Reason 6: How Glorious to Be Man

REASON 6
WHY GOD BECAME MAN

How Glorious to Be Man

 

Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory sin our sufferings because we know suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Man is a Noble Creation

The Bible is an ancient book, and while it does not directly address every modern struggle we face, it does offer timeless truths and principles that we can apply to the issues that arise in our day. Through a careful study of the Bible, we will realize the great value, dignity, and honor that God has given us. Outside of Christianity, no other religion or belief places such a high value on human beings.

No other teaching
has such an organized,
thorough,
and consistent concept
of human worth as the Bible.

The very first chapter of Genesis teaches us that all human beings should be treated equally and regarded as intrinsically valuable. God said that all people were created in His image and likeness. He created man and woman in His image, and there is no difference between them.

As God’s image bearers, we have been given the responsibility to represent God on Earth, to act as His representatives, to reflect Him and represent Him as we steward the earth. This is an extraordinary claim that God has made on each of us! It is important to remember that this claim goes against the grain of all ancient beliefs and traditions.

The Fall of Man

The Bible tells us that the first humans disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. This act caused the fall of man; sin has marred the image of God in man and affected the whole of creation.  After the fall, creation became subject to futility and decay. Man’s condition in sin is not what God intended. Although sin is part of God’s overall plan, God did not design man to sin.

Sin exists in God’s plan,
but God is not the source of sin.

In His sovereignty, God allows sin to be a part of the overall plan that will reveal God’s victory and glory. In all the glorious things that God does, sin exists so that God can overcome it, but it is important to note that God does not need sin. God, in His sovereignty, allowed man to fall into sin. He then incorporated the fall into His plan to reveal His victory and glory. We must humbly admit that this is a difficult concept for us to grasp.

The Mystery of God

As William of Ockham remarks, “The ways of God are not open to reason, for God has freely chosen to create a world and to establish a way of salvation in it, apart from any necessary laws that human logic or rationality can discover.” He reminds us that we cannot fathom God’s reasons. God acts according to His own nature, and a full account of ‘why evil?’ is among the mysteries that belong to God. But these mysteries do not invalidate what we can know. Everything we know about God is not negated by mystery.

God’s actions
transcend our understanding
of right and wrong.

A classic question that is often asked is, “If God is good, why is there evil in the world He created?” Again, this is a mystery that we may never fully understand. Does the existence of evil in God’s creation negate His goodness? Absolutely not. The existence of evil does not negate the fact that God is good and that everything He has created is good.

But unfortunately, God is often portrayed as a dangerous and cruel God. It is as if, because God exists, man is no longer free. It is as if because God is sovereign, man is oppressed and therefore unable to enjoy human freedom. This is a caricature of a false God. It is imperative that we have a correct understanding of God.

God’s Estimate of Man

From the very beginning, the Bible emphasizes the importance of man in the eyes of God. Above all else that God created, man was given a high place in His creation. The fact that God sent His Son into the world to become man is proof that God places man in an honorable position.

The incarnation of Christ
is a demonstration
of the importance
of humanity to God.

Jesus joined our humanity forever. He did not cease to be human, but He retained the body in which He lived, died, and ascended to heaven with His transformed and glorified body. Jesus was truly man and truly God, from the beginning of the incarnation to eternity, and He will continue to be man. He is the head of all humankind and leads humankind back to God.

Jesus became a man
because man has
an important place in God’s plan
and to show the glory
of the human race.

God created man with dignity. Our dignity and worth are not determined by our judgments of ourselves or others, but are directly related to our origin as man created in the image of God. We lose our dignity because we have lost our identity with God. But in Christ we regain what was lost in the Fall and are reconciled to God.

Even though our society
has cheapened our humanity,
God does not denigrate
the people He created.

The Bible is clear that when man fell into sin, God provided redemption to restore man’s dignity. For we were not created to be overcome by sin or to live in corruption and lose our glory forever. God has a plan for us and has graciously offered to share His glory with us. There is no better place for us to be than in God’s plan.

Man in God’s Plan

The Bible reveals God’s plan to create mankind for His glory. Men and women were created in the image and likeness of God and given dominion over creation. It is this realization of the value of human beings as discussed in the Bible that gave rise to the concept of human rights and the concept of human equality. Thus, human beings are valued and given their rightful place.

This tells us that our very existence is of great value, regardless of our condition, our job or profession, our wealth, or our social status. Without going back to the Bible, we will be confused by the world’s corrupt ideas about our identity and become further separated from God and each other. How we are to treat others is clearly shown in God’s words.

The attitude with
which God treats humanity
is the attitude with which people
should treat each other.

Until we esteem ourselves as God esteems us, human relationships will continue to fail. We will continue to face unresolved dilemmas about ethics, morality, and respect for human dignity. Our dignity will never be restored until we understand that we were created for the glory of God.

Our humanity is degraded
when we turn away from God
and live in pursuit of self glory.

Identity is found when we place ourselves into God’s plan and story, not when we make ourselves the center of the story.

The Relationship Between Glory and Suffering

Why is Paul talking about glory and suffering in Romans 5? Paul is putting together two things that don’t seem to go together. When Jesus became man, He not only demonstrated the glory that God has given to man, but He also gave man instructions on how to live. Suffering is a result of following Jesus. The old life must give way to the new, but because we are bound to the old, this process will cause suffering. If we live for God, and therefore our lives are filled with hardship and suffering, do we become less human? By no means!

Suffering is part of
the Christian’s journey.
Suffering is not the goal,
but the result of
working out the goal.

