Part 2 · Belief 7 — The Doctrine of Humanity
The Nature of Humanity
What we believe
Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality, the power and freedom to think and to do. Though created free beings, each is an indivisible unity of body, mind, and spirit, dependent upon God for life and breath and all else. When our first parents disobeyed God, they denied their dependence upon Him and fell from their high position. The image of God in them was marred and they became subject to death. Their descendants share this fallen nature and its consequences. They are born with weaknesses and tendencies to evil. But God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself and by His Spirit restores in penitent mortals the image of their Maker. Created for the glory of God, they are called to love Him and one another, and to care for their environment.
Draft lesson — pending pastoral review. This guided lesson is being prepared and has not yet been approved. Study it prayerfully alongside the Scriptures, and check back as it is finalized.
Two things are true about you at the same time, and you have probably felt both. You are precious — made in God's image, capable of love, beauty, and wonder. And you are broken — capable of selfishness and harm, and aware that something inside is not as it should be. Many philosophies pick one truth and deny the other. The Bible holds both with perfect honesty: you are a crowned creation, and you are a fallen one. Only when we see ourselves clearly — high origin, real fall — does the rescue God offers begin to make sense.
Crowned with dignity
When David looked at the night sky, he marveled not at the stars but at us: "What is man that you are mindful of him?... You have crowned him with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:4, 5). To be made in God's image means you can think, choose, love, and know your Maker. God formed the first human and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). You are not a machine and not merely an animal — you are a living soul, dependent every moment on the God who gave you breath.
The fall we all feel
God gave our first parents real freedom — and they used it to turn away from Him (Genesis 3). Sin entered, the image of God was marred, and death followed. We feel the result in our own hearts: "the heart is deceitful above all things" (Jeremiah 17:9), and "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). This is not God being harsh; it is the Bible being honest about what we already know. The good news only sounds like good news to those willing to admit they need rescuing.
The image being restored
Here is where the story turns. We could not climb back up to God, so God came down to us. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). And He is not content merely to forgive — He is remaking us, restoring the marred image. "We all... are being transformed into the same image" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Your past does not get the final word about who you are. In Christ, the Maker is patiently repairing His masterpiece — and He finishes what He starts.
Search the Scriptures
Gen. 1:26-28; 2:7, 15; 3; Ps. 8:4-8; 51:5, 10; 58:3; Jer. 17:9; Acts 17:24-28; Rom. 5:12-17; 2 Cor. 5:19, 20; Eph. 2:3; 1 Thess. 5:23; 1 John 3:4; 4:7, 8, 11, 20.
Reflect
Take a moment this week to be honest with God in two directions. First, thank Him that you are made in His image — precious, wanted, never an accident. Then tell Him the truth about the broken places you carry, the things you cannot fix in yourself. You do not have to clean up before you come. The God who made you is the same God who is ready to begin restoring you — today.
Check your understanding
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