The world is full of ideas about what makes a human being.  By that I mean things like what makes people different from animals.  The answer would have to take into account things like language, having a conscience, and being able to have logical thinking.  The problem of good and evil comes to mind also.  But what is behind all of that?  In the end, even understanding the claims of Christianity involves understanding who human beings are.

How It Starts Matters

If there is one thing I learned about God, it is that He does not mess around when He does something. 

Being God means that when He acts and uses His power, He goes all in.  He is never surprised and does not wait to let circumstances dictate His next move or how He has to reach His goals.  The same thing is true when it comes to how human beings were made in the beginning. 

I think of it this way: If mankind just came to be out of chance, it would mean that God didn’t notice what was going on until after it started.  That hardly fits a God who knows everything all the time.  If evolution was the way it happened, God would have taken something second hand, an animal (apes), either because He didn’t want to mess around with starting from scratch, maybe out of laziness or incompetence, or because he didn’t have the power to do it differently.  None of this fits the God we have come to know about.

 Maybe I’m being picky, but the way mankind started in the beginning makes a difference. Knowing the beginning is the only way to truly understand who we are and how the world has come to be in the condition it is in.  For one thing, being created gives value to a person far more than being an improved model of an animal.  What can be more valuable than being specially made?  It also gives life a purpose.  There is simply no comparison between being made for a reason and from a plan rather than exploding into existence out of dumb luck.  The believability and truthfulness of the Bible comes into play also.  As far as a plain reading of Scripture is concerned (remember the golden rule for reading it), there is no question about what it claims.

The Beginning

The testimony of the Bible is that God personally and directly made man and woman literally from the ground up, Adam from the dirt of the earth and Eve from the flesh of Adam.  To modern ears that sounds like fantasy, if not just crazy.  So, I’m going to take a step or two back and remember what God is like. 

God is eternal, without beginning or end, unlike humans who had to have a beginning and have a physical death.  Because He is eternal, God has always had the power of life, even when there was not life around Him.  He is all-powerful and therefore is the only one who can make life.  The bottom line is that humans are radically different from animals and our fantastic uniqueness in all of creation should be expected to automatically reflect our Maker.

We Are a Reflection

Here is what I think is an important question to think about, not just for the sake of knowing where we have come from, but also for the sake of understanding how mankind is so unique compared to any other creations on this earth.

The very first statement in the record of God’s creation of mankind, in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, is “Let us make man in our image, according to Our likeness.”  God does not make that statement about any other creature.  It is declaration of the “image of God” in all people.  That means that among every other created thing in the universe, humans carry in them traits that reflect the One they came from.  This is massively important for getting a handle on how people are engineered – how they act toward others, how their moral “compass” works, whether or not they have souls, and how they think.  That is why in this first part of this section, I’m going to talk about at least four traits that make every one of us what some people have called the “crown of creation”.

We Have Souls

It is obvious that for humans to be different from other living things, there has to be more to us than just our flesh and bones.  For most people, it is the most natural thing in the world to assume that they have a spiritual part to themselves.  It is a built-in way of thinking, so much so that those who deny that part of us are very much in a small minority.

There is a reason for that.  Having a non-physical part, a soul, a spiritual part, was designed in us from God who is Himself Spirit.  Mankind being spiritual comes with some important results.  For one thing, it means that we are all made with the ability to know and experience God on a personal level.  That’s why the Bible is clear that in order to do that, we all have to have a spiritual side to begin with.

In the here and now, that is a great blessing.  It means that there is a possibility for anyone to worship God in a real way.  Also, there is a special bond between those of us who share those times of fellowship and worship because there is a common inner life going on.  There is also a less obvious benefit.  Think of it, since our bodies and souls are so tightly intertwined, a healthy soul will empower a healthy mental life.

Because we get our “spiritness” from God and He is eternal, people will never stop being alive; our soul/spirit is also eternal.  We have been created for eternity. Because our body and soul are “woven” together and because they are God’s handywork, He holds all people accountable for how they live in this life.  We will eventually face our holy creator.

We Are Intellectuals

There are probably not too many people who ever think about thinking.  But thinking for ourselves, being able to have understanding, be creative, have imagination, and be able to communicate with others is exactly what we should expect if we are creatures made by God. 

This part of the image of God in man is obvious.  Everyday life simply cannot be lived without being able to think and have feelings in a way that no animal can ever come close to.  Not only that, but God’s communication with us through the Bible depends on our being able to understand and follow through with whatever He has given us.  That is why He makes such a big deal of training our minds to think clearly on right things. 

We Know Good and Evil

One of the most important things that came out of understanding God’s character was that He is holy, righteous, good, and just.  The other side of the coin is that He knows about evil and is repulsed by it.  Now imagine God passing on the need to know right from wrong.  Imagine being able to follow through and live in line with His character.

That is what God passed on when He created us to be reflections of His moral personality.  He gave us the power to make our own decisions about good and evil and the freedom to follow through on either one for ourselves.  That is a lot of responsibility.  But it is on our shoulders because we have the built-in ability to control our inner life that no one else sees except God.  We also have the job of acting for the right or for the wrong in every other part of life.  In the end, whatever comes out of how we use our freedom of choice is on us and no one else.

We Need Fellowship

People need people.  People also need special people.  Even when relationships are hard, there is still something built into us that makes us need to be part of other people’s lives and for other people to be a part of ours.  It is all automatic from the most public to the most private relationships.

The design in us for relationships is also a reflection of God, of His character and how He feels about His own relationships with mankind.  It shows up right away in the record of the creation of Adam and Eve.  Adam is said to need a tailormade companion and immediately after God brings the two of them together, their “flesh of my flesh” bond is announced, and they are told to start a family.  Their devotion to each other became a reflection of God’s devotion to them as their maker and father. 

So, why is the social part of us so important?  The Bible lets us know that there are a couple of important things about our social reflection of God.  First, His purpose for us is for us to act toward other people, no matter who they are, so that His image gets lived-out toward them because they also have His image.  Second, this goes for this life and for life after death.  Our ability to have communion with others is the same thing that gives us the way to have fellowship with God through Jesus.  If we did not bear His image, did not have a need to be around other people or know what deep relationships are, spending forever with God or without Him, depending on our choice, would have no meaning.