From Jim McGuiggan... The Image of God (1)

The Image of God (1)

 The truth of Genesis 1:26-27 is rich and complex. We should not only be careful that we don’t include what is erroneous we should also be careful not to exclude any truth that might be in the phrase.

One of our temptations when dealing with a rich and complex subject is to stress the truth of one aspect of it and conclude that anything that doesn’t sit easily beside that truth must be false. In some cases we jump to conclusions and what we need is a bit more patience and work.

For example, in Romans 7 Paul speaks of the Jewish Torah saying that it is holy and righteous and spiritual and then goes on to speak of it as a Torah of sin and death. How can he say both? If it’s one then it can’t be the other! Or can it? I’m certain it can be and that it’s Paul looking at the same reality from different perspectives.

The same, I judge, is true about the phrase "in the image of God." It’s clear from Genesis 1:26-27 that both male and female are made in the image of God and yet 1 Corinthians 7:11 speaks of the male as the image and glory of God "but" the female as the glory of man. Clearly there’s something true here about the male that is not true of the female. If we allow that Paul is dealing with a specific issue (human headship in light of the divine order or the divine order as reflected in human headship) rather than all that "in the image of God" involves we need not have a problem.

If we conclude that Paul is isolating one truth out of a complex of truths about human creation "in the image of God," then we need not think that he’s denying that women are made in the image of God. If he is making the point that the male is the head over the female (in the purpose of God) then he can speak of the female as the glory of the male without denying the female’s being in the image of God. 1 Corinthians 11:7 speaks of the relation of the male to the female in the matter of headship and not of both in relation to God in the matter of their creation. Both were equally created in the image of God but in their being created in the image of God there was involved a relational matter between the male and the female. That specific truth is what Paul is after in 1 Corinthians 11.

In addressing Christians (as Calvin observed), you can be sure that Paul included females when he called them to be re-created in the image of God through Jesus Christ. See, for example, Colossians 3:10.

So Paul can believe that both male and female is "mankind" and made in the image of God (see Genesis 5:1-2). At the same time he can argue functional subjection (not inferiority) of the female to the male from creation "in the image of God." This warns us that there’s more than one facet to that creation truth.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.

There Will Be No Signs! by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=937

There Will Be No Signs!

by	Dave Miller, Ph.D.

It is not uncommon to hear people discussing the end of time and delineating the “signs” that, they say, are proof that Christ’s return is imminent. These signs include “wars and rumors of wars,” “earthquakes,” and various political/military events that one observes on the evening news. These loud proponents of gloom claim to be representing the Bible in their calculations and forecasts. Of course, to date, every attempt to pinpoint the date of Christ’s return has failed.
The fact is that earthquakes could not have been intended by God to be a sign of the end of the world. Since 1900 alone, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the world each year. Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes. The National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) now locates about 50 earthquakes each day, or about 20,000 a year (NEIC Web Team, 2003). Since earthquakes have been fairly constant for the last 2,000 years, and occur on a daily basis, they would be completely useless in attempting to recognize the end of the world. However, if Jesus intended them to be immediate signs, contemporaneous with the first century, they would have served a useful purpose.
Consider for a moment what the Bible actually teaches on this matter. In Matthew 24, Jesus pinpointed numerous signs by which His disciples and Jewish Christians could recognize the occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The signs that Jesus mentioned included “wars and rumors of wars” (vs. 6), “famines and earthquakes” (vs. 7), the Gospel preached to the whole world (vs. 14), and the approach of the Roman armies (vs. 15; cf. Luke 21:20). These events functioned as signals by which the faithful could identify the “end” (vss. 6,14) of the Jewish commonwealth. Jesus provided descriptive detail in response to the disciples’ question concerning the destruction of the temple (vss. 2-3). Just as tender branches and fresh leaves signal the approach of summer (vs. 32), so the multiple signs that Jesus pinpointed would signal the coming of Christ in judgment on the Jewish nation (vs. 33) in A.D. 70.
Then, beginning in verse 36, Jesus turned His attention to the question of the end of time and His Second Coming. Notice the difference! Jesus went out of His way to stress the total absence of signs signaling the end of the world and the Second Coming. He declared that His final coming would be comparable to the Deluge of Noah’s day (vs. 37), in that it will be totally unexpected. Right up to the very day that Noah and his family entered the ark, life was going on as usual. No signs! Jesus said farmers will be in the field as usual (vs. 40); women will be involved in their activities as usual (vs. 41). Jesus even likened the unexpected nature of His final coming to the exploits of a thief (vs. 43). Both Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:2) and Peter (2 Peter 3:10) repeat this analogy. As the coming of a thief in the night is preceded by absolutely no signs, so the final coming of Jesus will be preceded by absolutely no signals.
Contrary to the prevailing notions of today concerning “the signs of the times,” the Bible asserts that there will be a total absence of signs to prepare the world for the end of time. The only hope of the entire world is to render obedience to the written revelation of the Bible (Matthew 24:46). Noah preached, apparently for many years, in hopes of alerting the world’s population to the coming judgment upon them. They refused to listen. Likewise, the only “tip off ” available today is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that instructs every accountable individual what to do to be right with God. When one brings one’s life into compliance with those directives, “signs” by which to anticipate the return of Christ are completely superfluous.

