I'm only human?
The following is something I'm working on for a sporadic insert I put in my church's bulletin called, "Theology for Everyone." Like the name suggests, I want this to be accessible to everyone. This means that any- and everyone who reads this blog should get it. If you don't, please tell me because that means I'm not doing what I'm setting out to do! Let me know what you think or if there's anything that resonates with you or that you disagree with. I should also say that it is indebted to Crusty Guy's thought and is mainly a reworking of something he recently wrote.
Theology for Everyone: I’m only Human??
Everyone has heard the phrase, “Well, I’m only human!” The meaning is something along the lines of, “You have to expect failure from a human!” This is troubling if this is what comes to mind when we walk into sin. Here’s why.
Genesis 1:26 records human beings—male and female—as the high-point of God’s creation. Humanity is made in God’s image—living out this image as they rule over creation; as they care for God’s creation (Gen. 2:15). Closely connected to this idea of God’s image—and caring for God’s creation—is God’s presence. In Old Testament times, whenever a foreign king would conquer a land, he would set up a statue of himself in that foreign land to remind the people who was in charge. That statue was called an “image.” Part of what it means to be in God’s image is to do the work of God. God is saying, “ You have to remind all of creation that I care and tend for it.” But what does this have to do with sin?
The first commandment is to have no gods before God. God follows this up in Leviticus by saying we should have no images that we bow before (Lev. 26:1). By worshiping something other than God (be it money, prestige, another person, a hobby, etc.)—by worshiping an image--we are not only doing a wrong against God, but against ourselves. By sinning, we deny the fact that we are made in God’s image and make ourselves into the image of something less. We lower ourselves from the pinnacle of God’s creation and deny our God-likeness. We are supposed to worship the One in whose image we are made and worshiping anything less than God distorts and hurts what it means to be human. Think of how ridiculous it is to worship what other people think of us—and to bear the image of other people instead of God!
So, the phrase, “I’m only human!” is really misleading. The truth is, being human means a whole lot—it means being made in God’s image, given the responsibility to do the work of God in caring for His creation! When we sin, we are not acting like humans, but less than human. When we sin, we make ourselves in the image of something much less than God. Grasp what it really means to be human! Take pride in what it really means to be human. Remember that being human means emulating Jesus (look up Colossians 1:15), being all that God intended humans to be.
Theology for Everyone: I’m only Human??
Everyone has heard the phrase, “Well, I’m only human!” The meaning is something along the lines of, “You have to expect failure from a human!” This is troubling if this is what comes to mind when we walk into sin. Here’s why.
Genesis 1:26 records human beings—male and female—as the high-point of God’s creation. Humanity is made in God’s image—living out this image as they rule over creation; as they care for God’s creation (Gen. 2:15). Closely connected to this idea of God’s image—and caring for God’s creation—is God’s presence. In Old Testament times, whenever a foreign king would conquer a land, he would set up a statue of himself in that foreign land to remind the people who was in charge. That statue was called an “image.” Part of what it means to be in God’s image is to do the work of God. God is saying, “ You have to remind all of creation that I care and tend for it.” But what does this have to do with sin?
The first commandment is to have no gods before God. God follows this up in Leviticus by saying we should have no images that we bow before (Lev. 26:1). By worshiping something other than God (be it money, prestige, another person, a hobby, etc.)—by worshiping an image--we are not only doing a wrong against God, but against ourselves. By sinning, we deny the fact that we are made in God’s image and make ourselves into the image of something less. We lower ourselves from the pinnacle of God’s creation and deny our God-likeness. We are supposed to worship the One in whose image we are made and worshiping anything less than God distorts and hurts what it means to be human. Think of how ridiculous it is to worship what other people think of us—and to bear the image of other people instead of God!
So, the phrase, “I’m only human!” is really misleading. The truth is, being human means a whole lot—it means being made in God’s image, given the responsibility to do the work of God in caring for His creation! When we sin, we are not acting like humans, but less than human. When we sin, we make ourselves in the image of something much less than God. Grasp what it really means to be human! Take pride in what it really means to be human. Remember that being human means emulating Jesus (look up Colossians 1:15), being all that God intended humans to be.
posted by Aaron Perry at
12:27 PM
5 Comments:
This sounds too profound to be just your thoughts, AP. Tell us, what brilliant theologian inspired them?
CG
PS--It seems clear to me, but I'm an egg-head.
It seems clear to me as well, and I'm only hoping to one day be an egg-head
very nice use of the vernacular. also, a good corrective message.
if i had written this i would have added that becoming more of our "self" (or rightly human) is, in a way, "more holy" than becoming less of our "self." ---> but, oh, how the he-must-increase-i-must-diminish-to-invisibility-and-voicelessness pietists would protest! (because that is how that verse is commonly understood). Jesus, afterall, was not voiceless, nor was he invisible. And God doesn't need us to diminish in order to be glorified. He is already shining and our rightly lived out humanness--personalities, voice, actions, artistic expression, talents, successes, is not sinful, but good.
yes, i am the queen of re-phrasing what has already been said, but i only do that when it's good stuff to begin with.
Hey wait a minute. I know what we're talking about. I understood it and nobody from east Germany was quoted. Excellent Aaron. In the words of the Human League "I'm only human, flesh and blood a man" and in the words of Pee Wee Herman "I know you are but what am I"
CG: I put the disclaimer at the start!
Matt: Good luck with that.
Jo: Thanks.
Kirk: For some reason a line from Zoolander comes to mind. Hansel says this about Sting: "No, I don't listen to his music. But he's making it. And I can respect that."
Hansel...So hot right now. Hansel.
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