Sunday School | Anthropology - The Doctrine of Man

Introduction

So we are, believe it or not, three down, seven to go. This whole series, this giant massive series, we're looking at 10, the 10 major areas of Christian doctrine. And we have burned through, three of them. What do we get done? Theology proper, doctrine of the first person of God, doctrine of the Father. Number two, Christology, doctrine of the Son, and new metology, doctrine of the Spirit. So we just have done those. And when I say done, of course, you can't ever be done. There's so much to it. But we're done talking about them. How about that? Good enough for that? Look, you guys, turn around. Right here in the middle of the church, there's this little row of lovelies. These are the early Blue Ridge Fellows. There's more coming. But right here, all these beautiful people, and one of their wives, right? So Rebecca's not really a fellow, but we're gonna pretend she's a fellow for most of the year. - Oliver! Fellows! - Where are the old fellows? - Which are kids? - Oh, over here with you. Fellows here, fellas here, we're taking over you guys. It's coming. Just wait, we're gonna blow the dog whistle one day, and then the fellows are gonna be released, and it's gonna be amazing, and we're gonna rule everything. So, all right, so if we've gone through, doctrine of the Father, doctrine of the Son, doctrine of the Spirit, do you remember what's next? Where do we go after that? What did you say? Yes, you wanna teach this class? Good work, okay? So, and what's the fancy pants way to talk about the doctrine of man? You know, we call that, what's the ology word for us? Anthropology, that's it. So, today we begin the next block of your organizing your notebooks on the back of whatever piece of paper you happen to have with you. We're starting anthropology, okay? So, if we're gonna talk about the doctrine of man, really we're gonna ask the question, what are we? And man includes men and women, and we can talk about that if you want to, but the doctrine of humanity, anthropology, if you're gonna understand what we are, what is this thing? What are you? What are we? There's principally two things about us that you have to understand, and if you miss either one of them, the story's not gonna make sense. So, let's play my favorite game, which is read my mind. What are the two? The doctrine of man has got to understand two macro topics, and that's what we're gonna start today. Okay, not yet, that's good. Life and death is good. We are gonna, some of us will live forever, some of us will die, but no, okay? This is why this is my favorite game, 'cause it's really hard. Doctrine of man, what are we? We are something, what do we wanna say? Okay, you're probably gonna get right, so I'm gonna call on you later, okay? All right, Gina, yup. Okay, yes, okay, very good, she said it fancy. Say it loud.

The Doctrine of Humanity: Image Bearers and Fallen Creatures

• Imago Dei.

What does that mean? Imago Dei.

• Image bears.

The image of God. If you're gonna understand what is humanity fundamentally, what are these things? These are image bears. You are made in the image of God, okay? Number one, we're gonna have to talk about what does it mean that we're made in God's image, but that's only half the story. Well, it's probably more than half of the story, but it's only part of the story.

What is the other thing that we gotta go?

• Not at all.

Fallen. So this is it. You are, like to understand what humanity is, what we are, we are the one creature in the entire universe that was made in the image of God. It's exalted, it's glorious, it's incredibly significant, and we're fallen. We're broken. This image has been marred. You might say that we were made in this image, and then we got acid thrown in our face. Are we still his image bears, Dan? Oh yeah, we are. It is not as if the fall erased the image, but it distorted it pretty significantly.

So to whatever extent it's supposed to be the case, when you see one of us, we are living statues of God. We're not as good a statue as we were meant to be, but not to worry, and we'll get to this eventually. Jesus has come to restore that image in us. He is the image of the invisible God, right? He is not fallen, and what he's doing, in fact, what God has been doing before the beginning of time is he predestined us to be conformed.

Do you know the next, can you finish that sentence? He predestined us to be conformed to, do you know? The image of his son, okay? So you could look at the totality, you could look at the entire gospel story through the lens of image. We were made in his image, then the image was marred, and then someone came who was the perfect image bearer so that he might restore us to that image, and we are turned into his likeness as we gaze upon his face, right? So image is a big, big theme, and we're gonna look at the doctrine of anthropology through this lens of image, where Imago Deo, or Imago Deo, how do we say this when we're being fancy, and we're broken, but we won't always remain in us.

Good enough, all right, where do you think we should go if we're gonna understand what it means to be made in his image?

• Genesis, yeah.

Genesis, all right, Genesis one, so if you got a Bible, go to Genesis one, let's take a look at this, okay? As you guys are making your way, it is the case that we're made in his image, and Genesis one is the place. You might ask the question, why did he do this in the first place? And do you know why he did? Why did he make us, and why did he make us in his image? Do you know?

• Yeah, Robin? I'm sorry, I said it again?

• He doesn't need anything.

Yes, he needs nothing.

• But did he make us for a film?

Oh, this is such a great question, okay? So, I'll ask the question, why did he do that? Why did he make us in his image, and then of course allow us to follow? Why did he do it all? Robin's like, she's stating it, but you can tell she's not sure, because it feels a little bit strange. She said, did he make us for fellowship, okay? What do you think about this? Did God make us? For fellowship with him?

• I would say yes.

Okay, you would say yes, who else would say yes? Yes, okay, and there is an absolute yes-ness to that, but here's the problem, it's really adjacent to another question. So, let's do it this way, did God make us? 'Cause he was, I got a dog, right? Why did we get a dog?

• So the dog was what?

• Right, in some regard, because we were lonely, right? There's something about having a dog that's like, I'm lonely, I'd like a pet, okay?

• Was God lonely?

No.

• No, no, no, and no, right? It's absolutely, so we could have an idea that God made us, for the same reason that we got this little sweet cockapoo, or that Susan and Doug got literally the best dogs, maybe. The these dogs are unbelievable dogs. What are they again?

• Australian lab.

• Australian labradoodles, these dogs are so incredibly well behaved. Probably in some sense, there's some loneliness that you wanna have this thing.

God doesn't have that, he's not lonely for us, but he did make us for fellowship, but there's a higher purpose for which God made us. And the scripture's actually pretty clear on it. Sarah, then you're gonna take a stab.

• To glorify him.

• To glorify himself. That is the right answer. And that's actually the answer. Why does he do everything he ever does? Listen to this. Here's Isaiah 43. Everyone who was called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Or Ephesians, that's Isaiah 43.7. Or Ephesians 1. In him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything and conformable with the purpose of his will. Here it is. In order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. Everything he does, he does for his glory. How did he choose to glorify himself and the creation of us? We're gonna see more of that as the story unfolds, but it begins that he made us in his image.

Alright, so you should be, maybe that Genesis 1 by now. Go to verse 26. Here is, yes, this is ground zero for anthropology. Genesis 1, 26.

The Creation of Man in God's Image

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.

For God so loved the world... — John 3:16

So we're not just talking about males, we're talking about humans. Verse 28, God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves along the ground."

Okay, so I want, we're just gonna stay here for a minute and I want you to think about what does it mean? What is meant by this phrase? It could be an empty phrase. He made us in his image, we're image-bearers.

What Does It Mean to Be Made in God's Image?

Okay, unpack that for me, okay? So when we say that God made us, just think about this creation. If you were to ask you, in fact, I am asking you, in this first six days of creation, God keeps making things and making things and making things, what does he say as he's making things? Okay, that's his reflection, that's his commentary on it. But what is the actual creative act? What does it sound like? What does he say?

Let there be, let there be light, let there be an expanse.

Right? Let there be, right, the pattern is let there be, let there be, let there be, let there be. What does that language sound like? What is he doing? He just, he's out of nothing, he's just like, boom, let there be and then there is, right? It's directive, it is, it's just, he just makes stuff by the virtue of saying it.

Have you ever noticed, after he says let there be this and let there be Latin, let there be something else and let there be a bunch of these, the whole pattern that you, by now you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let there be, let there be, let there be, that it breaks. What does he say when he makes us?

Take a look at it, Charlie. Genesis 1, 26, then God said, let us make. That's different, you feel that? Now, whenever you're reading a narrative that's endlessly repetitive and then the pattern breaks, it's intentional. You're supposed to be like, oh, weird, I was expecting you to say this and then you said that, I wonder why you said that.

