This scripture speaks of making mankind in "our image." We all
share in that "image." We are mankind -- male and female.
jt: The OUR in Genesis
1:26 is the Echad or the Godhead. Some like to call it the Trinity. It
is Spirit. God is Spirit. Adam and his helpmeet were primarily spirit because they were made "in the
image of God" that is after the nature and character of One who is Spirit
(John 4:24), but God did make them living souls. The first Adam was spirit,
soul, and body.
The first Adam was man, earthy in all
aspects (I Co 15:45-48.). From this scripture, I understand that Adam
was man, not spirit. I do agree with that last sentence "..Adam
was spirit, soul, and body" because that is what I am. As I read I Cor
15, the biblical message draws the conclusion that Adam was a man just like
me. I need a scripture that presents a different
conclusion.
jt: Genesis 1:26 tells us that
Adam was made in the "image of God" which would make him a spirit being.
Spirit communes with Spirit and Adam communed with God in the cool of the day
before the breach took place. Adam became just like us after the fall
when, because of his own choice darkness flooded his being and he became
separated from God. He was still spirit, soul, and body, but his spirit
walked in a different reality and Seth was born in the image of Adam rather
than the image of God (see Genesis 5:3)
I have not spent much time with TFT. I have,
however, spent a considerable amount of time with Baxter Kruger.
jt: They are both into this
concept of Perichoresis arn't they?
The parallel I am drawing between the community of mankind and
the community known as God is not his parallel. He might agree, I don't
know. But for now, that is my conclusion and it is still in the
"test" stage --- but it is looking pretty good.
Yes they had the
capacity to make choices, they could choose to agree with God and obey Him or
the could choose (as they did) to embrace the lie and act upon it. Also
there were two trees in the garden - they ate from the wrong one and the tree
they joined themselves to ministered spiritual death.
I think it is important to understand
that the Tree of Life would have given them eternal life, had they eaten of
it, even after they had sinned.
jt: Please tell me you are joking John...
The reason they were banished from the garden was so that they could not eat
from the tree of life. God will not share eternity with a bunch of devils and
sin will have no place in heaven.
As far as choices (?) -- God does not have a choice when it
comes to sin -- He cannot be tempted, therefore, there is no
choice for God. God is eternally secure. So the "image of
God" does not mean that we are like Him in every aspect, or even in more than
one.
jt: Adam had the "image
of God" He was not God and he did have a God-given choice. He was being
tested.
Creation
was complete when God said "It was good" but that creation is now fallen in
the first Adam. Jesus came to introduce a "New Creation" which is His Body the
Church. The first Adam was made a living soul, the second Adam is a
life-giving Spirit (1 Cor 15:45)
Why do you
say that creation "is now fallen?" And, here again, I am looking
for a scritprual argument, not a logical one.
jt: The
scriptures tell us in Genesis 3:17 that the ground was cursed because of Adam
and in Romans 8:22 that the creation groans and travails in pain"
The above is TFT's
"incarnational teaching" Yes Jesus is the sacrifice for all time but God
is a Covenant God and Jesus is given as a Covenant to the people.
Covenant agreements involve the fidelity both parties and we enter the process
of salvation so that we might overcome as He overcame. Yes it is all His
grace, and it is all His power - but we have our part in the process if we
have repented from dead works so that we may serve the Living God. I'm
not satisfied with a "form of godliness" are you?.
What
about the fellow in Ro 2:12-16? The text presents one who is not a
hearer of the law -- of any law. But he instinctively fulfills the
law and with that activity, can be saved by Christ. The text does
not present one who has accepted Christ as his personal savior or held himself
obedient to an ethical code of some sort. Scripture everywhere
teaches that God cares more for the condition of the heart than
anything. Somewhere in this "inwardness" is the image of God
spoken of in Genesis. John
jt: The
fellow in Romans 2:12-16 is a believer. One who was not born under the law and
who now instinctively fulfills the law because it is written on the tables of
his heart as per Jeremiah 31:33 and Hebrews 8:10.
Mankind fell
from the "image of God" when the first Adam fell; and the only way to be
restored to this image is by being conformed to the "image of
Christ"
Grace and
Peace,
judyt
