Man Is God’s Image — Before and After the Fall

God is the Lord of all; He made man in His own image and He made him the lord of creation; He made him king and prince over all the animals and everything that is in earth.  God put into man something of that which characterises Himself.  Man’s very body supplies evidence of this.  God made man upright.  The animals are not upright.  God made man upright, to show that he had this dignity, this regal quality about him.  Man does not go on all fours, he stands erect; the very uprightness of a man’s body is a part of the image of God in him.  Still more important is the fact that God made man, originally, righteous.  He gave him a moral and an intellectual integrity.  Man, as he was made by God, was righteous and holy and true.  There was no sin in him, there was no defect, he stood before God a morally righteous creature, fit for communion with God, and one who enjoyed communion with God.

Why is the world as it is? you say.  The answer is that man fell.  And when man fell the image of God in man was defaced.  I do not say that the image was destroyed or altogether lost, because when man sinned and fell he did not cease to be a man, he did not become a beast, he was still man.  And that is the tragedy of man, that he still bears some of the marks of the image of God.  He can still think; he can still reason; he still stands erect and upright; he still has psychic powers in that he can reason about himself and contemplate himself.  These traces remain.  But what was really the crowning gift of the image — the righteousness, the uprightness, the holiness, the truth — was lost, and man was driven out from the presence of God and became a stranger to Him.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg. 177

The Lord’s Supper

The following is an extract from a chapter in Dr. William F. Kerr’s book, “Conservative Baptist Distinctives.”  I think it is a good summation of what the Bible teaches in regards to the Lord’s Supper (“Communion”).

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This teaching [transubstantiation] is contrary to the Scriptures, for the Bible shows the Lord’s Supper to be only a memorial.  In 1 Corinthians 11:24 and 26 we are instructed: “. . . This do IN REMEMBRANCE of me” and “ye do show forth the Lord’s death till He come.”  Such a celebration could not be a remembrance if Christ were actually there as the Roman Catholic Church teaches.  And it couldn’t be a showing till He comes if He were already present on the altar.  To state that the words “This is my body; this is my blood” must be taken literally and not figuratively is contrary to the language often used by Christ.  For instance, we read in John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus unto them, saying, I am the light of the world . . .”  Does that mean He was a literal physical light?  Obviously not! . . .

Even the very words of the institution of the Lord’s Supper belie the concept of transubstantiation.  For in 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 there is a double figure of speech:  “After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”  Here the cup in one instance equals the new covenant; in another it equals the wine.  Does this mean then that the cup was literally transformed into the new covenant or into wine?  Obviously not!  Yet on the basis of Roman literalism of figurative language, the cup should be so changed.  Obviously the sacrifice of Calvary cannot be repeated in the observation of the Mass.  This is clear from many Scripture verses: for this he did once, when he offered up himself” (Hebrews 7:27; compare also Hebrews 9:26, 28: 10:10). . . .

To the Roman Catholic view of the actual presence of Christ and to the Lutheran view of the real presence of Christ we pose this question:  “How could the disciples believe that when Christ handed them the elements that the body and blood of Christ were either actually present or really present?”  (Matthew 26:26-29).  They could obviously believe no such thing.  Was He not there right before their eyes?  He could be seen, felt, handled and the elements were recognized for what they were—bread and wine.  It takes theological and philosophical juggling to make them otherwise. . . . 

To the holders of Reformed theology, there was neither the actual nor the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.  However to Calvin and his followers, the Lord’s Supper was a sacrament and thus had more than mere symbolical or memorial significance.  To them when one celebrated the Lord’s Supper, he was eating and drinking spiritually of the body and blood of Christ.  There is, therefore, in the Lord’s Supper a spiritual though not an actual means of grace.  Through its observance, one grows spiritually in the Lord Jesus Christ and receives spiritual food.  To this extent the Presbyterian view shares in sacramentarianism.  But even such a spiritual eating is a contradiction to the Bible’s teaching that the Supper is simply a memorial.  For it states, “this do in remembrance of me.” . . . 

