The God of Promise and the Life of Faith E-Book

Scott J. Hafemann

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 480

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2001

Beschreibung

This theological primer lets the Bible tell its own message, providing a basic framework for Scripture that will encourage readers to take up the Bible for themselves and grow in faith, hope, and love.

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THE GOD OF PROMISE AND THE LIFE OF FAITH

Too often the benefit of biblical scholarship is not apparent to busy pastors or inter­ested laypersons. Hafemann demonstrates in The God of Promise that biblical theol­ogy is immensely practical and foundational for all of life. Faith, hope, and love may strike us as abstract virtues removed from the nitty-gritty of everyday life. Hafemann puts hands and feet on what faith, hope, and love mean, and at the same time shows how they relate to the theology of the whole Bible. Here is a book where theology and practice are wedded together, a book that challenges the mind and the heart, a book that will transform the way you think about God and will fill you with hope for the future. This hope, as Hafemann so powerfully explains, will free us to love others as ourselves.

—THOMAS R. SCHREINER

Professor of New Testament Interpretation

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Scott Hafemann, a master teacher who possesses an unusually tender heart for God and his people, understands the redemptive scope and structure of the Bible as clearly as any writer in our time. In The God of Promise he gives the thoughtful Christian a serious work of biblical theology that puts the truth on a level where many will be able to grasp it. How should we understand the covenantal structure of the Bible, the law of God, the Sabbath, good and evil in the world, the suffering of God’s children, and the necessary relationship of faith to obedience? The answers Hafemann provides could foster the much needed reformation/revival I have prayed for. I will personally use this book to engage hungering hearts and inquiring minds wherever possible. I welcome this insightful work enthusiastically.

—JOHN H. ARMSTRONG

President, Reformation and Revival Ministries

Carol Stream, Illinois

Hafemann has given us a sweeping, soaring account of the God of grace and glory who is at the center of the biblical revelation and of life. With this account comes a summons to live before him in a way that is faithful and, as it turns out, counteredturaI. This is a fine, invigorating, and refreshing study.

—DAVID F. WELLS

Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Scott Hafemann slices away the cancerous sham of our culture’s illusory hopes, and the pathetic nature of its feeble promises, in this provocative and compelling overview of Scripture’s central theme. As a theological road map, The God of Promise unfolds faith, hope, and love’s essential place on God’s covenant-route home for his children a route that leads us back to the garden of his fellowship, to experience the ultimate joy of his presence.

—DORINGTON G. LITTLE

Senior Pastor, First Congregational Church

Hamilton, Massachusetts

For all too many Christians in North America, the Bible is a closed book. Even though we know we should be people of the Book, we have neglected Bible study either because we have more pressing or more interesting things to do or because the Scriptures simply do not make sense to us. In this day of instant gratification, we want our information in sound bites which will not overly burden our multi-tasking brains. Scott Hafemann’s handbook offers an invaluable service to the greater part of the church that has not yet discovered the joys of studying Scripture for themselves. In a wonderful blend of insightful scholarship and pastoral concern, Hafemann provides us with a succinct and well-written sweep of the major theological themes in the Bible within a comprehensive understanding of the history of Israel, Jesus, and the mission of the church. Instead of taking the Bible apart and leaving it in disjointed pieces, as biblical scholarship is wont to do, Hafemann helpfully provides a basic framework which puts the pieces together in their proper places so that we can begin to appreciate how Scripture coheres as God’s self-revelation. This book will encourage and empower a new generation of believers to become genuine people of the Book in the twenty-first century.

—JAMES M. SCOTT

Professor of Religious Studies

Trinity Western University

Hafemann’s excellent book is for the serious-minded reader, though one certainly does not have to be a scholar to understand it fully. Those who plumb its depths will find treasure. Among the strengths is the explanation of divine sovereignty and how it relates to the Christian faith and to the fulfillment of God’s promises. This is a much needed emphasis in an evangelical world in which increasingly God is not only not viewed as the Absolute Sovereign but is also seen as not all knowing. Hafemann’s book is not a merely theoretical work but is concerned at every point to relate “theology” to the daily life of the Christian. Readers will find the discussions about suffering especially helpful. Hafemann rightly shows that a diligent grappling with the interpretation of the Bible and its theological implications is essential to practical Christian living. Readers will also be benefited by Hafemann’s skillful explanations of how major Old Testament themes relate to the New Testament.

— G. K. BEALE

Professor of New Testament, Graduate Biblical and Theological Studies

Wheaton College

The God of Promise and the Life of Faith

Copyright © 2001 by Scott J. Hafemann

Published by Crossway Books

a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Scripture references are from the Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1946,1952,1971,1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Cover design: Uttley/DouPonce Design Works

First printing 2001

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloglng-in-Publication Data

Hafemann, Scott J.

The God of promise and the life of faith : understanding the heart of the Bible / Scott J. Hafemann.

    p.       cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 13:978-1-58134-261-1

ISBN 10: 1-58134-261-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible—Theology. 2. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.

