Wednesday, March 12,
2014, 3:53 p.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “Only In Him.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart.
The Lord Jesus led me to examine this subject a little more
closely, so I did some further research in scripture concerning in whose image
we are born. This is not an easy subject or one that all theologians agree
upon, so I will do my best, as a clay vessel in the hands of the Potter, to
share with you what I believe the word of God teaches on this subject, and how
false teaching is terribly distorting and twisting the truth of scripture to
the advantage of sinful and fallen man.
First off, in Genesis 1:27 we read: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them” (cf. Gen. 9:6).
Then, we read in Genesis 5:1-2: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God
created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and
female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were
created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father
of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.”
Ok, this is interesting. When God originally created
humankind, he created them in his own image, which, from what I can tell,
included in the likeness of his holiness, righteousness and sinlessness, among
other things related to his image (likeness; resemblance). This passage in
Genesis 5 seems to suggest that it was in the day when God originally created
man that he made man in his (their) own likeness. And, then it goes on to say
that Adam became the father of a son (Seth) in his OWN likeness, according to HIS
image, not according to the image of God, it appears.
Then, in 1 Co. 15:45-49 (ESV) we read: “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the
last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is
first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the
earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so
also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are
those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we
shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
This passage of scripture is given in the context of
teaching about the resurrection of the dead. It talks about how, when Christ
returns, that our (the saints of God) perishable bodies will be raised as
imperishable bodies. The first man, Adam, was created from the dust of the earth.
The second man, Adam (Jesus Christ), is from heaven. Our natural bodies are
conceived in sin; born of the flesh of man, and subject to the curse of the
fall of man in the Garden of Eden. “For
as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in
his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to
Christ” (vv. 21-23).
Yet, this is not merely speaking of our physical bodies, nor
does all of it apply to all of humanity. We, as humans, since Adam and Eve
sinned in the Garden, have been born into sin, i.e. we are born with sin
natures (sown in dishonor and weakness). We not only have perishable bodies,
but outside of faith in Jesus Christ, we are also dead spiritually and are
destined to perish for eternity in hell (See Is. 53:6; Jn. 8:44; Ro. 3:10, 23; 5:12-21;
6:20 & 1 Co. 15:22; 2 Co. 4:4). Unregenerate man bears (wears) the image of
Adam, not the image of God until he is reborn of the Spirit of God, and in
Christ we are made alive (See Ro 8:29; 13:14; 1 Co. 15:49; 2 Co. 3:18; Eph.
4:24; Col. 1:15; 3:10; Jas. 3:9; 2 Pet. 1:3-4).
So, what this is saying, I believe, is that we, as humans,
are not born bearing the image of God; not born participating in God’s divine
nature, but rather we are born into sin, bearing the image of Adam. Rom. 3:23
says: “…for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God…” So, what does that mean? It means we no longer
bear the image of God as we (humankind) did when mankind was first created. Man
fell, and since then all of mankind has come up short - i.e. to fall short of
the goal, defeated, failure to meet a standard; deprived – of God’s glory – his
beauty, majesty, and splendor; divine nature, character and deeds – the essence
of who he is and what he does. And, that is why Jesus Christ died on the cross
for our sins so that we could be restored to God, and so we could be renewed in
the knowledge of him and transformed into his image.
The Lie
Ok, so John Eldredge (and I am quite sure he is not the only
one) leads people astray, because what he teaches is in direct opposition to
what the word of God teaches with regard to the origins of man and the image of
God within man.
In his book “Wild at
Heart” Eldredge parallels all men, saved and unsaved, with Adam in the
Garden of Eden - created in God’s image, bearing his likeness - suggesting we
are all born into such a perfect state as Adam was created. Not only that, but
he also suggests that all of men, including Adam, long(ed) to escape Eden
(indoors) and to return to the natural state from which they were created (or
born) – see pgs. 3-4.
