By Martin Morrison
Deep down, man is basically good.
Deep down, man is basically evil.
For centuries, thinkers have argued about which of these two opposing statements are true. A good case can be made for each and this is not surprising, because both are true. Mankind is a puzzle. We are capable of the most admirable thoughts and deeds, and the most barbaric evil. The ancient Greek playwright, Sophocles, is remembered by just two sayings, “Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man”, and secondly, “Not to have been born is best”.
Blaise Pascall argued that man is an oxymoron: wretched greatness, great wretchedness, rational animal, mortal spirit, thinking reed. This is the paradox of man. We are both good and evil. We are just a speck of dust in a vast universe; yet we dominate our world and build spacecraft to travel to the very stars that dwarf us.
Just who or what are we, we human beings? The author of Psalm 8 pondered this too:
When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings,
and crowned him with glory and honour.
The most important statement in the Bible made about mankind is in Genesis 1:26 – 27, “Then God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”.
We have already seen that this remarkable statement points us to the fact that mankind is a unique being; mankind is a spiritual being; mankind is a communal being. There are at least three further meanings to this phrase.
Firstly, it indicates that mankind is supreme over creation and is to rule the created order. “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it”, Genesis 1: 26, 28. Man is appointed by God to be his representative ruler or manager on earth. Man is therefore to manage the world on God’s behalf.
Sadly, we have not done very well as managers of God’s estate. We have failed in numerous ways, including failing to provide proper care for the environment. However, there is a “green” danger lurking in the shadows, where certain created things are seen by some of the western elite as having the same or greater rights than human beings. Occasionally, one reads of certain western countries, where legislation gives certain lakes or rivers “personal” rights, seemingly equivalent to those of humans. Or much greater concern is expressed for the poaching of a rhino, than the abortion of an unborn child. Both are abominable, but the one infinitely more than the other!
The principle if Genesis 1:26, 28 is that mankind is the manager of the earth, and that the earth is subject to the dominion of mankind, not the other way round.
Secondly, man is a creative being. In Genesis 1 and 2, God is pre-eminently a God who creates. Man, made in the image of God, consequently has the ability and desire to be creative. Creativity is part of our human nature, which will be fleshed out in countless ways. There is creativity in homemaking, hospitality, engineering, business, organising, teaching and IT. Some express their creativity in music, dance, media, literature or gardening. Others express their creativity in sculpting, painting, cake icing or making Tik Tok movies.
When we use our creative gifts, we are modelling ourselves on God. Being spiritual is not only when we pray and read the Bible! No, spirituality includes all of life. When we use our gifts and talents and creative abilities, we are giving God glory by giving expression to the gifts he has given us. No wonder, we feel joy when we create, because we are modelling ourselves on our Creator.
Lastly, man is male and female in being. Both men and women are equally made in God’s image. They have equal value, equal dignity, equal worth. There is an inherent equality between the sexes. Men and women are different and have different roles in different situations, but there can be no doubt about the equal value and equal dignity of both. That means, that if you are a female, your distinct female characteristics come from God. If you are a man, your distinct characteristics come from God.
How striking, that in a document, written over 3,500 years ago, before any modern constitutions or bill of rights, or feminist movements, God states on the first page of Genesis, that men and women are equal in value, worth and dignity. We cannot under estimate how revolutionary this statement would have been in all ancient cultures! The Christian faith, more than any other major religion, uniquely affirms the value of women.
What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?