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THE NATURE OF MAN # (1-7
ON THIS PAGE
#1 WHICH VIEW#2 OTHER SO CALLED AUTHORITIES
#3 MAN'S BODY
#4 MAN'S SOUL
#5 MAN'S SPIRIT
#6 DEATH
#7 JESUS' NATURE
#1 WHICH VIEW
Man has a human nature. What is human nature? Now this will not sound terribly profound, but then again we don't claim to be an Ivey League University. "Human nature is" [are you ready for this?], "the nature to be human." [No, there are no tuitional refunds available -smile-]. Though this sounds simple [it is], it is also important for a clear understanding of man, sin and salvation. What do we mean by "the nature to be human?" According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary "nature" means
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1: NATURE...the inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing : ESSENCE...
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In order to understand what human nature is, we must know what is the "inherent character or basic constitution" of a human being.
There are books filled with information on the human nature. There are libraries filled with these books and now the internet is replete with this information [or mis-information]. For our purpose we need only go to the Bible and we will have a much firmer foundation than all of the Freudians, Rogerians, Glasserians, Skinnerians, Mowrerians, Jungians [not to be confused with young-uns, who have a better grasp of reality], and all the other "psycho-gurus" on the market today.
This "rogues gallery" has done more harm to modern society than can be measured. Their weapons of destruction are not knives, hatchets or saws, but specially designed,
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(1) "Psychology" [the "science" of mind and behavior] and
(2) "Psychiatry" [the use of medicine in treating the mind and behavior].
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Pshychology and psychiatry can be legitimate disciplines and tools. But they become modern day voodoo when they are interpreted from a pagan point of view rather than a Biblical point of view. Man's attempt at saving himself is the "blind leading the blind" and using humanistic tools is the same as throwing an anchor to a drowning man. I am not saying that the aforementioned list of mind doctors are always wrong...always is a very wide scope. But in order for them to be right, they must be aligned with what God says, because God is never wrong.
The problem with these "authorities" is that they start with a false premise and offer an empty promise. They start with a false view of man, his origin and his nature. If they start with a wrong view of man's inherent character and basic constitution, how can they arrive at a correct understanding of his present condition? THEY CAN NOT. They begin with a humanistic view of man, his origin and his nature. If you start in the wrong direction, you are going to end up in the wrong place. They start in the wrong direction. This is why they offer an empty promise. They cannot solve man's present condition and they cannot offer man hope for his eternal soul. The ultimate end of starting in the wrong direction is not just man's present condition, but his eternal destiny. I say, "Believe a lie, and you will live a lie, live a lie and you will die a lie, die a lie and you will go to hell." At least if the lie leads to sin, for the wages of sin is death. The problem with these "authorities" is that they do not accept God's word as the FINAL AUTHORITY, but rather they speculate. God's word does not speculate, but it does clearly state, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Ge.1:27).
God's view of man's origin is much higher than man's humanistic view of his own origin. God says man was created in beauty, wisdom, power and dignity and destined for greatness. Humanism says man evolved from the lower levels and has developed into the highest level of intelligent life known to man. God not only knows where we came from, He knows where we are and where we are headed. He knows how we got to where we are and He knows how to get us to where we should be. That is why we need to see man's nature from God's point of view.
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#2 OTHER SO CALLED AUTHORITIES
Aside from the Bible record there are many different explanations for the origin of man. These other beliefs are based on false religions and bad science. These false teachings lead to faulty reasoning. We need to realize that there is a reason for the divergent positions on the origin of man. It is not because the un-Biblical positions are more tenable or more intellectually friendly. But rather, these positions support beliefs which excuse the sinful nature and behavior of man. This therefore gives people the false hope of not having to answer for their disobedience to God.When it comes to which false teaching you accept concerning man's origin, "Pays yer kwahter and takes yer chances" as the "Barker" screams on the carnival Midway. One lie is just as good as another. Whether you go with the Hindu's transmigration of the soul or Darwin's Origin of the Species you will end up in the same place.
