The Truth Project – Lesson 3 Anthropology “Who is Man?”

The question that we delved into in this lesson is “who is man?”  The answer to this question, coupled with next week’s lesson’s “who is God?”, forms the foundation of each person’s worldview.  Understanding who we are is of vital importance.  The Bible states that we are made in the image of God “Imago Dei” (Genesis 1:27). Because we are originally made in the image of God but live in a fallen state, there is a battle between the sinful nature and the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17).

The biblical view of man consists of three states or modes.  The first is the essence of man, which is that man is made in the image of God.  The essence is also dualistic in that it is made up of flesh and spirit.  The second is the moral state of man which is fallen.  Because it is fallen, the third state is the need for redemption, to be rescued or saved.

The question of evil inevitably emerges as we explore the states of man.  Man succumbed to evil, thus the consequeces of having fallen.  It is surprising (and I daresay a bit shocking) to assert that there is no evil in man.  Yet many prominent thinkers have said that man is essentially good, and evil does not derive from man.  For example, Abraham Maslow, the prominent psychologist, believed that there was no intrinsic instinct for evil in man.  His famous “Hierarchy of Needs” even elevates man’s need for self-actualization.  Yet the question remains: where does evil come from?  If it does not come from human nature, where does it come from?  Some may try to blame social institutions and culture, but the problem remains as people make up social institutions and culture itself.

Whether we acknowledge that evil derives from human nature or not, we cannot deny that it exists.   If man is only a material creature, working out the evolutionary process, then why does injustice or suffering bother us?  Why do we feel bad when horrendous acts occur?  Also, if man is only materialistic, there is no ethical basis to even address the “problem of evil”.  It makes more sense to believe that there is something transcendent in each one of us.  As Dr. Theodore Dalrymple says it well, “you don’t need to find yourself.  You need to lose yourself.”