Viewpoint Brief Bible Study #22 |
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JESUS calls US to be |
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The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide. |
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"And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them" (Genesis 1:26-27).
First, this is not an external image, or bodily form. God "is a Spirit," and does not have a corporal form. The Father is described as "Him that is invisible" (Heb.11:27). The term "invisible" is frequently ascribed to God (Col.1:15; 1 Tim.1:17). He is transcendent to the natural order. References to the "eyes of the Lord," the "hand of the Lord," His "feet," and His "face" are accommodations to our frailties. They convey the thought of the Lord beholding, working, going, and having favor toward His offspring. God is "not a man," as is affirmed in Numbers 23:19.This being the case, the divine imagery is not found in man's appearance. It goes deeper than that. It is a MORAL image or likeness. Man is like a shadow of God: a personality in which divine qualities, though corrupted by sin, are found. The ability to choose, purpose, deliberate, and create are reflective of God Himself.
We must be alert to any religious emphasis that minimizes these aspects of humanity. A religion, for example, which depends upon God overriding our choice is not valid.
Without elaborating on this point, there are a phenomenal number of religious approaches that depend upon people emptying their minds, or operating in a spiritual realm that cannot be discerned: a kind of intellectual vacuum. Such dogmas are out of sync with the purpose of God and the nature of man, and are thus to be rejected.
Nowhere in all of Scripture did God promise a Savior who would bring people into a state of unconsciousness, uninvolvement, and sterile minds. Such views have been spawned by Eastern mysticism, and must be forthrightly rejected by those who are in Christ. They are contaminated and contaminating!
Man's In Tune With God
In God's kingdom, the reason for likeness is fellowship. Mankind has affinity with God! That is more than the ability to fellowship with God, it is a tendency, or propensity, in that direction.
Some theologians have correctly said there is a void in man that only God can fill. This is the affinity of which I speak, and it is marvelous. Men, all men, have the capacity to become one with God. It is true that this cannot be accomplished independently of divine influence. But, this does not diminish the power of this truth.
Salvation is the reclamation of the whole person for fellowship with God.
We have been "called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). That fellowship is possible because of the affinity we have with Deity.
Men Resemble God
It is obvious that the brute creation does not have this resemblance: the capacity to think and purpose with objectivity. At the root of resemblance is the fact of man's personality. Light, air, land, sea, sun, moon, stars were all things. Plants, fishes, fowls, and animals were living things. Man was a "person." Persons are capable of moral purity, spiritual power, and divine Communication. Duly considered, this will challenge the individual to seek spiritual excellence.
Men "Represent" God
Man was made to have "dominion" over the works of God's hands. This required that he represent God; not merely as a hired slave, but as someone knowing the objectives of God. A representative by choice!
Originally, Adam was the visible embodiment of divine qualities -- a spectacle to angels. In Christ, the image was restored and enhanced after it was lost in fallen man. In this world, humanity is the highest representation of God, and in the world to come, it will be accentuated. We are appropriately called "stewards of God" and stewards of the "manifold grace of God" (1 Cor.4:1; 1 Pet.4:10).
In joyful expectation of glory, Given O. Blakely
Date sent: Sun, 26 Oct 97 20:27:24 UT
From: "Douglas Willis" <CEFoundation@classic.msn.com>
To: "Downen Ray OCS" <outreach@sofnet.com>Subject: gods
What do brethren out there think of Christ's use of the Scripture that states "You are gods" - see John 10:34 and Psalm 82:6? Prompted by reading Given's devotional In The Image of God.
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? (Psalm 82:6) If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came -- and the Scripture cannot be broken -- what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? ... "
In Psalm 82, the psalmist Asaph apparently is referring to Jewish men as "gods." Doug wonders if this allusion, referred to as inspired by the Lord of All, would give us reason to think of God's people today also as gods. There is a sect claiming to be Christian which does teach that certain men can become gods in a future day. What are we to think? Are we made in the image of God, or do we become gods, exactly like God, in a future time? Stay tuned.
A Response On 10/29/97 -- Date sent: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 20:14:22
To: outreach@sofnet.com
From: Russell Duncan Jr <rduncan@esu3.esu3.k12.ne.us>Subject: Re: Are we gods? Ray: Only if we are Roman emperors on the verge of death >g< (e.g. Vespasian)
A study of the context of the psalm Jesus was quoting is helpful. Keep in mind that his listeners knew the "Old Testament" by heart [his accusers were Jewish scholars] and any allusion made to a verse would prompt the entire text. The psalm has a very sarcastic tone about it which seems to have prompted Jesus to use the quotation. -- Rus
Brief Bible Study #22 from Ray Downen. To go back to
Viewpoint's first page, click < here. Or here to go on to Viewpoint Study 23. For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.
