Dependent Creatures

In his book, Dignity, Chris Arnade introduces his readers to Takeesha, who he had met in the neighborhood of Hunts Point, the Bronx. When asked how she wanted to be described she said, “As who I am, a prostitute, a mother of six, and a child of God.” Takeesha’s story and her context in Hunts Point can awaken us to the ways our theological anthropology makes sense of our world and gives direction to the life of the local church.

There is perhaps no area of doctrine so contested in the public sphere as theological anthropology. People are asking what does it mean to be a human, and who gets to say? Local church pastors face challenges surrounding gender and sexuality, challenges surrounding the use of power in social systems or relationships, and a cascade of mental health issues. Virtually every headline in the news involves theological anthropology.

The general study of anthropology is extremely broad, covering human biology, behavior, culture, social groupings, and communication. The traditional doctrinal questions of theological anthropology have oriented around the origin, nature, constitution, and moral qualities of human beings as image bearers of God. In this way, the doctrine of humanity overlaps with the doctrine of God and Creation, but also with Christology (God incarnate), Sin, Salvation, and the Church. Kelly Kapic notes that the image of God has “often served as shorthand for the whole doctrine of humanity.”^[1]

Christian theological anthropology teaches us that Takeesha is an image bearer, who like all of us, suffers from the corruption but not the loss of that image. One question is, can we see the image of God in the face of Takeesha? Another question is, in just what ways is that image distorted by sin and suffering? In what follows, I will give a very brief overview of the doctrine with some practical points of emphasis for the local church.

The Foundations of Theological Anthropology

The idea of humanity as the image of God originates in God’s first determination to make humanity “in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Theology has focused on this phrase, not because Genesis 1 answers all of our questions, but because this relationship to God is fundamental to understanding humankind.^[2] To image God is to be like him in some way and to carry out some sort of reflecting function. The three leading candidates for how we are like God are: capacities (e.g., reason), functions (e.g., exercising dominion, Gen. 1:26), and/or relationality. It is common to admit that each of these assumes the others, and that we need to affirm a holistic image where we represent God as image bearers in our capacities, functions, and relations.There is perhaps no area of doctrine so contested in the public sphere as theological anthropology. Share on X

Theological anthropology develops its understanding of what it means to be human through a redemptive historical pattern, especially Creation, Fall, and Redemption. I want to highlight how the themes of capacities, functions, and relationships are present in the Biblical text in the structure created relationships in Genesis 1-2. Our origin story establishes that we are holistically embodied creatures made to cultivate fruitfulness on the earth.

Genesis 1-2 explain how the man and the woman are created in relationship to God, to one another, and to the land. Genesis 2:7 teaches that our origin is from God as creator and life-giver. He establishes relationship with us through gifts, blessing, and commands. We also originate from the ground, establishing a relationship of mutuality with the land, oriented toward cultivation of the land for blessing. This dual origin is also our first indication that humankind is constituted of body and soul (Matt 10:28). In a similar way, Genesis 2:23 highlights origin and a relationship of mutuality between the man and the woman. The text puns both man and ground and woman and man. “Man” (’ādām) from the ground (’adāmāh). “Woman” (’īšāh) is from “Man” (’îš). Each seems to establish a cooperation oriented toward an aspect of human flourishing, fruitfulness of the ground and the womb (Deut 28:4), each according to God’s blessing in Genesis 1:28, “be fruitful and multiply.”

So, there are three creational relationships established for humankind, upward with God, oriented toward communion and blessing, horizontal with each other, oriented toward relational fruitfulness, and downward with the land, oriented toward vocational fruitfulness, exercising dominion through patient cultivation (James 5:7). Human beings imageor reflect God in these three relationships. And the curse in Genesis 3 specifically fractures these relationships with exile (theological aspect), pain and conflict in childbearing (social aspect), and pain in working the land (vocational aspect). The rest of the Bible can be seen as the unfolding of how these curses are again turned to blessing.^[3] What creation establishes, the fall (and curse) breaks.^[4] What the fall breaks, salvation redeems. And what salvation redeems, consummation perfects.

