Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of the “Vitruvian Man” was created around the year 1487 and is still one of the most popular world icons. It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the famed architect, Vitruvius Pollio. The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions. Today it is stored in the Gallerie dell ‘Accademia in Venice, Italy, and, like most works on paper, is only displayed on special occasions.
This image provides the perfect example of Leonardo’s keen interest in proportion and it represents a cornerstone of Leonardo’s attempts to relate man to nature. Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body as an analogy for the workings of the universe.
Whereas da Vinci’s drawing displays the physical proportions in the anatomy of a man, in this morning’s sermon I will exhibit the basic biblical principles associated with the anatomy (or composition) of a human being—the characteristics that distinguish human beings from other creatures in God’s creation. Today, our sermon series “Foundations of the Faith” moves into the doctrinal category of anthropology, which literally means the study of mankind.
You may remember reading: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The Bible tells us that on day one, God created light to illumine the world. Then he stretched the sky across the horizon and swished water into the seas. Then he formed the land into dry ground and fashioned plants to flourish in the forests and fields. Then he cast the sun, moon, and stars into the sky as containers for the light. Then he made birds to fly through the sky and fish to swim through the seas. Then he created livestock and wild animals to roam along the ground. Then later, on the sixth day, the three persons of the Holy Trinity agreed together to create human beings in their own image. Genesis 2 goes on to describe how God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became the first human being.
This is the familiar biblical story that tells us how human beings came into existence. But this story doesn’t tell us why God created human beings or what is actually means that we are created in the image of God. Over the centuries, many people have contemplated these questions. Perhaps you have pondered them at some point in your own life or maybe you are wondering about their significance right now. Through the rest of this sermon, I will try to answer these two important questions.
1.) Human Beings are Created for God’s Glory.
First, why did God create human beings? Was God lonely and needed some friends to play with? Was he looking for something interesting to do? Was he bored and needed something to laugh at or amuse him? No, God is completely self-sufficient. He doesn’t need anything from anyone or anything. Since there was perfect love and fellowship among the members of the Trinity for all eternity, God did not create us because he was lonely or because he needed fellowship with other persons—God did not and does not need us for any reason. Nevertheless, God created us for his own glory. (Grudem 440) The prophet Isaiah gives us a glimpse of this when he delivers a prophecy of peace and restoration to Israel. In Isaiah 43:6-7, he says:
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
God created the whole world (especially human beings) to display his creativity and complexity, his majesty and magnificence. Since humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation, we display his glory more clearly than anything else in the universe!
If God created us for his glory, what should be our chief purpose and goal in life? That’s right, our top priority should be to glorify God. As a matter of fact, the first question of the Westminster Catechism asks: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” That’s right, our chief goal should always be God’s glory!
Unfortunately, we live in a world where so few human beings acknowledge their creator or seek to reflect his glory. If you ask the average person on the street, “What is your number one goal in life?”, you will hear answers like, “My goal is to be rich or famous or successful!” Sometimes you will hear more noble responses like, “My goal is to do honest work and raise a good family.” The most common reply I hear to this question is: “My goal is to be happy!”
All of these answers sound good and right, and I have even heard many Christians repeat them. But do you see how they are all human- centered rather than God-centered? At their very core, they are self-centered and seek to glorify ourselves rather than God. Instead of these humanistic motivations and life priorities, our chief goal should always be God’s glory!
In I Corinthians 10:31, the Apostle Paul utters these words: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” No matter what we do, regardless of how important or menial, it should be done for the primary purpose of glorifying God! This should be true of our vocation—when we wake up and go to work each day, whether we are harvesting crops, teaching children, building a house, caring for sick bodies, driving a truck, going to school, or crunching numbers behind a desk, we should do it to the glory of God! This should be true of our recreation, whether we are hiking or hunting—whether we are crafting a quilt or baking a cake—we should do it with the motivation of glorifying God. This should be true of our relationships—we should love our spouse, children, extended family, and friends because it glorifies God—not for what we or they get out of it!
When we shift our focus to glorifying God rather than glorifying ourselves, there is a great irony in the fact that we actually enjoy God more and every aspect of our lives becomes more fulfilling. When we glorify God in our work, our jobs become more fulfilling. When we glorify God in our recreation, our activities become more rewarding. When we glorify God in our relationships, our interactions become more satisfying! If you really want to be happy, make it your chief goal to glorify God in everything you do—because human beings are created for God’s glory!
2.) Human Beings are Created in the Image of God.
Now that we have addressed the reason why God created human beings, let’s take a closer look at what it means to be created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26-27 recounts:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis affirms that humans are more like God than anything else in creation, but it doesn’t fully explain what this phrase means. We need other passages of Scripture to help us fill in the details. Let me briefly highlight four aspects of being created in the image of God: morality, spirituality, mentality, and physicality.