BS543 .H33     2001

230’.041—dc21

2001003560

VP           16     15     14     13     12     11    10     09     08     07    06

24    23    22    21    20    19    18    17    16    15    14    13    12    11

To My Sons,

John Daniel and Eric Scott

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION: BACK TO THE BIBLE

1    WHY DO WE EXIST?

Lessons from the Creation of the World

The Image and Kingdom of God

The Creator/Creature Distinction

The Function of Creation

God the Creator and Sustainer

The Nature of Idolatry

Honoring God as God

The Implications of Idolatry

The Lesson from Creation

2    WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW GOD?

The Covenant God of the Sabbath

The Problem with People

The Sabbath as a Signpost

The Good News of God’s Rest

Keeping the Sabbath

The Sabbath as a Statement of Faith

The Covenant Relationship at Creation

The Covenant Structure of the Bible

The Unity of the Bible

3    WHAT WENT WRONG AND WHAT HAS GOD DONE ABOUT IT?

Self-Reliance and the Call to Rest

The Fall from the Sabbath

From the Fall to the Flood

Back to the Sabbath: Step One—Mercy After Judgment

Back to the Sabbath: Step Two—The Election of Abraham

Learning the Lesson of God’s Character

Back to the Sabbath: Step Three—The Exodus as a Fulfillment of Creation

Back to the Sabbath: Step Four—The Reestablishment of Rest

4    WHY CAN WE TRUST GOD, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS?

The Focus and Foundation of Faith

Manna from Heaven and the Call to Faith

The Inextricable Unity of Faith and Obedience

The Glory of God as the Assurance of Salvation

The Glory of God as the Basis of Mercy

The Glory of God and Human Expectation

The Foundation, Focus, and Obedience of Faith

The Glory of God and the Life of Dependence

5    WHY DOES GOD WAIT SO LONG TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT?

“Saved in Hope”—Living for the Future

The God of Hope

God’s Purpose in Unfulfilled Promises

Learning to Hope After the Exile

The Old Testament Pattern of Hope

The Resurrection of Jesus and the Hope of Christians

The Role of Suffering in the Life of Hope

The Holy Spirit and Hope

The Cross of Christ and the Hope of Christians

The Certain Hope of God’s People

6    WHY IS THERE SO MUCH PAIN AND EVIL IN THE WORLD?

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

Suffering and God’s Sovereignty: Three Common Approaches

Suffering and God’s Sovereignty: A Fourth Approach

The Sovereign God as the God of Love

The Character of God’s Sovereignty in Suffering

Suffering as a Christian

Suffering in the Footsteps of Jesus

7    WHY DO GOD’S PEOPLE SUFFER?

The School of Affliction

Suffering as a Schoolmaster

Suffering as a Taskmaster

Suffering as a “Blind Date” with God: The Lesson of Job

Suffering as a Midwife for God’s Glory: The Example of Paul

8    WHY DO GOD’S PEOPLE OBEY HIM?

Holiness and Hope

Hope and Desire

Future Grace

Hope and History

Hope and Obedience to the Law

Hope, Future Grace, and Obedience

The Pathways to Holiness

9    WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES JESUS MAKE?

Faith, Forgiveness, and the Freedom to Obey

Jesus’ Inescapable Demands

The Fulfillment of the Law

The New Covenant

The Law of the Gospel and the Gospel in This Law

The Heart of the Good News

The Scandal of the Cross

Saved by Grace

CONCLUSION: WHO ARE WE?

The Marks of a Christian

“Godly Grief”

The Gift of the Gospel

“The Obedience of Faith”

The Marks of God’s Presence

The Sum of the Matter: A New Creation for God’s Glory

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Books have stories of their own that, like our stories, testify to the grace of God. This particular book has come into being over the past fourteen years. It began with a spurt of writing back in 1986 during my second year of teaching at Taylor University, Upland, Ind., when the book’s basic profile and main lines of argument were established. My goal from the beginning was to summarize for others what I had come to understand as the heart of the Bible’s life-transforming message. My first word of thanks thus goes to my three most formative professors, Drs. John Piper, Daniel Fuller, and Peter Stuhlmacher, for the manifold ways in which they shaped my view of the Scriptures. One never grows tired of acknowledging how much we owe our teachers.

I am also indebted to the secretaries who worked at that time in the second floor typing pool of Reade Hall, whose names are unfortunately lost to history. I can still remember carrying my scribbled pages up the stairs and thankfully picking up in return typewritten prose. In those days before PCs, I could never have gotten this project off the ground without them. Moreover, Paul House, my new friend at the time, was also busy writing his own ideas about the unity of the Bible (in his case, working on the unity of the so-called minor prophets). His excitement about the Word and commitment to a scholarship that honors it encouraged me daily, as they have ever since. Heartfelt thanks are in order to him as well.

In hindsight, the contours of the book at that time were still too undefined for it to be published, though in my youthful exuberance I certainly tried! After a few rejections, however, I put the manuscript in my file cabinet, affectionately labeled it the “dead dog,” and took it with me to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Mass., where I taught for the next eight years. During those days, I began to refine my thinking about the Bible and its message through countless lectures and discussions with colleagues and students, all the while thinking that some day, if God willed it, I would put my thoughts together again. Special thanks to Professors Greg Beale, Richard Lints, T. David Gordon, and David Wells for the many conversations and friendship. As time went on, I filled file folders with notes expanded around the original typewritten manuscript, which eventually developed into a course on biblical theology entitled, “Faith, Love, and Hope.”

