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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
th a t refer to m an’s body (th e “ earth ly house of th is tabernacle,” 2 Cor. 5:1-4) to th e man himself, the whole man. 6. Man was created in th e image and likeness of God. There is some like ness to th e T rin ity in th e three-fold n atu re of man, b u t th e re is more in th e language th an ju st th at. From the passages in Col. 1:10 and Eph. 4:24 it seems plain th a t th e likeness is moral and spiritual. We shall discuss th is in our next diversion. II. The New Creation. W hat a difference th ere is between th e subject m atter of th e opening chap ters of th e Old T estam ent and of the New. Genesis opens w ith the account of God creating m an; Matthew, w ith th e account of God becoming man, th a t man m ight be redeemed and re-created, th a t the lost image and likeness m ight be restored. 1. The new creation like th e old is th e work of God. See John 3:5, 6. “Except a man be born of the S p irit.” As th e Spirit entered into th e body at th e beginning and man became a living soul, so must He im p art new life to man “ dead in trespasses and sins.” The Word of God (1 P eter 1 :23 ) is th a t which th e Spirit uses to im part life. Man’s physical n atu re is of th e earth and fitted for the p resen t earth , it is “ flesh.” Man’s new n atu re, or the n atu re of th e new man is heavenly and fitted for heaven and for th e “ new e a rth ,” it is “ sp irit.” 2. The new creation resto res th a t which man has lost. The image and likeness of God in which man was cre ated a t the first refer to th è same qual ities or attribu tes, i. e. “ image” does not mean one th ing and “ likeness” another. The words mean “an image which is like.”“ Man as originally created was like God. L ike God, man has personality, is capable of reasoning, of distinguishing between rig h t and wrong, of w illing w h at he shall do. These man has not lost. He has lost
th a t preceded had been made—m a n ,. made in th e image of God. Man came complete from His m ak er’s hand, if we accept th e Bible statem ent. So-called “ science” disputes this, bu t rails abso lu tely to offer any satisfactory altern a tive, any alternative th a t is scientific. 2. The th ree persons of the T rinity were interested a n d ' engaged in a peculiar sense in th e creation of man. Of no o ther p a rt of the work of the creation are they represented as saying “ let us make— in our— a fte r ou r.” This is no mere use of the ed ito rial or mon archical plural, bu t a definite statem en t of th e active participation of th e God head in creating th is being so closely allied to Himself. 3. Man’s body was formed first; th e house was prepared ere the te n an t appeared to reside in it, ju st as th e sea and th e dry land preceded th eir inhabitants. The chem ist of today finds no fau lt w ith Scripture when it says th a t th e hum an body was made out of th e “ du st of the ground,” for he can find in th e dust, and in w ater, every th ing th a t enters into it, and tell you th e exact proportion of each. “Dust thou art, and unto du st shaflt thou re tu rn .” Gen. 3:19. 4. Into th e completed and perfect hum an body God breath ed His own b reath , or Spirit. See Job 3 3 :4 ; Isa. 42 :5 ; Job 27:3. Thus are we linked up w ith God as nothing else in His c re a tio n , a compound of “ dust and Deity,” allie.d w ith both earth and heaven, fitted for both tim e and eter nity. 5. Man became a living soul when th e divine S pirit entered th e hum an body. So man is a threefold b e i n g - spirit, and soul, and body (1 Thess. 5 :2 3 ), in some m easure a trin ity in unity. “Dust thou a rt, to du st retu rn - est, was no t spoken of th e soul.” If some teachers would keep in m ind th e plain distinction of man’s being they could not honestly apply statem ents
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