We see this holistic redemptive arc in biblical theology. The promises to Abraham involve God’s covenantal blessing, the promise of a seed who would produce a multitude, and the promise of land (Genesis 17). This is reiterated to Isaac, Jacob, and to the people of Israel, especially in Exodus and Deuteronomy, where they are given a stark choice between blessing and curse in chapters 28-32. The purpose of the law was to govern how Israel related to God, to each other, and to the land. These dynamics are beautifully illustrated in Christopher J.H. Wright’s Old Testament Ethics for the People of God.^[5]

For example, the OT law governed flourishing for the sake of the land and for social equity and unity.^[6] In Leviticus 25 the land was perpetually under divine ownership, divided equitably to support the nation. The equity of land division was maintained by laws such as Jubilee, the law of redemption, and Levirate marriage, which perpetuated family lines.^[7] The law also advocated the justice of care for the very poor—foreigners, fatherless, widows, and orphans.^[8]

The book of Jeremiah announces judgment on the people of Judah for failing in these relationships: (1) for idolatry,^[9] (2) for injustice,^[10] (3) for misuses of the land,^[11] and (4) for shepherds who promoted these things.^[12] In consequence, God’s people were exiled from his presence and place.In Christ, our relationships with others are renewed as a part of his body, a new family of God. Share on X

The ministry of Jesus relieves the burdens of God’s judgment and fulfills the promises spoken of by the prophets. He is the Good Shepherd who would bring his people back to the fold and reign to execute justice and righteousness in the land (Jer 23:1-8; Jer 32:37-41; Ezek 34). In fulfillment of Ezekiel 34, Jesus bodily seeks out the lost, heals of the sick and lame, and feeds his people. Jesus is the embodiment of Messianic hope, recapitulating Israel and humanity, to reconcile God’s people to himself bodily, commissioning them to share in his life through union with him and to obey his commandments (Matt 28:19-20; Rom 5:12-8:39).

Moreover, God is establishing unity and kinship among from all nations, breaking down the old “wall of hostility” between Jews and Gentiles.^[13] In Christ, our relationships with others are renewed as a part of his body, a new family of God.^[14] This is vividly illustrated in Acts 2. Here God renews his breath on his people, reversing Babel in the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom to the nations. Peter preaches repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus and forgiveness of sins. And when the primary relationship is restored, we immediately see the restoration of the justice of care for the needy within the body of the local church, the secondary social relationship. The text says, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”^[15]

Theological Anthropology for the Church

So, how does the Christian doctrine of anthropology inform the life of the church? Theological anthropology teaches us at least three things:

1. Humankind is holistic, not to be reduced to the individual as a thinking thing.

Creation helps us to see that humankind is holistic in two senses: (1) We are not just thinking things, but embodied. We are organic beings; our agency is bound up with our physical bodies. Every thought we have runs down a neuropathway. The fall produces corruption not just in our souls, but in our bodies as well. Our bodies are not the source of sin, but they are a place where sin becomes habituated (and righteousness as well; see Romans 6-8).^[16] (2) Our embodied selves are situated in relationships that are holistically healthy for us. When these relationships are broken there is suffering. We are subject to our own moral corruption, the sins of others, and the brokenness of the curse. The fall involves a lack of Shalom. It is not the way it should be.^[17]

When we see ourselves as thinking things, we tend to focus only on the ways that redemption restores our relationship with God. And so, we tend to take for granted the grace of community and meaningful work, not realizing how these blessings contribute to our well-being and become our ultimate hope.^[18] And we tend not to see, for example, the deep ways social and vocational brokenness impacted Takeesha holistically. Takeesha’s drug addiction came about by her own mother putting her on the streets at the age of 13. Drugs make sex work more bearable. She spoke of her experience in this way, “It’s sad when it’s your mother, who you trust, and she was out there with me, but you know what kept me through all that? God. Whenever I got into the car, God got into the car with me.”^[19]

2. Our essence, identity, and purposefulness are given to us, rather than achieved through self-determination, regardless of our brokenness.

We are who God made us to be according to his design, not accidents of biology somehow freely self-determining. Our essence or nature is given to us by our creator, not in perpetual flux. Our created relationship with God establishes us as dependent by nature. So, our identity is granted to us from God. The fall teaches us that we are plastic in the sense that we can be formed toward sinfulness or renewed by God’s saving work. But we are not essentially plastic such that we can self-determine our whole bodily existence, as Carl Trueman rightly observes.^[20] Our purposefulness is also granted to us. By God’s design we are made to image God in creation. We observe how humanity is called to do this by paying attention to our scene within the redemptive narrative.

If our essence, identity, purposefulness are given to us, then we need to pay close attention to how our secondary relationships offer us opportunities to image God through love and care for one another and for creation. As Jesus says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Wealth and individualism can make this difficult, since we tend to assume a self-sufficient ideal, and stand disconnected from the needs of others. Impoverished people are often mutually reliant by necessity. Arnade captures a moment of image bearing, of self-sacrificial love by Takeesha:

Takeesha has her own room, in a shelter, in a part of town far from Hunts Point. She is five months on Methadone, removed from the needle. For the three-day weekend, she was given three bottles.^[21] She now only comes to Hunts Point to check in at the Methadone Clinic or to work. An older man, someone she isn’t particularly close to, someone she doesn’t particularly like, someone with no money, approached. He was crouched, holding his stomach tight. He asked her quietly. She found her last bottle, the one for tomorrow, and poured him four caps of medicine, leaving her with less than a third. He drank, nodded his head, and walked away. “I cannot see anyone dope sick. I don’t care who it is. If you have ever been there, ever been that sick, that desperate, you would understand.”^[22]

