The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Job 33:4

Meditation 

If you ever read through the Book of Job, you will discover that Job had a rough life. In the opening chapters he lost his wealth, vocational identity, children, physical health, social standing and even his relationship with his wife. As you continue to read about the rest of Job’s life, what you will find is someone who questions his existence. “Why did God make me? It would have been better if I had never been born. My maker has forgotten me.” All of these are sentiments Job cried out in the midst of his pain. 

You've likely experienced this too: the aftermath of losing someone close, a terrible day at the office, struggles in your marriage, or a deeply felt disappointment. When life is difficult, people usually find themselves questioning one of two things in the midst of the struggle: God or themselves.

However, if you stick around and read the end of Job you will catch him saying, this “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Hope is rooted in many things. Among them is the fact that God created us and sustains our very existence. This is part of what Biblical scholars call a theological anthropology or the doctrine of anthropology. This teaching holds that all humans have intrinsic value linked to God as their maker and father.

Let’s be real. We all sometimes think life sucks, and sometimes it does. The doctrine of anthropology reminds us that even when life sucks, God sees and cares for us. We are made in his image, elevated above all other things in creation and deeply loved. This makes the days not just bearable, but meaningful.

This doctrine also gives us a foundation to see and love others on their bad days. Theological anthropology imparts worth not only to us, but all of humankind. In the book of Job, some of his “friends” blame him for the hardship in his life. This doctrine does not commission us to blame, but commissions us to remind all people of their dignity and worth. Sometimes people do need to be corrected. However, it is far more common that they need to be reminded of their worth because they have already corrected themselves. In fact, many people overcorrect themselves to the degree that their lives are filled with blame, guilt and shame. You have worth. The people around you have worth. Remind yourself and them of it.  

Question for Reflection

Who can you encourage this week by reminding them of their worth because they are made in the image of God?

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Meditation 

In talking about theological anthropology, we discovered in our last devotion that we all have worth. People generally love to hear that truth. I believe we all need to be reminded of it. However, the idea of theological anthropology has many truths. Some are comforting while others are hard. As we continue to explore theological anthropology we need to talk about a hard truth of the doctrine: you are not your own.

Our culture worships at the altar of expressive individualism. It is the water we swim in and the air we breathe. It’s so prevalent that it even has penetrated large parts of the church today. So what is it? 

Expressive individualism, which exalts personal autonomy and self-expression as ultimate, denies God’s authority and the truth that our lives are not our own. The Bible teaches that true freedom and fulfillment are found not in following our own desires, but in surrendering to Christ. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Our identity is secured in Christ, and our calling is to live in obedience to His Word and in loving service to others. Christianity holds that human identity and purpose are not self-defined but are given by God, who created us in His image for His glory.

A problem we see in the church today is people being interested in the salvation Christianity offers, but not the Lordship it also demands. Let’s be honest. Too often we are interested in grace, but we still want to retain ownership of our lives. Or we are ok with giving away some parts, but not the whole.

Founded around 1119, the Knights Templar began as a powerful Catholic military order dedicated to protecting Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land during the Crusades. They combined monastic vows with military discipline. The story goes that during their baptism, they were fully immersed except for their sword, which they held above the water with one hand. This action was a symbolic message: "Lord, you can have all of me, but I must keep this sword to do what I will."

You are not your own. No part can be held above the water. When you were baptized into Christ no part of your identity should have been left “dry”. If you are in Christ, “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” All parts wet. Die to yourself.

Question for Reflection

What part or parts of your life do you keep “above the water”?

For this is what the Lord says—he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Isaiah 45:18-19

Meditation 

At the core of orthodox Christian thought is the idea called the creator-creature distinction. It holds that God and creation are distinct. They are not the same. This includes the distinction between God and humans. While we are created in God’s image, we are not the same as God. He is distinct from us in substance, character, holiness, power, etc. We are not one with God. We cannot become a god. God and the creation are also distinct. God is not one with the trees, rocks, animals, or anything else in creation. Creation shows his fingerprints and workmanship, but he is not one with any element of it. This is different from Eastern teachings and philosophy that hold that the gods are one with creation and us.

This distinction isn’t just about material and nonmaterial distinctions. It’s also about hierarchy. The creator-creature distinction holds that God is the boss. Not us. The term “LORD” in all caps in your Bible is the Hebrew word “YHWH”. We pronounce it today as Yahweh. It primarily  emphasizes God’s self-existent, covenantal nature and authority. The Hebrews of the Old Testament treated YHWH so sacredly that they did not say it out loud. They substituted YHWH for the common Hebrew word “Adonai” which is the standard Hebrew word for Lord.

