In the Image of Christ

 

I attended a conference at Trinity Seminary, Ambridge PA this past week.  It is always good to spend time at Trinity, albeit short, immersed in learning something more about the Kingdom of God.  The fellowship and rhythm of seminary worship is also very spiritually refreshing.

 The topic this year was Christian Anthropology. Anthropology is the study of humankind, just as theology is the study of God.  Christian Anthropology is combining the two by studying the relationship of humankind to our Creator. One of my favorite psalms, Psalm 139, was in my mind as we explored this topic this week:

 ¹³For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

 Much of our study centered on human dignity and the source of human dignity.  Secular culture and Christians alike champion this idea of human dignity, but we often end up in different places on how to live it out.  The reason is that Christians think more in terms of the sanctity of life, not just its dignity.  Life is sacred and it is God who decides how it is to be lived out.  It also means that it is God who assigns worth to all human life, and He does it equally, from the yet to be born, to the disabled, to the mentally challenged, to those experiencing the end of their earthly life.  We humans, therefore, do not get to decide who is less human or of less value.

  Christian Anthropology finds its roots in the fact that we are created in the image of God (Imago Dei). Gen 1:27-28 says, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.   And God blessed them…”   That image, however, is distorted and tarnished by The Fall (Gen. 3).  Jesus, however, comes as the New Adam to restore the Imago Dei and invites us to take on His likeness.  We are given His Holy Spirit who empowers and guides our life in doing so.

                                                                                                                                                Father Rob