That the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is merely a symbol or memorial of the work of Christ for us is evident from the Word of God.  It merely symbolizes: (a) The death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  It brings the scene of Calvary before us; it reminds people what was done by Christ on their behalf (1 Corinthians 11:24, 26); (b) The Christian’s faith.  The apostle Paul reminds us that as we observe the Lord’s Supper together that we are also witnessing to others about our faith.  It becomes a visible sermon in action.  It demonstrates that we are members of the body of Christ by the saving act of faith in Christ’s shed blood and broken body.  He writes: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  For we being many are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17; compare John 6:51-54).

The World is Becoming Governed by Feelings

There are so many people who are governed entirely by their feelings and they do not want to use their minds and their brains.  Even in a religious service they just want happiness and enjoyment.  They want to have a good time, as they call it, to get excited, to work themselves up by singing hymns and songs and choruses, and to keep on repeating and repeating until they are in a state of mental intoxication.  They do not want to be made to think.  Life is hard enough as it is, they say, without having to struggle with this thought and that, so let us have more singing and less preaching and so on.  Feelings!  Just a riot of enjoyment — that is a foolish person.  Do you see the relevance of all this to the state of the church today?  It does not matter how crowded your churches are in whatever country you belong to.  What I want to know is, what happens when the crowd gets there?  How is the time spent?  And, alas, one sees and hears more and more music and entertainment and less and less of teaching and doctrine and true understanding.  That is one of the characteristics of folly.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg. 145

Are You Concerned About Those in Darkness?

Christian people, may I put it to you like this:  Are you concerned about the masses that are in this darkness?  I know you feel a sense of disgust with respect to them; we all do; but if you merely feel a sense of disgust, and gather up your skirts, and walk on the other side of the street, you are almost as bad as they are.  The Levite and the priest did just that, and no more, when they saw the wounded man by the roadside.  That is of no value.  If we realise that the people we encounter are living worthless lives because of this world’s tragic ignorance and darkness, then, I say, as Christian people it should move us to say, “What can I do for these people? How can gospel light and knowledge be brought to them?”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg.389

Newspaper Bible Commentary

The newspapers of today are becoming more and more the finest commentary that I know of on the Bible.  In them we see the utter artificiality of the life lived in darkness.  There is nothing real there at all, but something has been erected and put up; it is all man’s work, man makes it.  And so life goes on, and it is called civilisation.  But the Bible calls it “the works of darkness”!

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg.383

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Where did this nonsense about “Love Offerings” come from?!?!  I’m really tired of this phrase, and while looking for some reason behind it, I came across this article by another person tired of this phrase.  (Some really judgmental comments on this post surprised me.

Biologos is now promoting not only evolution, but also outright heresy.

Testing your charismatic experience against the Word of God.

Christianity Today Astray has crossed the lines of decency.   They long ago crossed the line into paganism and false teachings, but they aren’t even decent about it any more.

More Patricia King lying nonsense.  Why oh why does anyone listen to here?!??!

Just as bad is Heidi Baker - again.  How in the world do these people get where they are?!?!  (I’m still trying to figure out just what an “oily life” is - what the heck does it mean?!?!)

Spiritual Gift tests are bogus.  They are nothing more than copying the idea of 

Beth Moore—high school girl.

Via Doug Evans I learned this week that Greg Laurie is now on the heretic TV station TBN.  As I said last time, he is sliding into apostasy for popularity.  Read Doug’s article for more information about Greg.

Another horrid “Christian” movie coming soon will be sure to sell out many theaters, and the associated marketing of books, journals, study guides, etc, will overtake the “Christian” book stores minefields.  “The Young Messiah” claims to be biblical, but since we know virtually nothing biblically about that period of Jesus’ life it has to be all made up out of peoples’ apostate minds.  Of course it is IMMEDIATELY unbiblical by making Jesus’ brothers and sisters to be his cousins, because that is the Romanist teaching in order to keep Mary a perpetual virgin — a totally unbiblical concept.  The actor portraying “Jesus” looks very girly - about as feminine as it gets. The list of apostates and heretics promoting it doesn’t surprise me.   Save your money.  (Here’s another good review.)

The “apocalypse” examined by a host of false prophets just demonstrates the mess that can happen when one leaves Scripture behind.

Speaking of false prophets, Doug Evans has an excellent article starting off a series on the New Apostolic Reformation.  These guys are dangerous.