Humans beings are morally accountable to God for their actions. God only gave to humans the command and moral responsibility not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The other creatures received no such command. Corresponding to this accountability, God gave humans a conscience—an inner sense of right and wrong that sets us apart from animals (who have little if any innate sense of morality or justice but simply respond from fear of punishment or hope of reward.) Lions don’t live by a code of laws; jackals don’t have justice systems; and caterpillars don’t have consciences. God gave these aspects of morality to humans alone. God’s law is written on the hearts of human all human beings. The Apostle Paul testifies to this in Romans 2:14-15, where he says:
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
When we act according to God’s moral standards, we reflect God’s image of holiness and righteousness. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve mirrored God’s moral perfection more clearly. Today, when we resist temptation to sin and live holy lives unto God, we bear his image more brightly. Therefore, let us live the moral lives we were meant to live!
God has created all human beings with a spirit, which distinguishes us from plants and animals. Humanity exists for communion with God who is Spirit. Porcupines don’t pray for their unsaved loved ones and hamsters don’t sing hymns of praise to God. Only humans can commune with God in these ways because we are spiritual beings like God. King David highlights this link between the human spirit and God’s Spirit in Psalm 143:7-10, where he prays:
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD, for I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Everyone agrees that human being have bodies, but there is an ongoing debate among theologians about whether humans have a soul and a spirit or if the spirit and soul are the same thing. This is a complex biblical discussion that is beyond the scope of this sermon. Personally, I lean toward the soul and spirit being the same, but we must acknowledge that Bible is not perfectly clear on this issue and that there are good Christians on both sides of the debate.
Either way, since human beings have a spiritual nature, we are able to relate to God uniquely. We can pray to God—his Spirit speaks to us and our spirit speaks to him. And practice other spiritual disciplines like meditating upon Scripture, confession, fasting, worship, fellowshipping with other believers, and practicing Sabbath rest. These disciplines are called “spiritual disciplines” because they help our souls/spirits grow closer to God’s Spirit. Since we have this unique ability and opportunity to commune with God and grow in our relationship to him, let’s maximize it to its fullest potential.
God has the attribute of rationality—the ability to think and reason. He created human beings with a similar capacity to reason, learn, and think logically in a way that sets us apart from other animals. In Ecclesiastes 7:25, Solomon says: “So, I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.”
Animals sometimes exhibit remarkable behavior in solving mazes and working out problems in the physical world, but they don’t engage in abstract reasoning. For instance, dogs can do some amazing things, but there is no such thing as the history of canine philosophy. (Grudem 446) Likewise, beavers are incredible creatures, but the technology of beaver dams has not advanced since creation. Beavers make dams the same way they did thousands of years ago.
In the area of emotions, our likeness to God is seen in the difference in degree of complexity of emotions. Of course, animals do show some emotions (anyone who has ever owned a dog knows this), but not with the same complexity as humans.
For instance, after watching my son’s football game yesterday morning, I watched my wife feel four emotions simultaneously. She felt sadness because our son’s team lost, proud because our son played well, annoyed at the referees for making some bad calls, and angry toward me because…well, I’m still not sure why!!
You get the picture—God created us with the unique ability to think, feel, create, develop, and devise. May we use our mental capacity to love God with all of our minds!
It may seem too obvious to point out that God created us with physical bodies, but we would be wise to focus on our physicality for a few moments. God formed the first man from the dust and fashioned the first woman from a rib, and he established the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. We read this story in Genesis 2:18, 22-24:
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him…” So, the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘for she was taken out of man.” For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
God created the human body with certain anatomy: eyes to see, ears to hear, noses to smell, tongues to taste, and hands to feel. Even though God is spirit and does not have a human body, he gave us bodies to mirror his abilities. When God the Son became incarnate and took on the human form. Jesus wasn’t born of a monkey; he was born of Mary. And his human body experienced all of the physical abilities and vulnerabilities as the rest of us.
It is also important to highlight the fact that God created human beings with two genders: male and female. God created the male and female bodies with anatomical diversity to reflect the plurality of the Holy Trinity. The male and female anatomy was specifically designed to fit together in a “one-flesh” marital relationship. This specific biological formation gave human beings the capacity to fulfill God’s creation mandate to “be fruitful and increase in number: fill the earth and subdue it…” Even the human body reflects God’s image and purpose in the world.
In light of our modern culture, which has redefined gender based on psychological feelings rather than biological anatomy, it is crucial to remember that God created human beings with two genders: male and female. This is a fundamental fact of being created in God’s image. God assigns each human being a gender based on their biological anatomy and it is his design that they would leave their family of origin, enter a one-flesh marriage with a person of the opposite gender, and thereby perpetuate the human race. This is why transgenderism and homosexuality are departures from God’s design and are lifestyles outside of God’s will. I know that these subjects are sensitive for some people, and I don’t want to unnecessarily offend anyone, but it is my responsibility to teach God’s Word—and the Bible is clear on these issues. This subject is too large and complicated to deal with in one sermon, let alone a segment of one sermon, so if any of you have questions or would like to discuss this further, I would be happy to talk with any one of you about it!Conclusion
As we consider our common humanity, I want us to know that God created each one of us for his glory—so let us glorify him in everything that we say and do! And I want us all to know that we are all created in God’s image—morally, spiritually, mentally, and physically—so let us love the Lord God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength!