* The following was a handout I wrote for a brief presentation in a Philosophy 101 class.
Biblical View
of Humanity
Richard Klaus
June 2018
1.
What is the Bible? Answer: the book you
find in hotel rooms.
a.
One book: 66 books (Protestant canon)[1]
i. Written
over 1600 years
ii. By
over 40 different authors
b.
Two major sections: Old Testament (39 books) and New
Testament (and 27 books).
i. Old
Testament: Jewish structure:
TaNaK = Torah
(Law), Nebi’im (Prophets), and Kethubim (Writings)[2]
|
Law (Torah)
|
Prophets (Nebi’im)
|
Writings (Kethubim)
|
|
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
|
The Former
Prophets
Joshua
Judges
Samuel
Kings
The Latter
Prophets
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
The Book of the Twelve
(Minor Prophets)
|
Poetic Books
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Five Scrolls
(Megilloth)
Ruth
Song of Solomon
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Historical
Books
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
|
ii. New
Testament
|
Gospels
|
History
|
Letters
|
Apocalyptic
|
|
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
|
Acts
|
(Author=Paul)
Romans
1 & 2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 & 2 Thessalonians
1 & 2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 & 2
Peter
1, 2, & 3
John
Jude
|
Revelation
|
2.
How to understand the Bible? “Is
there a unified view of a set of books which covers over 2000 years of history?”
a.
Covenant
as a key category
i. Creation
ii. Noah
iii. Abraham
iv. Moses
v. David
vi. New
b.
Storyline of the Bible: narrative arc
·
Creation >> Fall >> Redemption >> Restoration
·
A linear view of history: “History is not
reversible, not repeatable, not cyclic; history is not meaningless. Rather, history is teleological, going
somewhere, directed toward a known end.”[3]
c.
According to Christianity: Jesus Christ is the
centerpiece of the biblical narrative
i. Religious
devotion but also…
ii. Jesus
is the final and teleological purpose of all revelation
iii. Jesus
sparked a hermeneutical revolution in regards to interpreting the Old Testament[4]
3.
Creation—humanity
as created by God
a.
Humanity is created by God
i. Process
is not specified
ii. Creator/creature
distinction: there is a metaphysical chasm between the Creator and that which
he creates
b.
Created in the
image of God: C. John Collins
outlines views on the image of God
1.
Resemblance: human beings
like God in some aspect(s) such as intellect, moral sense, will, rationality,
etc.
2.
Representative: humans commanded
by God to rule creation on God’s behalf
3.
Relational: humans as
male/female and in community as they manifest the “image of God”
· Scholars commonly speak as if these categories are
mutually exclusive. My view is
that the linguistic and exegetical details favor the idea that “in our image,
after our likeness” implies that humans were made with some kind of resemblance
to God, which was to enable them to represent God as benevolent rulers, and to
find their fulfillment in their relationships with each other and with God. That is, I have combined all three
views,…[5]
c.
Some other elements of humanity…
i. Finite
and dependent
ii. Morally
accountable
iii. Material
being animated by spirit (dualist conception)[6]
iv. More
valuable than other created animals; yet responsible for the rest of creation
v. Social
creatures
·
Marriage >> family
a.
Gendered distinctions between sexes
b.
Sex: procreative and unitive
4.
Fall—alienation: the problem of humanity
a.
Four-fold rupture in humanity’s relationships: alienation from…
i. God
ii. Others
iii. Ourselves
iv. the
created order
b.
Consequences: alienation and cursed
i. Death: physical and spiritual
ii. Disease: creation is “groaning”
(Romans 8.20-22)
c.
The image of God is not completely erased or
lost >> but it is distorted
5.
Redemption—God’s
solution to human alienation
a.
Old Testament—redemption promised and
illustrated
i. Election
and mission: particularity for the sake of universality
·
Abraham à
to bless the nations (Genesis 12.3)
·
Israel
à to bless the nations (Exodus 19.6)
ii. NOTE:
Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 1-15): paradigmatic redemptive event when Israel is released from:[7]
·
Political oppression
·
Economic exploitation
·
Social violation and the violation of basic
human rights
·
Spiritual bondage to false gods
iii. God
chooses Israel as a special people: to manifest God’s character to the
nations (Deuteronomy 4.5-8)
·
Special laws that mark them out as the people of
God and manifest a distinct identity (example: Leviticus 19.19)
iv. Offices
and institutions
·
Prophet—speak on God’s behalf
·
Priest—mediate for the people on behalf of God
·
King—rules God people with the ideal of justice
and righteousness
v. Much
of the Old Testament is taken up with narrating the failure of Israel and its
institutions to fulfill their task of being a light to the nations and the
subsequent judgment of God upon his people.
b.