In Hinduism, man can save himself from whatever problems he has gotten into. In evolution, man does not need to be saved because he is lifting himself by his bootstraps. If God did not create us and place us as the masters of this world, and if we are the result of our own development, then we will not be called before the judgment bar of God for our sins. If these other systems are right, then the human race has improved it's status and should be rewarded for it's accomplishments. This is satan's purpose in teaching these lies. It removes God from man's origin and man's destiny.
For instance, in the so-called academic world, people speak of the "Plant Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom" as if they came about by natural selection. But from the Christian and Biblical perspective we must think in terms of the "Plant Kingdom, the Animal Kingdom and the Human Race." This may seem unscientific to some people, but the two-fold division is humanistic and arbitrary. Christians should stop thinking of man as being at the top of the "food chain" and realize that man is in a totally different category from the animals. The Church should have never allowed the pseudo-intellectuals to muscle or maneuver Her into such an un-Biblical and Anti-Christ position.
Society is always crying out for an answer to the problem of man's inhumanity to man. Society wonders why man is the way he is and how we can change man from the negative image that he has. BUT they never consider the answers which are offered by the Bible. However, the only correct view of man's problem and man's hope is in the Bible.
It would help us to realize that there are only two sides to the human story; God's side and satan's side. Every concept and action either comes from God or comes from satan. If it is contrary to what God says and does, it is from satan. Whether it is educational, political, medical, religious or otherwise, if it is not in agreement with God it is from satan.
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#3 MAN'S BODY
What is the Bible's revelation concerning the nature of man?
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"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Ge.2:7).
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Obviously the Scriptures say more than this, but this is foundational. Remember, the Bible tells us where man came from, how he got to be where he is, and how to get to where he should be, both now and forever.
Man is a complex creature. He is BODY, SOUL and SPIRIT. In order to understand and help man, he must be seen in his totality. Let's look at these three different facets of man's being.
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"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground..."
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Man is BODY*
"God formed man from the dust of the earth..." In the origin of man there are two Hebrew words used which are translated as, (1)"create" and (2)"make." Create means, "to bring something from nothing"; Make or Form means, "to bring something from something."
"God formed man from the dust of the ground...", this is the physical part of man we refer to as the BODY. God took "something", the dust of the ground and made something else, the human body.
Scientist concur with the Bible; the physical part of man is made of elements from nature found in the ground. As a matter of fact, so are the animals and plants. However, this does not mean that man is just a glorified geranium or an academically advanced ape. Of course we are all "made" of the same "mud", because we all come from the same planet. But humans are not just a higher form of life, we are not just a breed apart, we are not just a more evolved species, we are a totally separate creation. As the Psalmist said,
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"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Ps.139:14).
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The differences in the animals and the human is not just in degree but in essence. Man is not just the sum total of his physical parts, nor is he defined by his social relationships, he is the special creation who was created in the image of God to be the temple of the living God. But man is a psycho-physical totality.
The body is the outward expression of the inner man. Since man was made in the image of God, we can learn something about man by knowing something about God. Though God is Spirit, the Scripture tells us that God sees, God hears, God can smell odors, God speaks, God touches and feels. God communicated these abilities to man both in his spirit and in his body.
The five characteristics of the body are the five senses; seeing, hearing, speaking, smelling and touching. John Bunyan called these five senses the five gates of Mansoul, in his allegory, "The Holy War." It is through these five senses that Mansoul allows Diablo [satan] to invade his inner self. This is why God calls believers to present their "bodies" as living sacrifices to God.
The Bible tells us we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. There are sins of the inner man [we will look at that later], but there are sins of the body. Adam and Eve were tempted through their senses;
1) Eve listened to the lies of satan...
2) Eve spoke with satan...
3) Eve saw the fruit was good for food...
4) Eve saw that the fruit was a delight to the eyes...
5) Eve took the fruit with her hands...
6) Eve ate the fruit (Ge.3:1-7).