Then, in God’s kind providence, four things came together in the past eighteen months to make it possible for the manuscript to find the light of day. First, the Institute of Theological Studies (ITS), Grand Rapids, Mich., asked me to tape the core of my lectures on biblical theology for what has become the course, “The Christian and New Testament Theology.” The challenge of doing so got me thinking intensively once again about the central message of the Scriptures. I am thankful to George Coons, director of curriculum at ITS, for his encouragement to get the tapes done—in doing so he spurred me on to pick up this project as its natural complement.

Second, while I was working on these taped lectures, Marvin Padgett, vice president, editorial, at Crossway Books, called to ask if I knew of any current work being done on a biblical theology for the serious reader in the church. I told him about my old manuscript and current interest, and without hesitation he was kind enough to look at what I had in hand. After reading my old “dead dog” on a plane ride home one night, Marvin gave me the green light to bring it to finished form. Without his interest in this work, I would never have begun the demanding task of rewriting and expanding what I had written years ago. I thank him too for his patience as I labored much longer over these pages than I ever thought I would.

Under God, then, I owe this book to Marvin and his editorial team at Crossway Books, above all Bill Deckard (and his outside editor), whose editorial skill and dedication to this project improved it greatly. I would also like to thank Crossway’s guiding force, Dr. Lane Dennis, whose Christian character and commitment I have come to respect greatly. They are rare in our day. Lane, thank you for your late-night and early-morning acts of Christian devotion. Though we may end up agreeing to disagree here and there, your willingness to stand behind me in this attempt to go where the biblical text seems to lead means more than you can imagine. Your desire to be faithful to the Scriptures and the Lord, above all, is a model to me.

I am aware that the publication of a book on the message of the Bible is indeed an act of courage. Crossway has decided to publish this book of biblical theology in a day when what sells are "human interest" stories, Christian novels, and self-help books sprinkled with verses from the Bible and applied to “real life” (as if the Bible itself were somehow about something else). “Theology” has become a bad word, dry and divisive, since knowing God has become a matter of the heart, not the mind. Though Christians have traditionally been people of “the Book,” today the path to personal happiness is increasingly thought to be dependent primarily on the counselor’s advice concerning self-esteem, not the pastor’s sermon concerning the biblical contours of faith, hope, and love. In turn, the primary role of the church, under the pastor’s “professional management” and carefully honed “people skills,” is no longer taken to be teaching and living out the message of the Bible but meeting the “felt needs” of the community, whatever they might be. Personal and small-group therapy, not biblical theology, drives most churches today. In the midst of all of this, I want to thank Crossway for continuing to take on projects like this.

Third, I now find myself at Wheaton College, where the honor of occupying the Gerald F. Hawthorne Chair of New Testament Greek and Exegesis allows me the time, in the midst of my teaching, to work on such projects. Not a day goes by that I do not thank God for the generosity of those who have made this position possible, and for the continuing personal and institutional support of my department and the senior administration. I pray that I will be faithful to the trust they have given me.

Fourth, Brian Vickers, a former student of mine and a current doctoral candidate in New Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., offered to read the manuscript chapter by chapter. His keen eye for detail, editorial experience, understanding of the Bible, and willingness to help me in the midst of his own rigorous studies and church commitments have been great gifts from God. Brian kept me from many misstatements and poorly phrased assertions. Any flaws remaining in the text are my own responsibility and witness to the fact that God calls us to progress over a lifetime, not perfection overnight! Brian’s life and studies are a living witness to the reality of God’s life-changing presence among his people. I look forward to the day when he will take his own studies into the pulpit or classroom full time. The future of the church is in the hands of scholar-pastors and missionaries like Brian.

Now that the project is finished, it is my long-awaited pleasure to dedicate this book to my two sons, John and Eric, who are currently twenty-one and eighteen years old respectively. It is impossible for me to summarize all that they mean to me. Though my parenting has been far from perfect, and my witness to the joy found in knowing God far too weak, I am thankful that as they move into their adult years we are still knit together as a family. My prayer is that we will all be knit together in faith. To that end, this book is for them.

In thinking about being a father, I would also like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to my own father, Jack L. Hafemann, whose strong life of consistent integrity and constant support amazes me the older I get. Whenever I need him, he never lets me down. He practices what so many only preach.

Finally, thanks, Debara. May you ever know how happy I am for our quiet, solid life together. Your deep faith in God, expressed through your “redemption art,” “biblical boxes,” and teaching has convinced me that you are right: “Art is part of being smART!”

INTRODUCTION

Back to the Bible

“For I the LORD do not change ...”

MALACHI 3:6

So faith, hope, love abide, these three;but the greatest of these is love.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13

These pages were written out of a real need, though one that is not always felt. In the midst of the suffocating self-love of our modern and postmodern culture, the Bible is clear that our real hunger is to know the one true God revealed in its pages. Only in doing so will we satisfy our cravings for security (faith), find the purpose for which we exist (hope), and be able to live free from slavery to self (love).

