The Doctrine of Man

Origin
I believe that on day six of the creation week the one true and living God created the first man and woman (Adam and Eve), directly, immediately and supernaturally, from previously existing inorganic material. God ordained that the entire human race would come by the procreative activity of Adam and Eve. The only exception is Jesus Christ.

  1. God created man on day six of the creation week, (Gen 1:26-31).
  2. God created man directly, immediately, and supernaturally i.e. without secondary causation and entailing no process, (God said, let us make 1:26; God created man 1:27; God formed man...and man became a living being 2:7).
  3. God made the first man (Adam) from the dust of the ground i.e. ordinary dirt, (2:7 cf. 3:19) and the first woman (Eve) from the rib which He had taken from the man (2:22).
  4. God ordained that the entire human race would come by the procreative activity of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:20; Acts 17:26). The only exception is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:47).

Nature
I believe that man was created in the image of God and is composed of a body and soul. I believe that God created man in a state of untested creaturely holiness, then when faced with the choice between good and evil, man chose to transgress the word of God, thereby becoming a depraved sinner incurring the penalty of eternal condemnation.

  1. Man was created in the image of God i.e. God created man as a finite, creaturely replication of Himself. Man resembles God as a personal (man’s essence: self-conscious, emotional, volitional, lingual et al., Col 3:9-10), spiritual (man’s relationship with God, Eph 4:24), and moral (man’s moral oughtness, Ro 2:14,15) being.
  2. Man is composed of a body and a soul/spirit(Matt 10:28; Ja 2:26; Note the synonymous use of the terms: 1 Th 5:23 Cf. Lu 10:27; Gen 35:18/Ps 31:5; Mt 26:38/Jn 13:21; Mt 20:28/Lu 23:46). The material (his body) and immaterial (soul/spirit) aspects of man are essentially the image of God in man (Gen 1:26,27 cf. 2:7). God made man’s body after the archetypal form which He designed for His own corporeal and visible expression in Jesus Christ (Heb 10:5).
  3. Man was created in a state of unconfirmed creaturely holiness (Gen 1:31; Eccl 7:29). This means that the first man had an inherent tendency to do right (he was able not to sin). By unconfirmed it is meant that man’s positive holiness had yet to be tested. When tested (Gen 3:1-6), man chose to disobey God (Gen 3:6 cf. 2:17) resulting in total depravity [unable not to sin (Is 1:6; Ro 6:20)], and eternal condemnation (Ro 5:18; Rev 20:15).