Life, Death & Growing
Old
Introduction
1.
Purposes of series
a.
Reflect on the biblical teaching and principles
that intersect with growing old, dying, and death.
b.
To tackle controversial issues revolving around
dying and death (i.e., definition of death, termination of life support,
physician-assisted suicide, burial vs. cremation, etc.).
c.
So that we might be ready to reason about and
respond to these stages of life and death as well as think biblically and
rationally about controversial issues.
The Bible as our
Guide
2.
Christian life is lived under the authority of God’s word
a.
Important: we are not autonomous
b.
We will look at controversial matters and we
must be willing to reason in a biblical manner
c.
Deuteronomy 8.3 and Matthew 4.4
d.
2 Timothy 3.14-17
e.
John 17.17—“Sanctify them in the truth; your
word is truth.”
i. Doesn’t
use the adjective for “true” but, rather, the noun for “truth”
ii. “The
difference is significant, for this statement encourages us to think of the
Bible not simply as being ‘true’ in the sense that it conforms to some higher
standard of truth, but rather to think of the Bible as being itself the final
standard of truth.”[1]
3.
God’s word is a comprehensive authority
a.
Deuteronomy 6.4-5 and Mark 12.29-31
“People who love God more than everything else will want to express that
love in every situation. If we
love god more than anything else, we will seek to know how to love him wherever
we are, whatever we are doing. We
will continually ask how my love for God makes a difference—in my relationship
to my family and neighbors, on the job, in my recreation. And believers will want to know how to
take dominion of human culture for the lordship of God: art, literature,
science, medicine, government.”[2]
b.
The Cultural Mandate (Genesis 1.28; 2.15) and
The Great Commission (Matthew 28.18-20)
c.
Colossians 3.17, 23
4.
The sufficiency
of Scripture
a.
2 Timothy 3.16-17—“…equipped for every good
work.”
b.
Use of extra-biblical data—reasoning and
empirical investigation
i. We
must not equate extra-biblical information with divine words
ii. Scripture
requires us to correlate its commands with extra-biblical information
“When God told Adam to abstain
from the forbidden fruit, he assumed that Adam already had general knowledge,
sufficient to apply that command to the trees that he could see and touch. God didn’t need to tell Adam what a
tree was, how to distinguish fruits from leaves, what it meant to eat. These things were natural
knowledge. So God expected Adam to
correlate the specific divine prohibition concerning one tree to his natural
knowledge of the trees in the garden.
This is theology as application: applying God’s Word to our
circumstances.”[3]
iii. Luke
12.54-56—Jesus recognizes the use of empirical investigation and induction
iv. “Scripture
is sufficient to provide all the ultimate norms, all the normative premises,
that we need to make any ethical decision. Scripture contains all the words of God that we need for any
area of life, and all ultimate norms come from divine words.”[4]
c.
Important for when we discuss bio-ethical issues
regarding end of life: life support, physician-assisted suicide, defining death.
Key Doctrinal
Points
5.
All of life is to be lived under the authority
of God’s comprehensive and sufficient word—for
the glory of God!
a.
1 Corinthians 10.31
b.
Deuteronomy 6.4-5 and Mark 12.29-31
6.
God is sovereign
over life and death[5]
a.
Psalm 139.13-16
b.
1 Samuel 2.6-7
a.
Humans have no independent existence
i. Created
by the will and design of God
ii. We
are creation of God:
Not an outflow of him
1.
Creator/creature distinction à metaphysically
distinct
2.
We never cease to be creatures of God
b.
Humans are part of creation: share a kinship with
the rest of creation
c.
Humans are unique in creation: “more to humanity than
just creature-hood”
i. Matthew
6.26; 10.31:
more valuable than birds
ii. Francis
Schaeffer’s diagram
d.
There is kinship among humans: we should care for
humanity as a whole and for those we do not personally know
e.
Humanity is not the highest object in the
universe
“His
[God’s] glory, not our pleasure and comfort, is the ultimate value. We must never elevate our respect for
humans to the point of virtually worshipping them.”[7]
f.
