What is the doctrine of man?

Well, it apparently depends on who you ask.

Anthropologists have been studying and exploring the essence of mankind for as long as mankind has been around so there is obviously neither time nor room in this short treatment to cover such a broad topic comprehensively. So… what is man? What makes him tick? Is he merely another animal or is there something that uniquely sets him apart from the rest of the animal kingdom?

The term anthropology simply means ‘the study of, or the philosophy of human nature and mankind’. But this begs a specific question. If man has always been studying man; who gets to decide what mankind is all about? What or who becomes the standard?

In other words, which group or groups gets to decide what mankind is truly all about? Or perhaps more particular, which singular man has the final word on what the essence of mankind is all about?

In the 5th Century BC, the Greek Sophist Protagoras made the statement, “Man is the measure of all things.” Again, if man is the measure of all things; which man is the measure of all things? This can all become very confusing very quickly.

There are two basic competing philosophies of man in religious circles. They are quite simple yet set in diametrical opposition to one another.

1. Man is made in the image of God and therefore, essentially good.

2. Man is made in the image of God, but because of the fall, man is essentially wicked. This image of man is a shattered one to be sure.

Logic demands that one (or both) of these propositions is false, but they cannot both be true at the same time!

Scripture tells us that, “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 5:2) Someone once quipped, “Yes, and man has forever been returning the favor.” The tendency of man is to create God in his own image.

But if God is the creator that the Scripture says He is, then we must turn to God to find out who or what man is.

God has communicated some of His attributes to man. Man is a rational and thinking being. He can know, love, extend and receive things like mercy and seek justice. He is a soulish creature capable of feeling and expressing emotions. Man is able to relate to others as well as the entire created order around him. God possesses these attributes as well, but in complete and unchangeable perfection.

But man is, and forever will be, a creature. God has not and could not communicate to any creature the attributes of eternality, independence, immutability, and omnipresence. Even God cannot logically communicate these attributes to another creature; for to do so would be to create another God.

And even God cannot create Himself. All things, besides God are created things. Man is like God, but changeably so. Man can never outgrow his creatureliness. He is like God, but always on a creaturely scale.

We have seen that some of God's attributes are incommunicable.

Man can never in any sense outgrow his creaturehood. He is like God, to be sure, but always on a creaturely scale.

In Psalm 8 we see David inquiring of the Lord.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.” – Psalm 8:3-6

According to scripture, man seems to be a lower order than the angelic beings in some way. But it is this same angelic order that serves as agents to minister to man. Angels are ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are to inherit salvation. (Hebrews 1:14)

And it is this same higher order of beings that longs to look into that which the prophets spoke of concerning the Gospel of God and the redemption of man, something that fallen angels have never been the recipients of. (1 Peter 1:12)

The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that the world was created for man - and for this man to know God, love God, glorify God and enjoy God forever… and to do so as a prophet, priest, and king. As a prophet man was given to interpret the created world around him, as a priest he was to offer and dedicate this world to God, and as a king he was to rule over it for God as vice-regents.

But something happened. Sin entered the world through one man and broke the communion that God had established with man for man. But thanks be to God that in His eternal omniscience, grace, and mercy, God had prepared a human body for His own Son that would redeem and restore this broken communion, the man Jesus.

Jesus, the eternal Son of God humbled Himself and became a human being.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” – Philippians 2:6-11

This is the restoration of man back to Himself as a gift from God. May we never forget that our identity and personhood are FROM God the Father, and IN God the Son, BY God the Spirit.