To meet these needs, we must return to the Bible. It really is that straightforward. Nothing fancy here. No eye-popping insight. God’s people have always been a people of “the Book.” Israel and the church have always lived from and with the Scriptures. This confidence came from the consistent conviction that of all the religious books in the world, the Scriptures, though the product of human authors, were at the same time divinely inspired and hence were the authoritative self-revelation of God’s word. If we want to know anything else, there are countless sources of information and insight. If we want to know God, there is no place else to go. It’s that simple.

This present attempt to return to God’s Word comes from my own efforts over the past fourteen years to feed seminarians and college students the same message of the Bible that has so nourished me. The struggle to put it into writing comes from the encouragement that they too have found it to be essential food for their souls. As Jesus himself put it, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, quoting Deut. 8:3, emphasis added).

This is a simple book about a serious subject: the biblical understanding of the triune God and the implications of his never-changing character for our lives. The reader must be warned, however, that I have no religious genius to share. These pages contain no new visions or words from God “hot off the press.” In fact, although we are all impacted by our presuppositions, culture, and the view of the Bible we have inherited from others, my goal, as much as possible, is to submit my own ideas and experiences to the worldview of the Bible.

Thus, the work before you is an exercise in “biblical theology.” This means that its goal is not to present creative insights from my own personal perspective but to set forth the message of the Bible itself. Moreover, its purpose in doing so is to examine why the Bible declares that knowing God inevitably produces a life of faith, hope, and love, so that knowing God is itself the center and source of life. In other words, our subject matter and ultimate concern is the theology of the Bible, that is, the Bible’s message about God. Everything we know about God’s character and purposes (apart from creation’s witness to his bare existence and brute power—see Rom. 1:20), all that can be said authoritatively about Jesus, and everything we hope to be as God’s people is expressed in the Bible. There is no other Word from God.

In our day of cultural and religious pluralism, with its mushy acceptance of all claims to truth no matter how much they collide, such exclusive allegiance to the Bible seems outrageous. Indeed, if God had not revealed himself to us from outside of our own experience, and if this divine self-revelation were not accessible, then all we would have left would be our own culturally determined and personally limited religious “insights.” But given the real needs of our world, and the real longings of our hearts, the real outrage would be for God to leave us to the relativism of our own finite understandings, groping in the dark of our own conflicting experiences.

Studying the Bible, however, is a serious and demanding task. The Bible stretches forth from the creation of the world to the creation of the new heavens and new earth, from the first coming of the Christ to his return. Its history runs from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, from the exodus from Egypt to the “second exodus” at the Cross, from the covenant meal at Mount Sinai to the Lord’s Supper, from the circumcision of Abraham to the baptism of converted pagans in Corinth, from the building of Solomon’s temple to the temple of the Holy Spirit. Its message unfolds from the “letter” that kills to the Spirit who makes alive, from the golden calf to the new covenant, from the prophets to the apostles, from Mount Zion to the New Jerusalem, from David’s son to the Son of God, from Israel’s exile to her promised restoration, and from the history of Israel’s divided kingdom to the mission of the church united as the kingdom of God.

At one level, the very attempt to write a book like this is thus an act of naive hubris. I am painfully aware of my own limitations and weaknesses, intellectually and spiritually. Comfort may be taken, however, in the fact that no reader is alone. In interpreting the Bible, we stand on the shoulders of those intellectual and spiritual giants who have studied the Bible before us. So my hope is that the present effort may encourage others to continue the process by taking up the sacred pages for themselves. For this reason, there are many references to biblical passages throughout the pages that follow. These are not literary “window dressing,” but some of the texts that I have thought hard about in writing this book, and this book is only as good as I am faithful to them.

Hence, the purpose of the present work is to provide a basic framework for understanding the Scriptures in a way that will stimulate us to take up the Bible for ourselves. The church at the beginning of the twenty-first century faces an identity crisis. Most Christians no longer understand even the most basic teachings of the Scriptures. The Bible, though the foundation of the faith, remains for many believers a closed book. Indeed, apart from reading isolated verses out of context, as if the Bible were a Christian “Ouija board,” believers today are characterized by their biblical illiteracy. And what we do know about the Bible is so elementary that it pales in comparison to the sophistication of our technological age.

This is not entirely our fault. The lack of emphasis on the Bible in our churches and the death of biblical preaching in our pulpits (or now on our “stages”) have brought about a death of understanding in our pews (or folding chairs). This should not be surprising. Given the therapeutic culture in which we live, the vast majority of seminaries no longer demand that future church leaders master even the most fundamental biblical content or interpretive skills. And with the rise of “postmodernism,” we are not sure if the meaning of the biblical text can be recovered anyway, so why bother? After all, the “secret” to building a “successful” church is now thought to be getting to know the new trinity of technology, psychology, and marketing, not the Trinity of the Bible.

This book, on the other hand, is motivated by the conviction that the message of the Bible provides the only answer to humanity’s most pressing need: to know God himself. Having been created by God for God, the “self” can never be “self-satisfied.” Yet, having lost sight of the God revealed in the Bible, all we can see is our self, with its futile drive to meet its own ever-changing but never satisfied cravings for the second-rate pleasures of this world.

