Trinity 19
Dear friends in Christ. Christians have a proper and high view of humankind. And this is in contrast to much of the current world view which claims that it, not the Christian, has a high view of humanity. Whereas the prevalent world view says that people are a product of billions of years of evolution, the Christian holds that God created the universe, the world and everything in it by His almighty word and is all the result of His well-ordered plan. We recognize the world as a cosmos, the opposite of chaos. We Christians carry this even further as we recognize that God continues to be active in the world and mightily at work in it caring for it and preserving it. That’s why we regard each person as a special creation of God—not some sort of fluke, chance or accident. That’s why we place a high dignity on the value of human life from all stages—from conception to death. Much of the world around us assigns a value/ dignity to a person only in so far as the person is a “benefit” to society—and as soon as the person is a burden, be it in the womb or at the end of life, they no longer have that dignity and can be “gotten rid of.”
Our high view of humanity is grounded in God’s original creation and that He planned and prepared the world for its human inhabitants; it is grounded in the fact that with the rest of the creation God spoke things like [Genesis 1.11, 24]: “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb…and the tree” or, “let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle…and everything that creeps upon the earth”, but of humanity, Scripture records [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 being a living being. And, on top of that, we have the Holy Trinity in counsel together saying [Genesis 1.27]: Let Us make man in our image, according to Our likeness. Adam and Eve, our first parents, were created in the image of God. That little phrase, the image of God, has thrown people for a loop. What does it mean? Some have said that it means that people look like God; others have said that it means that humans stand upright. But that’s all trite and wrong.
Here we come to a rule/ principle in understanding/ interpreting the Bible: Scripture interprets Scripture. It simply means that we let the Bible tell us itself what it means. So here: we have the image of God. Where else in the Bible do we find the Holy Spirit talking about the image of God? Our text: put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Did you catch that? Through St. Paul, the Holy Spirit here says that the new self, the Christian in us, was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. The image of God, then, is not how we look or stand. Instead it is righteousness and holiness; it is doing the will of God.
Elsewhere, the Holy Spirit also says through St. Paul [Col. 3.10]: Put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. Did you catch that? Renewed in knowledge. So the image of God also includes, then, knowing God rightly and being perfectly happy in Him. The image of God is truly knowing God as He wants to be known and being perfectly happy in Him; and being righteous and holy, doing God’s will. That’s how Adam and Eve were created. They had the right knowledge of God and were happy in Him, doing His will.
But with the fall into sin, Adam and Eve lost that image of God. They no longer knew God rightly nor were they perfectly happy in Him. Remember, after Adam and Eve sinned and they heard God walking in the garden, when God called Adam to account, he said [Gn. 3.10], I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid. Just the fact of the sin that they had committed and continued to commit shows that they had lost the image of God—they no longer did His will. Our first parents lost the image of God with which they were created and now, their descendants, all people, are born without the image of God—that is, all people, as they are born into this world—although a special creation of God—are born not knowing God rightly and, lacking righteousness and holiness, not doing the Lord’s will. A few chapters after the fall into sin, Scripture records [Gn. 5.3]: Adam…begot a son in his own likeness, after his image…. Notice, the descendants of Adam and Eve—and that eventually includes you and me—come into this world without/ lacking the image of God; instead we come in the likeness of, in the image of Adam—a sinner. Luther rightly calls our old sinful nature in which we are born and inherited from Adam, the old Adam.
The Bible uses different terms to describe that lack of the image of God that we all come into the world with, that likeness of Adam: such as being dead in trespasses and sin, or that which is born of the flesh. That old sinful nature that we are born with—that old Adam—that’s what St. Paul talks about in our text. Here he calls it the old man—the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Because we through the sin of Adam and Eve have lost the image of God, that means that as we come into the world, we no longer know God rightly. That’s why the world is filled with all sorts of various religions—people know instinctively that there is a God, since He wrote it on their hearts, but since the image of God has been lost, we don’t know the true God—like Adam and Eve did—aright. Because we have lost the image of God, we are sinners—no longer being righteous and holy, doing God’s will; we serve self and our own desires. And that’s why the world is full of sin; that’s why our own lives are filled with sin. The will and intellect of all people have lost the ability to know and to please God—that’s the loss of the image of God in us. That’s how we are all come into the world—the image of God, lost!