When our body is the instrument of sin, our inner man is the slave of sin. There are many passages which forbid the use of our tongues, lips, voices, hands, eyes, ears and other body parts in sinful behavior. Some would have us believe that we are not accountable for what we do in our bodies. The Bible knows of no such doctrine.
Not only are we to NOT allow our body members to be used for unrighteousness, we are to render our body members to be used for righteousness, which results in eternal life.
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Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Romans 6:12,13,16
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#4 MAN'S SOUL
Our first consideration in the nature of man was his physical self. The other two parts of man's nature are so closely aligned that some people just use the names for them interchangeably. Actually, man is so integrated that it takes God to separate the soul and spirit (He.4:12). However, we are not trying to separate the soul and spirit, we are just trying to distinguish between them.
The basic approach I use in differentiating the three parts of human nature is to say,
1) The body is the physical consciousness of man;
2) the soul is the self consciousness of man; and
3) the spirit is the God consciousness part of man."
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The integration of body and spirit produces the soul. In this order we have the physical, the spiritual, and then the soulish.
Sometimes the soulish part of man is referred to as his "mind" or his "heart." The soul is the self consciousness of man. The components of the soul are;
1) Reason (Ecc.7:25;Lk.5:22),
2) Desire (Ps.37:4;Ro.10:1),
3) Emotion (Ecc.8:5;Jn.16:22),
4) Will (Ps.27:8;ICo.7:37), and
5) Conscience(He.10:22).
There are many more verses which associate each of these components with the soul or heart. Man is a complex being and one part alone does not constitute a man. God created us as psycho-physical totalities. The brain is physical, but the mind being immaterial, is the souls counterpart. A man is more than a material mass of meat which is maneuvered and manipulated by conditioned reflex. Just as man has certain physical characteristics which set him apart from the beasts, man also has immaterial characteristics which set him apart from the beasts. Man has a mind. Man has a soul. Man has a self consciousness. Man has a self determination.
Until Adam chose to sin, he was in proper correspondence with his environment, himself and his God. When he sinned, he lost proper correspondence with those three areas. Physical death entered into the human equation when Adam sinned. Sickness, decay and corruption put man out of proper correspondence with the physical world. Because of sin, man seeks the things which are destructive to his physical life. Sin also put man out of proper correspondence with himself. Sin has effected man's reason, desires, emotions, will and conscience. He doesn't think clearly, doesn't want the right things, has emotional problems, is weak willed when it comes to the right and strong willed when it comes to the wrong, and sometimes his conscience not only fails him, it misleads him.
God still reaches out to man in spite of man's corruption. The conscience is the channel through which God speaks to man (Ro.9:1). God enables man to reason together with Him concerning the destructive futility of sin and the fulfilling life of repentance (Is.1:18). God will change our desires so that we want what He wants and we despise what He hates (Ps.40:8). God will use our emotions to appeal to our fear, love, joy and peace, but He will deliver us from the power of controlling feelings (Ju.23). He will give us the will to do His will if we are willing (Jn.7:17).
God made us as body, soul and spirit and we have fallen in body soul and spirit. And God desires to save us completely, body, soul and spirit (ITh.5:23).
Is Jesus Lord of your reason, desire, emotion, will and conscience?
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#5 MAN'S SPIRIT
Tue Aug 21, 2001 3:51 pm
Man is a psycho-physical totality. Man is material and spiritual. The physical part of man is easy to accept and understand. The soul or mind is also easy to discern because we all have the characteristics of reason, will, desire, emotion and conscience. However, the third component of man's nature, the spirit, is more difficult to "get-a-hold-of." Adam was created with the capacity to know God. He was created with the capacity to live in God and for God to live in him. God, Who is Spirit, created man in His Own image and therefore man HAS and IS a spiritual creature. Just as we can have awareness of the world around us [Body] and have awareness of ourselves [Soul] so we can have awareness of God [Spirit].
