“For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”
Acts 17:28
In the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster The Bourne Identity, the amnesia-struck hero, Jason Bourne, states, “I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred and fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. . . . Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am?”1 Jason’s candid confession rings a responsive chord because it reflects our own feelings. On the surface we may appear to have it all together. But in the deep recesses of our innermost self, each of us wonders, “Who am I?” And left to ourselves, we cannot find a satisfying answer to this query. In the end, we don’t have a clue who we really are. As a result, we spend our lives vainly searching for an identity.
You and I are not the first humans to wonder, “Who am I?” Long before Christ was born, the Old Testament psalmist contemplated the vastness and majesty of the universe and cried out in amazement, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Ps. 8:3–4).
Like people in every age, the psalmist wondered who we human beings are. Yet the ancient writer sought the answer in a direction far different from what most people pursue today.
The Hebrews derived human identity from the unique position they believed humans enjoy within an orderly creation. Hence, the psalmist declared, “You have made them [humankind] a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet” (Ps. 8:5–6 NRSV). The psalm suggests that the sense of bewilderment we all share is at its core religious in nature. Our search for an identity is ultimately a religious or spiritual quest. And according to the ancient view, our identity derives from a fixed place we enjoy in the cosmos: we stand above the material universe but under the angelic hosts, who also belong to the created order.
Amid the bewilderment and confusion people today sense about who we are, the gospel stands as truly good news. The Christian faith proclaims that we are God’s creatures. We belong to the one whom Jesus declared to be our heavenly Father. Because we are the creatures of God, we can know both where we come from and where we are going. In God we find our origin and our destiny. And as we realize we have in God an origin and a destiny, we can begin to understand who we are.
The acknowledgment of God, then, offers a foundation for the human quest for identity. In this chapter, we pursue the answer Christian faith provides for this universal human quest. We boldly declare that we can know who we are. With the psalmist we claim that we have an identity that arises from our place in God’s creation.
We Are God’s Handiwork
“What is mankind?” wondered the author of the beautiful reflective prayer of Psalm 8. And the biblical writer concluded that humans are made “a little lower than the angels and crowned . . . with glory and honor” (v. 5).
Like the ancient Hebrew psalmist and the entire Old Testament tradition, the Christian faith responds to the human search for an identity by declaring that we are God’s handiwork. But what does this mean? What are we saying when we acknowledge that we are God’s handiwork, the creatures of the divine Creator?
To acknowledge that we are God’s handiwork entails realizing that
We Are Dependent on God
In contrast to the ancient peoples, we do not generally view our status as creatures as the foundation for our identity. Rather, we see ourselves as active creators, and we view the world around us as the material for our transforming activity. In a sense, this contemporary understanding fits well with modern biology’s findings and its concern to pinpoint what sets humans apart from other living species.
One current understanding focuses on the relationship of living organisms to their environment. Animals are bound to their world by limitations set by heredity. Humans, in contrast, are not so closely restricted by inherited factors. Instead, we are characterized by what one biologist calls “plasticity and adaptability.” This endowment enables us—more so than any animal—to alter and even control our environment.2
Linked to our adaptability is another uniquely human characteristic—self-transcendence. Unlike other living things, we are able to stand back from ourselves. We can place ourselves “above” the here and now. We can reflect on ourselves and scrutinize ourselves as living persons.
Our adaptability and self-transcendence work together to rob us of any sense of identity that can be derived from the world. Plasticity means that we lack a biological home in the cosmos. Other living beings have a discoverable niche in the biological framework. But biologists have yet to discover a set role for humankind that explains our purpose for existence.
At the same time, our adaptability and self-transcendence mean that we enjoy the unique possibility of continually experiencing our environment in new ways. We can project, envision, and plan for an existence beyond any world we create.
But for this reason, we are never completely fulfilled by any one achievement or by any one world we fashion as a home for ourselves. Rather than being at home in the world, we are continually on the move to something yet undefined. We are always seeking the new, the future, the not yet. We continually chase that illusive “something” that surpasses the here and now or the status quo. We are continually shaping and reshaping our environment in an unfulfilled attempt to create a home for ourselves.
