Introduction

There are many conceptions about man. Some say that man is divine—that is, God is in man, and man grows and develops in the world until he becomes conscious that he is divine like God. By the many good things man has done, he eventually will be equal to God, his creator. But man’s deeds fail him, and he cannot avail equality with God.

Others say that man is powerful. They say that man can change God’s determinate counsel because, after all, God is somehow dependent upon the works of man. Man is endowed with sovereignty—that is, with authoritative freedom to determine his past, present, and future life. Man’s pinnacle comes close to God’s sovereign power and determination. People often set forth God as someone who assists man, so that man might achieve his earthly and heavenly purposes. Many preachers present God as one who is dependent upon what man must do and will do in this life, and thus God must adapt his will and determination to man’s will. Man then will remain motivated to do more and more, and hence man will receive the reward of his labors.

Worse yet, people make man to be a spoiled brat who is asked to accept the gift of eternal life. They present God at the door, knocking on the hard and ancient heart of man, waiting for man to open his heart and to accept all God’s gifts. God begs and throws himself at the mercy of man so that the will of God will become effective. Man will be saved if he accepts God’s gift of eternal life. And man will be blessed if he actively does his part to receive God’s blessings.

Oh, what a wonderful man! If only he could realize his worth, this world would surely become a more glorious place in which to live than the first world of Adam and Noah. If man could realize how powerful and active he is, the world would need no Christ for salvation and blessings.

In this series I intend to give the reader an evaluation of man. In Reformed dogmatics the study of man is traditionally called anthropology, a compound term from the Greek words ἄνθρωπος (anthrópos, which means man) and λογία (logia, which means studies, but it also means oracles or words at its ancient root). Anthropology simply means the study of man.

However, the term study of man does not convey the purpose of this series. To study man is to begin and end with man and primarily to acquire decent information about man. That is not my intention. Nor do I want to measure man by merely natural senses (that is, the science of anthropology).

Rather, I intend to present man as one who is nothing in relationship to God, who is the absolute and eternal being in comparison to man. The important point is that man is not to be conceived exclusively or even primarily with his humanity. Any true conception of man must always be placed against who and what God is, for God is the essential principle (principium essendi) of all saving knowledge. God is self-sufficient to reveal all knowledge, and out of him flows every point of doctrine, for example, the knowledge of man. And God uses knowledge to build up and save the church and to leave the reprobate wicked without excuse.

Thus a right treatment of man begins with the presupposition that God is God and that man is nothing but dust. Man, though exalted above the creation, organically originated from the creative counsel of God. God creatively called everything in heaven and earth into existence. By taking counsel with himself, thus proving his self-sufficiency, or aseity, God created man in God’s own image. God created man in distinction from himself, for an image is only a resemblance of the original. Man was not equal to God nor an independent being apart from God. Man was god in terms of whose image he bore, but man was and is not God. Consequently, God mocked man when man boastfully thought that he could be equal to God: “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil” (Gen. 3:22). Man despised the distinction God had put between himself and his creatures. Man despised the inconceivable and infinite chasm between God and his creatures. But God will never let a mere creature rob him of his glory. God has proven that in all history, and he will prove that ultimately at the appearing of Jesus Christ as the Son of man—the only man who has the right of divine majesty and glory. A mere man surely will be mocked to dust and even to hell, where all despisers of God’s glory belong.

Man must keep in mind that he did not exist until God worked out his own counsel. Man’s existence depends on God. Man is nothing, and forever he will be dependent on God alone. But man’s consciousness of himself should intertwine properly with the revelation of God in God’s essence, persons, perfections, and works. Man never can know himself unless he attends closely to his distinction from God. And in distinction from God, man is nothing, while God is everything. Man’s whole being can be explained only from the viewpoint of who God is. John Calvin wrote, “We must infer that man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.”¹

Moreover, this series will not be a mere study of man, for I want to adopt the ancient meaning of logia, that is, oracles or words. In the Greek, logia is etymologically related to λόγος (logos), which means word. God as the covenant God actively speaks and reveals himself as the Word. It is the harmonious activity of the three persons of the Trinity constantly to reveal themselves within the one essence of Jehovah. They are the holy family of three who coexist in one divine essence, among which persons there are no secret things, but there is perfect friendship. The covenant fellowship of the three with each other is permeated by divine love and the gracious speech of Jehovah. And according to his counsel, God determined to reveal himself—but not without a mediator—to his creatures in a creaturely manner, while eternally remaining the absolute, incomprehensible, infinite, and lofty one. Only when God speaks to his creatures does he become knowable. Regarding the creaturely manner of God’s speaking to us, Calvin likened this activity of God to a nurse’s speaking with a lisp to an infant.²

Undoubtedly, Jesus Christ, the exact image of God and the mediator of the covenant, “took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself” (Phil. 2:7–8). Jesus Christ was the visible appearing of God in a creaturely manner, that is, in human flesh, in which he could be perceived through the natural senses (1 John 1:1–3). Such a great wonder it is that a pure spirit took upon himself a visible, finite form to reveal and manifest himself to visible, finite creatures. God spoke to us with a lisp through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, evidence of his divinity should never be slighted.