As a result, we have shrunk God to fit into our own understanding of who we are, rather than understanding ourselves in the light of who God has revealed himself to be. Our false sense of power and independence has led to downsizing God’s sovereignty. In turn, instead of dependence on God for our lives (“faith”), we have substituted a mental assent to historical data that leads to making “decisions” about God. Rather than trusting in God’s promises for our future (“hope”), we have fallen back on a wishful thinking that is informed by our desires for heath and wealth. Hence, although called to consider the needs of others more important than our own needs (“love”), we seek money, sex, and emotional gratification at any cost.

Losing sight of the God of the Bible has therefore produced a watered-down nominalism that makes a mockery of redemption. The reason is clear. Without a relationship with the God revealed in the Bible, we are doomed to rely upon ourselves. Without hope in God’s promises as set forth in the Scriptures, all our earthly aspirations are mocked by death. And without being able to love others because God first loved us, we are left seeking “self-esteem” by trying to love ourselves more. But the “self” was never intended to carry the burden of procuring faith, hope, and love. We were never intended to meet our own needs by making an idol of the created order or its creatures. We were not designed for the disappointment that comes from chasing second-class dreams. The primary object of our affection was never intended to be anyone or anything other than God himself. The Bible is God’s antidote to the poison that comes from seeking our satisfaction in anything other than knowing and enjoying God forever.

In what follows, then, we begin where the Bible begins, with what we can learn from the creation of the world (chapter 1). After looking at what life was like before sin entered the world (chapter 2), we examine what went wrong, why it went wrong, and what God has done about it (chapter 3). What it means to trust and hope in God as a result of his saving activity is the subject of chapters 4 and 5, illustrated by the life of Abraham and the history of Israel. Trust and hope, however, take place in the midst of adversity and affliction. In chapters 6 and 7 we therefore take up the reality of evil from the perspective of God’s sovereignty and ask the crucial question of why God’s people suffer and sin. In view of the history of sin and salvation, in chapters 8 and 9 we look at what difference Jesus makes as history’s center point. Finally, we conclude with a review of what knowing God in Christ means for us as his people.

My goal in all of this is to be faithful to the message of the Bible, in order that we might be faithful to the one true God revealed in its pages. For as the apostle Paul reminded the young pastor Timothy, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16). What was true for Timothy is true for us all.

1

WHY DO WE EXIST?

Lessons from the Creation of the World

"Worthy art thou, our Lord and God,to receive glory and honor and power,for thou didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created."

REVELATION 4:11

In Genesis 1:1, the Bible’s first verse, we find the most fundamental assertion in all of Scripture about who God is: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Notice that this assertion is a concrete description of what God has done (God has created) rather than an abstract statement concerning one of his attributes (God is the all-powerful Creator). God has revealed himself primarily through his activities in time and space, not through a philosophical discussion of his nature. The Bible is the record and interpretation of God’s self-revelation. The Bible begins, therefore, by asserting that God is the sole and sovereign Creator of the universe. Genesis 1:3-25 then recounts “how” God made our world, including its plant and animal life, emphasizing that every aspect of it was good. Finally, God crowns his creation by fashioning mankind in his own image and giving them the mandate to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth, and to bring it under their supervision and authority (Gen. 1:26-28).

THE IMAGE AND KINGDOM OF GOD

Thus, the Bible also begins by presenting the most fundamental statement we have concerning the nature and purpose of mankind. The other living creatures are created merely according to their “own [various] kinds,” which is to say that they are brought into existence in accordance with their different natures as merely physical creatures. In a shocking turn of events, however, humanity is not created simply as yet another “kind” of living creature but in accordance with God’s own character: “Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26, emphasis added). Though mankind is part of the created order, the point of comparison has suddenly changed: rather than being created merely like one another (“according to its kind”), mankind was also created like God!

Not surprisingly, given its obvious importance, students of the Bible have suggested many different interpretations of what it means to be created in the “image of God.” But whatever else it might entail, Genesis 1:26-27 indicates that mankind “reflects” or “images forth” God in the fundamental sense that men and women are given responsibility and authority over the earth just as God takes responsibility and exercises authority over them.

Then 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 birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them,“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion....”(Gen. 1:26-28, emphasis added).

To be created in God’s image is therefore to have a particular point of comparison (not to oneself but to God) and a distinct command (not simply to reproduce but to exercise dominion). As Anthony Hoekema explains, “In exercising this dominion man is like God, since God has supreme and ultimate dominion over the earth.”1 The image of God is a description not primarily of our nature but of our function. We were created in the “image of God” not primarily to possess certain capabilities but to fulfill a certain calling in relationship to God. “If, as the Bible teaches, the most important thing about man is that he is inescapably related to God, we must judge as deficient any anthropology which denies that relatedness.”2

That being created in God’s image means being related to God as those who are like him becomes clear when we compare Genesis 1:26-28 with Genesis 5:3, the Bible’s next reference to being in someone’s image. There we read, “When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (emphasis added).3 In this passage, being in some­one’s “image” describes the family relationship between father and son. We are the children of God in the same way that Seth is the son of Adam: we derive our life from God and represent him as his own. Mankind does not possess the image of God. Mankind is the image of God. Hence, the term image of God describes the essence of who we have been created to be. It is not something added to us which might then be lost, as if we could remain human without bearing God’s image. We may not fulfill our function as God’s image, but we are in his image nonetheless.