Some scholars label this aspect of our human situation “openness to the world.”3 They find in this general human characteristic great theological importance.
These thinkers argue that because we are “open to the world,” we are infinitely dependent. We remain dependent on the world for our sense of identity. But we can find no ultimate fulfillment in any one world we create for ourselves. Our fulfillment, therefore, must lie beyond the world. For the goal of our quest, they conclude, we are dependent on something other than the world. In short, if we are to discover any truly satisfying sense of identity, it must come from a relationship to a source of identity beyond our world.
This very contemporary conclusion reminds us of what Augustine so eloquently declared in the fifth century: “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee, O God.”4
We Find Our Origin Solely in God
Our “openness to the world” indicates that ultimately we too are creatures. That is, we are beings who are dependent on a reality beyond the universe. In this way the modern biological understanding of humankind returns us to the Christian faith. We acknowledge that the God of the Bible is the Creator of the universe.
To acknowledge God as Creator means that we look to God as the origin not only of the universe but of ourselves as well. Indeed, as Christians we humbly declare, “Our origin”—or perhaps better stated “my origin”—“lies in God the Creator.”
To say that God is our origin is to acknowledge at least two significant dimensions of our lives. This confession speaks about
God and our personal existence. We do not create ourselves. I am not the source of my own existence, nor are you the author of yours. This seems to be obviously true, for we owe our lives to a host of other people whom we call our parents and ancestors.
We are here because God wills that we exist.
But there is a deeper sense in which we do not create ourselves. Ultimately, we owe our existence to God the Creator. We are not in this world simply because our parents decided to have children. More importantly, we are here because God has freely and graciously bestowed existence on us.
“God is our origin,” therefore, means that he is the author of our existence. This does not merely refer to our physical existence, however. Rather, “we find our origin in God” is a statement about the meaning of our lives. God freely and graciously gives meaning to our existence. And this meaning arises from the goal, purpose, or destiny he intends for us.
People today are frantically searching—hoping to discover some meaning for their fragmented and frantic existence. But according to the gospel, our lives already have meaning. God has created us for a purpose. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism states with simple eloquence, the aim of our lives “is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”5 We exist in order to experience the glorious fellowship God intends for us to enjoy. We are created for community.
God and our human nature. Acknowledging that God is our origin also has implications for the human nature we share in common with each other. Above all, it means that we realize that God alone has the prerogative to declare what it means to be human.
In chapter 5, we will explore human nature as revealed in Jesus Christ. Here we need only remind ourselves of the important practical implications of this confession. If God declares what it means to be human, then our lives are not the meaningless collections of unrelated events they so often appear to be. On the contrary, God has designed us with a purpose in view. And our lives have true meaning as they reflect this divinely given design.
Further, if God declares what it means to be human, then all creatures have value insofar as God gives them value. This affirmation stands contrary to the thinking that permeates contemporary society. People today tend to see themselves as the determiners of value. Things—even other people—have value insofar as they serve our ends. But if God declares what it means to be human, then it is no longer our prerogative to decide what is valuable and what is not. Rather, our task is to view all creation and every creature from God’s perspective and, as a result, to value them as God does.
This is especially applicable to the realm of human value or the worth of individual persons. We spend so much time and expend so much energy trying to gain a sense of worth from others. We scrutinize how others treat us and seek to determine what they think of us. In the end, however, our value is not based on how others perceive our worth. Ultimately, only God’s opinion of us matters. And the gospel declares that each of us has value because God ascribes worth to us. This good news should cause us to stand tall in the face of every challenge of life.
As we commit ourselves to God and by the power of the Holy Spirit live to God’s glory, we discover true meaning for our lives.
In addition to bestowing great value on us, God commands us to acknowledge the value he graciously gives to every other person. We can do this as we give up the struggle to gain our own value from other persons. When we come to see ourselves as truly valuable apart from our position in any pecking order, we can freely acknowledge the value of each person we meet. We then can realize that God bestows value on them, just as God values us.
Valuing as God values also indicates how we should respond to many contemporary ethical questions. For example, this conviction ought to shape how we deal with the grave ecology crisis we now face. Because God values creation for itself, we must be concerned for the environment as God’s stewards. God calls us to value the earth not for its utility but in accordance with the value he places on it.