New Testament—redemption accomplished and
fulfilled
i. Jesus
Christ is the central character of the New Testament
ii. Perspectives
on Jesus—his identity and mission
·
Embodiment of Israel—where Israel failed to be a
light to the nations, Jesus faithfully fulfills his task[8]
·
Healer—there is no denigration of the body
·
Fully human and fully God—incarnation (John
1.1-3, 14)
·
Perfect embodiment of prophet, priest, and king
·
Crucifixion on the cross—Jesus sees this as a
“ransom” (Mark 10.45)
·
Resurrection from the dead
iii. Early
church: portrait of its life, teaching, and mission in the rest of the New Testament
(Acts, and Letters)
·
Central message is Jesus’ death and resurrection
as the focal point of redemption
·
New community is formed around this belief and
experience (the “church”)
·
These followers of Jesus are to manifest the
life of God through Christ to the nations—to be the light of the world (Matthew
5.14-16)
·
Wait for the return of Christ while manifesting
the reality of the Kingdom of God here and now in their beliefs and lifestyles
iv. Ethics
·
Greatest commandment—“Love God and love your
neighbor” (Mark 12.28-31—Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6.5 and Leviticus 19.18)
·
As the Jesus message-movement moves out into the
nations beyond Israel there is an increasing challenge to bring the new
converts into ethical alignment with behavior consistent with the message of
Jesus
·
Example à
sexual ethics
a.
NT is not anti-sex
b.
NT does place sexual intercourse in a tightly
regulated sphere
i. Marriage
between one man and woman
ii. Out
of bounds: fornication, adultery, homosexuality, prostitution (1 Corinthians
6.15-20)
6.
Restoration—the
future-oriented fulfilled plan of God in history
a.
Resurrection is the great future-oriented hope
for Christians
i. This
is a bodily state with a renewed body (1 Corinthians 15.42-44)
ii. “Heaven”
is not a disembodied eternal state
b.
Resurrection has reference to the entirety of
the created order—it will be renewed and set free from its curse and “groaning”
(Romans 8.18-22)
c.
A future separation of the righteous and the
wicked (Mathew 25.31-46) à
heaven or hell
7.
Conclusions—biblical
view of humanity
a.
Created in the image of God to rule and reign in
communion with God over God’s creation
b.
The Fall brings disruption and death at every
level of humanity
c.
Redemption is God’s gracious program to reunite
humanity to himself and institute his wise and kind rule over the earth (“the
kingdom of God”)
d.
Redemption finds its ultimate fulfillment in
Jesus Christ who is both God and man.
He is, thus, the mediator between God and humanity. His death and resurrection is the great
redemptive event in the entirety of the Bible
e.
God will restore all things and bring
resurrection power to bear in transforming his people and the rest of the
created order into the fullness of his righteous rule on earth. Those who are Christ’s people by belief
and allegiance to him will rule and reign with Christ forever.
[1] The issue of which books
belong in the Bible is referred to as the canon. For an introductory study on this issue see my “The Canon of
Scripture: A Brief Introduction.” Online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-canon-of-scripture-brief.html.
[2]
Chart is taken from Paul D. Wegner, “How Did We Get the Old Testament?” Credo Magazine (February 2015), 20. Available online at: www.credomag.com.
[4]
For some brief comments on this see my essay “The Apostle Paul as the Isaianic
Servant: Paul’s Use of Isaiah 49.6 in Acts 13.47.” Online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-apostle-paul-as-isaianic-servant.html.
[8]
See my short pieces on this aspect of the identity of Jesus: “Old Testament
Quotations in Matthew 2: Some Comments,” online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2013/12/old-testament-quotations-in-matthew-2.html
and “Jesus and Israel Parallels,” online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2013/10/jesus-and-israel-parallels.html.
* MORE INFORMATION:
The first chapter laying out the worldview questions and then almost all of chapter 2 on Christian Theism is on Google Books for preview.
A comparison chart for Sire's book is HERE.
