Chapter 20
The
Creation of Man
"And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them. And God
blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth
upon the earth." Genesis 1:26-28
Solomon
understood that all the problems of men in this world are owing to the sin and
fall of our father Adam. Original sin is the origin of all evil, sorrow, and
death in this world (Ecc. 7:20, 29). God created our
father Adam morally upright and righteous, in the image of Christ; but Adam
sinned and, sinning, plunged all the human race into sin and spiritual death,
under the curse of God’s holy law. In this study, we will see the original
state in which our father Adam, as the head of all the human race, was created,
the circumstances in which he lived, and the terrible sin and crime by which
our race was plunged into spiritual death and made subject to eternal death and
the wrath of God.
The Creation of Man
Genesis
1:26-28 speaks of a consultation made between the three Persons of the holy
Trinity in which God the Father said to God the Son and God the Spirit, “Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness.” Then, on the sixth day of creation, as the crowning work of his
hands, the Lord God “formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"
(Gen. 2:7).
Throughout
the ages there have been some who have taught that there was another race of
men created by God prior to Adam. This preadamite doctrine has been maintained for many
reasons. Most commonly today, those who teach it do so as a justification for
some form of racism. If you are exposed to such doctrine, do not allow the
arguments given to convince you of this error to have any effect upon you. The
Scriptures speak plainly about Adam and describe him as “the first man Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). That
one statement is sufficient to lay to rest all arguments given to support the preadamite error.
I
cannot add anything to all that has been said and written about the creation of
man. I simply want to remind you of those things obviously revealed in the Word
of God. I hope you will be led, in the consideration of these things, to
worship, trust, and adore your Creator. As we consider the things taught in
Holy Scripture about the origin of man, we should stand in awe of God,
declaring with David, "I will praise
thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Ps. 139:14).
In
his original state man was created, body, soul, and spirit, in the image of God[1].
Without question, that means many, many things. It certainly includes the fact
that man was created with intellect, emotion, and will. It certainly includes
the fact that man was given dominion over all creatures in the earth and over
the earth itself. Without question, it also includes the fact that man, as he
was created by God, was given a living, undying, immortal soul.
Man’s physical uprightness
reflects the image of Christ, our God, Mediator, and Creator. Others debate the
issue, but I have no doubt at all that it certainly includes, though it is not
limited to, the erect posture of man’s body. Man’s erect body is one of many
things which distinguish him from four-footed animals. I am fully aware that
God is not a physical Being. “God is
Spirit.” He does not have physical parts or a physical body. However, our
Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is said to be “the
Image of the invisible God,” does possess a physical body. When God said, “Let us make man in our image,” he
certainly had in mind the physical as well as moral image of the incarnate God
who would come into the world in the fullness of time. In other words, the
first Adam was made in the image of the last Adam.
John
Gill observed that by the erectness of his body -
“Man is fitted and directed to look upward to the heavens, to contemplate them,
and the glory of God displayed in them; and even to look up to God above them,
to worship and adore him, to praise him for mercies received, and to pray to
him for what are wanted.” Gill went on to say that the uprightness of our bodies,
“Instructs men to set their affections not on things on earth, but on things in
heaven. Indeed, it is natural for every man, whether in any great distress, or
when favored with an unexpected blessing, and when he receives tidings that
surprise him, whether of good or bad things, to turn his face upwards. In the
Greek language man has his name, anthropos, from
turning and looking upwards.”
Man
was created in the image of God morally. I mean by that that our father Adam,
in his original creation was righteous. He was created with an uprightness and
rectitude of character, holy and righteous. “God
made man upright” (Ecc. 7:29). Adam was free from
all error, weaknesses, and mistakes of character as well as free from all sin.
He was perfect. His will was biased toward God. His affections flowed out to
his Creator. His thoughts were pure. His deeds were holy. There was no sin in
him, no propensity toward sin, and no inclination to sin. “This righteousness,”
Gill said, “of his was natural, and
not personal and acquired. It was not obtained by the exercise of his free
will. It was lost, not got, that way.”
Adam was created in the
image of God typically, too. The first Adam was created by God to be a type,
picture, and representative of the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. The first
man was a picture of the second man (1 Cor.
15:45-47). As we were lost by the work, sinful work and disobedience, of the
first Adam, so we are saved by the righteous work and obedience of the second
Adam (! Cor. 15:21-22; Rom. 5:12, 18-21).
The Coronation of Man
Read Psalm 8:1-9, and see
how God has crowned man with a dignity surpassing all other creatures. Man was
originally created in the image of God; and, as man was the crowning work of
God in creation, God crowned him above all his creatures. This is a subject
worthy of much more attention than I can give it in this study; but here are a
few things which will display the high honor God placed upon man, exalting him
above all his creatures.
The Lord God planted the Garden of Eden for man (Gen. 2:8). No
one has any idea where Eden was; but it was a perfect spot for the perfect man
whom God had made. God gave Adam everything he needed in the Garden of Eden to
support and maintain his life (Gen. 2:9-10). The tree of life was a type and
picture of Christ, the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God (Pro.
3:8; Rev. 2:7; 22:2). That tree was filled with fruit to sustain Adam in life.