Thus, the “image of God” is primarily a functional designation; mankind is the one creature who is to relate directly to God in conscious dependence (God speaks commands directly to humanity) and to reflect this relationship by exercising a godlike rule over the world (Adam names the animals). To be in the image of God thus means that “mankind represents God so that what man does is what God himself would do”4 if he ruled the world directly. By representing the rule and reign of God, Adam and Eve proclaim God’s sovereign character in and through their own dominion over the created order.

The creation of Adam and Eve in God’s image therefore introduces what the Bible will later call the “kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over his people as their Lord, by which he expresses his own glory as the one and only Creator and Sustainer and Provider and Ruler of all things. Being in God’s kingdom is not primarily a matter of being in a certain realm of his authority but of being in a certain relationship to his authority. Thus, the kingdom of God is expressed in and through the faith of God’s people as they exercise dominion from the standpoint of their own dependence on God. God, as King, rules over mankind. Mankind, created to reflect God’s character, rules over creation. The creation itself, together with mankind, therefore becomes the way in which God reveals his glory as the “God of gods,” “King of kings,” and “Lord of lords,” that is, as the one who is sovereign over all things (Deut. 10:17; 1 Tim. 6:15). In short, creation exhibits the kingship of God.

This becomes clear in Genesis 9:6, the only other mention of the “image of God” in the Old Testament, where the death penalty for murder is based on the fact that “God made man in his own image.” That murder is prohibited and that mankind should execute God’s justice against it express clearly that to be in the image of God is both a relationship of dependence on God and a calling to rule in God’s place over the world. Our nature as creatures dependent on God for all things is why murder is prohibited. As the Giver and Sustainer of our lives, only God himself has the right to take our lives; to commit murder is to usurp God’s sovereign authority over his creation.

On the other hand, we are created to express God’s sovereignty as his representatives. This is why man himself is called in Genesis 9:6 to execute capital punishment for murder (“whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed”). Because God made man in his own image (Gen. 9:6b), those who have been given the mandate to express God’s authority on earth must judge those who usurp God’s authority. Moreover, the fact that God institutes this prohibition and penalty means that even a rebellious humanity has not lost their identity and role as God’s image. For, as Meredith Kline summarizes the point of Genesis 9:6, “As image of God, man is a royal son with the judicial function appertaining to kingly office.”5

The great problem arises when we who are created to act on behalf of God begin to think that we can also be God in his independence and self-determination. God, as Creator, is sovereignly self-sufficient and the supplier of all things. His will rules supreme. Humanity, created by God, is dependent on him for all things. Our rightful place, therefore, as creatures in the image of God, is between God and the world. Mankind is the pinnacle of creation but remains subordinate to God. There is a hierarchy in creation: God rules over the world through humanity as his vice-regents, while humanity rules over the world as God’s representatives. To declare that men and women are created in the image of God is to declare their function in relationship to the function of the one who made them. Hence, the French scholar Jean Danielou rightly concludes that the opening chapters of the Bible show us

what man’s nature is, by teaching us that he is created in the image of God, which is to say that he is neither a god, as the myths made him out to be, nor a product of nature, as the evolutionists saw him, but that he transcends nature and at the same time is transcended by God.6

Only mankind exists in the image of God, because only we are created to exercise authority over our environment and its other living creatures. Moreover, our dominion over the world as its “responsible ruler” is to be the means by which the reality and nature of God’s reign are made known. To live as the image of God is to exercise dominion over the world in his place and by his command. By exercising this authority, we thus fill the earth with the glory of God’s sovereignty and sufficiency.

The parent-child relationship is a good analogy. To be a child, by definition, is to be dependent on those in authority over you. On the other hand, the child “rules” over his own world. He decorates his room (and even sometimes cleans it!), cares for the cat, and decides how to arrange his toys. Still, everything he has, including his authority, is a gift from his parents. The child “rules” on behalf of his parents, but only in the spheres of responsibility which they have given to him. His authority is therefore delegated and not his own. Yet, since he has been created in the “image” of his parents, he alone can receive this responsibility. The child’s place is between his parents and his pets! It is not the cat’s fault if the litter box is not clean. In the same way, we alone, as God’s vice-regents, have been given the responsibility to rule over all that he has created for us. In this way, we are the “children of God.”

THE CREATOR/CREATURE DISTINCTION

In addition to mankind’s role in creation, Genesis 1 makes two other points of importance for our study. First, its account of creation emphasizes in no uncertain terms that the Creator cannot be identified in any way with anything that he has created. In stark contrast, the various creation myths of antiquity considered the world to be an extension of the gods. The gods who created the world could thus be located within the world as some part of it, just as the creation could be viewed as an embodiment of the divine. There is nothing “new” in the “New Age” movement’s attempts, following the impulse of Eastern religions and early Gnosticism, to identify the world with God (now viewed as some impersonal life-force).7 Over against such attempts, God reveals himself in the Bible as the all-powerful but separate Creator of the world who exists outside of his creation. The God of the Bible simply speaks the world into existence as an expression of his power, so that the world remains forever distinct from its Creator. If we learn anything from the Bible’s account of creation, in contrast to other ancient and modem creation accounts, it is that the one true God is a "self-existent, solitary, self-sufficient creator." 8

Contrary to both ancient and Eastern ways of thinking, even mankind, though made in God’s image, is in no way an extension of their Creator. There is no “divine spark” within us. We cannot get in touch with God by getting in touch with ourselves. God is outside of us, not within us. We are his creatures, not downsized versions of his deity. Nor is mankind on the way to becoming divine. Adam and Eve do not receive immortal souls to ensure their continuing existence; they remain creatures dependent upon God for their life.