In the same way, our understanding of value should affect our approach to life and death issues, such as abortion and euthanasia. In contrast to the widely held view today, we know that a fetus does not become valuable only when he or she is “a wanted child” or when society chooses to acknowledge the unborn child as a person. Nor is life worth living only so long as we sense we are enjoying “quality of life.” Rather, God values all human life. And we must do so as well.6
We Have a Special Purpose from God
We have an identity because we are God’s handiwork. We are dependent on God, who is our origin. God is the source of our existence, and God determines what it means to be human. Also connected to our identity is a special purpose we have from God.
The first human. The good news that we are God’s handiwork naturally leads us to inquire about our connection to the beginning of humankind. Many people raise this issue by inquiring if humankind began with a first person, whom the Bible calls “Adam.”
We are valuable because God values us.
Christians have struggled at length about how certain scientific theories about human origins fit together with the Genesis narratives that place the beginnings of humankind in the Garden of Eden. The Bible does not speculate about the actual physical process by which humans appeared on the earth. Nevertheless, it consistently treats Adam as the first human. This carries great theological importance in our quest to understand who we are.
To declare that Adam is the first human means that with humankind God’s purposes for creation reach a new, special plane. Adam appears on the earth as a special work of God, for the Creator had a unique goal for Adam and entered into a special relationship or “covenant” with him. This covenant marks a new intention for the developing cosmos. God desires that in Adam creation should come to be related to the Creator in a new way.
But God’s purposes for Adam are not limited to a historical individual. Rather, with Adam the Creator enters into a special relationship with creation. God’s covenant is directed toward Adam and his offspring. Consequently, as Adam’s descendants we share in his special role in God’s program and his special responsibility before God.
The unity of humankind. The biblical declaration that Adam marks the beginning of humankind means that every human is the offspring of Adam. This has great importance for our faith. It means that all humankind forms a unity in the presence of God.
The unity of humankind in Adam is a glorious affirmation of each human being. In entering into covenant with Adam, God bestowed value on all Adam’s descendants. And God desires that all humans share together in the purposes God has for us.
Because God intends that all persons share in the one purpose for Adam’s descendants, we must be concerned to promote justice and to denounce all forms of racism.
The unity of humankind in Adam as the recipients of a special purpose from God has a dark side as well. It means that we all participate in the universal human failure we call sin, which we will discuss in the next chapter.
With the psalmist we ask, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them?” (Ps. 8:4 NRSV). To this question, the Bible offers a second profound answer: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27 NRSV). Or as the psalmist responds to his question about humankind, “You have . . . crowned them with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:5 NRSV).
We are the image of God as we mirror in creation the nature of the Creator.
We are not only God’s handiwork, we are also God’s own image. But the divine image is no simple idea. Instead, this declaration that “we are God’s image” raises several crucial questions: What does it mean to be the image of God (imago Dei)? And how is it that we are God’s image?
Ultimately, the image of God is connected with God’s design for humankind. It speaks of God’s goal for us. It is a way of viewing God’s intention, or the role God desires that we fulfill in creation. In short, being the image of God describes our identity as God’s special creatures. We are the image of God in that we have received, are now fulfilling, and one day will fully live according to the special calling God has given us. And this calling (or design) is that we mirror for the sake of creation the nature of the Creator.
Let us now expand this statement. Being in the divine image involves
Being in the Divine Image Involves a Special Standing
The foundation for our being in the image of God lies in the grace of the Creator. God has graciously given us a special standing. This unique status has several dimensions.
God loves the entire universe, of course. But humans are the recipients of his love in the highest sense. Indeed, love for humankind led the Father to give his only Son to be our Savior (John 3:16).
God values all creation, of course. But God places special value on us. Jesus pointed to this special value when he encouraged his disciples to trust in the gracious heavenly Father rather than to worry about the cares of physical life: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matt. 6:26).
The animate creatures and inanimate things around us quite naturally fulfill their responsibility to bring honor to God. Indeed, as the psalmist noted, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1).
But there is something special about the human response to the Creator that sets us apart from the rest of creation. As the prohibition to Adam in the Garden of Eden indicates (Gen. 2:16–17), God desires that we reciprocate the divine love by actively obeying our Creator. God places in us the privilege of fulfilling our divinely given design willingly.