So why does he shift from let there be, let there be, let there be to let us make? What's the, well, first of all, what's different about it? And we'll talk about why.

• Chris?

It feels more relational rather than something that they're just painting a big favor. And now let's make a decision.

• Okay, it is relational, very good. Yes, absolutely. There's making it, so what was directive has become more deliberative, right? Hey, here's an idea. What do you say we do this, right? Very good. What else is present here?

• Yep.

• Laurel. Laurel, who's he talking to? Do you see this? This is the first hint. It's early, it's 126. This is the first hint of the multi-personal nature of God. Now, you could not read 126 and say, oh, I get it, there's a trinity. Okay, don't overstate this. But let there be, let there be, let there be, gives way to let us, who you're talking to? Who, and what's the answer? Who is he talking to? He's talking to himself, essentially, right? He's talking to said, now we might just get at this point, you might maybe say it's a hint, not of the Trinitarian nature of God, but of the Benitarian nature of God. And in fact, earlier it did say that the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And so you might be like, okay, that's interesting. Perhaps there's some distinction of person. But whatever it is, there's a sense of, hey, here's an idea, let's us do this. It's different, it's different, it's new, it's changed.

• Harry?

Yes, are there not angels at this time?

Okay, now this is a possibility that he's talking not to himself, but to angels. But there's a problem with that theory. What's the problem with that theory?

• It didn't make us.

Right, so the angels aren't creative agents, and...

• What do they can't make?

Yeah, they can't make, but here's that, you guys, angels aren't made in the image of God. Do you know that? So when it says, let us make man in our image, we are not made in the image of God in angels, and angels aren't made in the image of God, we are. There's something distinct, angels are puzzled by us, because in a very real sense, we are less than them. Hebrews says that Christ was made, this is strange, that when Christ became a human being, he was made a little lower than the angels. Which is like, that's, I mean, everything about this, about the incarnation, we'll get to the incarnation eventually. Everything about that is surprising. So I don't think he can't, I mean, it sounds like, you might be like, well, who else is in a sandbox with him? Could be angels, but the angels are not part of the hour in whose image we are made. He is talking to himself.

Good enough.

• Kelly, no, just...

• I was thinking that, I mean, it's more collaborative at this point.

• Yes.

• And I found that kind of interesting, because I mean, the others didn't have a ability to exclude the spirit and the sun, and to the first part of all, with the other creation, and then all of a sudden it's like, hey.

• Yes. Well, and then here's what's gonna be kind of a little bit mind-blowing, is that by the time we get to Colossians, and we're gonna have more information revealed, it turns out that the sun is the creative agent of everything. Now, it's not obvious in Genesis 1, but so we, the Scriptures are what we'd call a progressive revelation, the dimmer switch is getting turned up, we're gonna learn more and more. And so right now, we might be operating under the thesis, that this is the Father and maybe the Spirit, we're just guessing 'cause we don't know much that are the we, but by the time Colossians, he's like, or even John 1, right? In the very beginning, everything that is made is made through the sun. And so the sun is involved, it's just not, they just haven't let us in on that secret quite yet, but if you look at Colossians 1 and John 1, unmistakably, Jesus is the creative agent for all things, so fascinating, right?

• Kelly Sue.

• Another difference between the let there be pattern is that man is made, we're from dust, like all the other stuff was exiting, like he just spoke and it was, but he picked dirt up to create.

• This, right, you know this? You notice this? He's making, so when Kelly says exiting a healer, that means out of nothing. He didn't turn something into light. He didn't turn something into, he's like, let there be, let there, he just, it's out of nothing, right?

But with us, you're made out, you're dirt, right? He took dirt, he made a little mud man, and then he blew into his nose, okay? That's the creative act. And so that's a change too, that in some regard, we are derivative, isn't that interesting? We're part of a collaboration. We are the final flourish, although technically women are the final flourish, right? The final ornament in this world, the finishing, now it's very good, is this, it's amazing, okay?

• Nate?