THE FUNCTION OF CREATION

This brings us to the second important point made in Genesis 1. The order of creation, beginning with the creation of light (Gen. 1:3) and culminating in the creation of the living creatures (Gen. 1:24-25), indicates that the function of creation is to provide an environment suitable for sustaining the life of the man and woman created in God’s image. As the climax of creation, everything is created for us! Hence, just as Adam and Eve cannot be equated with God, they cannot be identified simply with the rest of creation either. Though part of the created order, humanity, being in the image of God, is not of one kind with a caterpillar or a chimpanzee. We are not of equal status with the rest of creation. Nor should we be viewed as servants of the world, as if the environment were of more value than we are.

A concern for ecology is right, but often for the wrong reasons. Mankind is not created to provide for the world; the world is created to provide for mankind. We ought to care for the environment as its stewards, not because we are of one essence with it. We must be careful not to turn the world into an idol either by lowering ourselves to the level of the rest of creation or by raising creation to our own level. We do not take care of an oak tree because we are on the same ontological level as an oak tree. Instead, we care for creation because we are submitted to the sovereign ruler of the universe who commanded us by royal fiat to rule in his place over all that he has made. That is why “stewardship” is an appropriate concept to designate our relationship to the rest of creation—for in the ancient world a “steward” was a slave authorized to carry out his master’s business in his name. Created in the King’s image as his vassals or servants, we thus reflect his character and manifest his glory when we exercise dominion over all he has provided for us with the God-given wisdom and care that characterize God himself.

This means that we are to care for the world as an expression of our dependence on God’s provision. Not to take care of our world is to despise God’s good gifts. Abdicating our responsibility over the world is an act of ungrateful rebellion against our Provider. For, having told Adam and Eve to exercise dominion (Gen. 1:28), God then describes the provision he has made to enable them to do so (v. 29):

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.”

This text makes clear that the function of creation is to provide a home and food for mankind as a manifestation of the perfection of our Provider. The movement from the commands of Genesis 1:28 to the gift of 1:29 makes clear that humanity’s dominion displays God’s glory, since mankind’s mandate is both brought about and enabled by God’s provision. Keeping the commands of Genesis 1:28 does not earn the provision of 1:29; rather, the provision of 1:29 supports the commands of 1:28. Mankind was not called to exercise dominion in order to gain the food God gives, but because God had already granted them the food they needed. Mankind’s dominion would therefore express their dependence, and their dependence would honor the One upon whom mankind depended, since the Giver gets the glory. For this reason, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).

What was so “very good” about creation? Creation was “very good” not only because it fulfilled the immediate function for which it was designed (to provide for humanity) but also because it so clearly accomplished its ultimate purpose (to reveal God’s character). Since all of creation owes its existence solely to God’s decision to make it, the ereation is a revelation of God’s sovereignty (God is the powerful Creator) and grace (God creates freely as an expression of his own sufficiency). Because of who God is in himself, God created a world that is both vast and perfectly suited to mankind. The fact that he did so is an expression of his own sovereign power to do as he pleases (Ps. 115:3; 135:5-7), but it also reveals his great love. Note the logic of Isaiah 45:18:

For thus says the LORD, who

created the heavens

(he is God!), who formed the earth

and made it

(he established it; he did

not create it a chaos,

he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the

LORD, and there is no other.”

The creation itself reveals God’s sovereign deity. The fact that he made creation a home for humanity reveals God’s sovereign love. Mankind, in their position between heaven and earth, is the one creature who can recognize and experience this reality in a way that renders to God the glory due his name as Creator and Provider. The creation, though made for us, is therefore not about us but about God. As the psalmist put it,

When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the

moon and the stars which thou hast established;

what is man that thou art mindful of him,

and the son of man that thou dost care for him?

Yet thou has made him little less than God,

and dost crown him with glory and honor.

Thou has given him dominion over the works of thy hands;

thou has put all things under his feet, all

sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field, the birds

of the air, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

O LORD, our Lord

how majestic is thy name in all the earthl (Ps. 8:3-9, emphasis added).

Furthermore, creation is not self-sustaining; it continues to exist only by God’s power and grace, thereby expressing God’s glory by its dependent nature. Since creation is not in any way independent of its Creator or free of humanity’s dominion over it as those made in God’s image, it can never exist by its own strength or inertia, nor can it reach its goal unless mankind rules it according to God’s command. When we cut the grass, we reveal the glory of God as Creator and Sustainer of the universe! For according to the Bible, grass does not grow simply as the result of “natural” laws, nor can it become a lawn without our supervising it!