Adam was created in God’s image. All of mankind since Adam
have been born into sin and bear the image of Adam, and only in Christ Jesus
can we be restored to God and be “being” (a process) transformed into Christ’s
(God’s) image. So, for man to long to leave Eden and to return to their natural
state, would suggest that all Christian men long to leave their close intimate
walks with the Lord Jesus, provided by his death on the cross, and that they
long to return to their natural state of sin and separation from God.
And, then Eldredge states in his book, “Wild at Heart,” that men ask themselves these questions: “Who am
I? What am I made of? What am I destined for?” (pg. 5) “A man has to know where
he comes from and what he’s made of,” (pg. 21) he says. And, then he says, “Who
is this One we allegedly come from, whose image every man bears? What is
he like? In a man’s search for his strength, telling him that he’s made in the
image of God may not sound like a whole lot of encouragement at first” (pg.
22).
I find it interesting that he uses the term “allegedly.”
That may be very telling. Certainly we are among God’s created works, and we
(mankind) are the only ones originally created in his image; and the only of
his created works with a soul – i.e. with the ability to sin and to be saved;
to accept or to reject God. And, yet, what Eldredge fails miserably to do in
helping men discover who they are, and what they are made of, is to tell them
the truth about the fall of man, the sin nature we are born with, and the image
of (fallen) Adam that we bear. He completely leaves out the fall of man from
this parallel of man to Adam, and from his description of who man is and how he
can find who he is supposed to become. In other words, he completely leaves out
the gospel of salvation, he puts all men on the same playing level, whether
saved or unsaved, and he tries to make all men as bearing the image of God,
which he then distorts in order, I believe, to bring God down to man’s level.
And not only that, but he leads men on a ‘safari’ to
discover their own hearts, which are not all renewed in the power of the
regenerating work of the Spirit of God within them. He asks men to look within
their own hearts and to discover their own passions and desires, and to get
their own hearts back (from the natural state in which they were born) so that
they can follow the passions, desires and longings of their own hearts. He said
that men need “permission to live from the heart and not from a list of ‘should’
and ‘ought’ that has left so many of us tired and bored…” (See book introduction
& pgs. 3-4.)
What he thus suggests here is that men should follow their own
natural inclinations, i.e. their wild, untamed and undomesticated hearts, which
he states is God’s heart, too, and that they should reject the “should” and “ought”
of God’s holy word and of Christ’s commandments. And, again, he speaks to all
men, whether saved or unsaved, yet not all men have God’s heart or bear his
image. So, he can’t lead all men to be like their creator, because not all men
know God. Only in Christ Jesus, by God’s grace, through faith, can we begin to
know God and to bear his TRUE likeness.
ONLY IN HIM / An
Original Work / February 19, 2014
Based off Isaiah 30
Woe to those who look
to man’s help;
Who turn away from Jesus
Christ;
Forming an alliance
not in step with God;
Making their own
plans, and praying not.
Willing not to listen
to truth,
They close their ears
to what is right.
Pleasing words are all
that they’ll hear;
Feel good messages
that bring cheer.
Trust in your Lord;
turn from your sin.
Put your faith now ONLY
IN HIM.
Do not turn to idols.
They’ll not satisfy.
Jesus will save you.
That’s why He died.
Your Lord will be
gracious to you.
He cares all about
you, ‘tis true.
He forgives you all of
your sin
When you give your
life up to Him.
Oh, how truly gracious
He’ll be
When you bow to Him on
your knees;
Turning now from your sin;
walking in his ways.
He’ll lead and guide
you all of your days.
Now you will sing
praises to Him.
He delivered you from
your sin.
You’ll tell others now
of His grace,
So they may see Christ
face-to-face.
Additional Resources: “Insults to God” - http://originalworks.info/insults-to-god/;
“Emergency” - http://originalworks.info/emergency/;
and “In Whose Image?” (original) - http://originalworks.info/in-whose-image/
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