You are probably not interested in becoming a Hebrew language scholar so what’s the point? The point is this: God is not lord like a human lord. God is LORD, serving as the ultimate authority over all things, including your life. This is why God says in Isaiah 45 “I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” We are not gods. Creation is not God. YHWH is God and Lord of all. When we get the creator-creature distinction correctly we come to understand we were created to worship. Not to be worshipped. Not to worship created things.

None of us like being told what to do. It’s human nature to want to be our own master. We assume that happiness comes with autonomy and control. The Christian story is that happiness comes from worshipping and serving God. It’s giving up control, not holding it. You are the creature. He is the Creator. The faster you come to terms with this, the more fulfillment you will discover because you are functioning based on your design.  

Question for Reflection

How do you see people in our world today worshipping themselves, others, or creation instead of God?

Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

Jeremiah 29:5-7

Meditation 

In Jeremiah 29 the prophet Jeremiah gives the Word of the Lord to a broken people. They are Israelites captured and carried off into captivity. Their enemies, the Babylonians, now lord over them. They are foreigners in a foreign land with foreign religions, food, language, dress and many other customs. It would have been easy for them to hate their enemies and seek the downfall of Babylonian society through sowing seeds of destruction and descent. 

Yet anarchy is not what the Lord wants for the Babylonians. He wants the Israelites to make their enemies' society better. Build homes. Plant gardens. Eat. Marry. Have families. Make peace with the Babylonians. The Israelites were called to be countercultural through loving their neighbors, not seeking their downfall.

We are a kingdom people. This world is not our home. Like the Israelites we are exiles who are waiting to go home to the New Heaven and the New Earth (Revelation 21). So what do we do in the waiting? Make the earth better. “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city.” We are not here to seek the destruction of a culture that is antithetical to the Gospel. We are here to love it. We are here to prosper it. We are here to seek peace.  

In Christian theology, the cultural mandate (also known as the creation mandate or dominion mandate) is the divine command given to humanity to exercise stewardship over the earth and to develop its resources for the glory of God and human flourishing. This human flourishing isn’t just for Christians, it’s also for those who do not know Christ.

Jesus states in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:44-45 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Rain at Jesus’ time was considered a blessing from God. Notice how Jesus talks about how God blesses both “righteous and the unrighteous.” It is God’s desire for his people to be peaceful and seek prosperity for others. Live out the cultural mandate through bringing beauty to earth through your work, family, church, love and service to all people.

Question for Reflection

What do you do that brings beauty into the world and blesses others? How do your actions bring about peace and prosperity to your community?

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

Meditation 

Many Western Christians are taught that upon death, their physical body decays while their immaterial soul ascends to be with God. Sometimes, this belief includes the idea that the deceased become angels. The common mental image of heaven involves our soul (appearing much like our physical body) sitting on a cloud and playing a harp. We also have wings and a white robe. However, a careful reading of the Bible reveals a picture that is quite different from this popular misunderstanding.

Part of theological anthropology is the idea that humans are both material and immaterial. One is not bad and the other is not good. They are both good. The issue arises when we inappropriately lean too far into our material existence (materialism) or too far into our nonmaterial existence (gnosticism). In contrast, the biblical perspective asserts that humans are fundamentally a union of both body and soul. Being image-bearers of God, both the physical and immaterial components are essential to the definition of a human being.

The angel example above is what is known as Christian Dualism which is a heresy. Christian dualism holds that the “real you” is the immaterial soul. The body is temporary or disposable. Therefore, salvation is leaving your material body and the earth for heaven. The ultimate hope is disembodied existence. The Biblical worldview is the resurrection of the physical body with the second coming of Christ and restoration of all things (The New Heaven and the New Earth). As God himself said in Revelation 21:5 “I am making everything new!”

Why does this matter? Part of theological anthropology is care for both the soul and the body because they are interconnected. Your diet and exercise impact your soul. Your prayer and Bible study impact your physical body. We are called to be good stewards of our souls, our bodies and this planet because despite the fact that God will one day redeem them, that doesn’t give us the right to trash them.

Above all things, Jesus warns us “be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Paramount in all this stewardship is avoiding the destructive power of hell. Hell is both dangerous for the soul and the body. Again, it’s an interconnected system. The good news of the Gospel is for those in Christ, we have grace to save our soul and body.  

Question for Reflection

In what ways can you better take care of your body and physical health to grow more healthy in your soul and spiritual well being?