• So, Tom, you know she's like, being made in the image of God, being made in the image of angels, there's one thing that, in Kelly said something about dust at us, that comes to mind a specific passage that I'm thinking about as the baptismal passage that you guys read when people are getting baptized. As oil's getting wiped across the head, and stuff that comes to mind about how God perceives Christians in that sense.

• Okay, I got lost in that. So, what's the, say it in one more sentence, that we are, he perceives us in what sense?

• And how God perceives Christians as a holy people.

• Okay, yes, this is true. And we are, the reason that we are holy, in fact, we'll get to this, hopefully in a few minutes, is specifically because of our image bearing, right? We are, in some unique way, I mean, we love dolphins, dolphins are cool, and let's save the bald eagles, all these things, right, we care about creation, we're supposed to rule over it, but we are not just animals that have better thumbs, right? We are something distinct, yeah, that's right, there's more to us than this.

And in fact, here's what I want you to see, when we say that God made us in his image, there's a whole bunch of things that we could kind of grab on that, but I wanna give you a four, so you have some categories to grab onto. I think this captures essentially what it is that we're made in his image. Here's four things, although I'll tell you later, there's gonna be a surprise fifth, but not today. Here's the four, although I'll tell you later, there's gonna be a surprise fifth, but not today. Here's the four, you were made, you were given rank, and rule, and relationship, and reflection.

The Four Rs of Being Made in God's Image

When you think about what it means that I'm made in the image of God, rank, rule, relate, reflect. Think about those four things, okay, rank. What do we mean by rank? In some regard, we're better than everything, right? We are above, we are superior too. We are the greatest thing that he ever made, and he made a lot of really great things, but what he has imbued us with is a particular supremacy, a particular greatness because we are made for his. You have status, you have value, you have worth, mostly because you're made in his image.

Now, maybe this week, probably next week, we're gonna talk about why you don't really think that's true, and that you tend to draw your rank from something else, but in fact, your rank is because you're made in the image of God. And in fact, do you know why I'm not allowed to murder you, you ever considered this?

• We'll be destroying you.

Because we're destroying the image. Go to this, go to Genesis, scroll through Genesis, go to Genesis chapter nine. Why are we allowed to slaughter cattle and eat them, but we can't murder you even when you're being excessively annoying? Why can't we, it's Genesis nine, look at Genesis nine. Genesis nine, five, he says, and for your life blood, I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal and each man too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man, shall his blood be shed? What's the next line?

• For the image of God, God has made man.

The fact that you're made in God's image means that you are valuable. You're more valuable than you may have even dreamed, right? That is the central thing. So to be made in the age of God is to be given his dignity, to be given a rank unique above all creations. We're allowed to kill the tuna and eat them, right? But human beings, we are in an untouchable class because we're image bears, okay?

Number one, it means rank. Number two, it means rule, right? To go back to our passage here, it's all over the passage. Just listen to this. Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground, okay? We rule, we subdue the earth, and do you know why? It's because God rules and subdues the earth. And in fact, when we talk about you being made in the image of God, this is true for rank, it's true for all of these things. But in a deeper sense that we have a tendency to experience, or a tendency to be mindful of, you are what you are because he is what he is. You are what you are because he is what he is. The fact that we are given dominion to rule over things, it's derivative.

We're all viceroys, right? Functionally for the humans, there's no true king. We're all vickers, we all rule in his place. In fact, everything that exists rules in his place. When he, remember, what is the other ruler, the other governor that is made in Genesis? Do you remember? Think through your Genesis one, think through the days of creation. He made something else, actually two other things that he specifically grants governorship. And son, are you guys are gonna say? See, the people that raised their hands, they don't get to show off because somebody else just shouts it out, right? The son, what does the son rule?

• The day.

What does the moon rule?

• The night.