REFERENCES

NEIC Web Team (2003), “Earthquake Facts and Statistics,” [On-line], URL: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqstats.html.

From Mark Copeland... The Wrath Of God (Romans 1:18-32)

                      "THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS"

                       The Wrath Of God (1:18-32)

INTRODUCTION

1. The Scriptures speak of the coming day of God's wrath...
   a. Revealing the righteous judgment of God - cf. Ro 2:4-6
   b. A day of judgment of the ungodly - cf. 2Pe 3:7
   -- In which the fullness of God's righteous indignation is made known

2. The Scriptures also speak of how God's wrath has already come...
   a. Revealed from heaven - Ro 1:18a
   b. Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men - Ro 1:18b
   -- In which a foretaste of God's righteous indignation is manifested

[Why does God manifest this "foretaste" of His wrath?  How does He
express His righteous indignation even now, long before the day of
judgment?  Our text (Ro 1:18-32) provides the answers...]

I. WHY GOD MANIFESTS HIS WRATH

   A. BECAUSE MAN STIFLES GOD'S REVEALED TRUTH...
      1. By suppressing the truth in unrighteousness - Ro 1:18
         a. Rejecting what is true
         b. Justifying what is ungodly and unrighteous
      2. By spurning what God has revealed - Ro 1:19-20
         a. Things about God that are manifest in man himself
            1) E.g., man's intelligence and personality, implying the
               same of his Creator
            2) E.g., man's sense of ought, implying a righteous Creator
         b. Things about God that are manifest in creation around him
            - cf. Ps 19:1-2
            1) Invisible attributes of God, seen and understood by
               things that are visible
            2) E.g., design and order of the universe imply eternal
               power and Deity
      -- When man fails to listen to the beauty and design of the
         universe that declares "God exists!", God is angry!

   B. BECAUSE MAN IS UNGRATEFUL AND FOOLISH...
      1. Not being thankful to God - Ro 1:21a
         a. Even when they knew Him
         b. Yet failing to glorify Him as God
      2. Becoming futile in their thoughts and foolish in their hearts
         - Ro 1:21b-23
         a. The consequence of not glorifying God
         b. Leading to idolatry (the worship of creation instead of the
            Creator)
            1) E.g., making God into their own image
            2) E.g., making God into the image of other animate objects
         c. Modern man has his own idols:
            1) E.g., secular humanism (worshipping self)
            2) E.g., covetousness (worshipping money) - cf. Ep 5:5; Co 3:5
      -- When man ceases to be thankful to God, and esteems created
         things over Him, then God is angry!

