We are in the study of God's redemptive program for mankind. However, to have a clear understanding of God's redemption for mankind, we must have a reasonable understanding of at least 4 other areas:

1. The essence of God
2. The essence of Mankind
3. The essence of Satan
4. The consequences of sin, both original and personal
   And other related areas

Any one of these areas could provide a lifetime of study. Even after a lifetime of study, the depth of the temporal and eternal truths contained in Word of God cannot be totally penetrated. It must be understood that even though each of these areas could be a separate study, it is impossible to study any one of them separately from the others.

A very common mistake in the realm of theology is to be TOO systematic, and not realize that all aspects must be seen in parallel and harmony, not in isolation. I will attempt to keep the study of these areas in a relatively parallel form, lesson by lesson. But it is the entire study that will produce the best parallel comparison.

Because we do not have unlimited time for each lesson, I will not always be able to integrate the subject of one area with all the others areas in the same lesson. Therefore, to gain the greatest benefit from this series, it is important to keep up to speed by regular attendance and/or by the printed lessons.

As much as possible, I will try to make each lesson complete in itself, but there will be times when the presentation will have to be "cut off" when the time runs out, and picked up again in the next lesson. To attempt to make each lesson somewhat complete and understandable, on its own, will require a great deal of review.

It needs to be remembered that Biblical study and comprehension are not limited to human wisdom and logic. Spiritual truth transcends all human wisdom and logic.

If we allow our thinking to be limited by human wisdom and logic, our knowledge of God's truths will only be "surface" knowledge, and we will never move into the realm of the "deep things" of God. Even using God's method of study, we will never exhaust the depth of revelation found in His Word.

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?"

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

There will NOT be any new Spiritual revelation given by God until Christ comes again. However, we can have a clearer and deeper understand of what God has already revealed. This process of knowing and understanding more of God's revelation is often referred to as "Growth".

2 Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

IF we are to be in a continuing state of growing in GRACE and KNOWLEDGE, then we must realize that the Biblical truths taught and discovered in past generations are not necessarily wrong, BUT neither are they fully complete.

Biblical Truth Never Changes,
 Neither is it static.

Remember:

1. Commonly held doctrines MAY only be a small portion of the inexhaustible truth of that Biblical subject.
2. Commonly held doctrines MAY be based on faulty research and discovery (Ill. the world is flat).
3. Commonly held doctrines MAY only be traditions of past generations, not Scripture.
4. God's revelation is not to be taken lightly.
5. For those who treat the revelation of God as "common", there will be a punishment "worse than death".

Our attitude and response to those five items will make a great difference in whether we continue to grow in knowledge, and if we continue to increase our access to God's grace. Please allow me to refresh your thinking with four other items.

1. The Word of God is not common.
2. The truths of the Word of God are inexhaustible.
3. The deep things of the Word are only understood through searching the Scripture, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach in His unique manner.
4. We must not allow the favor or fear of humans to influence what or how we discover the truths of God.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

As we attempt to understand the essence of mankind, and what mankind SHOULD be, and how mankind SHOULD act, we must observe the very first humans as they were created from the hand of God. We cannot gain a proper concept of who a human is, or how a human should act by observing groups of humans that are NEITHER acting right NOR are normal in their being.

These accounts in the first few chapters of Genesis are vital to our understanding of who and what humanity was, and what humanity has come to be. Notice two areas that are mentioned several times in this passage, and will constitute some very important factors indigenous to God's plan of redemption.

Because these areas have been missed or neglected in Biblical teaching, we have only a surface view of redemption, not an "in depth" understanding.

Notice:

(1) Genesis 1:26-27 Our image, Our likeness, Own image, Image of God

(2) Genesis 1:26-27 Dominion, Subdue, Dominion

Four times in this short passage, the Holy Spirit says that mankind was made in the "shadow image" of God, Himself. Three times in this short passage, the Holy Spirit says that mankind is to dominate the earth and all associated with it.

