The Uncreation of Man
When God created man, He created him good. Man's natural state is
goodness. When Adam fell, he as the representative of mankind, changed
our nature, making it impossible for us to fulfill our purpose of
goodness as a creature. But that doesn't change the fact that mankind was created to be good. It's part of the definition of our creation.
In our present state, we are not what we were created to be. Hopefully this isn't too heretical, but I think we could say that as we continue in sin, we "un-create" ourselves or make ourselves less human. Every step away from God is also a step away from our very essence, our humanity. Augustine says in his City of God, "All natures....are certainly good and when they are in the places assigned to them by the order of their nature, they preserve such being as they have received." *
Sin affects our being. It changes us. It un-makes us. John Piper says that "our souls shrink to the size of our pleasures." Indulgence in sin furthers Adam's uncreation of the human race and makes us, as individuals less human, because it's another step away from how we were created. C. S. Lewis says, "This act of self-will on the part of the creature, which constitutes an utter falseness to its true creaturely position, is the only sin that can be conceived as the Fall.....The process was not, I conceive, comparable to mere deterioration as it may now occur in a human individual; it was a loss of status as a species. What man lost by the Fall was his original specific nature." **
Christ came for the restoration, the re-creation of man. He was good. He was man as man was created. And so we, with Aquinas say, He was fully human. More so than we, because He attained that which we were created with. And His salvation affords us the ability to eventually be what we were created to be: good, and to begin to step towards true humanity in this life, through life in Him. He has freed us from the bondage of sin, death, and destruction of our created purpose, and given us the freedom of stepping towards God, and consequently, becoming more human than was previously possible for the children of Adam. Life in Christ makes us more fully ourselves, that is, more like we will be in eternity, more fully human, better than we had been.
The journey to life in Christ, freedom from sin, stepping into true humanity begins with the acquisition and gift of truth, or "justification" and continues in the pursuit of it: "sanctification", and it involves the giving up of your old nature to Him, to be given the immeasurable gift of a new, fully human nature. When once justified, or "saved", you attain to the true humanity of Jesus, actually and potentially. Both "already and not yet" you are paradoxically the owner of a new nature, a truly human nature, and yet the old nature can still lie to us.
So cling to the truth, pursue it relentlessly, and it will set you free.
"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
"Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self..."
--Mere Christianity
"It is not humanity that disgusts us....but inhumanity." -G.K. Chesterton
In our present state, we are not what we were created to be. Hopefully this isn't too heretical, but I think we could say that as we continue in sin, we "un-create" ourselves or make ourselves less human. Every step away from God is also a step away from our very essence, our humanity. Augustine says in his City of God, "All natures....are certainly good and when they are in the places assigned to them by the order of their nature, they preserve such being as they have received." *
Sin affects our being. It changes us. It un-makes us. John Piper says that "our souls shrink to the size of our pleasures." Indulgence in sin furthers Adam's uncreation of the human race and makes us, as individuals less human, because it's another step away from how we were created. C. S. Lewis says, "This act of self-will on the part of the creature, which constitutes an utter falseness to its true creaturely position, is the only sin that can be conceived as the Fall.....The process was not, I conceive, comparable to mere deterioration as it may now occur in a human individual; it was a loss of status as a species. What man lost by the Fall was his original specific nature." **
Christ came for the restoration, the re-creation of man. He was good. He was man as man was created. And so we, with Aquinas say, He was fully human. More so than we, because He attained that which we were created with. And His salvation affords us the ability to eventually be what we were created to be: good, and to begin to step towards true humanity in this life, through life in Him. He has freed us from the bondage of sin, death, and destruction of our created purpose, and given us the freedom of stepping towards God, and consequently, becoming more human than was previously possible for the children of Adam. Life in Christ makes us more fully ourselves, that is, more like we will be in eternity, more fully human, better than we had been.
The journey to life in Christ, freedom from sin, stepping into true humanity begins with the acquisition and gift of truth, or "justification" and continues in the pursuit of it: "sanctification", and it involves the giving up of your old nature to Him, to be given the immeasurable gift of a new, fully human nature. When once justified, or "saved", you attain to the true humanity of Jesus, actually and potentially. Both "already and not yet" you are paradoxically the owner of a new nature, a truly human nature, and yet the old nature can still lie to us.
So cling to the truth, pursue it relentlessly, and it will set you free.
"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
"Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self..."
--Mere Christianity
"It is not humanity that disgusts us....but inhumanity." -G.K. Chesterton
"Because I live, ye shall live also..."
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while, but isn't this part of the premise of Until We Have Faces? I really love this idea of the true nature of man. And becoming who we are.
ReplyDelete