SBC Anthropology, Pt 2: What is Man?
Review
· What is man for? The Creation of Man
· How has the Image of God been understood?
Plan
Start discussing some key terms the bible uses for the elements of man. Make some applications. Next week: Discuss the concept of personhood.
Key Terms – of course there are the original language words, and how they are translated into English. They’re not always translated the same way.
o Body – the physical form. Embodiment is the normal mode of being human.
§ There is no Hebrew word for body as something separate from the soul or spirit; when used of a human almost always has the idea of the entire person; Hammett: “a word for the body as something separated from the nonmaterial aspect of human nature is missing, for the normal Hebrew conception of a person assumed the physical form as necessary.”
§ Sachs: It is striking that the Hebrews associated what we think of as spiritual activities with parts of the body. The heart is the organ of intelligence, will, and desire. The liver and the kidneys are the organs of conscience, grief, or bitterness. Thinking, feeling, and willing are conceived holistically as interrelated, bodily activities. Reduction of life or self to a soul, or to the body for that matter, is unknown.
§ Greek Soma – In N.T. the body can refer to the whole person as he interacts with his environment (Rom 12:1). The body and non-material part are sometimes distinguished (Matthew 10:28) and the body is less precious than the soul. See 1 Timothy 4:8.
§ See 2 Cor 4: 16-5: 8 – As the body deteriorates, it becomes more burdensome. As the “inner man” matures, the desire to be with the Lord increases. Eventually we exit or cast off this body and go home to the Lord. But even in that desirable place we await an embodiment that’s permanent, fuller, sourced in heaven.
Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate, and his [carriage] should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we should think him, if we saw him wringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, “My [carriage] is broken! My [carriage] is broken!” (Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 108).
o Flesh – a term that highlights – not so much man’s material aspect– but his tendency toward failure. Often contrasted with “spirit”
§ Hebrew basar – almost always translated as “flesh”;
§ O.T. the basar is frail/corruptible but not necessarily sinful – Isaiah 40:6; Jeremiah 17:5
§ Greek: sarx; Jesus understood the flesh to be weak and unreliable – Mt 26:41
§ Paul uses flesh a lot.
· Flesh can be understood neutrally – Psalm 145:21; John 1:14; Rom 1:3
· As in the OT, denoting frailty and impermanence – 1 Corinthians 15:50; 2 Cor 7:5 * here ”sarx” is translated as “body”
· Especially in Paul: Capacity for sin and rebellion and ignoring God’s Word (Gal 5:17). A desiring (Gal 5 “desires against the Spirit”), reasoning (Rom 8 – “mind of the flesh”), feeling (Rom 8 – “hostile to God”) that is against God. Could look salacious or religious or anything inbetween.
· True dat: “Walking by the Spirit,” that is, arranging your daily activity to hear God’s Word and conform yourself to it, is the only counteract to the flesh.
What does it mean that I was ‘in the flesh’ and under its dominion? It means I lived out of a centre in myself, absorbed in myself and with my own perspective, devoted to this world and its values and standards. It means I viewed the temporal as more significant than the eternal, this world as bigger than the world to come, and made man rather than God the measure of all things. Life ‘in the flesh’ was centered on a this-worldly system of thought and life rather than in God himself – the only true and eternal centre of all things. This is the story of life apart from Christ, and therefore was the story of my life prior to coming to faith in Christ. – Sinclair Ferguson
I sit here at ease, hardened and unfeeling – alas! Praying little, grieving little for the Church of God, burning rather in the fierce fires of my untamed flesh. It comes to this: I should be afire in the spirit; in reality I am afire in the flesh, with lust, laziness, idleness, sleepiness. It is perhaps because you have all ceased praying for me that God has turned away from me… For the last eight days I have written nothing, nor prayer, nor studied, partly from self-indulgence, partly from another [physical] handicap…I really cannot stand it any longer…Pray for me, I beg you, for in my seclusion here I am submerged in sins. – Martin Luther to his friend Philipp Melanchthon
o Soul – the seat of life or being; the general way of referring to a living being; the very self: the essence
§ Hebrew nephesh; Greek psyche
§ Living creature/life – Gen 1:20; 2:7; Psalm 107:9
§ The quintessence of a person – Gen 34:3; Psalm 11:5; Ezek 4:14 {I}; James 1:21; 1 Peter 2:25 (in this like heart)
§ The interior/ non-material part – Psalm 19:7; Ps 63:1; Prov 2:10;
§ Parallel with spirit – Luke 1:46-47
Sachs: While both the OT and the NT speak of body and soul… both these terms [usually CDL] refer to the human being in its concrete totality. Body and soul are not composite parts, but different ways of describing the complex living reality of the single, total human person. The challenge of the Gospel is not ‘save your soul!” but “open your entire living self (divided not by body/soul but by sin) to the living, life-giving Spirit of God!
