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THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY. CREATION. In Genesis 1:1, “Elohim” created This is the name of transcendence Creation is viewed in summary fashion in chapter one Thus, creation is seen as a sovereign act of power and wisdom. CREATION. In Genesis 2:7, “Yahweh Elohim” created

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THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

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  1. THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

  2. CREATION • In Genesis 1:1, “Elohim” created • This is the name of transcendence • Creation is viewed in summary fashion in chapter one • Thus, creation is seen as a sovereign act of power and wisdom Theological Anthropology

  3. CREATION • In Genesis 2:7, “Yahweh Elohim” created • This is the name of the covenant Lord • The historical context: the covenant name was used to signify the relationship between God and man • The covenant name implies intimacy of relationship • The condition of the covenant was linked with the name Yahweh, vs. 17 Theological Anthropology

  4. THE WORDS FOR CREATE • “Formed,”rc,yYIwimplies skill and sovereignty • It is used of a craftsman in relation to his materials (impersonal) • May refer to carving, casting, chiseling, or fashioning in clay, focus on design and care, NIDOTTHE, 1:504 • “Breathed”xP;YIw is to exhale or blow • In the context, it is personal, face to face intimacy as in a kiss • This notion of intimacy is determined by the context; it is not intrinsic to the verb Theological Anthropology

  5. WHY WAS “MAN” CREATED? Heidelberg Catechism# 6. Q. Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse? A. No, on the contrary, God created man good and in His image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God His Creator,[1] heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify Him.[2] [1] Proximate End [2] Ultimate End Theological Anthropology

  6. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF MAN’S ORIGIN • The Divine Counsel • The Heavenly Exemplar • The “Vice-Gerency” • The Affinity • With animate creation • With inanimate creation • With God, by the act of inbreathing Theological Anthropology

  7. ANTIQUITY OF HUMAN RACE • It is impossible to establish chronology based on the genealogies of Scripture, cf. Matt. 1:7 with I Chron. 3:10,11 • This is not primarily a theological question, but a scientific or historical one • Any view which accounts for the data of Scripture may be deemed orthodox Theological Anthropology

  8. ANTIQUITY OF THE HUMAN RACE • We must maintain the direct creation of humankind by God, Gen. 2:7 • We must maintain the unity of the race descending from Adam/Eve, Rom. 5:12-17 • We must maintain the original integrity and high state of human development, along with a subsequent fall and degradation Theological Anthropology

  9. Fallen “man” still is God’s image Gen 9:6 speaks of “man”as “in the image of God” James 3:9 describes “man” as “after the likeness (‘omoiwsin) of God” I Cor. 11:7 says “man” is the “image and glory of God” The divine image has been “lost” and must be restored Eph. 2:3 speaks of the unregenerate as the “children of wrath” Eph. 4:17,18 speaks of Gentiles who are “darkened in their understanding” Rom. 1:21 indicts those who transform the living God into the “image of corruptible man” THE IMAGE OF GOD Theological Anthropology

  10. THE IMAGE OF GOD • There is a restoration of the image in Christ: • Eph. 4:24 says the new man is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” • Col. 3:10 says put on the new man “which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” • Rom. 8:29 says all believers are predestined to be “conformed to the likeness of his Son” Theological Anthropology

  11. “MAN” AS MALE/FEMALE • Male and Female are the image of God • Thus, no absolute distinction in regards to male and female • ‘adam, ~d'a'h'-ta, is translated “man” in Gen. 1:27 Theological Anthropology

  12. The body is created first, Gen. 2:7 The body is intrinsically good Contrary to Platonism and Manichaeism After all, sin began in the spirit Mortality is not a natural characteristic of “man” Body and Spirit are not antithetical, cf. I John 4:2,3 The body is involved in the corruption of the whole “man” The body is an instrument unto sin, Rom. 6:6 The death of the body involves the dissolution of the person re the body Resurrection involves the replacement of death-processes with processes that are life-giving, I Cor. 15:35 “MAN” IS BODY Theological Anthropology

  13. “MAN” IS MORE THAN BODY • The body is not to be confused with the spiritual aspect of “man” • Paul speaks of being present with the Lord apart from the body, II Cor. 5:8 (“the intermediate state”) • “Souls” will be reunited with bodies, I Thess. 4:14, at the second advent Theological Anthropology

  14. “MAN” IS SPIRIT/SOUL • Nephesh, vp,n, basically “a living person, living creature” • Psyche, yuch, “soul, life, life-principle” • Ruach, x;Wr, “spirit, breath, wind” • Pneuma, pneuma, “wind, breath, spirit” Theological Anthropology

  15. THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL • Creationism (Ps. 139:13; Isa. 42:5) • What about Eve? • Traducianism (Gen. 1:24-27; Heb. 7:10) • What about Jesus? • Preexistence of Souls? • What about cloning? Theological Anthropology

  16. A Wesleyan speaks: “Human choosing is governed by its Orderer as having rational freedom, ‘not as stock or stone.’ Providence acts not only through natural causality but amid a freewheeling, proximately indeterminate history, hedging and persuading and constraining human folly.” T. Oden, Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity, 114. A Calvinist speaks: “That Calvin regards everything that occurs as embraced in the eternal decree of God lies on the face of his teaching at every point . . . . While repudiating the Stoic doctrine of necessity, . . . He is insistent that God is the arbiter and governor of all things.” J. Murray, Collected Writings, 4,192. FREEDOM OF THE WILL Theological Anthropology

  17. WESLEY ON FREE WILL • “Now if man be capable of choosing good or evil, then he is a proper object of the justice of God, acquitting or condemning, rewarding or punishing. But otherwise he is not. A mere machine is not capable of being either acquitted or condemned.” Wesley, Works, X.233-4 Theological Anthropology

  18. WESLEY ON GRACE • “First, God worketh in you; therefore you can work- otherwise it would be impossible.” On Working Out Your Own Salvation, 3.3 • “Everyone has a greater or less measure of this” (i.e., “preventing grace”), Ibid., 3.4 • “. . . there is a measure of free-will supernaturally restored to every man.” Predestination Calmly Considered, sec. 45. Theological Anthropology

  19. CALVIN ON FREE WILL • “Because of the bondage of sin by which the will is held bound, it cannot move toward the good, much less apply itself thereto; for a movement of this sort is the beginning of conversion to God, which in Scripture is ascribed entirely to God’s grace.” ICR, 2.3.5 Theological Anthropology

  20. CALVIN ON GRACE • “I do not tarry over those fanatics who babble that grace is equally and indiscriminately distributed.” • The ambiguity in the second part offends me, for it has given rise to a perverted interpretation. They thought we cooperate with the assisting grace of God, because it is our right either to render it ineffectual by spurning the first grace, or to confirm it by obediently following it.” • ICR, 2.2.6 Theological Anthropology

  21. HUMAN NATURE: 4-FOLD ESTATE • Innocent: Good, but able to fall • Fallen: Bad, Not able to do good • Regenerate: Mixed, able to do good or evil • Glorified: Good, not able to do evil Theological Anthropology

  22. “No one comes to me unless the Father draws him” John 6:44 “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God” Romans 8:7 “The natural man does not receive the things of the spirit” I Corinthians 2:14 “A bad tree can’t produce good fruit.” Matthew 7:18 “An evil person produces evil words out of an evil heart” Matthew 12:33 “Whatever is in your heart determines what you say” Luke 6:45 SCRIPTURE: NATURE/FREE WILL Theological Anthropology

  23. THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

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