Jesus Christ is central in this revelation of God, for Christ is the Logos, the eternal Word of God, the natural speech of the triune God.

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. The same was in the beginning with God.

3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

Moreover, “Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20). Thus in order for this series to be edifying to the reader, I intend to present man in relationship to Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ is the revelation of God and the Word from whom we inquire everything about man and from whom we receive the knowledge of God for our salvation.

In that light, instead of a mere study of man, I prefer to title the series “The Knowledge of Man,” that is, a knowledge that is part of God’s revelation of himself. For though I intend to write something about man, the truth remains that the Word—the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all knowledge flows (whether of man, covenant, sin, death, salvation, faith, good works, elect and reprobate angels, church, etc.)—essentially reveals the one true God. God is always the subject of revelation. Other places of theology must be explained in the light of that subject. Jesus Christ, the Word, teaches his people rightly to know man, so that only God is exaltedly revealed. Hence God remains faithful to supply the wise with the spiritual knowledge of their salvation. So inclined are we foolishly to begin and end with man without first seeing God in every truth of scripture. It is useless to make man the beginning and end of instruction. We must see God and his Christ in every point of doctrine.

Man is nothing, and God is everything!

Walking with God in Paradise

Man—Adam (אָדָם)—was the crown of creation. Oh, how excellent was man! After God’s creation of man, God declared that all his works were “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

In response to his unknown calumniator, Calvin commented on this declaration of God. Calvin wrote,

These words “all things were very good,” were not intended to express their perfection, as if the Holy Spirit declared, that nothing was wanting to the excellence of any creature.³

Prior to this comment Calvin asserted that the “weakness” of Adam fell under that declaration of God that everything “was very good.”⁴ Adam was made perfect, but he was not without weakness. His perfection was not the highest expression of good. Adam’s perfection was not divine but creaturely; it belonged to his original rectitude but not to his perfect righteousness, which is found only in the person of Jesus Christ. Most surely, though Adam was lapsible, God was still satisfied with his creative work. That was so because God’s eternal counsel was infallibly realized in time.

Calvin further implied that God cannot be accused “of fitting man for ruin, by the weakness in which he created him.”⁵ Adam was created with a tendency to fall into sin. This is also the assertion of Herman Hoeksema, who wrote, “Adam was created lapsible.”⁶ This certainly leaves the impression that the first world as it was created in six, literal days was intended by God to perish in Adam. Indeed, it was! The world was created to be eventually made subject to vanity and to the bondage of corruption because of Adam. In God’s inscrutable wisdom, he had his goal. He always had his goal. The goal is his eternal purpose as it was established in Jesus Christ before all things. God’s goal is the glory of his name in the realization of his covenant fellowship with his people through Jesus Christ. Eden was not meant to be the culmination of the kingdom of God, although Eden had a royal king who was ordained to subdue all things to serve God, the creator. However, no amount of obedience could make Eden the culmination of all things.

That the opposite implication is very closely related to the theory of the covenant of works goes without saying. For example, Charles Hodge alluded to a notion that Adam might have attained immortality and eternal life on the condition of perfect obedience.⁷

Man as he walked and lived with God in paradise can be perceived only eschatologically. What is the end of all things? Was paradise ordained to remain forever? Neither Adam nor Eden was the culmination of all things. Adam was bound, according to the eternal counsel of God, to fall and to serve as a type of Christ. Adam was not the last Adam; Jesus Christ is. Adam was not the quickening spirit; Jesus Christ is (1 Cor. 15:45).

This is the reason that Adam was immediately confronted by the reality of the antithesis. Adam was confronted by what is not the will of God. Undoubtedly, Adam’s immediate exposure to the antithesis was to manifest what was lacking in his perfection. The probationary law was not intended to motivate Adam with his own power and capability to obey God, so that as a consequence of Adam’s active obedience he would receive the reward of eternal life. Rather, the law was spoken to declare what the will of God is and what it is not.

Moreover, the law was there to create an antithesis. The law is the knowledge of sin. Oh, yes, Adam had not yet sinned and transgressed when the law was given. He was not yet polluted by sin and found guilty of it. But by that law Adam was taught what was the direct opposite of the will of God. That alone was the source of the knowledge of sin for Adam. There he was confronted immediately by the antithesis. The thesis for Adam was to love his God with all his being as Adam was the servant-friend of God. The antithesis is anything that is in direct opposition to God’s will, which in principle is to hate God and become his enemy.