But, God be praised! He did not leave us in that state/ condition, for that would leave us with nothing but hell and damnation awaiting us. Instead, in you and me and all Christians, God has begun to rebuild/ restore His image in us. This here is the work of God alone. It’s not that we can begin to restore the image of God on us—our will and intellect have been corrupted. We cannot know God rightly. By our own reason or strength we can’t come to believe in the true God. We can’t make that “decision for Christ.” Nor can we restore the image of God in ourselves by doing all sorts of good things—after all, with Adam and Eve, we had lost that image of God. We are not righteous and holy and do not or cannot know to do the Lord’s will.
2. Instead, in grace and mercy, the Lord came to us and began to restore His image in us. He did this as He came to us with His Holy Spirit and worked faith in Him in our hearts. Here we see this work so beautifully in Holy Baptism, as Jesus says [John 3.5-6]: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. By giving us that new birth in Holy Baptism, by abundantly pouring out His Holy Spirit on us in Baptism, the washing of regeneration and renewing [Titus 3.5-6], the Lord has created in us the new self, the Christian. He has begun to restore His image in us—so that now, we, according to that new self, the Christian in us, we know the Lord rightly and are perfectly happy in Him and are righteous and do His will.
And here the key word is: begun. Only in heaven will we again have that image of God fully restored in us. Now, as we live out our lives as Christians, we will always have to hear St. Paul’s word from our text: Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Here is the mark of the Christian’s life—that constant battle we are engaged in as we put off/ take off like a set of dirty clothes the old self, our old sinful nature; and as we put on—like our set of Sunday’s best—the new man, the Christian in us, who has been created in us by the Holy Spirit.
The vital thing to remember is that our old sinful nature, the old man, is not obliterated/ destroyed the moment that the Holy Spirit brings us to faith and begins restoring that divine image in us. Instead, within us, we have both the old man and the new man. That’s why Paul tells us Christians to keep putting off the old man and to keep putting on the new man. Even though at baptism and beyond we renounced the devil and all his works and all his ways, it is difficult to put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man because it is so closely interwoven with our nature. The mark of our Christian life is not perfection—that we fear, love and trust God perfectly and so do His will perfectly—but it is the continual and steady putting off that old sinful nature and putting on the new self.
Two facts come to the fore: first, we are sinners and will continue to be sinners, as St. Paul confesses with all Christians [Rom. 7.21]: I find then a [rule], that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good; there will be that struggle in us between the old and new selves. The second fact is if we don’t continually and steadily put off the old and put on the new, that is, if we don’t fight against sin, then we will drive away the Holy Spirit and faith; we will kill the new self, that beginning of the restoration of the image of God and be left with nothing but our old sinful nature which will lead us into death and damnation. But, dear Christian, it is possible for us to put off the old sinful nature and to put on the new because we have that new self, the Christian in us. Without the new, we’d just be old sinful self. But we, dear Christian, have the new self that’s led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So now as by the power of the Holy Spirit we take off the old and put on the new, the old sinful nature becomes weaker. Yes, it will still rear its ugly head in our lives and lead us into sin, perhaps even grievous sin, but we daily take it off by daily repentance. As we daily repent of our sins, we are going back to our baptism and not only taking off that old sinful nature, but drowning it, as we confess it and grab ahold anew of the forgiveness of sins given us in baptism. By repentance and confession, the new self rules over the old, keeping it from resurfacing—to be sure not perfectly as we will still sin—but to keep it from ruling over us and destroying that new self, the Christian in us. We have been renewed in the spirit of your mind. For Jesus’ sake, God has cancelled our guilt and restored in the Christian the right knowledge of Him and holiness of will. Now in that joy, we follow the new spiritual movements that the Holy Spirit has worked in us. In that joy, remembering our baptism, we consecrate ourselves again to the holy Triune God and think about and in His power do all that is good, pure virtuous—although evil inclinations still cling to us. We rejoice in doing the Lord’s will and so we ponder the commandments and see where we can put our life in order lest we give place to the devil. We don’t want to do the least possible of the commandments, but delighting in the Lord’s will we want to do them fully:
Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
The image of God: knowing God rightly and perfectly doing His will. We daily thank God that He has begun this good work in us of restoring His image in us and we pray that it be increased daily in us and finally be perfected when we are in heaven. INJ Amen