I realize that it also says to "be fruitful and multiply". But mankind, and especially MBFers seem to be following those instructions quite well.

If all there is started with God, and if all we can know comes from God, and all there is fits in the purpose of God, and all things are for the honor of God, and if God is sovereign over all, and humankind was made in the likeness and image of God..,

THEN  

it might be a good idea to know a little bit about God.

There is only one God, yet in personality, God is three - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not only are the works and words of God past finding out, likewise the Person of God is beyond mankind's logic and knowledge. However, like any other subject, the more we know about God, from His Word, the more we can know of God.

God is a Trinity in personality - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are descriptive titles for our benefit and have to do with the role each plays in the plan of redemption. Even though God is three in personality, God is ONE in Essence.

The study of God, like any other Biblical subject, can not be found in one book, or one Scripture passage. We must gather all the information about God from Genesis to Revelation, compare that information with all Scripture, and rightly divide that information, or if you prefer proper categorize it.

There are many ways of presenting the essence of God, sometimes called His attributes. Even the most extensive presentation of the essence of God would seem very small compared to the infinite capacity of God's person.

For our study, I have summarized the essence of God by 11 terms. These 11 terms do a fair, but very limited job of describing God's essence as presented throughout Scripture.

(1)  God is Sovereign

One that exercises supreme, permanent authority
(2) God is Omniscience

Having total knowledge, literally the source of all knowledge
(3) God is Justice

Morally rightness in action and attitude, especially in the administration and procedure of law
(4) God is Veracity

Accurate and true in motive, thought and action.  The source of all truth
(5) God is Omnipresence

Present everywhere at all times
(6) God is Omnipotence

Possession of all power, literally the source of all power
(7) God is Eternal Life

Always existed and always will.  The ultimate source of all life
(8) God is Holy

The opposite of and apart from all that is evil or wrong
(9) God is Immutable

Not subject to change in His person
(10) God is Love

Non-egocentric tenderness, affection and kinship
(11) God is Righteousness

Upright, Virtue, Without guilt

Please understand that God does not act according to one of these attributes NOW, and sometime LATER act according to another.

God is 

ALL 

of these things 

ALL

the time!

No one of these capacities can exist or function 

WITHOUT 

being in perfect harmony with

ALL 

the others.

I will use these 11 qualities to describe the essence of God throughout this study. However, there are not enough words in the English language to adequately describe God and His work. If we get a handle on these descriptive terms as they relate to God, His person and His actions, we will have taken a giant step forward in our understanding of our God. We will spend more time on each of these terms later in this series.

When we talk about the essence of God, it will not be with a list of words, instead, just the letters will be in the triangle. It would be good to look at the triangle symbolizing God with the letters representing His essence, and say them over and over again, until you know them by memory.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God (triune + essence) formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul).

There are two creative acts mentioned here:

1. Formed
2. Breathed

The body of mankind was "formed" from the dust of the ground.

God used previously created matter, and fashioned or formed a body for mankind. This fashioning was far more than you or your children would do with "Play-doh". That fashioning included the brain and nerve system, the digestive system, the heart and circulatory system, etc.

For now,

we need to remember that the Body was

second class

 to the soul. 

The body was temporal,

and the soul was eternal.

When I use the term "second class" it is in not a denigration of that wonderful and fearfully made structure. "Second class" in this setting is only comparative.

The body compared to the soul, is WAY down on the value list. This fact was true BEFORE sin, and is many times more true since the Fall. We need to keep in mind that God intended for the main focus of humans to be on the soul and eternity, NOT on the body and the immediate.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God (triune + essence) formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life(s); and man became a living being (soul).

Once God miraculously

fashioned

that body, He 

BREATHED 

into to those nostrils the

breath of life.

In this act of creation, God did not use any previously created matter. This breath came from His own being. Please understand that God does not breathe as humans do. He does not have a body, therefore does not need to breathe air, as does the human body.

