by Earl L. Martin Chapter 2 Concerning Man and His Predicament... The Christian doctrine of man springs directly out of the Christian doctrine of God. The meaning of sin grew as the concept of God grew. In the light of the teaching of Jesus sin took on meanings quite different from its meanings under the Law, for instance. All the way through our study we shall be impressed with the relatedness and interrelatedness of all aspects of Christian doctrine. We need to know the truth about ourselves as well as about God. This chapter deals with two rather distinct and yet closely related subjects, man and sin. It is man's sin, not sin in the abstract, with which we are dealing. Sin has been so determining a factor in the life of man that the nature of man cannot be studied apart from what sin has done to him. "The proper study of mankind is man" said one of the great poets. It is not only the proper study, but it is one of the most difficult. "Know thyself" is a good dictum, but not an easy one to follow. "What is man?" is a question the psalmist asked long ago, but the full answer is not yet forthcoming. There are several branches of the general study of man, such as anthropology, physiology, psychology, and sociology. We can know some very definite things about man as a result of the first two disciplines; but in the other two which have to do with man's behavior, both as an individual and as a social being, we have much to learn. It is our purpose here to study man from the standpoint of religion, or theology, as a spiritual personality. Man As He Was Made... Here we must go to the Word of God. It alone holds the answer to questions about man's origin and destiny. The Bible is a record of God's education of man in the highest knowledge of what man himself is. It is a study of man in his relation to God. His Origin... As a physical being man is "of the dust of the ground" by the hand of God; as a spiritual being he is by the breath of God. He is from both dust and Deity, and both these by the primary power and purpose of God. Man is a child of earth and a child of heaven. God is his creator. The doctrine of creation answers the questions, Whence came the universe? and Whence came man? It also interprets the universe and man in such a way as to provide a basis for answers to many other questions. God's creation of man is the first of a long list of events out of which come God's redemptive plan and the salvation which he gives. That man is a created being is clearly taught in the Bible as a whole, not only in the first two chapters of Genesis. For in the Bible is a recital, not primarily of a philosophy concerning God, nor even of a doctrine of God, but of what God has done. And one of the things God has done is this: "God created man" (Gen. 1:27). To fully appreciate the Genesis record of man's creation, the full account should be read in chapters 1:1-3:24. Along with Genesis 1:26 look also at 2:7, both of which show that man was, at the time of his creation, a highly favored and exalted being. The whole ascending order of creation culminated in man, who was given dominion over all that had been created. But of more significance was the fact that man was in the divine image. More will be said about this in the next section of this chapter. "Man" as used here means mankind, or the race-the whole species of human beings as descended from Adam. The race has a common origin. This means not only the biological unity of mankind, but the spiritual unity of mankind. This fact is involved in the Genesis command, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," and in the woman's name, "Eve . the mother of all living" (3:20). Malachi's question (2:10), "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?" is echoed in Acts 17:26, "And hath made of one blood all nations of men . to dwell on all the face of the earth." All men of all the race are creatures of God-sons of God by creation and potential sons by a new creation. His Constitution... Man's constitution is involved in his creation and in the creative process: the "dust of the ground" and "the breath of God" constituted man a "living soul" or being. On the basis of these facts man has been defined as "a spirit dwelling in a human body, but not entirely dependent upon it." There is an outer or physical aspect of man's being, and there is an inner or spiritual aspect of it. "Twofold being" has been the term commonly used to express these two aspects of man's being. This twofoldness must not be construed in such a way that it negates man's essential unity of being or oneness of personality. Man is a personal being. In studying the idea of God as a person, we defined "person" as a being self-conscious and self-determining-a being capable of functioning intelligently, emotionally, and volitionally-one who can think, feel, and will. "The image of God" involves the concept of personality. It may, and does, involve more than that, but it at least involves that. This puts man in a different category from the merely animal creation. This we believe and this we proclaim, that man as a person is of infinite worth in God's sight and should be so regarded by every child of God. Man is a physical being. We are not setting this idea over against, or as something apart from, the fact that man is a person; we are saying that this person, at least as presently constituted, is a physical being. The Bible does not disparage the body as did Greek thought. Evidence of this is Jesus' concern for the bodily well-being of man. He spoke often of God's provision for and concern about food, clothing, and shelter. He even miraculously increased the loaves and fishes that men might be fed. He healed men of their physical ills and infirmities and continues to do so even to the present. He makes man's destiny in part dependent upon his concern for the physical well-being of his fellows, as is set forth in Matthew 25:35-44. Paul put great emphasis upon the sacredness of the human body. