Just a Thought for This Monday Night.

Jesus was the very nature of God, or so I read this morning. Hebrews 1:13 says, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is both the pinnacle of God's glorification and a perfect representation of His nature. The English Standard Version reads, "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high"

And Jesus had a body.

Forgive me for being redundant, I know I wrote about this last week. But this still fascinates me. If Jesus, with His body, is the perfect representation of the being of God and the exact imprint of the nature of Deity, then the "body part" of Jesus (though it wasn't a "part" of Him, as if He was half God and half man, but two natures) is part of that. Dare I say necessary for that? Well, yes. I guess I do.

This means so much. So much more credence than we would ever allow given to the topic. First, there's the whole anthropology issue. On this issue of anthropology, there are many topics still within that to be discussed. First, in relation to human origins, as created beings, we are finite, created by the infinite. We are limited creations because we are creations. We are dependent on God because we were created by Him. As such created beings, we have unity with the rest of creation. We are all in this together, you could say. All of us in our brokenness and pain and hurt and finiteness.

Even so, we are the pinnacle of God’s created works. God has placed a special eye, a specific mandate of humanity from the foundations of the world. When created, God said that it was not good for man to be alone. Out of that came companionship between humans. A woman was created to be a helper for man, both helping each other in their “aloneness”. There is a tie between us and other humans because we share this common brokenness and this common special place in creation.

As humans, we also have the image of God within us. We are God’s representation of His nature in a way unlike the rest of creation. There are many different views on the “image of God” in mankind (thank you, Systematic Theology). First, there is a the substantive view, that says that the image of God is something that mankind is. By our nature, we are in the image of God. Secondly, there is the Functional view. This view holds that the image of God is something that we do. That by how we act and what we do with our humanity, we reflect the image of God. Thirdly, there is the Relational view. This view holds that the image of God is in our need for people. As humans we have a need for relationships, a need for companionship. This view believes this is the image of God within us.

Lastly, the General view, says that humans reflect the image of God in everything. This is to say that, as humans, we are reflecting God’s image in how we are (the Substantive view), what we do (the Functional view) and in our relational nature (the Relational view). All of the above are our reflection of God’s nature, His image within us. I must agree with the last view, the General view. The rest all fall short of His glory. I see God in others in so many ways. There is a way that humans fundamentally are that reflects the nature of God. The way that humans think and process and desire and love are all reflections of God’s nature.

I also believe that we can see God’s image in the things that we do. Humans are organized as God is organized; we are complex and yet simple, just as God is complex and yet simple. As we act out of this nature, we see an image of God. And finally, I believe that we can see God also in our relational nature. We need people. We long to be with others who desire to be with us as well. While God does not need anyone, He does desire to be with humanity, as stated and restated to Israel throughout the Old Testament.

This is important when we deal with other areas of theology as well. If we to view humans as in the image of God, we are thereby effecting our view of God and our view of sin. By this view, we can safely say that humans are by nature sinful, yet God is holy in all His ways. Still, with that in mind, sinful humans can exhibit the image of a holy God. This is not to say that humans can attain to the glory of God nor that humans should be elevated to the importance of God, but that we can represent God.

In practical living, this view is gravely important. I didn't think it was until I happened upon the treadmill next to a Sys Theo professor this afternoon. If humans are in the image of God, then when a human is damaged or demeaned the image of God is demeaned. This puts murder, slander, rape, violence, gossip, and many other sins against human dignity on a new level since they are offensive to God, not just a fleshly being.

We can see this at work in the discussion of the incarnation of Jesus. A beautiful thing, the incarnation. Yes, this is where this whole thing got started. Jesus, Deity Himself, chose to put on a body. He chose to wrap Himself in man-flesh. This means that a body in and of itself is not evil. I tend to view my body as a necessary evil that I will carry around with me grudgingly until finally it dies and I am able to be free of it. But if God chose to have a body in the second Person of the Trinity, then the body has been given some value.

Often in our culture, we define an individual’s worth based on their body size, shape, or weight. We assign worth to a person by their body. Therefore, we have decided as a culture that if our bodies are not ideal, then they do not have value. Therefore, if our bodies do not have value, we as a person do not have value.

This is a wrong way of thinking. We are more than bodies, to be sure. But bodies in an of themselves are not evil. First of all, God made our bodies and said it was good. The Psalmist wrote, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13-14).

Secondly, God chose to live in a body (John 1:1). God Himself chose to live in human carnality. A book I'm reading currently on sexual abuse says, “Jesus Christ Himself became flesh, and in His body He demonstrated for us the character of god Himself. No higher compliment has ever been paid to the human body."

Thirdly, God is willing to live in our bodies now (I Corinthians 6:19-20). Scripture teaches that at salvation, God in the Holy Spirit chooses to live in our bodies, making it His temple. The only qualification? That we belong to Christ.

On a very practical level, this births the discussion of abuse. What does sexual abuse do to these truths? It negates them. What does physical abuse do to these truths? It opposes them. If abuse renders the Word of God meaningless, then no one is safe. The book I mentioned earlier also said, “We all have to worry about whether or not we have had something happen to us or have done something to cancel out God’s Word."

Okay, I better land this plane. At this point I highly doubt anyone had read to this point. If you're reading this now, way to hang in there. And thanks. So, what do we do with all this? We value people, I think. I think that we love people more because Jesus loves them. If we're trying to be like Jesus (which we give lip service to at the least), then we don't do away with the body because He has a body even to this day because that is His nature. So, it's not the body "part" that we're to get rid of in order to be like Him. I'm not sure what it is, but I think we're safe to start at loving people.

Just a thought for this Monday night.