o Heart – the seat of personality; the central focus of one’s life, the “real” person
§ The most important and frequent term the Bible uses in reference to any aspect or capacity of humans (more than 900 times)
§ Thinking – 1 Kings 3:9; Mt 13:15
§ Feeling – Isaiah 35:4; 2 Cor 4:16
§ Volition – 2 Cor 9:7
§ (OT) Conscience – Job 27:6
§ The true self – Judges 16:7; 1 Samuel 16:7
§ The center (of sin) Jer 17:9; (of faith) (Prov 3:5)
§ Where God does His deep, saving work (New heart; Romans 10)
§ Where God dwells – 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 3:17; Rom 5:5
Application: Do I listen to my head or to my heart? Or is that not a question? What’s behind that question? Proverbs 3:5 – where is the sharp parallel? What does it mean to be ‘heartbroken’ (Psalm 34:18 et al)? Where do lonely hearts go?
o Spirit – man as he relates to God
§ Dunn: “man insofar as he belongs to the spiritual realm and interacts with the spiritual realm…Thus, the spirit of man is that aspect of man through which God most immediately encounters him…that dimension of the whole man wherein and whereby he is most immediately open and responsive to God…that area of human awareness most sensitive to matters of the spiritual realm.” Stacey: “When reference is made to man ins his relation to God ruach is the term most likely to be used…but when reference is made to man in relation to other men, or man living the common life of men, then nephesh is most likely…In both cases, the whole man was involved.”
§ Parallel with soul – Luke 1:46,47; (though unlike soul which can be used of animals and people)
§ Parallel with heart – Isaiah 57:15
Summary Statements and Applications
1. Humans run deep…something you’d expect from the imago Dei! There are sides to each person that no one gets (Proverbs 14:10). Various components don’t always align (Proverbs 14:13). There are aspects of ourselves that we don’t understand (Psalm 42; Jeremiah 17:9). There is a sense that we won’t know ourselves until Jesus makes us known to ourselves (1 Corinthians 13:12; Colossians 3:3). Christ will save the whole person.
2. Humans are a unity of parts and capacities – ignore this at your peril. 1 Timothy 5:23 “Drink a little wine for your stomach sake”
Millard Erickson: Humans are to be treated as unities. Their spiritual condition cannot be dealt with independently of their physical and psychological condition, and vice versa. Psychosomatic medicine is proper. So also is psychosomatic ministry (or should it be termed pneumopsychosomatic ministry?). The Christian who desires to be spiritually healthy will give attention to such matters as diet, rest, and exercise. Any attempt to deal with people’s spiritual condition apart from their physical condition and mental and emotional state will be only partially successful, as will any attempt to deal with human emotions apart from people’s relationship to God.
3. There’s always a danger of being materially affluent yet…Revelation 3:2, 3:17
4. There is a lot of overlap in how the different terms used to explain our humanity are used – beware of being too exact with definitions and applications. Related: there’s been ongoing debate about the tripartite vs bipartite nature of man. I’ve not seen the importance. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably. When terms are stacked on top of each other it’s a way of assuming complexity and emphasizing totality.
5. The challenge is always Psalm 103:1. See also Psalm 86:11. Also Psalm 119:37.
6. Beware of false dichotomies: e.g., physical vs spiritual. Head vs heart.
7. The real Biblical polarization is old man and new man… Old Man in the race of Adam, not confronted by special grace. New Man in the race of Christ – righteous! 1 Cor 2:14 – Natural man = “Merely human”: The word he actually uses could be translated ‘soul-ish’ as opposed to ‘spiritual’–meaning someone who is directed and led simply by the ordinary human interior life (‘soul’) rather than by the fresh, gospel-driven wisdom or energy given by God’s spirit. Such a person (2.14) simply can’t understand what’s going on when the talk turns to the deeper things of the spirit. They become like a tone-deaf person at an opera: it’s all nonsense to them. Take that picture one step further. Imagine being the only musical person listening to a wonderful string quartet in a large room full of tone-deaf people. – Tom Wright
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