This desire endows us with a great responsibility. The Bible connects our responsibility with our task of exercising dominion within creation.
Unfortunately, we too often interpret the idea of dominion against the background of modern industrial society. Dominion, we erroneously conclude, indicates that the natural world exists solely for our benefit so that we can exploit it as we choose. And we even claim biblical support for this view, finding the license for exploitation in God’s instruction to the first humans: “Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky . . . and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Gen. 1:26). Indeed, in answering the question “What is mankind?” the psalmist concluded, “You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet” (Ps. 8:6).
The Bible does declare that as God’s image bearers we are to enjoy dominion over the earth. But the foundation for what this means lies in a quite different direction than the modern industrialist model suggests. Its source is a certain practice of ancient sovereigns.7
The kings of the ancient Near East often left images of themselves in those cities or territories where they could not be present in person. Such images served to represent their majesty and power.8 In a similar manner, God placed humankind upon earth to live as representatives of the Creator.9 Therefore, God—and not humankind—is sovereign over creation. Our mandate is only that of acting as God’s representatives.10
But how do we represent the Creator to creation? Central to our role as God’s representatives is the responsibility of managing creation. The Genesis narrator declares, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Gen. 2:15). This suggests that our managerial role comes from no lesser source than the Creator. It means as well, however, that we do not manage creation for our own purposes but as God’s stewards. And this management entails caring for creation, not exploiting it for our own ends.
Caring for creation or managing it for its own good points us toward the correct understanding of what it means to be God’s image. We do not exercise dominion over creation for our sakes, as if the natural world existed merely to sustain human existence. Instead, our role serves a higher goal. God has designated us as his representatives so that through us creation might experience what God is like. We are to mirror the divine character and thereby reflect God’s own nature.
Consequently, as we care for the natural world, love each other, and worship God, we reveal the compassionate, loving character of the Creator who alone is worthy of worship. In so doing, we function as God’s image.
Being in the Divine Image Involves a Future Goal
This conclusion suggests that being in the divine image may be somewhat more complicated than the common assertion that “each of us is created in the image of God” indicates. It raises some important questions. In whom is the image present? And in what sense is the image of God present in all humans?
We tend to speak of all humans and each human individually as created in the divine image. In a sense, this is correct. Even the Bible itself speaks in this manner (Gen. 9:6; James 3:9).
Declaring that we are all made in the image of God reminds us that God loves each of us and that we are all recipients of worth from the Creator. Further, it is a reminder that each human is personally responsible before God to live according to the Creator’s design for us. Each of us is accountable to respond to God in love and obedience and thereby to live out the purpose of our existence. In short, all persons are in the image of God in that they are all called to mirror God’s nature to creation.
Live as the divine image bearer that God intends us to be.
Although in one sense we may declare that all persons are created in the image of God, the New Testament teaches that only Jesus Christ is fully the divine image (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15). Christ is the image of God, because he alone reveals to us what God has created humankind to be (2 Cor. 4:6). And he alone brings us to participate in that destiny so that we may live as true human beings.
Christ’s position as the divine image carries a wonderful implication for us: through Christ, believers are participants in this glorious privilege.
Our participation in the divine image affects us in the present. Even now we are being transformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). This renewal carries implications for how we should live: we must “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24; see also Col. 3:9–10).
Although we enjoy a foretaste in the present, our full participation in the divine image lies ultimately in the future. Conformity to Christ as the likeness of God is the glorious destiny that awaits us when Jesus returns (Rom. 8:29). By bringing us to share in Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor. 15:50–53), God will transform us to become just like our Lord (1 John 3:2). This good news ought to inspire us to hopeful anticipation of the day when we will “bear the image of the heavenly man” (1 Cor. 15:49).
Christians, therefore, are the image of God in a special way. We who are united to Christ share in the divine image that he bears. Or perhaps better stated, as we are being made like Christ, we are being transformed into the image of God. Therefore, being created in the divine image is a process that begins with conversion and continues until the great future day when God brings us into full conformity with the divine goal for us. Then we will truly be the image of God as revealed by Christ.