Okay, they rule in his place. Before he makes the son, he is the light. He is the light. And in Revelation it says they will no longer need the son, right, for the Lord himself will be the lamp. So he is the one who gives light to everything, and then he makes a son, and you gotta write, this is an important distinction. In fact, this video, I should've thought to queue this up. So maybe I'll, maybe we'll open with this next week, 'cause this is a fantastic short little vignette that explains this. God is not like the son. Do you know the inverse of that is true. The son is like him, right? He made a son, S-U-N. He made a giant burning ball to be like him. We would orbit around the son. We would find life from the son. I mean, honestly, of all the ridiculous pagan things, people worshiping goats, and all the absurdity that has been done throughout the history of the world, most of it is just pure stupidity. But the one thing that makes sense to me is worshiping the son, right? Like, is it Egyptians? Raw, maybe? Am I kidding? I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but the idea that you would worship the son makes perfect sense. You orbit around it, it gives you life. If it wasn't there, you'd be dead. It's very obvious. The son, he made the son to rule the day. It's a reflection of what he is. And then he made the moon. Not as impressive, right? But it rules the night. It's still pretty useful when it's lighting things up. In a similar way that he made the son to be like himself, or the moon to be like himself, he also made you to be way more like himself. And the one of these things that he's imparting to you is rulership, leadership. Some of you rule larger kingdoms than others, right? But everybody has some role of leadership, some role over creation. And everyone in this room is greater than the lines, and the tigers, and the bears, and the cheetahs, and the great Danes, and the sharks, and the eagles, and all the rest, right? We are the ones that rule. We're given rank. We're given rule.

Third one that's kind of interesting and confusing is the relate. Take a look at verse 27. So, "God created man in his own image." In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Now, it's relatively common to notice and include, right? The God made both men and women in his image. That's true, that's good. It is not the case that men are image bearers, and women are something else. It is not the case that women are image bearers, and men are something else. It is the case that we are each image bearers, but there's something more than just the equality of the sexes here, right? Why did he make us male and female when he could have made us as some kind of asexual, neuter thing, like algae, or whatever, right? Like, do you understand this? The fact that we bear his image, and the fact that he made us male and female are not disconnected ideas. Did you ever consider this? He has the ability to create things that reproduce asexually. Why aren't we that sort of a thing?

• He has a sense of humor.

• He has a sense of humor. (audience laughing)

• Incidentally diminished way of replicating the trinity.

This is really important. Here Chris said, in a diminished way, it replicates the trinity. You guys, you are made relationally because God is a relationship. Okay, you are made in the image of a God who is a relationship. He is not, he is also not some androgynous neuter. He is dynamic interaction, and that's a strange thing to consider. Okay, so sometimes I'll frame it like this, and it's momentarily heretical, right? If God were a cube and you were made in his image, you were made simpler but still in his image. So what would be the simple version made in the image of a cube?

• A square.

• A square, but what would a square need in order, if you're a square that was made for cubeness, what would you require?

• Other squares, right?

And this is what he seems to have done when he made us, he is a relationship, he is a dance, he is a community. And so he made us not to be independent things that don't require others, but he made us in some regard, and this is where it's just, just bear with me, because everything in Christianity's got this. Well, it's three, but it's one. You know, the co-eternal, and yet, there's begotten and proceeding. It's just, everything is a little bit weird. You are as an individual, as a single male, as an individual, as a single female, you are an image-bearer, and yet, it is in our community that we most fully bear his image, right? Do you feel this? And so marriage is, there's two great pictures, two great pictures that are shown forth in marriage. The one that we talk about the most is that marriage is a portrait of our relationship, of Christ's relationship to the church. Husbands are cast in the role of Christ. The church is cast, I mean, the women are at wives, are cast in the role of the church, and husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves the church. And wives are to respond to the leadership of their husband, the way the church ought to respond to Christ. That's Ephesians 5. We talk about that a lot. It's good, beautiful, but it's not the only picture. The other picture, as Chris suggested, as there's something about the fact that he made us male and female to reflect his image, that we are reflecting the Trinity. We're reflecting the multi-personal nature of God. When we say that the two have become one flesh, that's Trinitarian language, not Christ in the church language, right? You feel this? The idea that the two became one is, it's not that hard, right? To see the God is three in one. Multi-personal, Kelly and I are distinct people, and yet we are unified. The Father and the Son are distinct people, and yet they are unified. And it is diminished, Chris, you're right about that. But it's not hard to squint that and be like, "Oh, there's something being imaged here." Right? Couple of people want to say them about that? I feel like they're handsome. Is that Joe?

