Gordon wrote:
>Dick,
>
>Thank you for the clarification of your understanding of 'adam and 'ish.
>With all the exceptions you have listed you can make their meanings agree
>with the commonly accepted meanings whenever you have to, and so your
>thesis is probably almost impossible to falsify. It appears to me that
>with all the multiple meanings you allow for these words you have left the
>Hebrew writers no way to clearly indicate non-Adamites.
They write, I try to follow.
>The translators of the Septuagint generally understood 'ish to mean aner
>and 'adam to mean anthropos. (Gen. 2:24 is an exception to this.) You can
>see examples of this in the LXX translation of some verses in which both
>words occur (Psalm 80:17, Isa. 31:8 & 44:13, Jer. 2:6 & 50:40).
>
>If we accept your view, then apparently the dire pronouncement in Genesis
>9:6 does not apply to the killing of non-Adamites since they weren't
>created in God's image.
I'll tell you what I think, Gordon, and everyone can disagree. In
the four million years of humanity on earth, I believe only one
person was from the moment of his inception, "created in God's
image." Adam was "created," meaning he did not evolve, had no
natural parents, and was intended as God's representative on earth to
bring mankind into accountability. God intended to introduce himself
to human beings through a man selected for this purpose. That man
was Adam.
"And God said, Let us make (Adam) in our image" (Gen. 1:26). "So God
created (Adam) in his own image" (Gen.1:27). "And Adam lived an
hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after
his image; and called his name Seth" ( Gen. 5:3).
Genesis 9:1 begins: "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto
them ..." Genesis 9:6 is part of the same pronouncement which does
not end until Genesis 9:17. It has nothing to do with anybody else
but Noah and his generations. "Whoso sheddeth (an Admite's) blood,
by (an Adamite) shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made
he (Adam)" ( Gen. 9:6).
Now we come to the New Testament. We have the opportunity to be
"created" anew. II Cor. 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new." Gal. 6:15: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."
Eph. 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them. Col. 3:10: "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him:" Rom. 8:29: "For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of His Son ..."
Christians are "created" in the image of Christ who, in turn, is in
the image of God. Christ was appointed by God as His representative.
The second Adam, Christ, was in the "image of God" (II Cor. 4:4) just
as the first Adam, and the mantle was passed to the followers of
Christ.
In I Corinthians 11:7, Paul's instructions were not to unregenerate
men, but to the redeemed of the church at Corinth. According to
Paul, they were in "the image and glory of God." They received this
authority as believers in Christ, "who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature" (Col. 1:15). Fallen man has no
claim to God's image unless he receives it through redemption.
Here is my point. If every single human being on planet earth was
"created in the image of God," then of what significance would that
be for Christ? Does Jesus Christ have no office of any greater
distinction than that given to all of humanity? Is Paul saying that
just as everybody is in God's image, so is Christ? Or is Paul saying
that Christ is specially designated, "in the image of the invisible
God," a designation given to no angel, or any man with the one
exception - Adam of Genesis.
So, we are "created" by Christ when we are "born again," and we are
"in the image and glory of God" when we conform to the "image of His
Son."
Psalm 8 points to the coming Messiah. David affirms that Christ has
dominion over all things. This was given to Adam at his creation
(Gen. 1:28), and was intended for his generations (Gen. 9:9), but it
was clearly placed in Christ's hands. "Thou madest Him to have
dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under
His feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the
fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea ..." (Psa. 8:6-8).
The notion that all of mankind has "dominion" over the earth and were
created in God's "image" derives from the mistaken idea that Adam was
the ultimate progenitor of the human race. From this, Bible
expositors have gone overboard postulating the marvelous similarities
between us and our Creator.
In what manner are we, his stumbling creatures, like the Most High
God? Do we possess His holiness, or His righteousness? Can we boast
of His wisdom? Are we omnipotent? Can we transcend time? Is it in
our power to forgive sin? Can we grant immortality? No, we mere
mortals presume too much.
Our claim to being in His image is on the righteousness of Christ,
not by any birth right, lest any man should boast. "For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord"
(Isa. 55:8).
Yours in Christ,
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
"The answer we should have known about 150 years ago"
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