Knowing Ourselves

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9

Introduction

When Plato expressed the ultimate purpose and great imperative of philosophy with this command,“know yourself,” he had struck upon a valuable insight. If we would know our purpose in life, how weshould relate to the world and to others around us, what our goals and dreams and desires shouldconsist of, how we should spend our time, then we must know who we are. We must know how wewere made and for what purpose, and we must know whether or not we are fulfilling that purpose, andif not, how we might do so. If we desire to order our lives according to wise and reasonable principles,then first a thoroughgoing self-knowledge is indispensable.However, this command is not so easy to put into practice. Who really knows what he is like, deepdown inside? Who can say from what mysterious inner workings of our minds come bizarre dreams,unexpected, random thoughts that defy all reason, moments of insight and creativity, moments of foolishness and lapses of judgment? Do we really know how our minds function? Do we really knowwhat we actually want or need? If so, then why is it that, when we have finally accomplished or acquired something that we thought we wanted, we suddenly feel so empty and let down? Who has notfelt the deep and inexplicable yearning for something more, and not knowing quite what it was or howto pursue it, tried to bury the yearning in a busy pursuit of professional advancement or entertainmentor any of those other things that have always let us down before? If we are ever to rise above thiscondition, we must know who we are, what we were made to do and enjoy, why we are not doing andenjoying what we were made for, and how to pursue a soul-deep change.But even here we must take another step back: for we cannot know ourselves until we know the Onewho made us. We cannot find out about our purpose or that in which lies our highest and eternal joy,unless we hear it from the very lips of our Creator. We cannot understand the miserable extent to whichwe have failed, unless we measure ourselves against his perfection. And neither can we encounter theonly hope of a lasting solution, unless we measure our failure against his proffered grace. We havespent the last three lessons [here, here, and here] examining who the Trinitarian God is, and how he hasrevealed his character to mankind. Now, we are ready to take up this daunting question, “Who arewe?”. But since our hearts are “desperately wicked and deceitful above all things,” we stand in direneed of grace, as we search the scriptures in pursuit of an answer to this perplexing question. Spirit of God, uncover before us the truths of your word, show us who we were meant to be, and how we canfind true joy and fulfillment!Let us now examine the nature of mankind in four different conditions:

Man Innocent

, the estate intowhich he was first created;

Man Depraved

, the estate into which he was plunged in consequence of hisrebellion against God;

Man Regenerated

, the estate into which God's grace brings him in this life,giving him a new, spiritual nature, co-existent with his old, depraved nature; and

Man Glorified

, theestate into which God's grace will bring him in eternity, causing his new, spiritual nature to triumph anddestroying his old, sinful nature forevermore.

Man Innocent

1. Image-Bearing

The nature of man as the image-bearer of God is what sets him apart from the rest of creation, andgives him a unique and dignified role among all God's creatures. It is a difficult task to defineconcisely what is meant by the “image of God” in man, but it is at least possible to observe severalcharacteristics or predicates of that divine image. For example, man possesses

moral agency

, that is,his decisions and actions are directed to some end, either positively good or negatively evil, and aremotivated by a heart attitude that is likewise either good or bad; hence, he is justly responsible for the reward or punishment due to all of his actions. Man is likewise characterized by

perpetuity

, sothat, once created, he will exist in some state forevermore; by

creativity

, so that, just as God broughtall things into existence according to the idea of his own mind, so man is able to shape existingmaterial intelligently and artfully according to his fruitful imagination; by

speech-capability

, sothat, just as God through his Word brought his intentions into being, so man through his word isable to express his thoughts and ideas; by

rationality

, so that, man's actions are not the mere productof brute instinct, but vested with the qualities of deliberation, desire for the highest good, andwisdom in how to pursue that desire; by

dominion

, so that, just as God rules over all his creation,man rules over all that is under him, subduing all kinds of animals and putting the earth to fruitfuluse; and by

society

, so that, just as God is in ceaseless and joyful fellowship with the members of the blessed Trinity, so man is ever in society with others of his kind, and is not complete withoutthis fellowship.

A)The Image of God

Gen 1:26-27; Gen 9:6; 1Co 11:7; Jam 3:9

B)Moral Agency

Gen 2:16-17; Gen 4:7; Deu 11:26-28; Deu 30:15-16; Eze 33:14-16; Mat 23:33; Rom 3:5-8; Heb2:1-3; Heb 10:28-29

C)Perpetuity

Dan 12:2; Mat 25:46; Luk 20:34-38; Joh 5:25-29; 1Co 15:50-55; 2Co 5:1-4; 2Th 1:5-10; Rev20:11-15

D)Creativity

Gen 4:20-22; Exo 31:1-6; 2Ch 26:14-15; Ecc 7:29; Amo 6:5

E)Speech-capability

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Its OriginGen 2:19-20

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Its Uses, Good and BadJob 16:5; Psa 12:2-4; Psa 141:3; Pro 10:11; Pro 15:26; Pro 15:28; Pro 18:4; Mat 12:34-37;Jam 1:19; Jam 3:1-10

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Its Analogy to the Divine WordGen 1:1-3; Psa 29:3-9; Isa 40:5-8; Isa 55:8-11; Joh 1:1-3; Heb 1:1-3

F)Rationality

Pro 25:2; Isa 1:18; Isa 43:25-26; Dan 4:36; Act 17:2-3; 1Pe 3:15

G)Dominion

Gen 1:26-28; Gen 9:1-2; Psa 8:5-8; Heb 2:6-10

H)Society

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Its OriginGen 2:18-24

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Its BlessednessPsa 127:3-5; Ecc 9:7-10

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Its Spiritual AspectSon 2:1-4

[See the rest of the Song of Solomon as well.]

;

Joh 1:12; Rom 8:14-17; Eph 5:22-32; 1Jo 3:1-2; Rev 19:6-9

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Its Analogy to Inter-Triune RelationshipsPsa 2:7; Joh 5:17-23; Joh 11:27; Rom 1:1-4

2. Good

Man was originally created good, and not just neutral or morally undetermined. He had a naturethat delighted in fellowship with God, and that was drawn to do the very works that God hadcommanded. He was not finally confirmed in his state of moral uprightness; but he was,nevertheless, positively righteous, and not just a “blank slate,” a being with an unwritten character,whose nature would be determined by his own, self-shaping decisions and actions.Gen 1:27-31; Gen 3:8a; Gen 5:1-2; Ecc 7:29

3. Susceptible

Although God created man in his own image, and morally good, he did not give him such a strongcharacter that he could not be tempted to do evil. He was not as the good angels are today, and asglorified man will be in the future, that is, unable even to be tempted with sin. He was good, but hewas still susceptible to temptation. While he was in this state, God designed a test to see if he wouldobey, and thus be confirmed in his state of holiness; and so he placed in the middle of the Garden of Eden the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (that is, a tree designed to show, or give the