WHAT WE BELIEVE – HUMANITY
Who am I, and why am I here? Those are the million-dollar questions, right? If we can begin to figure those out, we have some hope of meaning, happiness, purpose, and peace, some hope of a life that makes some kind of difference in this world.
The Bible’s unique testimony is that what it means to be human is to be made in the image of God. We can only know who we are and why we’re here if we know who God is and why he put us here. The Bible doesn’t just propose this truth as one possible option among many that might work for us, it doesn’t say this is just true for Jews and Christians, it tells us this is the one truth about our identity as human beings that renders all competing ideas false.
To be made in God’s image means that we were made to be like God. This is why the truth of being made in the image of God is only really understood when we look to one human being, the one human being who is not just a human being, the one who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15) and the one who is “like us in all things” (Heb 2:17), together in one person. We see who God is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we also see who we are and who we are supposed to be in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our statement of faith says this about what we believe concerning humanity: “We believe that human beings are special creations of God, made in his image, possessing full dignity and worthy of respect and love. Through the sin of the first man, Adam, all humanity sinned against God, with the result that all people are sinners and need salvation.”
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states this concerning our understanding of humanity: “Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.”
As human beings, the goal of our redemption is that we might become “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:39), and therefore be exactly like Christ in our character, relationships, and actions. This is where true humanity is found. Our hope is that at Christ’s return our image of God will be completely realized as we become like him. First Corinthians 15:49 states, “as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” Praise the Lord for his restoration of our humanity in Christ!
God bless,
