The Stethoscope

The "genesis" of today’s message is the video "Stethoscope" sent to me by Ann Curtis. While I hope you will find the video entertaining, it does raise interesting questions:

What is the soundtrack running within you? That is, what is the script you follow through life?

What does it mean to have Christ in us? Are we born with Christ in us?

What is the point of having Christ as our script? If we can still do evil, what is Christ worth?

These questions all point back to the same issue: What is our essential human nature?

If everyone is essentially good, then what’s the point of religion?

If everyone is essentially broken, then how can we be mended?

If religion has something to do with mending us, then how come so many religious types seem as broken and dangerous was everyone else?

We begin by looking at our essential human nature as it is told in the creation account in Genesis.

Genesis 1

Commentary

v26 God decrees two things: making humans, and giving humans stewardship over creation. The message today concerns only the first. Some people want to read a lot into the plurality of God here: Let us make man in our image. On one hand, some want to interpret this as evidence of the Trinity; on the other, some interpret this was God speaking to a divine council of angels; others interpret it as what Hebrew calls "the plural of majesty’ (i.e. some things, like the heavens, are too vast to be singular). However, all each of these interpretations fails to explain all the data: God is again singular in v27; God nowhere else speaks as if to a divine council in the creation account; the image bestowed in v27 is the image of God alone.

v27 Nevertheless there is a plurality within the singularity in the essential human nature. God created him (singular) but male and female he created them (plural). One must read these last two clauses in v27 as an elaboration of what it means to be created in the image of God.

Application

The image of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6; 1 Cor. 11:7; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). Theologians agree it’s not the physical form that defines the image of a spiritual deity, but rather something at the same time intangible and yet essential to whom we were created to be. Something that, at its best, is the intimation of God with us, and, at its worst, bears witness to how far we have strayed from whom we were created to be. Theologians agree that—whatever the image of God is—it is seen purely in Jesus (Col. 1:15) and it is manifested poorly in us in our brokenness. If Jesus’ soundtrack is a hi-fidelity DVD, our soundtrack is a scratchy vinyl record.

But what is the image of God? What is it about humans that most clearly points to God and distinguishes us from the rest of creation? Theologians disagree: some say it’s rational thought; others say it’s speech; still others say it’s creativity. The problem is the more we understand the animal kingdom, the more we realize that animals have capacities—albeit limited—for rational thought, speech, and other "human" attributes. So what is the image of God?

One is tempted to say that the image of God is love. "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Love requires an other (hence a plurality) and at the same time promotes unity (a singularity). We are close to the truth! However, animals are capable of forms of love themselves, as many pet owners will attest. Nevertheless, there is at least one form of love no other animal is capable of: forgiveness. If I beat my child, he may one day forgive me; however, if I beat my dog, my dog will never learn to forgive me.

Forgiveness is divine. When we cannot forgive, we are broken. When we forgive grudgingly, we bear a tarnished copy of the image of God. But when the Spirit of Christ is alive within us, we forgive others us Christ has forgiven us.

Points to Ponder

To what extent does our sense of being forgiven limit our ability to forgive and love others? (Hint: Luke 7:36-50)

When has a lack of forgiveness ruined a church? Why did the church let it happen?

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)