Remember, "...God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life..." The Hebrew word here can mean "wind, breath and spirit." The Greek language also translates a Greek word as "breath, wind or spirit." The Breath or Spirit of God entered Adam. God, through His Spirit, imparted a spirit to Adam. The nature of God is spiritual. Man, being created in the image of God, is also spiritual. The joining of the spirit and the body together brought into existence man, who has physical, self and God consciousness.
Man is in a very special category. He is not just an exalted animal. He is not even an angel. Man is the very breath of God. Man was designed to live in God and for God to live in him. Though man is not divine [by definition, only God is divine], man has the greatest capacity to know God of any creature in the universe. I say this because of man's origin [the breath of God], and also because of man's salvation. God's Son died for mankind. He only died once, He did not die for the angels, or any other creature in the heavens, on the earth or under the earth, but for man. Jesus did not take on the likeness of angels, or any other creature, but that of man. Man, though separated from God by sin, can be renewed in his relationship with God by becoming a partaker of divine nature (2Pe.1:4).
Remember, sin brought DEATH. Death to man's body, soul and spirit. Death is not annihilation or ceasing to exist, it is being out of proper correspondence with our environment. [More on this in another lesson]. The spirit is dead, or, out of proper correspondence with God because of sin. Salvation not only gives us forgiveness, and cleansing, it gives us newness of life. Eternal life is one term we use to describe it. Eternal has to do with both quantity [forever] and quality [God like]. Everlasting life is life without end, eternal life is the life of God in us, without end. When Adam sinned against God, he separated the human family from God, he broke spiritual correspondence. But God has been seeking to renew His relationship with us and to regenerate our spirits.
Speaking of our spirits, the Bible says that we are dead in sins and trespasses, but God makes us alive; "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Ro.6:11), "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1Co.15:22), "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Ep.2:1). God restores us to spiritual life.
Just as the body needs food, water, air and some other elements and just as the soul has needs; companionship, stimulation, acceptance, encouragement etc., so the spirit has needs. The food, water and air of the spirit is prayer, study, meditation, fellowship and obedience. Without the proper spiritual atmosphere, there is no life in the spirit. God wants to meet every need of our lives; body, soul and spirit. His salvation reaches all areas. We must nurture these areas.
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#6 DEATH
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2001 3:53 pm
Man was created to never die. Death is the result of disobedience to God. Adam was the first of our race and on him rested the responsibility to make the right decisions and take the right path. The period of time Adam was being tested is called, "probation." We often associate probation with the act of suspending a legal sentence on a criminal offender. Though that is one application of the word, it's primary definition has to do with examination, evaluation and subjection of an individual to a time of testing to determine the subjects fitness for a position. People are put on academic probation or vocational probation to prove their fitness for school or work. Adam was on probation to prove his fitness for his position. Adam failed and as a result all of his descendents are now on probation. We must each be tested to prove our fitness for eternity with God. This does not mean "a works salvation." We are made fit or acceptable to God and for eternity by faith in Jesus Christ, not by our own works of righteousness. The cost of Adam's failure to pass his probation was DEATH. Death is not to be confused with annihilation. Whereas ANNIHILATION means to pass from something to nothing, DEATH means to pass from one state of being to another state of being. Since LIFE is found in God, DEATH is being separate from God. Eternal death is eternal separation from God.
1. When Adam sinned against God, he brought death into the human equation. God said that Adam would die if he ate of the Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam ate and it would appear that he did not die. BUT HE DID. Death entered the human body immediately and eventually claimed it's prize. Man went from immortality to a life span of less than 1000 years. One thousand years seems like a long time, but compared to FOREVER, it isn't even the blink of an eye. Man's life span continued to decrease to just over 100 years and then to 70 years. Throughout history, life expectancy has varied, depending on environment, diet an other factors, but 70 years seems to be the normal life span in Scripture.
2. Man also died in his soul. Man was made and created with the ability to;
A) REASON logically,
B) DESIRE things that are beneficial,
C) have positive and healthy EMOTIONS [love, joy, peace],
D) make correct choices with our WILL and
E) be sensitive to the dealings of God in our CONSCIENCE.