It was God’s gift to him and represented the fact that his life was from God,
maintained by God, and depended upon God. Thus, even in his daily meals, Adam
lived by faith in God and worshipped him.
There was also a river in
the Garden with four heads, by which both the Garden and all the earth were
watered. This river symbolized life, vitality, and refreshment. It was typical
and representative of Christ, the gospel of God’s free grace in him, the Spirit
of God, the Word of God, and the everlasting love of God, all of which are
represented to us in the Scriptures under the symbol of water (Ps. 46:4; John
7:37-39; Rev. 22:1). The gospel of Christ and the doctrines of it, like this
river, go forth out of Zion to water the earth, making it fruitful everywhere.
The Spirit of God, like a mighty river, flows with living waters of grace to
all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself is a river, a fountain
opened for cleansing from sin. The everlasting love of God toward his elect is
a pure river of the water of life, flowing to sinners through all the earth. It
is a river with four blessed heads, or branches: (1.) Sovereign Election, (2.)
Effectual Redemption, (3.) Irresistible Grace, and (4.) Eternal Life (Rom.
8:29-30).
Adam was placed in the
Garden to dress it and keep it (Gen. 2:15). There was no toil or fatigue
involved in the work. Adam’s worship of God had as much to do with tending the
Garden as it did with walking with the Lord in the cool of the day. Even in
innocence, man was not without work. Even the angels of God have work to do by
which they serve him. They are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to
God’s elect. The work Adam was given was the most honorable work imaginable. He
was God’s gardener!
God gave Adam dominion over
all his creation. He made Adam king over everything (Gen. 1:28) and gave
everything in the earth to him to use and enjoy as he saw fit for the glory of
God (Gen. 1:29-30). Then he brought every living creature to Adam to be named
by him (Gen. 2:19). What a brilliant man Adam must have been. Even Plato was
overwhelmed by the brilliance of that mind that gave names to all things,
saying that it must have been more than human.
Then the Lord God made an helpmeet for Adam (Gen.
2:21-25). Adam was formed first, then Eve. They were not equal partners in a
self-gratifying relationship. They were a man and woman, husband and wife,
living together in love for God and one another. Their relationship is a
beautiful picture of Christ and his church. As Adam was put into a deep sleep
for Eve’s creation, so Christ was slain for the life of his church. As Eve was
taken from Adam’s side, so the church is born from the wounded side of the
second Adam. As Eve was created for Adam, not Adam for Eve, so the church
exists for Christ. As Eve was to be obedient to Adam in all things, so the
church is to be obedient to Christ in all things. As Adam was in all things
responsible for Eve, so in all things Christ is responsible for his church. As
Adam willingly became sin and died under the wrath of God because of his love
for Eve, so Christ willingly became sin and died under the wrath of God because
of his love for us. As Adam by his disobedience brought Eve into death and
condemnation, so Christ, by his obedience brought his church into life and
blessedness.
The Covenant with Man
Genesis
2:16-17 reveal a covenant God made with Adam. We know that this commandment
given to Adam by God was a covenant because God says so in Hosea
6:7, where he speaks of Adam’s sin as the transgression of his covenant. This
covenant made with Adam was a covenant of works. It was a covenant sanctioned
by the promise of life and the threat of death. The only thing God required of
Adam was perfect, personal, perpetual obedience. The covenant was soon broken
by Adam. In this covenant, Adam was God’s appointed substitute, federal head
and representative of all men. It is in this sense that Adam was a type and
figure of him that was to come (Rom. 5:12-14).
The breaking of this
covenant did not take God by surprise. He said to Adam, “In the day thou eatest
thereof,” (not if you eat thereof, but when), thou shalt surely
die.” The sin and fall of Adam was typical of and made way for the coming
of the second man, the Lord from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ and the new
covenant of grace in him (Ps. 76:10). The breaking of this covenant, Adam’s
disobedience to God led to the sin, corruption, and death of the whole human
race.
The Corruption of Man
Adam’s
transgression of God’s covenant was the ruin of our race. The Scriptures teach,
emphatically and constantly, that which is commonly referred to as the doctrine
of original sin. That is to say, -- All men and women became sinners when Adam
sinned and are born as sinners, in a state of utter and total depravity (Ps.
51:5; Rom. 5:12), going astray from God from the womb, “speaking lies” (Ps. 58:3), with hearts which are “deceitful above all things and disparately
wicked” (Jer. 17:9).
The Conversion of Man
The
fall of the first Adam made room for the obedience of the last Adam. Adam’s sin
made necessary Christ’s righteousness. Our ruin by Adam made room for our
redemption, resurrection, and restoration by Christ. After Adam and Eve sinned,
the Lord God came seeking the fallen pair (Gen. 3:9). God himself preached the
gospel to the guilty couple (Gen. 3:15). Before he drove them from the Garden,
God made a sacrifice for Adam and Eve and clothed them with the skins of an
innocent victim (Gen. 3:21). This is exactly what God did for us in the
sacrifice of his dear Son upon the cursed tree (Isa.
53:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18).
[1] The fact that man was created in the image of God places special sanctity upon all human life. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man" (Genesis 9:6).