Being in the Divine Image Involves Fellowship and Community
Our divinely given destiny to be the image of God begins with his gracious gift of a special standing before the Creator. It reaches its goal in the glorious renewal of our lives that awaits us in the future. But it focuses on a special fellowship—a special enjoyment of community—that we can experience in part even now.
At the heart of the enjoyment of community, of course, is the fellowship with God we experience as we respond to his love. In so doing, we find the fulfillment of the search for a home that arises out of our fundamental “openness to the world,” as we described it earlier in this chapter. As we enjoy the fellowship God intends for us, we are the image of God.
But ultimately the enjoyment of fellowship is no mere private, individual experience. On the contrary, the fellowship God intends for us is a shared experience. And therefore, the divine image is likewise a shared, corporate reality. It is fully present only as we live in fellowship. It is ours only as we enjoy community.11
The narrative of creation in Genesis 1 highlights the community aspect of the image of God.12 God declared, “Let us make mankind in our image” (Gen. 1:26). Then the Creator fashioned humankind in his own image by creating them male and female (Gen. 1:27). This aspect of the biblical narrative suggests that humans in relationship with each other reflect the divine image in a way that the solitary individual human being cannot.
The narrative of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 deepens the biblical theme of the social nature of the divine image. God created the first human pair in order that humans enjoy community with each other. More specifically, the creation of the female was designed to deliver the male from his isolation. This primal community of man and woman then became expansive. It produced the offspring that arise from the sexual union of husband and wife and eventually gave rise to the development of societies.
What began in the Garden of Eden finds its completion at the end of history. The Bible envisions a day when God’s desire for creation will come to completion. One day God will bring to pass a human society in which God’s children enjoy perfect fellowship with each other, the created world, and the Creator (Rev. 22:1–4).
Our discussions in chapter 2 ought to alert us as to why the image of God can only be expressed in human community. The God we know is the Triune One—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit united together in perfect love. Because God is community—the fellowship shared among the Father, Son, and Spirit—the creation of humankind in the divine image must be related to humans in fellowship with each other. God’s own character can only be mirrored by humans who love after the manner of the perfect love that lies at the heart of the Triune God.
Because God himself is triune, we are in the image of God only as we enjoy community with others. Only as we live in fellowship can we show forth what God is like. Ultimately, then, the image of God is a social reality. It refers to humans as beings-in-fellowship.
As we live in love—that is, as we give expression to true community—we reflect the love that characterizes the Creator himself. And as we reflect God’s character, which is love, we also live in accordance with our own true nature. Only by being persons in community do we find our true identity—that form of the world toward which our “openness to the world,” our restless shaping and reshaping of our environment, is intended to point us.
Our Lord himself articulated this truth in his call to radical discipleship: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matt. 16:25). The way to true life leads through the giving of one’s own life in relationship to Christ. Indeed, we come to find our true identity only as we participate together with others in the community of the followers of Christ. In so doing, we bring honor to our Creator by reflecting the very character of the Triune God.
Indeed, we are created for community.
We Are Related to Other Beings in the Universe
“What is mankind?” the psalmist wondered. Musing on this question led the biblical writer to consider the relationship between humankind and other spiritual beings. Our identity arises from our position in the universe “a little lower than the angels” (Ps. 8:5).
We are not alone in the universe. Our world is populated by other physical life forms, of course. But in addition, the biblical authors indicate that other spiritual realities—commonly called “angels” and “demons”—also participate in God’s created realm.
Two aspects about these realities and our relationship to them are especially illuminating:
Spiritual Beings Are Creatures of God
Like humans, spiritual beings are God’s creatures. Although they are not physical beings, they nevertheless possess powers of will and reason. More importantly, they are moral—beings whose actions are either right or wrong.
Angels. Some spiritual beings fulfill their God-given role. These are God’s holy angels.
As the entourage of God, the primary duties of these heavenly beings are to praise and serve their Monarch (Isa. 6:1–8). As God’s servants they assist God in governing the world (1 Kings 22:19), standing ready to be dispatched to protect God’s earthly people (2 Kings 6:17) or to carry out divine judgments.