God is pure thesis. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He is the implication of all perfections. He is pure light and the absolute being. Rev. Marinus Schipper explained the life of God this way:

It should be clearly understood that in God himself there is no antithesis. Though the antithesis is of Him, it is not in Him. God is pure thesis. The word “antithesis,” as any good dictionary will tell you, is composed of two words: anti and thesis. Anti means, against. Thesis comes from a Greek word meaning: to place or set. Thesis, therefore, is that which is put, or set; while antithesis is that which opposes that which is set. Now, God is, as we said, the thesis. He is light, and there is no darkness in him. He is the truth, and there is no lie in him. He is righteousness, and there is no unrighteousness in him. God never, from this point of view, suffers opposition, experiences contrary winds, has any antithesis in himself. If there is any antithesis, and there is, he creates it. Of this he speaks in Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.” See also Amos 3:6. God willed and created the darkness that he might forever hate it; and on the other hand, he willed to reveal all the glory of his thetical being on the dark background of sin and evil and so creates the darkness to be a servant.

And the truth is that God also put the thesis in his people by his grace. And so he commands them to live thetically in every department of life as lights in the world of darkness.⁸

The thesis that God puts in his people is his law. Adam had the living will of God in his heart; but as Adam lived and walked with God in paradise, Adam also had to hear God’s will, so that by hearing he might be admonished to live thetically in the way of righteousness and antithetically as he was confronted with the knowledge of sin.

As a psychosomatic, personal being, man is a rational, moral creature. And by the breath of life, he became a living soul—that is, he was created as one physical-psychical being. He was both a physical and a spiritual being. Therefore, he consciously enjoyed fellowship with God in paradise. He actively walked with God and talked to him. Endowed with knowledge, Adam consciously responded to God as a result of God’s harmonious fellowship with Adam. Moreover, because within the covenant there are life and energies, Adam had all the liberty to serve God and him alone. It would thus be seen that Adam’s obedience was more directed to God than to serve Adam’s own good. Even with the knowledge of sin, Adam had the freedom to fulfill his service and pay homage to God with all his being. To clarify, Adam’s freedom did not consist primarily in his choosing whether to sin or not. His freedom was always to be in harmony with God’s will. It was spontaneous for Adam to serve God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. Adam had the freedom to align himself perfectly with the will of God. Adam also had the freedom not to sin. He was able not to sin (posse non peccare).

But this ability not to sin, dear reader, was not enough for Adam to attain a higher level of righteousness. No matter how able Adam was to fulfill the probationary law and to live thetically according to God’s will and actively to choose not to sin, that goodness of man was not the highest good. This evidently was true when the probationary law was given to Adam. The giving of the law was an allusion of God that Adam was lapsible. If he were not, then the command would have had to be in only a positive form. But the command was also given negatively to check Adam’s lapsible nature, to bring him from whence he had been taken—from the dust. The command was to imbed in Adam’s consciousness the reality of the “weakness” in his nature, as Calvin said, to impress in Adam’s mind and heart that he was not the highest expression of good. The highest expression of good was neither Adam nor the paradise in which he lived. He was in constant danger, for he was only a man. Danger was imminent as long as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in paradise and in sight. Being posse non peccare was not enough. He needed to be perfect—that is, he needed a rectitude that by nature was impossible to lose, a righteousness that by nature was in perfect harmony with the nature of God, who is the implication of all perfections. That was impossible. Adam was just a man by nature and had creaturely perfections. Through Adam God reflected his divine perfections, but the truth remains that Adam had just a creaturely reflection of God’s perfections. With Adam it was impossible to attain a higher righteousness. He was hopeless to attain a more blissful life with God. All belonged to the earth no matter how well Adam performed perfect obedience.

But for the last Adam, Jesus Christ, it is possible to attain the highest good. He is the mediator, who is not only a perfectly righteous man but who is also fully God. Jesus Christ cannot sin, unlike the first Adam. Jesus Christ can attain a higher level of rectitude than what was given to Adam in paradise. Because Jesus Christ is the end of all things, he is the ultimate Adam. And ultimately, Jesus Christ is God himself.

Regarding the initial evaluation of man when he was still walking with God in paradise, it is thus evident how insufficient man was in paradise. Any hope then should never be fixed on man, who in himself could not pass from this earth into heavenly glory. He needed someone outside himself to pass from this earth into heavenly glory. And that need could only be realized in the way of sin.

Man had to sin. This aspect of the truth I plan to treat next time.