All of these areas of human personality have been corrupted and separated from God. Man is out of touch with himself and that is why people are trying to find themselves. This is why people will do drugs, abuse their bodies, have nervous breakdowns, poor self images and all of the other self destructive activities and tendencies.
Since man is an integrated being [a psycho-physical-totality] the physical and the soulish [as well as the spiritual] effect each other. Therefore there are physical ailments that come about because of problems in the "psyche" and there are problems in the soul [reason, desires, emotions, will and conscience] which stem from physical problems.
3. Man died in his spirit. Sin separates from God. The very part of man that would have the closest relationship with God was separated because of sin. Not just Adam's sin, but our own sin. Not just sins we committed early in our lives, but all sin at all times separates from God. Just as sin separated Adam from God, sins which we commit will separate us from God. Salvation is salvation from sin, not from sins's penalty if we continue in sin.
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#7 JESUS' NATURE
Tue Aug 21, 2001
The Nature of man includes but is not limited to the Human Nature. The Human Nature is the nature to be human.
Adam was created with human nature; body, soul and spirit. When Adam sinned against God, he brought death to not only himself, but to all of the human race. When Adam sinned, he not only brought death to the human race, he weakened the nature that God had given him and opened the door for sinful nature to enter man's life and being. Adam was not created with sinful nature, but rather human nature. Adam weakened his human nature, the body became sick, weak, tired, old and died; in the soul the conscience was seared, the mind twisted, the emotions unstable, the will weak and the desires mis-directed; the spirit became satisfied to be out of fellowship with God. In his disobedience, Adam brought the sinful nature into his existence. Sinful nature is the nature to sin. Whereas the human nature was corrupted and became subject to sin, the sinful nature is the natural tendency to sin. Human nature was given by God, but sinful nature was acquired through rebellion. Human nature is a natural part of man, sinful nature is a propensity which was added to the nature of man. Adam was created in the image of God but when Seth was born to Adam and Eve he was born in the image of his father Adam. There was a change that took place between the time of Adam's creation, in the image of God and Seth's birth, in the image of Adam. The change was the introduction of the sinful nature. Sinful nature was then passed from Adam to his descendants. All of Adam's children have inherited his likeness. We have all inherited human nature and sinful nature. Our nature to sin did not come from God but from our father Adam. The nature to sin is passed to all of Adam's children through the male side of the race.
When Jesus was born, He was born with a human nature, the nature to be human. He was not born with a sinful nature, the nature to sin. He received His human nature from His mother, but since the sinful nature is passed from the father to the child, He did not receive a sinful nature. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. This is the reason for the virgin birth. It is not just the story of a miraculous birth, it is the foundation of a God/Man, The Seed, The Man Child who would come into the world and be the perfect sacrifice. Remember, Eve was promised a man/child and looked for Him. She may not have understood that He would be born only of a woman and not of a man and woman. God made it clearer when Isaiah prophesied that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. Jesus was born and lived with all of the traits of human nature fully operable in His life, yet he lived without sin. Being born with human nature did not mean being born with a sinful nature. The sacrifice for sin would have to be a human being, a perfect human being, a perfect human being with no sin. Jesus was that man. Jesus was born as a perfect human being, but He was born with no sinful nature and He never committed sin. Human nature is not the same as sinful nature.
With a human mother and a Divine Father, He was the perfect sacrifice. He was not half human and half divine. He was 100% human and 100% Divine. His humanity was as complete as any man. His humanity never interfered with His Deity and His Deity never interfered with His humanity. The two natures in Jesus were not in conflict. The human nature, created by God, was created to be in communion with God and to be one with God. The human nature of Jesus was tempted with sin and yet He never yielded to sin. He overcame all temptation but He never overcame it by His Divine nature. His Divine nature could not be tempted by evil, since God cannot be tempted with evil. His resistance of temptation was no more than that which could be exercised by any man who would look to God the Father and trust Him.
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