Angels are interested in the unfolding drama of salvation (1 Pet. 1:12). They were active participants in the story of Jesus, the incarnate Son. And they will once again become prominent when Jesus returns (Matt. 13:39; 25:31; Mark 8:38; 13:27; Luke 12:8; 2 Thess. 1:7; Rev. 7:1; 8:1–9:21; 16:5).
The angels worship Christ who is their Lord (Heb. 1:5–14). In fact, through our union with Christ we are also above the angels (Heb. 2:5–9). One day we will even judge the heavenly beings (1 Cor. 6:3). Until that day, the angels minister to us at God’s bidding in ways that are largely unknown to us.
According to the Bible, the creaturely status of the heavenly powers indicates that to worship them or to look to them for guidance is actually idolatry. One obvious abominable practice is soothsaying or necromancy (the attempt to gain contact with the dead or with spirits for the purpose of obtaining guidance concerning the future). This practice leads humans to substitute faith in lesser powers for faith in the one true God who alone is sovereign over the future and to whom alone we are to look for guidance.
In a similar manner, dabbling in astrology and divination are idolatrous. These practices also mark a turning away from the God of the future in a vain attempt to gain access to the future. Astrology mistakenly supposes that the heavenly bodies, which are actually only creatures of the one true God, can affect our lives. And divination assumes that through certain acts we can get in touch with powers that know the unknown. In neither case, however, do the participants seek guidance from the only source of wisdom. Instead, they ascribe to lesser powers what belongs to God alone.
The demons and their leader. The danger of idolatrous involvement with the heavenly beings reminds us that not all of these creatures are willingly serving God (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). In addition to the good angels, the Bible speaks of demons, which form a unified kingdom of evil under the leadership of their chief, Satan, “the accuser” (Rev. 12:10). Demons are agents of Satan’s will and are locked in conflict with God’s kingdom (Dan. 10:12–13; 10:20–11:1).
Satan and the demons seek to undermine God’s work in the world. They attempt to blind unbelievers to the truth of the gospel, they tempt believers to sin, and they foment persecution of Christians. Demons also seek to harm the well-being of God’s creation and to destroy community. Hence, these rebellious beings try to incite human agents to injure the natural environment, God’s creatures, other humans, and even themselves. If given opportunity, demons can even take possession of a human person and thereby impair or distort the personality.
The good news of the gospel, however, is that despite their rebellion, Satan and the demonic hosts remain under God’s ultimate control. In addition, the incarnate Son, Jesus, has been victorious over the powers of evil. Consequently, he is Lord of the entire cosmos. And because our Lord shares his victory with all who are part of his community, we need not fear the powers of evil. One glorious day God will completely destroy all the demonic forces, banishing Satan and his hosts from the eternal community of the new creation.
Spiritual Beings and Structures of Human Existence
Generally when we think about our relationship to the spiritual beings, our minds are drawn to the possibility of individual contact with angels and demons. Thus, we are all too aware that the devil tempts us. We know about demon possession, at least that it occurred in “Bible days.” And our contemporary media seem filled with people’s stories about their personal encounters with angels.
A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip captures well this contemporary cultural fascination with angels. Calvin, sitting on a rock with Hobbes, muses, “I think angels are everywhere.” Hobbes questions, “You do?” Calvin responds, “They’re on calendars, books, greeting cards . . . almost every product imaginable.” Hobbes then simply but keenly observes, “What a spiritual age we live in.” Of course contemporary television has been inundated with programming concerning angels such as Touched by an Angel (1994–2003) and Highway to Heaven (1984–89). Who can forget the angel named Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)?
Yet contemporary culture is also just as fascinated with evil and the demonic. Movies and television shows that feature vampires, werewolves, and the demonic have become more and more commonplace and exceedingly popular. Who can dispute the cult-like popularity of the Twilight movies and the television series Supernatural?13
But our relationship to angels and demons moves far beyond Hobbes’s wry observation and popular media portrayals. Nor is it limited to the more familiar subject areas mentioned above. Instead, the Bible provides the foundation for an additional, broader understanding of the activity of the cosmic forces. The spiritual beings function in connection with what we may call “structures of human existence.”