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God" (Rom. 12:1). "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19-20). The Christian concept of the human body adds much to the dignity and sacredness of human personality. It broadens the concept of Christian living, so that man may glorify God even in eating and drinking and all the ordinary activities of human life. The attitude toward the body can be either a holy one or a perverted one. And yet the body or physical aspect of man as a person is not the most essential element. "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul" (Matt. 10:28). "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (II Cor. 4:16). Man is a spiritual being. Man is a spirit dwelling in a body. Man is personal spirit, a spiritual as well as a material being. In Genesis this spiritual nature is referred to as "the image of God." When "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life . man became a living soul." Some would try to distinguish between spirit and soul, but it is a question whether the Bible will bear out such a distinction. Certainly such a distinction serves no practical purpose. "The image of God" in which man was originally made means at least that he is a moral or spiritual personality-a being made in the likeness of God. Man is related to God as creature to Creator. He is related to Him as servant is to master. He is also related to God as son to Father, even in creation. That metaphor takes on added meaning when through Christ man's sonship is made vitally spiritual. This we believe, and this we proclaim to all men-they are all so constituted, in spite of sin, that they are potentially the sons of God. No one need despair. Man As He Has Become: The Fall of Man... Genesis pictures man as a fallen being, as indeed does the entire revelation of God. His fall came as a result of disobedience. More will be said concerning this fact in a later portion of this chapter in a study of man's sin. Adam's sin brought guilt and condemnation and separation from God. Separation from God is spiritual death. "The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Sin alienated man from God and from his fellows. Sin broke the communion between man and God. Sin brought moral and spiritual unlikeness to God. Sin has continued to corrupt human nature ever since. This is true of sin as a racial quality and as personal transgression. Man Is Corrupted by Sin... In the Bible we see both the abjectness and the grandeur of man. Created in the image of God-that is man's glory. Sinful, separated from God-that is man's shame. This corruption of human nature has been called depravity, for man is depraved-though not totally. It is sometimes spoken of as "inborn" sin. However much difference of opinion there may be about the extent of it or about how it came to be or about how to be free from it, the fact of sin's existence is self-evident. It is written large in the Bible and in all history; it is also written large in the present scene. Perhaps this corruption has been most correctly analyzed as a perversion of the entire personality of man-a derangement of the moral nature, whereby the judgment is clouded, the emotions are perverted, and the will is weakened, so that there is a tendency, urge, drive, or bent to the wrong instead of to the right. Experience as recorded in the Bible indicates the universality of sin. It began with Adam, and it has continued in the race, much as Paul sets forth in Romans 1:21: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." David lamented, "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. 51:5). Jeremiah observed, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (17:9). Paul writes. "We all . were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:3). He gives his testimony, "I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do" (Rom. 7:18-19). Jesus states most emphatically, "Out of the heart . proceed evil thoughts" (Mark 7:21), and then goes on to give a long list of sins that come from the evil heart. Though Jesus saw the moral corruption of man he saw also his spiritual possibilities. Zaecheus, in Luke 19:1-10, is seen as "a sinner" and at the same time as a "son of Abraham." For man, though in sin, is still a creature with something of the divine image implanted within, which all the depraving, defiling, and devastating effects of sin have not been able to destroy. Man as a Sinner... Not only is the race in moral slavery, but sin is actual in each individual life that has come to the point of moral responsibility. Sin is lawlessness. "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4). Sin, is a transgression of the highest laws of human life, of the law of the moral universe, of the law of God himself, whether that law be expressed in the prohibitions of the Mosaic code, or in the "law of love" as laid down and exemplified by Jesus. It is transgression of that moral law of God by which the moral universe is governed. It is the violation of that law of God which is his rule for the lives of men. It is that law of which the psalmist wrote, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (Ps. 19:7). Any departure from, or lack of conformity to, that law is sin. It is a law written both in the Book and in the moral judgment of mankind. "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law . . For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another" (Rom. 2:12, 14-15). Man, unregenerate, refuses to be governed by God, and seeks his own way according to his nature. Man rejects God's way and goes his own selfish way. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). Sin is "missing the mark." Sin has been defined as "any violation of, or want of conformity to, the will of God." It is not only a positive doing of the wrong, but also a not doing of that which is right. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). It is coming short, not only of the glory of God, but of life's purpose. It is defeating God's purpose for our life. It is to "fall short of the high calling." Sin is giving life over to unworthy purposes or things. Sin is any failure to choose the best-failure to live righteously or to act from highest motives. It is taking a lesser good when a greater is possible. Sin is in attitude as well as in act. Sin is in every attitude and action which are out of harmony with the will of our heavenly Father. It is not only in acts such as murder and adultery, for John says, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (I John 2:15), and Jesus declared, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28), but also in sins of attitude and disposition-envy and jealousy, which lead to hate, peevishness and sullenness, prejudice and injustice, unkindness and oppression. How great in number and variety are such sins! Not doing one's duty is sin. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4:17). If one, like the priest and the Levite, sees the hurt of the world and "passes by on the other side," is not that sin? If one wraps his pound in a napkin and does not use it, is that not sin? Failure to believe in God through Jesus Christ is sin. See John 3:18. And if loving God with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and one's neighbors as himself are the greatest commandments, would not the failure to do this be the greatest sin? Broken sonship, refusal of love and obedience to an all-wise and all-loving Father, is sin. From all the foregoing, it is plain to see that sin is factual, and it is actual, and it is awful. Keep in mind that we are here considering man and his sin. But there is another side to this picture of what man is, and what can be done about his sin. Man Still a Person... Man is not utterly ruined, even though he is badly wounded. Man was made righteous, with capacity for free communion with God and with grace to enable him to enjoy that communion. By his own choice he lost that capacity and the grace which went with it. Yet his reason was not totally perverted, his will not entirely depraved, his desires not directed solely and wholly toward evil. There is an undergirding from God, a continuing modicum of grace, which causes him to "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and to pant for God-which makes him able to respond by God's grace to the good which he desires. Man is in a dilemma, but there is a way out. In sending his Son into the world to save man it is evident that God placed great value upon man. Our day is characterized by a developing pessimism, even a thoroughgoing cynicism, about man. Man as a person may be in the grip of sin, but man as a person can be changed and lifted out of and above sin. He can be saved from sin, and the divine image can be restored. More must be said about this in another chapter but this much needs to be said right here. In saying that man is a person, we mean more than that he is a being with eyes that look out and up and a body that walks erect. We mean more than that he is a being with the power of reason, who can form general ideas and interpret what his senses bring, and so enlarge his ideas and have dominion in the world. We mean more than that he has the ability to use speech for the transmission of ideas. Saying these things we are saying much, but in saying that he is a person we are saying more than all these put together. By "person" we mean to convey the idea that man is a being with the power of self-conscious decision, a being with intelligence, emotions, and will. In making man, God made him a person, in the image of himself, a being with the power of self-grasp, self-estimation, and self-determination. The power of self-estimation is the power to say I AM-I am a self, a person; I am I-not another; it is the power to say I know, I feel, I will. Man is a moral person under moral demand. This is written into the very constitution of man's being. The "image of God" is a moral and spiritual nature. "There is a spirit in man." This is brought out in the New Testament, where the image of God is represented as being restored in regeneration. "Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24). "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him" (Col. 3:10). Man is under moral demand. He is under demand of the law of God, which is holy, as previously shown in the quotation from Romans 2:12-15. Man is a being with a conscience. This fact has its basis in man's constitution as a person with the moral law written into his very nature. If man can use his mind to form judgments concerning right and wrong; if he feels a compulsion to do the right and to avoid the wrong; if he can choose the right and reject the wrong-all of which is the function of personality-then he has what we call a conscience. Conscience may be said to be "the functioning of a