The Christian Concept of

the Human Person

 Christian Anthropology
• The human being is
created in God’s image
and likeness.
• Original sin is real and is
the source of sinfulness
found in human
experience.
• Jesus Christ redeemed
the human race.
The Human Being: the Image of
God
Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds
of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the
creatures that crawl on the ground.
God created man in his image, in the divine image he created
him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and multiply, fill the earth
and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of
the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.”
Gen 1:26-28
 The Human Being: the Image of
God
• Capacity to know and love back: Of all the visible creatures only
man is “able to know and love his creator.”
• Important in himself/ herself: He is “the only creature on earth that
God has willed for its own sake,”
• Sharer in God’s own life: And he alone is called to share, by
knowledge and love, in God’s own life.
CCC 356
 The Human Person:
An Embodied Spirit
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity.
(GS 14 )

– Man as Body: the

physical aspect
of the human person

– Man as Spirit: that

“something” in the human
person which cannot be
seen or touched
 The Human Person:
An Embodied Spirit
• Soul: intangible properties of the
human being
– Intellect
• The capacity to learn in life
• Form the concept of what is true
– Free will
• The ability to decide and to move
towards a decision
– Emotions
• Love, hatred, joy, sorrow,
boldness, fear, hope, despair and
anger can enhance the nobility of
the person if they are well-
integrated in the personality.
 The Reality of Original Sin
• Original Sin is Adam and Eve’s abuse of
their human freedom and their
disobedience of God’s command. This
sin separated man from God, darkened
the human intellect, weakened the
human will and introduced into human
nature an inclination toward sin
Aurelio Fernandez and James Socias
 A Life of Grace in Christ
“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by
the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace
and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus
Christ, overflow to the many.” - Rom 5:15

Through Baptism, the human being shares in the

life of the risen Christ. “It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). The
Christian therefore ought to imitate Christ’s
thought, love and actions (cf. VS 19-21).
References:
Michael D. Moga, What Makes Man Truly Human? St. Pauls, 1995

Ismael Ireneo Maningas, Filipino Christian Morality, St. Pauls, 1998