Genesis Framework

GF 08 Genesis 2.7
Aug 16, 2015
Part 8

Scripture

Genesis 1.2
Genesis 2.7

NKJ Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

NKJ Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

This week while mining in the exegetical works of Meredith Kline, as I attempted to follow his trail through the glorious depths of Scripture, I ran into a vein of gold. Only through the Lord’s revelatory help do I have any positive expectation of extracting a prize allotment of the precious content to share with you.

The bottom line is that it is going to take more diligent work and time than last week would afford. So, in the hope of Christ’s enabling, for now all I can do is come up out of the mine long enough to give you a brief report of what is going on in there.

I don’t expect to resolve anything today.

In fact, what I have to share will likely raise more questions than answers; but then aren’t questions an important part of God’s imperative to us to “seek, ask, and knock” leading to the discovery of the wisdom He has provided for us?

Now, to change the analogy a bit…

Some things are difficult to untangle, while requiring time and patience to do so.

Especially such things as thin neck-chains, ear-bud wires, and long extension-cords. These items seem to entangle themselves when nobody is looking.By the way, here is how to get the knots out of thin neck-chains, even when two or three of them have merged together into an unruly glob.First, do not randomly pull at the mess of it, that will only serve to tighten all the little knots.

Place your objective on a large smooth hard surface, such as a glass table top. Select two sharp pointed probes, one for each hand; large cork-board push pins work great.

Locate the immediate area of the tightest knots and carefully pry them open by gently pulling the chains from opposing directions with the pins.The object is to relieve the highest pressure points to allow for the most move-ability among all the chain material. Once the whole assembly has been expanded out from its original size, into as large a foot-print as possible, the relationship of each chain to the others can be more clearly discerned.Find the beginning and ends of each chain. If any are clasped together, unlink them. After performing this action, continue the expansion process while avoiding pulling maneuvers involving loose ends having large clasps or catches; these will not drag smoothly through the chain field. With the overall field enlarged, your ability to see what is going on will greatly improve, freeing you to use your pointer fingers to gently manipulate each chain against the surface in an alternating press, pull, separate motion (seek, ask, knock), with the goal to unthreading the ends of each chain, beginning with those having the smallest end profile. Eventually it will become obvious what chain goes where, and with this improved insight you will be able to methodically untangle the rest, one chain at a time, without adding to the knot population in the process.

This untangling process also works well in principle for unraveling other problems.

Applying this same principle to our present concern we will attempt to untangle the complex revelation of Genesis, the “image of God” that was incorporated into man at the time of his creation; so that is where we will start the “pulling and separating apart” process to gain a better understanding of the meaning of the phrase, “man made in the image of God.” Traditionally, biblical-theologians have relied on an analysis of what constitutes humanness in order to construct an idea of what “made in the image of God” actually means. In other words, by attempting to answer the basic question, What is man?; but this method, while highly traditional, is backwards.And we have already learned that Kline’s biblical-theological discoveries are anything but “traditional.”

The only real way to do this is to determine what is the biblical idea of the image of God by going back to the beginning of Genesis and taking a fresh look there exegetically. (Q) What discovery will the exegetical picture reveal to us?
(A) …that the theophanic Glory that was present at the creation was the specific divine model( paradigm( pattern( example( referent)))) in view in the creating of man “in the image of God.”

At that time (Genesis 1.26) God, Elohim, Creator, declared the fiat:

NKJ
“Let Us (1+) make man ( adam) in Our (1+) image, according to Our (1+) likeness.”

Comprehensive Translation:
“Let Us (1+) make man ( adam) in the image of Us (1+), as a likeness of Us (1+).”

By exegetical observation, the Elohim name for God is in the first-person plural, but that is not enough to say that the “Us” was limited to the God-head Trinity. God is addressing Himself to within the Glory-theophany, and so to the angelic council of elders, taking them into His deliberative counsel which is part of the “Us” referent.

Keeping in mind that the original creation process was an organized supernatural process which involved the work of supernatural beings, the process would have been
according to a master plan laid out by God as the Architect-Builder who would judge the outcome of the product corresponding to the plan, and declare “it is good.”

Once again, looking into the Glory-cloud of Genesis 1.2, it contained the heavenly enthronement of God in the midst of the judicial council of His celestial hosts. So how is the “let us” and the “our image” explained in the Creator’s decree to make man?

The first-person plural fiat is supported by the fact that consistently where this usage occurs in Scripture in divine speech, it is in the context of the heavenly council or at least in the context of heavenly beings.

For example…

In Genesis 3.22, we find a another declaration of man’s image-likeness to God (even if the expression may have been intended as sarcastic): “Man has become like one of
us to know good and evil.”

Following upon that, we discover that the cherubim in verse 24 were evidently the ones addressed.

And when God determined to descend and enter into judgment with a city like Babel or Sodom, the plural form, like “Let us go down”, is used alternatively with a singular, which is explained as: the plural refers to the angelic figures who accompany the Angel of the Lord on His mission of judgment.

NKJ Genesis 11:7
"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

NKJ Genesis 18:21
"I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."

NKJ Genesis 18:2
So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,

In the whole process of creation the Glory-Spirit was present as the powerful divine Architect-Builder, and as the heavenly temple model for the creation of temples (plural) in its likeness capable of being habitations of God. In that sense, man is a replica of the Glory-Spirit having been made to be the temple of the Creator-Spirit.

Looking ahead at the functional characteristics of man in his redeemed state, he once again becomes as the temple of God by the vitalizing presence of the Spirit; in which we see the deliberate outworking of the council of God to have “made man in Our image, after Our likeness.”Knowing this, we must bear in mind that the vitalizing function is characteristic of the Spirit, said in Genesis 2.7 to have given the quickening breath of life into man.

It is by the quickening breath of the Spirit that man is said to have been made a living soul.

The same function of the Spirit is attested to in John 20.22:

NKJ John 20:22
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

This action of our Lord was intended as a prophetic portrayal of His creation of the new man(kind), and clearly we are to understand that it was also in reference to the Spirit-Glory of Genesis 1.2 Who had hovered over the lifeless deep-and-darkness, sovereignly blowing where He would bring the world into life, Who was the divine breath that fathered the living man-son in Genesis 2.7

Kinship of God to man was a gift inherent in the fact of man’s creation as in the image of God, as a likeness of God, even to sonship.

More to come…

Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.

Jesus is God Incarnate

In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life. If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,AMEN

Bibliography

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Benner, Jeff A. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible. College Station, Texas: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc., 2005
Bullinger, E. W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible; Explained an Illustrated. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 2007.
Chapman, Benjamin. Greek New Testament Insert. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977.
Dana, H. E., and Julius R. Mantey. A Manual of the New Testament. Canada: The Macmillan Company, 1957.
Louw, Johannes P. and Eugene A. Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. New York, NY: United Bible Societies, 1989.
The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011.
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Wikipedia contributors. "Xenophon." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 19 Aug. 2014.
Wuest, Kenneth S. The New Testament; An Expanded Translation. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992.
Wuest, Kenneth S. (Revised, Donald L. Wise). The Practical Use of the Greek New Testament, rev. ed. Chicago, Il: Moody Press, 1982.
Walsh, J. Martyn and Anna Kathleen Walsh. Plain English Handbook: A Complete Guide to Good English, 7th rev. ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: McCormick-Mathers PublishingCompany,1977.

Copyright August, 2015
Rev. Jim Craig
All Rights Reserved