[The wrath of God at the last day will involve a fiery end (cf. 2 Pe
3:10; 2Th 1:7-9).  God's wrath being revealed today is more subtle, but
terrible nonetheless...]

II. HOW GOD MANIFESTS HIS WRATH

   A. HE "GIVES MAN UP" TO MORAL UNCLEANNESS...
      1. God "gave them up" (paradidomi) - Ro 1:24a
         a. No fire from heaven striking them down
         b. But simply leaving man to his own desires
      2. To (moral) uncleanness - Ro 1:24b
         a. In the lusts of their hearts (wherever their wicked hearts
            led them, cf. Mk 7:21-23)
         b. Dishonoring their bodies among themselves (in what way, see
            below)
      3. Why?  Because they exchanged the truth of God for the lie - Ro 1:25
         a. Worshipping and serving that which is created
         b. Rather than He who is the Creator and worthy to be blessed
            forever

   B. HE "GIVES MAN UP" TO VILE PASSIONS...
      1. Again, God "gave them up" (paradidomi) - Ro 1:26a
         a. No lightning from heaven striking one down
         b. But simply leaving man to his vile passions
      2. Case in point, lesbianism - Ro 1:26b
         a. Women exchanging the natural use for what is against nature
         b. Using bodies designed for procreation in ways that do not
            procreate
      3. Case in point, homosexuality - Ro 1:27
         a. Leaving the natural use of women (to procreate, to avoid
            fornication, cf. 1Co 7:2)
         b. Burning in their lust for one another, committing with men
            what is shameful
         c. Receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was
            due (e.g., AIDS?)

   C. HE "GIVES MAN UP" TO DEBASED MINDS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS...
      1. Yet again, God "gave them over" (paradidomi) - Ro 1:28
         a. Since they did not like to retain God in their knowledge
         b. God gave them over to a debased mind, to do things not
            fitting
      2. The result of being "given up":  being filled with all
         unrighteousness - Ro 1:29-31
         a. Wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness
         b. Envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness
         c. Whisperers, backbiters, haters of God
         d. Violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
            disobedient to parents
         e. Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,
            unmerciful
      3. They know the righteous judgment of God, that such are
         deserving of death - Ro 1:32
         a. Yet they still do it
         b. And they approve those who do it

CONCLUSION

1. God's wrath is manifested today by simply allowing man to go his own
   way...
   a. To follow the desires of his heart
   b. To follow the passions of his lusts
   -- Stumbling in blind ignorance to increasing degrees of depravity
      - cf. Ep 4:17-19

2. God's mercy is manifested today for those willing to turn back to
   Him...
   a. Willing to acknowledge His revelation
      1) That given through creation
      2) Even more so that given through His Son! - cf. 1Jn 4:9,10
   b. Willing to be thankful to Him
      1) With the attitude of gratitude - cf. Col 1:12; 2:7; 3:15,17; 4:2
      2) Showing gratitude through repentance - cf. Ro 2:4

Are we thankful?  Do we show it by turning from our sins and turning to
God?  If not, we have every reason to fear the wrath of God - not just
the day of judgment, but the consequence in this life of God simply
"giving us up" to our own desires!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

From Gary... In a flash

Yesterday was a tough day; I started working with the computer, but before long my neck hurt so bad that I found a home in the recliner for several hours. Needless to say- no blog post for Thursday! The upside was that I felt so rotten that I went to bed early, hoping that a good nights' rest would solve the problem.  Well, I had very pleasant dreams- until a very bright flash of light awakened me from a sound sleep. Just like that- Hello Friday!!!  It was the suddenness of it that hit me (and my dog BUDDY [who didn't stop shaking for an hour])!!!  With all the news of evil in the world recently, I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Christ returns and everything is settled once and for all...

Matthew 24:27-31 NASB
(27)  "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
(28)  "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
(29)  "But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
(30)  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.
(31)  "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

No, I am not going to argue about this, just express my desire that it happens soon. Whatever it will be like- it will be quite (to be sure)!!!  Might I dare to say- "In a FLASH"!!!!!