• There has a whole lot to do with it. God does things for his pleasure, and I believe he made male and female, so that we might also have a pleasure, remain in his image. There's a part of us that derives pleasure from the relationship that we have.

• Which part of us derives that pleasure, Joe? Okay, sorry. Is that too much? Yeah. (audience laughs)

Yes, yeah, if you know, you know. And you're right, and in fact, if we were to chase this all the way down, it's pretty stunning that when the two become one flesh, that's not just talking about marriage, that is talking about sex, and that union is meant to be. He's suggesting to us that this union is meant to be joyful, this union is meant to produce life. There's all kinds of things that he's saying about what he is like in the ways that he made us.

• About to be permanent.

• What's that?

• It's meant to be permanent.

• Oh, meant to be permanent, absolutely. That's totally the case, yeah.

• PJ?

I think one of the most peacegiving thoughts that I have is that before all of creation, and at the nucleus of all things, is relationship.

• Absolutely, right? Before you think about this, you know, if you ask a materialist, what's the first thing in the universe? What's the answer? Hydrogen would be the answer, right? So you got the, you know, at the singularity, when all of the matter, the universe could dance and explicit, what you get is hydrogen, pretty quickly you get helium, things start banging around, and then eventually, like they start banging around enough that you get to things like iron, you know? But all the matter in the universe is essentially hydrogen that's been slamming into other molecules, and then ultimately, we end up getting like eyeballs, right? That's the story. Hydrogen plus a freaking ton of time produces like muscle fiber, essentially. And even if you just accept the absurdity of that, what PJ is saying is hydrogen is not original. What was pre-hydrogen was love, community, deference, relationship, delight, honor. What was going on in the persons of the Godhead, what was happening amongst the Trinity, all of it proceeds carbon. It's earlier. It's earlier than, it's superior to, it's more basic than, more fundamental, it's better. Relationship is first.

If you're a Muslim, you don't have a Trinitarian God, what is his essence? What is the essence of Allah? His power. It's fundamental nature as he is power. But in Christianity, what does John say is the essence of God? Love, this presumes relationship. Relationships come first, but it proceeds matter itself. Isn't that fascinating?

Reflecting God: Reflection, Dependence, and the Fallen State

Okay, so you are made in the image of God. Rank, rule, I gotta keep moving. Relate, we've said, and then what's the fourth one? Rank, rule, relate, reflect.

That's maybe one thing that I want you to consider here. That's maybe present less in the sun and more in the moon. We were not made to be images of ourselves or images of him. You are not a sun, S-U-N, that burns with its own light, but you are a moon that reflects light. What it means to be made in his image is that we are reflecting what he is for that the rest of the world may see him. You are a mirror, if you will.

• Brenda?

• He's invisible.

• Right, and he is invisible. Okay, so this is a little bit of a crazy maker. When we say that we are the image of God, most people probably have some sense that God looks like something and then you look similar to him, right? He has this and you're like, you know, a pencil sketch drawing of his actual thing. But the problem, Brenda, is what does he look like? He's invisible. So it's not that you are the second derivative of his image. You are actually what he, you're what he looks like. You are the visible manifestation of what he is, albeit in a skewed way. We're gonna unpack that in time to come.

Here's something, this is my favorite thing. Andrew Murray, I've mentioned this about 1,000 times. Andrew Murray wrote a bunch of books, mostly on prayer, but he wrote a book on humility, titled Humility. And it's phenomenal, it's absolutely extraordinary. Probably 90 pages, you should absolutely read it. It's the only book that I've ever read each chapter three times before I read the following chapter, the whole book. And when you read it, you might think like, it doesn't seem like it's that complicated. And it's not, it just leaked out the back of my head as I was reading it. And so I would go back, and I've read it many times since.