In various ways, the Bible has proclaimed that the Redeemer of fallen man had to be human. Christ had to be like us in every way except sin, and in being like us, He endured suffering. Jesus suffered with us and for us, and when we suffer, we suffer with Him. It cannot be said that Christ cannot empathize with us in our trials, tribulations, sufferings, and the like because He shares our humanity. A life of suffering does not diminish His humanity.

As we follow Jesus, we too will suffer before we enter into glory. Jesus himself was made perfect by His suffering. When we suffer, we share in the suffering of Christ, and that suffering perfects us by producing endurance, character, and hope. Jesus lived out obedience to God and provided a model of true human obedience.

It is through the life of Christ
that humanity has been
restored and glorified.

No amount of suffering and tribulation can take us away from the love of God. For the glory that has been given to us cannot be taken away. God has promised and given it to us in Christ.

We Boast in Our Suffering

As counterintuitive as it is, Paul said, we can boast in our suffering, for we boast in the hope of sharing in the glory of God. Throughout history, great thinkers have reflected on what it means to be human. There is no doubt that Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. His thoughts are powerful in themselves, but even more so in the context of his circumstances.

The atrocities of the Nazi regime, which resulted in unspeakable human suffering, compelled him to participate in a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler while helping Jews escape Germany. Although the attempt failed disastrously and Bonhoeffer was executed, his strong beliefs and thoughts have had a worldwide influence. Bonhoeffer famously said:

“The only hope for humanity is
that God himself is willing to suffer.
He is willing to become like us.”

In our current cultural atmosphere, poverty, poor education, and lack of good opportunities in life seem to make us less human. That’s why we strive to be rich, because we think that wealth defines our humanity. We strive to be smart because we think our intelligence will define our humanity. But the Bible says that the root of all our problems is that we have all fallen into sin. It is sin that dehumanizes us.

Human suffering does not
make people less human.

This is a universal problem that is endemic to humanity. How many of us think that our humanity is okay? Our humanity is destroyed because we live in sin. We tend to think of sin as some kind of harmless mistake, and we excuse each other for our sins. Sin has embedded a deep and pervasive corruption in the human heart, a corruption that produces death.

The False Hope

We need to wake up and see that the results of human efforts will eventually fail. One way or another, we will inevitably face suffering and death. Our attempt to take the best care of our bodies will end in futility. In the blink of an eye, our bodies will deteriorate and their abilities to do what we want them to do will soon fail us. It is the same with wealth. Too many people today mistakenly put their hope in wealth.

There is nothing more foolish than thinking you can control life when you cannot. No matter how well you plan for yourself, grief, illness, betrayal, and financial disasters happen to everyone. Studying history is the best way to teach us to be humble. No amount of wealth, power, or planning can make us immune to suffering.

Christ’s purpose on the cross
was not to secure
our health and wealth,
but to reconcile us to God.

We are all familiar with the false preaching of countless televangelists and Christians who claim that God wants us to be rich and healthy. They claim that if you’re not healed of something, it’s because you don’t have enough faith. If you’re not rich, it’s because you don’t have enough faith. If you’re in trouble, it means that God has abandoned you. These are misinterpretations of humanity, suffering, and sin.

Our problem is not poverty, but greed. Our problem is not when people do bad things to us, but when we do bad things to others. Our greatest problem is that we do not want God and even manipulate Him for our own benefit.

The problem of humanity
is not the problem of evil;
it is when we become evil.
Sin causes us
to dehumanize others.

Restoring Our Dignity

No one wants to suffer, but it’s inevitable when you live in a fallen world. We all deal with our circumstances in different ways. Some have financial problems, some do not. Some have a good pedigree and grow up in a good environment and some do not. Some live in a peaceful state and some live in a place of conflict. God came into the world to show us how to respond in all these situations in order to reveal the glory of God.

God became man
to share His life on Earth
and to show what it means
to be human
in all circumstances.

John Amos Comenius, a theologian and educator from the Czech Republic dubbed the father of modern education, illustrates that the image God gives to man is the image of man growing in beauty, in the peace and joy that God promises. Comenius said that while Adam was growing the plants in the Garden of Eden, God was growing him. God nurtured and guided Adam to grow with loving, appreciative feelings.

God appreciates man
and desires his growth.

Man is not meant to live for himself, but for God. Therefore, we do not live to enjoy and try to fulfill our own desires, but to enjoy God and fulfill His plan. Jesus taught all this by becoming man. He showed us how to live in the midst of adversity and how not to live for ourselves. Jesus saw a clear goal of how to fulfill the will of God. He pursued that goal and worked for it as a man. Jesus invited all people who believe in Him to do the same, to glorify God and live a holy life in all circumstances.

Living a Life of Comfort

All comfort sought and found apart from God is vain and dangerous.  In so many ways, our culture tells us that if the job gets tough, find a new one; if the relationships aren’t satisfying, start over. Life is too short, right? Your desire for comfort will destroy your life! Restlessness will find you one way or another.

Apart from God,
there is nothing in which
we can find true comfort.

Most modern people think that if we are free of problems we will be better people. Don’t you know that most rich people feel restless? They rarely have real friends; this can make them feel isolated and trapped in a very small bubble. They often feel bored with life, and this leads them to seek something higher to fill the void. If all your needs have been met for the rest of your life, you may also struggle with a lack of purpose and ambition.

What is the point of living a comfortable life if it doesn’t bring glory to God? We are created for the glory of God. This means that we flourish when our lives are in harmony with His plan for us. To be fully human is to rejoice in bearing the image of God. It is to live out other-centered relationships with God’s image bearers. God became man so that we might understand what it means to be human and how to live as true human beings, as modeled by Jesus, so that we might share in the glory of God.