We see this literary form used throughout the Bible. This is a comparative presentation of ascribing to God a human trait, in order for the human mind to have some vague understanding of God and/or an action of God.

It is called an

anthropopathism. 

Anthropopathism = Ascribing human traits or functions to something (one) not human, especially to God

Therefore, this breath of God infused into mankind was not simply material air that is essential to physical life. This breath was the essence that made mankind unique from all other created being.

For our study, we will refer to it as the

Soul.

Because it is God's Own breath, it is very difficult to give a concise or accurate definition to the "soul". Someone described the soul like…

The vital principle,

 the immaterial entity in human beings

 credited with the faculties

 of thought, action, and emotion, etc.

 that distinguishes humans from all other forms of life.

That's a good start, BUT falls far short of the totality of what a soul is. In most translations of the Bible, this life, from the breath of God, is translated as "living being".

Being = (Hebrew) A breathing creature

Animals are also referred to as beings or living beings. 

Remember…anthropopathism

Even though there are similarities, the similarities are only for comparison and illumination of a process or fact not know in the human realm. Even though animals are referred to as beings, or living creatures, they lack the "breath of God". Therefore, they are only temporal physical beings.

2 Peter 2:12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

Jude 1:10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.

For this segment of our study, I want us to consecrate on two different types of life resident in mankind that make humans unique and living beings.

1. The Physical life made from temporal elements by the hand of God.
2. The Soulish life coming from the being of God.

1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

This fact has never changed since the creation of mankind. The Fall or sin of Adam did not bring this truth into being. Flesh and blood, the physical, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Some gigantic changes MUST take place in the physical life before a human can enter into the personal presence of God. Nor can this human body (which is "corruptible") move into the realm of the "incorruptible" by natural means.

This was a true fact before the Fall of Adam. The Fall made this "change", from physical to Spiritual, even more difficult. However, looking ahead, we know that the Believer's body will be "transformed".

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

More on that subject latter in the series. For now, let's move back into the make-up of mankind in the original creation, and see a glimpse of what happened to the soul after creation.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God (triune + essence) formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life(s); and man became a living being (soul).

With that act of creation, by God, there was a being with a temporal external body, AND an eternal living soul occupying that body.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

The human was made in the likeness of God's own person. More on that subject later.

In closing, I want us to take a quantum leap ahead in the study, and take a peek at the Believer of today. When mankind sinned, they were cut off from any Spiritual supply from God. The Bible calls this condition, dead in sin.

In this Spiritually dead condition, the only means of receiving and interpreting information is the human nature, which we refer as the OSN (old sin nature).

The aspect of God's redemption that is often referred to as Salvation or New Birth can once again restore the ability of a human to fellowship with God. The process by which that happens is quite detailed, and we will, as best we can, look at that process latter.

Let's realize that through this New Birth, the Godhead comes to dwell within the Believer, with the Holy Spirit as the indwelling agent.

NOW,

 that Believer has a choice!

1. Choose to use the wisdom of the Mind of Christ.
2. Choose to use the wisdom of the human mind.

James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing will be there.

We have received human nature (Old Sin Nature) through physical birth. We received the New Nature (the Holy Spirit) through the New Birth.

By "default" a Believer lives by his human nature (OSN). By our choice (volition), we can choose to live by the New Nature, through obedience to God's Word. This choosing must be a continual active matter. If the Believer does not choose to live by the New Nature, that Believer will automatically be living by the human nature.

The external situation may be the same, whether we live naturally by the OSN or chose to live Spiritually by the New Nature. Illustration. We can go to work and live by the OSN. We may do a good job, and be very successful. However, we will be living by a different power, and the results will be different for both time and eternity.

James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 4:1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?

The discrepancy seen here between 3:17-18  and 4:1-5 

is not because of difference people, 

BUT 

a different choice.

James 3:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

God gives the grace. 

However, He gives the grace

to those

who are not taken with themselves (proud),

and

to those

who submit and draw near to Him.