person in the realm of morals." It is the forming of moral judgments. By the use of his mind, man may know right and wrong. He does not instinctively know this, but he can by a study of life and especially by the revelation of God in the Bible come to know what is right and what is wrong. Then on the basis of what he believes to be right or wrong as the case may be, he does feel that he "ought" to do the right and "ought not" to do the wrong. By the use of his power to will or decide, he acts. His conscience approves if he does the right and disapproves if he does the wrong. Man Is a Free Being... The very idea of personality involves the idea of freedom, or the power of choice. Of course man is not free in the absolute sense. But he does have power within limits to make free choices. Man is responsively free. And responsibility involves ability to respond. Unless a choice is freely made it does not have moral quality. As I wrote a number of years ago in Toward Understanding God: "Any theology, any philosophy, any moral science, any psychology, any sociology, which holds that man's choices are determined or compelled by forces outside of himself-himself, a being capable of self-conscious decision-is to be rejected; and it does not matter whether that force which compels choice be the 'will of God' in a theological formula; or 'the fates' in philosophy; or physical mechanism as in some forms of behavioristic psychology; or the environmental factors in sociology." Sometimes that margin of freedom of choice and action may be narrow, but it is there or man cannot be held spiritually accountable for his choices and conduct. Enhancing this inherent power of choice in human personality, the grace of God comes to the aid of man and enables him to choose the right. The power of God is greater than all mechanistic powers-for spiritual powers are the greatest in the world-and it endows the believer with a more-than-human power which strengthens the will and makes him more than conqueror. Man has freedom of choice, but in order to exercise that freedom in the highest spiritual action, he needs the spiritual dynamic of the grace of God. This God has promised. This God gives. This freedom and power come through Christ as stated in such passages as John 8:32-36: "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Consequences of Sin... The symbol of the serpent, first and fitting emblem of sin, shows its true nature. Sin brings poison into life, and death to all who feel its fangs. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Death means separation from God. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you" (Isa. 59:2). "When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (Jas. 1:15). Sin means death here and now; it means also eternal death: "Ye . shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:21). Sin is not a fantasy; it is a fact. It has broken the relationships which man was created to sustain between man and God and between man and man. And it has brought conflict into the life of man himself. The destructive quality of sin is seen in the fact that man is lost-lost not only to God but to his highest self. Sin brings guilt-guilt before God-and this sense of guilt is always a disruptive and divisive factor in human life. Sin has soiled the purity of man's heart, killed the joy of his life, disturbed the peace of his conscience. It binds men in slavery. It brings personality conflicts, and creates many of the tensions and complexes which are so prevalent in human life and society today, for in sinning man sets himself over against the laws that really work, the only laws that will work, in the universe. In its very nature sin is a disorganizing principle which brings about a disintegration of life and personality. No one can ever build life harmoniously around a wrong principle, such as hate or pride or selfishness, for in their very nature all of these are disruptive and divisive, disintegrating and disorganizing. It is only when sin is taken out of life and God is put at the center that the inner life is made whole and that man is brought into harmony with God, his fellow man, and the moral forces which rule in the universe. More will be said on this point in the chapter on salvation. Affirmations or Summing Up... Sin is inner moral wrongness and is as universal as is the race. Wrong conduct and acting from wrong motives are sin. Creation speaks of the dignity and spirituality of man, his responsible freedom, and his final destiny. The greatest thing in the world is not the powers of nature or of mechanical operation, but the potentiality of spiritual personality. The cross is the clue to man's worth. Jesus recognized the value of all men-of any man-whether Nicodemus the Jew in Jerusalem, the Samaritan woman at Sychar, the Greek from Decapolis, the woman from Syrophoenecia, the despised publican, the blind beggar, the outcast woman, the demoniac, or the Pharisee-he saw each of them as a potential child of God. Jesus was concerned not only about all men, but also about all of man and all that affected man. Sin is inner moral wrongness, impurity at the very fountain of life, and it is as universal as is the race. Sin is "lawlessness." This lawlessness manifests itself in many ways: toward God as unbelief, toward others as selfishness, toward self as pride. Man is a son of God by creation. That sonship has been broken by sin. It may be restored in Christ. Man's real nature is to be found, not in what he is, but in what he may become. This material has a copyright. 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