul is imprisoned in the body and desires escape. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Phil. 1:21-30 NASB UPDATE). The believer’s hope is deliverance “of” his body, not deliverance “from” it.

God’s creative work is not merely something in the distant past; it continues. After the original creative act of God (Gen. 1), Job said, “Your hands fashioned and made me altogether...” (Job 10:8 NASB UPDATE); “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4 NASB UPDATE). Isaiah acclaimed God as the Creator of Israel: “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King” (Is. 43:15 NASB UPDATE). God is the Author of life: “This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD” (Ps. 102:18 NASB UPDATE). Observe the words, “people yet to be created.” The eminent God is the transcendent God.