3. Salvation is not just about restoring the primary relationship, but also the secondary relationships.

God has reconciled humanity to himself and to one another. And yet, we are still exiles (1 Peter 1:17) and sojourners (2:11). The kingdom is already and not yet, distributed throughout the world like wheat among the tares (Matt 13:30). Still we work in faith awaiting the day when God will renew creation and our bodies.^[23] We are ambassadors of the kingdom, embodying its life and values in covenant communities. So we do not just preach this good news, but practice it as Christ’s body, the church. A holistic framework helps us to see more clearly the importance of the New Testament teaching that the church as a body is a means of grace. Paul very clearly teaches that sanctification comes within the church body, from the grace that each body part provides.^[24] Paul’s extensive focus on community oriented ethical commands should alert us to the need to push back against radical individualism.

Those without healthy relationships and meaningful work are the most vulnerable in our society to bodily suffering including health and mental illness. In Lost Connections, Johan Hari highlights the way that “disconnection” from healthy social relationships and meaningful work contribute to addiction, depression, and anxiety. Children with many adverse childhood experiences (high ACE scores) such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse or neglect are at a much higher risk of physical or mental health issues.^[25]

Conclusion

All this makes me wonder, how might someone like Takeesha find her place in the family of God? We are dependent creatures. Share on XAre we ready to understand and to acknowledge the brokenness of the world, and to offer welcome in a way that can heal shame and distance? Are we equipped to pursue unity in the body even over enormous cultural distance? The purpose of our suffering and exile and of Christ’s work gifting his church is to “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” for the outcome of maturity.

We need not look to cultural scripts or our own desires to understand the deep purpose for which God made us. Our bodies might be conformed in some ways to this world, but by understanding who we truly are, what we were made for, and how Christ is renewing us corporately into his image, we are in a better position to understand that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18). We are dependent creatures. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. We hold fast to him and to one another as we wait for he who is our life to appear.^[26]

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Endnotes

[1] Kelly Kapic, “Anthropology,” in Christian Dogmatics: Reformed Theology for the Church Catholic, ed. Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016), 169.

[2] In the book of nature and the book of Scripture, Belgic Confession, art. 2; Psalm 19.

[3] e.g., Genesis 17; Deuteronomy 28; Jeremiah 32:37-41; Revelation 21:1-3

[4] There is both corruption and suffering in the fall and curse respectively. The curse effects the ground and our bodies, which come from the ground (Rom 8:18-25).

[5] The purpose of the Old Testament laws to order these relationships is beautifully illustrated in Christopher J.H. Wright, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2004).

[6] Ex 23:9-10; Lev 25:1-7.

[7] Lev 25:8-17; Lev 25:23-55; Deut 25:5-10.

[8] Ex 23:9; Deut 10:19; 24:17-18; 26:12-13; 27:19; Lev 19:10, 33-34; 23:22; 25:35-37..

[9] Jer 2:11-13

[10] Jer 5:1-29; 6:6-7, 13; 7:5-7

[11] Jer 2:7; 17:20-23; 29:10; cf. 2 Chron 36:21

[12] Jer 23

[13] Matt 28:19-20; Rev 5:9; Eph 2:13-22.

[14] Eph 2:19; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4; Rom 12

[15] Acts 2:44-45.

[16] Matthew A. LaPine, The Logic of the Body (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 269-280.

[17] Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995).

[18] These creation dynamics are powerfully described in Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty isn’t the American Dream (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2019).

[19] Chris Arnade, “The people who challenged my atheism most were drug addicts and prostitutes,” The Guardian. Online: December 24, 2013.

[20] Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Wheaton, IL: Crossway), 164.

[21] Methadone is an opioid given to treat and reduce the symptoms of heroine withdrawal. It is used both for maintenance therapy of Opioid Use Disorder and for detoxification to overcome opioid addiction.

[22] Photo and caption from Chris Arnade’s Flickr page. Online: https://flickr.com/photos/arnade/14251745086/in/ album-72157627894114489/

[23] 1 Thess 4:11; 2 Thess 3:10-12; Rom 8:18-25.

[24] 1 Cor 12:4-31; Eph 4:16; Col 2:19; Romans 12:3-21.

[25] Shannon M. Monnat and Raeven Fay Chandler, “Long Term Physical Health Consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences,” The Sociological Quarterly 56 no. 4 (September 2015), 723-52.

[26] Col 3:1-4; 2:19.