Structures of existence are the various dimensions of social interaction that form the inescapable context for human life together. By providing parameters for human interaction, these structures “govern” human affairs. They make human social existence in its various dimensions possible. They give cohesion to life. And they undergird human society, preserving it from disintegration and chaos.14
Structures of existence operate in many dimensions of human life. Religious structures include the various myths, traditions, and practices that provide a cosmic or transcendent reference point for society. Important as well are intellectual structures—that is, the various ideologies by means of which we perceive the nature of reality. Moral structures encompass the codes and customs that facilitate and organize interactions among us as people. And political structures include the systems of politics by means of which we govern ourselves.15
These structures are a means through which God orders creation for our benefit. The Creator desires that we live together in harmony, and structures of existence promote harmonious social life (or community). For example, cultural mores (such as a friendly handshake and a polite “How are you?”) expedite fellowship among people who otherwise might remain strangers.
God intends that the heavenly beings work through these structures of existence. The angelic hosts are to guide these structures so that they foster true human community.
Consider, for example, the moral law as a structure. God desires that the law orient our existence toward God-honoring actions. To this end, the moral codes of our society should show the parameters in which truly loving relationships can emerge. The task of angels is to enhance the governance of human affairs by promoting wholesome social morality.
However, the demonic hosts often press the structures into service against God, humankind, and creation. Through the diabolical misuse of structures, evil realities bring humans into bondage (Eph. 6:12). Rather than aiding people in the task of building community, the powers enslave them, demanding rigid obedience to traditions and forms that in themselves cannot be the objects of our loyalty.
Demons seek to co-opt the structures into advancing the will of Satan rather than God’s will. God desires that the structures of existence foster the kind of human interaction that embodies biblical principles, such as justice, righteousness, and love. Whenever these principles no longer govern human social life, the structures have failed to operate according to their God-given purpose of promoting fellowship with God, harmony within creation, and rich interpersonal relations.
The New Testament presents human government as an example of the ambiguous possibilities of the structures. Paul speaks of the civil magistrate as God’s servant sent to punish the wicked and reward the good (Rom. 13:1–7). But according to the book of Revelation, the same civil structure can be manipulated by Satan in his attempt to injure the church through persecution. Indeed, even today Satan may exploit the legal and policing agencies of civil government as a vehicle for his attack on the people of God. Think of how many governments blatantly persecute believers. Or the devil may subvert legislative structures, leading them to encode laws that are destructive of the community God intends for creation.
The religious dimension of life is another example of the ambiguity of the structures. Demons can use religious or moral codes as a means to bring people—including Christians!—into bondage (Col. 2:20–23). Even the Old Testament law, which God intends to bring us to Christ, can fall victim to this manipulation and misuse, becoming an imprisoning power over us (Gal. 3:23–24). The misuse of the moral law occurs as Satan and his cohorts lead believers to seek stability for their lives through a scaffolding of laws16 that, rather than drawing us to God, actually becomes a false god—that is, the source of a false sense of meaning, security, and identity.
In a similar manner, “deceiving spirits” can manipulate human religious traditions in order to propagate false teaching (1 Tim. 4:1).
The structures can be manipulated by demonic forces. But because Christ has punctured Satan’s power, structures of human existence ultimately lie under Christ’s lordship. As a result, the structures will one day conform to God’s reign. And even now the structures of human existence can be agents for fostering the community for which we were created. For this reason, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit we can boldly seek to bring the structures into closer conformity with the will of God. Knowing that Jesus is Lord of all, we dare not abandon any dimension of human social life to the enemy. Instead, in Jesus’s name, we can bring a Christian presence to all spheres of life, whether it be politics, economics, or even the arts.
The central question of the ages is, Who are we?—or, Who am I? To this human quest for identity the gospel speaks as good news: we are God’s handiwork; we are God’s image; and we are related to the heavenly beings.
The fullness of this lofty identity, however, is ultimately ours only in Christ. He is the one who brings us into true community according to God’s purpose for creation. But before we look more deeply into the face of our Lord, we must survey the bad news. We must speak about the sad human condition of failure, which the Bible calls “sin,” and the next chapter provides this opportunity.
Mastering the Material
Having Read This Chapter, You Should Know:
For Connection and Application