The Mark Driscoll plot thickens.

More deceit in the Mormon church - fake reviews of the Book of Mormon.

Some good information via video on another cult, the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Cripplegate is analyzing Rick Warren’s Celebrate Recovery program.  You can pretty much assume that, coming from Warren & Co., it will be unbiblical psychobabble.  Part 1 is here, part 2 is here. (Just be careful of the TULIPs in this review.)

Mary Dalke has a very thorough post examining Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling book, with good warnings against it.  The post also addresses ecumenicism.

To end with some humor, there’s a new Christian satire site, The Babylon Bee. I was especially amused with this article, while this one really pointed to the modern idea of teaching from movies — no matter how horrid they may be!

Some Articles About Modesty and Sex

A good commentary about David and Bathsheba, and where the blame lies for the sin.

A few weeks ago, on a “Some Good Stuff To Read” post, I posted a link to an article on modesty over at “Watch Your Life and Doctrine Closely.”  Well, I’m going to repost that link along with links to the rest of the series:

Biblically Understanding Modesty

Clothes and Culture

Hair and Roman Culture

The “Other” Modesty Text

The “Other” Modesty Text, part 2
Bringing it All Together...Almost
The Right to Bare Arms

A couple years ago Tim Challies also had some good articles on modesty:

The Heart of Modesty

Imperishable Beauty

What Not to Wear

Along this same line is an article by Gary Gilley, “A Matter of Purity.”

I trust you will find these articles as thought-provoking as I did.

As a Man Thinks, So He Is

We have got an adage which reminds us that “As a man thinks, so he is.”  It is absolutely true, although we often tend to forget it.  Everybody today who is alive and doing this or that is proclaiming exactly what he or she thinks!  Everybody is a philosopher, everybody has got a philosophy of life, and we show what our philosophy of life is by the way in which we live.  Our actions always correspond to what we think and what we believe.  Therefore, if people are living a superficial, bubble kind of existence, they do so because that is the sort of mind they have.  It is their failure to think that causes them to live a superficial kind of life.  And this leads me to say that the problem of immorality or vice or crime can never be tackled directly.  Conduct is the result of the point of view, so you can never deal with conduct directly.  To try to do so is the fatal blunder of every non-Christian system.  And we are seeing the failure on all hands.  Men refuse to recognise the fundamental principle that as a man thinks, so he is.  Therefore, it is of no use trying to control his behaviour if his thinking is wrong.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg.383

Christian Talk and Singing Should Have Thoughtfulness Behind It

The Christian’s talk must never be empty, senseless, frivolous; a Christian man should never be a frivolous person, nor should he speak in a frivolous, light, vapid, empty manner.  It is typical of the life of the world, but it has got nothing to do with the Christian life.  I must emphasise here the aspect of taking thought.  The life of the Christian should be characterised by this element of thoughtfulness.  And this not only applies to our speaking but even to our singing.  “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”  We do not jig, we do not rush, such words as that.  The difference between Christian and non-Christian singing in a sense, is the element of thoughtfulness.  We do not sing tunes, we sing the words!  Let Christian singing be bright, certainly, but never breezy, never jaunty!  And then the Apostle introduces the word jesting, that is to say, clever, polished, witty talk which has a harmful and sinful tendency.  The original word has got the idea of turning in it -- the turning of a phrase, the clever, sophisticated, witty, polished shafts which such people throw out, or any double meaning, any suggestiveness, anything which is ribald or scurrilous, in any sense.  And that again, he says, should have no place in the Christian life, but must be banished altogether -- “foolish talking and jesting, which are not convenient.” 

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg. 331

New Converts Need to Learn Genesis

When new converts come into a church, they should be led in a Bible study on the book of Genesis.  They will learn exactly what Christianity is all about and will learn the basis for all Christian doctrine.  Results do come from simply preaching about Christ and the cross in our society today, because there is still a remnant of the Creation basis for that preaching.  But this remnant is disappearing very quickly, and thus the response is far less today than in the past.  It is time we woke up and used the tools that the Lord has provided to evangelize a society that has become like the ancient Greeks.  It is time to restore the foundations of Christianity.

Ken Ham, “The Lie,“ p.103