This is our final instalment in our blast from the past series from Peter Jensen's 2001 Briefing article on the nature of humanity. So far, he has canvassed some alternative ways of viewing what it means to be human before arguing that biblically we are one race and two sexes. In this final installment, Peter asks how we might live as a result of the biblical teaching.

What should we do?

As human beings, we must understand who God has made us to be. But there is another important aspect of humanity that we must also understand: what does God want us to do?

To know God

We are made in the image of God in the world. In the original creation, man and woman were placed in the Garden and lived under the rule of God's word. That is, they knew their place as creatures who owe everything to God and enjoyed a fellowship with God and with one another undistorted by sin. To know God was to love and obey him, not to act as ‘godlets’. Despite the fall, the goal of human existence remains the same: it is to know the living God and so to live under his rule and have eternal life (Jn 17:2,3).

To work in this world

We are put in the world to be the image of God; to subdue it and to fill it, and to care for it. The world is to support us, and we are to care for it (Gen 2:13-18). Work is something that was part of our role in the world before the fall, and forms part of our obedience to God.

Work itself is not a curse, but work has been cursed. So the work we do often damages the world and is troublesome to us. There is also suffering, from which we are not exempt. But work itself is good. The abuse of the world is not part of our duty, and nor is the abuse of animals. We are to care for our world. We are to work so as to keep ourselves and to support others; we are to work in a way that pleases God.

To work for the world to come

Our work here is always passing. The Lord Jesus is the one who is the true worker, he is the true image of God. He is the one who is now ruling the world and fulfils Genesis 1. It is his work that matters most; and as you do his work you are doing the best work, the true work. This is a work from which we will never retire, and are never incapable of doing. When you are in a nursing home, unable to move around or maybe even speak, you will still have work until the day you die—the work of the Lord in prayer. There is always work to do.

Conclusion

Is man just an animal? Are we modified monkeys or the creatures of a good God? And does it matter? It matters immensely. For the sake of the truth, for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our society—it matters. We have a basic witness to make, and a stand to take on the significance of the human being. It is because we are human that we best care for the world in which God has placed us.

(Read the full article online.)

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