Moreover, given mankind’s eventual fall into sin, the changing of the seasons and the harvest it brings come to speak not only of God’s power and love but also of his mercy. Summers come to a sinful world because God freely promised that he would continue to sustain his creation even though mankind deserved to be destroyed (Gen. 8:20-22). As Jesus put it, God “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous,” which in its context provides the reason why we too, as followers of Christ, must love our enemies (Matt. 5:44-45).

From the beginning, however, God declared his original creation to be very good (Gen. 1:31) because even before sin entered the world it provided the “textbook” needed for teaching humanity faith, the fundamental human response to God’s presence and provision. Against the backdrop of creation, Adam and Eve recognized that they owed their existence, authority, and sustenance to their maker (Gen. 2:16).

Mankind exists only because their Creator gave them breath; they continue to exist only because their Creator gives them food. This is "very good" because it demonstrates that our life is a gift from God and that no matter how strong or established we may become, we always live as dependent creatures. “Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his ...” (Ps. 100:3). The ability to make it through the day, not to mention the day itself, is a gift.

Yet, in our current state of rebellion against God, I know of no other single idea that is more offensive to Western men and women than this one. To realize that we are created by God and hence are both owned by and dependent upon him for everything, strikes at the very core of our illusions of independence and self-importance.

This illusion often finds expression in a denial of our creation—the universe just “happened,” and we evolved on the planet as a result of time and chance. On the other hand, those who believe God exists often insist that God somehow needed to create us. But the Scriptures give absolutely no indication of this divine “need.” God does not "need" either the world or us to be self-fulfilled and happy:

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything (Acts 17:24-25).

Indeed, the existence of fellowship within the Trinity (John 17:23-24) makes it evident that the creation of mankind was not intended to meet some deficiency in God. God was not lonely, bored, or incomplete before he created humanity. God is perfect in himself, happy in the fellowship and love that exist from all eternity between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Thus, rather than being an attempt to make up for a lack within the Trinity, God created mankind simply because he delights in sharing himself as an expression of his overflowing sdi-sufficiency:

In creation God “went public” with the glory that reverberates joy-fully between the Father and the Son! There is something about the fullness of God’s joy that inclines it to overflow. There is an expansive quality to his joy. It wants to share itself. The impulse to create the world was not from weakness, as though God were lacking in some perfection which creation could supply. “It is no argument of the emptiness or deficiency of a fountain, that it is inclined to overflow.”9

The creation, being brought into existence by God’s command, is itself an expression of the glory of God’s magnificent sovereignty, self-determination, wisdom, beauty, completeness, and love. God declared his work of creation to be “very good” not only because it reflects his own intrinsic character but also because it shows his innate glory through our creaturely dependence on him for all things. God the Creator is God the Provider. Our dependence on God for all things magnifies God’s glory as the Giver of all things. For, in short, God owns us and the world in which we live. In the words of Psalm 24:1-2:

The Earth is the LORD’S and the fulness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein;

for he has founded it...

and established it...

As those owned by God, we find our happiness in God, while God finds his happiness in himself and in his creation as it reflects his glory.10 Only in this sense does the creation extend God’s happiness: God experiences greater and greater joy because of the ongoing nature of his creation. As Daniel Fuller put it, “Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35). God’s ultimate purpose is to increase his joy by sharing the blessing of the Trinity in creation.... Simply to do his people good gives him complete satisfaction.” 11 Conversely, we bring God happiness by reflecting back to him the perfections of his provisions. In John Piper’s words,

The climax of [God’s] happiness is the delight he takes in the echoes of his excellence in the praises of [his people].12

GOD THE CREATOR AND SUSTAINER

We have seen that the creation account in Genesis makes one essential point about the God revealed in the Bible: he is the sovereign and gracious Creator of the world. In view of this fundamental fact, to assume that the world “just is” is to conclude that the atheist is right. Furthermore, the refusal on the part of modern men and women to consider seriously the question of God as the originator of our world is not blissful ignorance but a tacit assent to the atheist’s worldview. As Joy Davidman observed,

The old pagans had to choose between a brilliant, jangling, irresponsible, chaotic universe, alive with lawless powers, and the serene and ordered universe of God and law. We modern pagans have to choose between that divine order, and the gray, dead, irresponsible, chaotic universe of atheism. And the tragedy is that we may make that choice without knowing it—not by clear conviction, but by vague drifting, not by denying God, but by losing interest in him.13

Thus, far from being irrelevant, the divine creation of the world is the starting point for our own self-image as well as for our understanding of others, not to mention our view of God. Why am I here? To whom do I belong? What responsibilities do I possess by virtue of the fact that I exist? Being an atheist, even by default, casts an entirely different light on these questions.

In addition, since God not only created but also sustains the world, we should never lose sight of the fact that we continue to owe our lives to him. God is not an absentee landlord. Unfortunately, even those who affirm that God created us often fall prey to the notion that, once created, we are on our own in our fight for survival. We seem prone to a sort of religious “survival of the fittest” or “self-develop­ment” program—“God may have put us here, but it’s up to us to make the best of it.” For example, I remember a religious poster (I cannot bring myself to say it was “Christian”), hung by some well-meaning Christian in the hallway of a school where I used to teach, that declared, “What we are is God’s gift to us, what we become is our gift to God.” The landscape on the poster was beautiful, but the message was not. Indeed, God has put us here. But God keeps