There are definite limitations upon humanity
i. Humility
due to our finitude
ii. Only
God is inherently eternal à
all else dies
g.
Limitation is not inherently bad à not something to
“grow/evolve beyond”
h.
Should accept our own finitude to properly live
life
“The
fact of our finiteness is clear.
We may, however, be unwilling to accept that fact and to accept our
place in the scheme of things as creatures of God who are dependent upon
him. Adam and Eve’s fall consisted
at least in part of an aspiration to become like God (Gen. 3:4-6), to know what
God knows. A similar aspiration
underlay the fall of the evil angels (Jude 6). We ought to be willing to let God be God, not seeking to
tell him what is right and true, but rather submitting to him and his plan for
us. To pass judgment on God’s
deeds would require an infinite knowledge, something that we simply do not
have.”[8]
§
Consider God’s speech to Job (ch. 38-41)-- reminds Job of his
finitude
i.
Humanity is something wonderful à “image of God”-- dignity!
i. It will probably amaze us to realize that
when the Creator of the universe wanted to create something “in his image,”
something more like himself than all the rest of creation, he made us…We
are the culmination of God’s infinitely wise and skillful work of creation.[9]
ii. Psalm
8.5--
“a little less than God” (Hebrew = elohim)
2.
Image of God--
crucial concept!
a.
Actual phrase “image of God” used infrequently:
Gen 1.26-27; 9.6; 1 Corinthians 11.7; James 3.9 (see Gen 5.1 for “likeness”
language)
b.
What is the “image of God?” Was it lost in the Fall? Do all people share in the “image of
God” now—believers and unbelievers?
c.
Some have denied that post-Fall people are in
the image of God à
the image has been lost and is only renewed in coming to Christ Jesus
i. But
see: Genesis 9.6 and James 3.9 à
post-Fall situations that do not restrict image to believers
d.
Structural and Functional (or, broader and
narrower) aspects of image
i. Structural:
“In sum, then, we may say that by the image of God in the broader or structural
sense we mean the entire endowment of gifts and capacities that enable man to
function as he should in his various relationships and callings.”[10]
1.
Intellectual powers
2.
Moral sensitivity
3.
Capacity for religious worship
4.
Responsibility
5.
Volitional power
6.
Aesthetic sense
7.
Gifts of speech and song
8.
Ability to feel; have emotions
ii. Functional:
“Thus the image of God in the narrower sense means man’s proper functioning in harmony
with God’s will for him.”[11]
iii. Consider
two sets of passages
1.
Gen 9.6; James 3.9
2.
Col 3.10; Eph 4.24
If we put these two types of passages together, we conclude that there
must be a sense in which fallen man still bears the image of God, but that there
must also be a sense in which he no longer bears that image. Hence the distinction between the
broader and narrower aspects of the image is necessary.[12]
iv. C. John Collins
outlines views on the image of God
1.
Resemblance: human beings
like God in some aspect(s) such as intellect, moral sense, will, rationality,
etc.
2.
Representative: humans commanded
by God to rule creation on God’s behalf
3.
Relational: humans as
male/female and in community as they manifest the “image of God”
· Scholars commonly speak as if these categories are
mutually exclusive. My view is
that the linguistic and exegetical details favor the idea that “in our image,
after our likeness” implies that humans were made with some kind of resemblance
to God, which was to enable them to represent God as benevolent rulers, and to
find their fulfillment in their relationships with each other and with
God. That is, I have combined all
three views,…[13]
e.
Practical implications
i. How do we view
people?
1.
Race, ethnicity, social standing (poor/rich), disabled
(physically/mentally)
2.
Proverbs 22.2 “The rich and the poor have a common
bond, the LORD is the maker of them all.”
3.
Created by God to live in relationship—four-fold
relationship
[5]
For more on God’s sovereignty in general see my Bible study “God’s
Comprehensive Control.” Online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2015/12/gods-comprehensive-control.html.
[6] For a slightly expanded
study of the doctrine of humanity see my Bible study “Doctrine of Humanity.”
Online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2016/01/doctrine-of-humanity.html.