Here's what Murray says, "When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making the creature partaker of his perfection and blessedness." To make the creature, that's you, "partaker to be the recipient of, the participant in his, what is it, his blessedness, his glory? What is it, his perfection and blessedness?" And so, showing forth in it, in that creature, the glory of his love and power. God wished to reveal himself in and through created beings by communicating to them, this is a great line, "as much of his own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving." So he makes the world and he creates these things whose purpose in the world is to be recipients of his blessedness, his perfect, making him just fill him as much as they can contain of his own glory and goodness, as much as they're capable of receiving.

And then he says this, "As God is the ever living, ever present, ever acting one who upholds all things by the word of his power and in whom all things exist," and here's the payoff, "the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing absolute universal dependence."

Murray uses the word dependence as a synonym for humility throughout the book. To be humble is to be dependent. You are not made to like generate your own light. You are made to receive light from him, to benefit from it and then to reflect it out to others. That was the deal. Your highest or the pinnacle of humanity is to be utterly dependent on God.

To be made in his image is to be recipient of his glory, of his greatness, his supremacy, his beauty, and then to simply bounce it to others. That others would see in their reflected life coming off of you what he is. That was the plan. And then we are gonna see that that gets all messed up. The absolute pinnacle of human accomplishment is to be utterly dependent on God, then the pinnacle of human accomplishment is not to be great, but you probably think it is. You probably assume that the pinnacle of human accomplishment is to be independent, to have others dependent on you, to be the glorious one, and you're wrong. And we're all wrong about that. And that's because we're not just image bears made for rank, rule, to relate, and reflect, but we are also fallen. And so what we'll do, I don't have time to start it this week, so we won't give you a chance to comment on a couple of things. And then next week we're gonna talk about why. I think the logic of Murray, here it is again, as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting one who upholds all things by the word of his power, and in whom all things exist, the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence. It's obvious when you hear him say it. But it won't be obvious in about five minutes. Why not? Because something is wrong, because we are fallen. In the rank, the rule, the relationships, yay, even the reflection, are marred, this mirror, the surface of the mirror has been horribly distorted.

And what we'll do next week, and we'll take a look at, okay, if that's also good and all glorious, why is it gone so sideways? We'll start to look at that next week. Okay, Katherine.

• You know, God being invisible is such a good thing because Jesus, when Philip said shows the Father, and Jesus said, "Don't you know me, Philip?" And it's like, so he was saying, "If you know me, enough." And so to me, it's all about what you do. It's God's glory, showing to us is how we act, what we do, what we say, what we think.

• Well, yes, and Katherine, you're exactly, what should be the case, that we reflect his image so well, we bear that image so vividly, that to know us is to know the Father. But that's not the case, clearly, right? But Jesus could say it with a straight face. Because he bore the image, and in fact, well, we'll unpack this eventually, but when we see Jesus bearing the image, we will sometimes think that, well, that Jesus is simply talking about the fact that he is God, and he is God, that in those moments, he's not talking about the fact that he is God, he's talking about the fact that he's a perfect human being. Because the perfect human being bears the image of God perfectly. Those are actually attestations of his humanity and the perfections thereof, okay? So here's what we're gonna end. God has supreme rank, so you have supreme rank. God's a ruler, so you're a ruler. God is relational, so you are relational. You are what you are because he is what he is, and we reflect him as you turn our face toward him. Next week, we'll talk about how all of that is all jacked up, and you might think through that lens. Like, how did, how is our, we could look at all of our relationships, or specifically male/female relationships. You could talk about how is maleness no longer, a particularly good image of the divine, how is femaleness not really killing it right now on an image of the divine? You could think about all those things, and then we come together next week, we'll try to, I'll show you the biblical case, we'll take you to the scene of the crime when the acid got thrown in our face, and we'll see kind of how it all plays out.

Good enough.

• Thank you. I don't think you're in Sunday school next week.

• Oh, what's next week?

• Labor Day.

• We have nothing on Labor Day?

• Oh, get the week off, Dave. Who knew? Neither one of us knew that, so that's a good sign. Dave knew, I didn't know. Okay, so two weeks, two weeks, we'll talk about how the image gets marked. Good enough. All right, thank you, Kelly, appreciate that. All right, see you guys.