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𝗜𝗦 𝗝𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝟯:𝟵 𝗔 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗧❓ 𝗔 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟯)James 3:8–9 "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God."By now, my dear reader should already be seeing the truth of what James 3:9 stands for—that it has nothing to do with man being spoken into existence in the same way the other created things of Genesis 1 were spoken into existence.Let us go a little deeper in our investigation.𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗱❜𝘀 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝗻❓Genesis 1:26–27 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion..."This passage completely describes man's identity and calling in God's image, by which he would steward the earth and everything in it as God's regent.This is why we read:Psalm 115:16 "The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men."Here we see God entrusting the earth to humanity for stewardship and dominion. This connects directly with Genesis 1:26–27, where man was given authority over the earth.Now you can understand why God first spoke to Abraham concerning the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 18), allowing Abraham to intercede on its behalf. Abraham could not find ten righteous men for God to spare the city. I simply want you to observe the role man played in determining the fate of Sodom. I am strongly persuaded that had Abraham continued and asked for five righteous people, God would have obliged and would not have destroyed Sodom. That was dominion being exercised.Now consider:Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀❓This simply describes the embodiment of that identity in the physical world.Man was given an earthly ( suit) body because his assignment was to govern the earth. He had to be identified with what he was commissioned to steward.Jesus Christ Himself had to become human to redeem humanity. In the same way, Adam—man—became earthly in order to steward the earth.We know with certainty that man's body is connected to his earthly vocation. Therefore, he was not merely spoken into existence as the other creatures were.After creating man, God said:"Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion..." (Genesis 1:28)Then Genesis 2 places Adam in the garden "to dress it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15).There is therefore a clear relationship between being formed from the earth and being commissioned over the earth.𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸We should understand Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 not as two separate stages of man's existence, but as two complementary accounts:Genesis 1 gives the broad, cosmic overview.Genesis 2 zooms in on the details of how humanity was formed.Genesis 1:26–27 announces God's intention and then summarizes the creation of humanity.Now, as we noted earlier concerning Christ:Hebrews 2:14 "Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity..."And:Hebrews 2:16 "For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham's descendants."The writer explains that Christ shared in our humanity. He took on the nature of those He came to redeem.In a similar way, we may understand that humanity—Adam (Genesis 2:7)—was fitted for the realm (the earth) that it was commissioned to govern.Observe the parallel:Adam was formed from the dust to rule the earth.Christ took human flesh to redeem humanity and ultimately rule creation as the Last AdamHence we read:1 Corinthians 15:47 "The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven."And do not miss this: His rulership is expressed through His Body, the Church.Ephesians 1:22–23 (MSG) "The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁❜𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆, 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝗯𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.❞Likewise:1 Corinthians 6:2–3 "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?... Know ye not that we shall judge angels?"This is part of the rulership of the en-Christed Body—the redeemed man—not a single individual sitting and ruling the world from Jerusalem in some future age.With this, it becomes obvious that man can only rule what he has a relationship with. This is an important biblical principle. Therefore, man had to identify with the earthly realm.We can now say it clearly:Adam—mankind—was not made an angelic ruler over the earth. He was formed from the very ground he was commissioned to cultivate and govern.Likewise, Christ did not redeem humanity from a distance but entered fully into the human condition in order to restore it.We read;Philippians 2:6–7 "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."The Message Bible puts it this way:"He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status... When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human..." (Philippians 2:5–8 MSG)Praise the Lord!Even so, man was brought into an earthly realm of existence so that he could not only relate to the earth but also govern it. That was the purpose of his formation.This further supports the argument that man was not merely spoken into existence but was uniquely formed for his earthly assignment.To Be Continuedwww.davidogaga.org#James3_DO ... See MoreSee Less

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