Last Sunday we came across a question asking did God create
man sinful. This is a fair question
since we had just discussed that man is not righteous and cannot meet the
demands of a righteous God. As custom
would have it, whenever active minds come together to discuss matters with each
other rabbit trails often follow as we attempt to make logical connections to
already held beliefs. Rabbit trails aren’t
necessarily bad, in fact most of the time they are beneficial not only for the
individual but for the group as a whole.
So the question that was raised by Vanessa as a result of
the question at hand was, what is man’s nature?
That is a good and relevant question since we often hear that man has a “sin
nature.” What do we mean when we say
this? Are we saying that man in his most
fundamental, ontological, existence is sin?
This creates quite the paradox since we know from Scripture that we are
created in the image of God (Gen. 1.26-27).
So what of the “nature” of man? Well on Sunday night I said something to the
effect that man is material with a spiritual aspect to his being. If this seems rather cryptic or abstract to
you that is because it is. How do we
come to this belief? When we read the
creation passage in Genesis (1.1-2.25) we read that first God created the
material world ex nihilo (from
nothing). One other thing to note in
this passage, once God created the material world He said it was “very good”
(Gen. 1.31). We also know that man has
an immaterial aspect to his being that we call a soul (Matt. 10.28). Thus man is both material and immaterial what
we describe as a duality of being. This
means there are two parts to our existence.
Do not confuse this with Greek dualism.
The ancient Greeks believed that man was at odds between
himself with both faculties warring against each other both body and soul. The two are completely incompatible and since
the body is associated with matter and the material world it is viewed as imperfect,
sinful, a prison house for the immaterial perfect soul. For the ancient Greeks the hope was in the
death of the body and the liberation of the soul. This Greek view of man did not vanish with
the passing of time but has been inculcated into the Western mind.
The 1980s pop singer Sting even tells us that we are "sparits" in a material world. As a singer Sting was great, as a spokesman for "Jaguah" fantastic, as a philosopher he stinketh. We find this view of Greek dualism even among those who have
a disdain or hatred for the study of Philosophy. In some Christian circles this view of Greek
dualism is misappropriated with one simple twist, the addition of spirit. This is the trichotomist
view. It still maintains Greek dualism
in that it views man as body (evil) soul (good) and the spirit as a buffer to bridge the chasm between body and soul.
If you recall from above the Bible does teach a duality of
being with body and soul. While God
created man “very good” we understand that there is no inherent evil in man nor
in the body or soul of man. This seems
to follow as man is created in the image of God. However, both body and soul suffer from
corruption by the fall. Thus human
beings are sinful in body and soul awaiting for their final redemption of not
just the soul but body and soul.
As I finish this post I am already anticipating your
questions.
