Who Am I? 9781614588856, 9781683443704, 2023952346

Citation preview

First printing: January 2024 Second printing: February 2024 Copyright © 2024 by Martyn Iles. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, broadcast, stored, or shared in any form whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write: Master Books, P.O. Box 726, Green Forest, AR 72638 Master Books® is a division of the New Leaf Publishing Group, LLC. ISBN: 978-1-68344-370-4 ISBN: 978-1-61458-885-6 (digital) Library of Congress Number: 2023952346 Cover by Diana Bogardus Printed in USA Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org Verses marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Visit our website for other great titles: www.masterbooks.com. For information regarding promotional opportunities, please contact the publicity department at [email protected].

CONTENTS 4

Foreword Identity

6 16 34

The Inward Look The Big Mistake In The Beginning, GOD

The Identity Puzzle

44

Piece #1: Made — Genesis 1:26 “Let Us make Mankind”

48

Piece #2: Display — Genesis 1:27 “So, God created man in His own image”

62

Piece #3: Eternal — Genesis 2:7 “The Lord God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”

78

Piece #4: Dust — Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground”

100

Piece #5: Dominion — Genesis 1:28

“… and have dominion”

110

Piece #6: Gender — Genesis 1:27 “Male and female He created them.”

166

Piece #7: Fallen — Genesis 5:3 “Adam … fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image”

182

Piece #8: Restored — 1 Corinthians 15:49 “ … we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven”

The Solution 204 So, Who Am I?

FOREWORD

The “Who am I?” question is wreaking havoc in people's lives in this generation. Without an anchor of truth or right and wrong, we are left to discover who we are by merely looking at ourselves, guided by our subjective opinions and emotions. As human beings under the curse of sin, when we look to ourselves for identity and truth, the result is confusion and chaos. Indeed, apart from God’s Word, there is only chaos! But God has not left us without an identity. We don’t need to look inside ourselves to find who we really are; we need to look outside ourselves to the Word of the One who created us. It’s there we find who we really are — and more than that, it’s there we find our meaning, our purpose, and our hope for now and eternity. Yes, the answers are in God’s Word — actually, the answers begin in Genesis! As you read this book, you’ll dive deep into Genesis and God’s design for mankind. Martyn pulls out eternal truths that the church has long taught and known and applies them anew for a lost and confused generation. And he does so in a way that points to Christ and His completed work for us on the Cross.

We don’t need to struggle and work to uncover who we are based on our feelings or the latest cultural fad. We look to Christ and to His eternal, unchanging Word. We find answers by first digging into God’s design for mankind and then looking to the Cross, where Jesus laid down His life so that image bearers of God — both men and women — could come to Christ in faith and become new creations, re-made in the image of the Son. I pray this work equips and encourages a generation of believers to find their identity in God’s creation design and in Christ. And I pray this work is a challenge to unbelievers to turn from gazing inward to gazing at God’s Word and Christ to find the answer to “Who Am I?”

In Christ, Ken Ham Founder CEO Answers in Genesis, Ark Encounter, and Creation Museum

6

The Inward Look

7

8

WHO AM I?

Who am I? It’s a question most people above a certain age never asked and never felt the need to answer. More recently, however, it’s the concern that seems to be gripping an entire generation. It even comes in its own word — “identity.” This once slightly obscure word is now the staple of everything from elementary school curriculum to political creeds across the Western world, prompting young minds to preoccupy themselves with this pressing new question — who am I?

The Inward Look The question invites us to do something. Indeed, by the time the words have left one’s mouth, we are almost instinctively doing it. Namely, we are looking at ourselves. I asked a group of Australian primary school children what “identity” meant, and the (surprisingly articulate) answers came thick and fast: your sense of who you are … your understanding of yourself … your personal story … self-perception … how you feel … your passions … self-definition … life experiences … Any formal discussion of the word will make liberal use of the prefix “self.” Actually, I didn’t realize you could use it as a prefix quite so much until I started my research. Selfideation, self-love, self-discovery, self-definition, self-perception, self-determination, self-narrative, self-image, self-concept, self-esteem … All of these I have encountered in contemporary works on identity. This word has brought with it the age of the inward turn — the looking at the self. To see how deeply this has affected our culture, we only need to consider the many, often subtle, ways the inward look at self has become integrated into the way we think and live. Consider popular notions like loving yourself, living true to yourself, 9

10

WHO AM I?

being your best self, following your heart, believing in yourself, living your truth … or phrases like “you do you,” “you are enough,” “you’re worth it,” “you’re beautiful just as you are.” Such ideals are inescapable in our day, teaching us that the good foundation for one’s attitudes and actions is ourselves. I am sure you can quickly think of several other examples. This self-talk has also started to change the kinds of things we hold up as virtues. Authenticity is a big one. The word “authentic” finds its root in the Greek word for self — auto. If your actions are true to “you,” then they are good for you, and they are therefore considered justifiable. The same thought is expressed in the idea of “doing what’s right for me.” It’s the same idea that makes it possible to say, “My truth.” Notice how we justify ourselves, define what is right, and sometimes even what is “true,” based on how we feel and who we are, rather than appealing to higher foundations. Since when were we our own inventors of truth and righteousness? This is the most basic form of humanism — seeing ourselves as the ultimate authority instead of God.

The Inward Look The virtue of self-belief is also a staple these days — no motivational speech or life advice seems complete without it — conveying the idea that the resources we need for our own achievements and character are found in our attitude to who we are. Scripture affirms those who believed God, but we live in times when we increasingly seem to affirm those who believe in themselves. Many of the traditional virtues (which were based on God’s Word) are being redefined too. For example, to be “loving” means something like “doing a thing in a way that makes the other person feel good.” We seem to have lost the higher standard by which love is measured, grounding it in people’s subjective feelings instead. Meanwhile, at the cutting edge of our culture, we see that things have gone so far as to redefine “pride” from being a wicked sin to being the new virtue. This crosses over the line from self-acceptance and self-belief into self-celebration and, in fact, self-worship. 11

12

WHO AM I?

It makes perfect sense, therefore, that this is the age of the personality. From personality tests by MyersBriggs® and Enneagram and Jordan Peterson’s “self-authoring” programs, we are … well … a little obsessed with ourselves. I always smile in conversations about such things. We are told that these tests should help us understand each other, but people are typically far more interested in telling you about their result than they are about hearing yours! Psychology is increasingly the discipline we look to for answers. At one time in our history, the Church played that role. More recently, the natural sciences seemed to have the answers. Now, we look to the experts who can tell us who we are: the psychologists. This summary only lightly scratches the surface, but it is enough to raise a concern that our culture is taking on a distinctly narcissistic flavor. It is the age of the inward look. The age of identity. There are many explanations of “identity” in everything from academic journals to children’s books. They tend to include a few key points. First, they explain that identity refers to those characteristics, traits, beliefs, values, and experiences

The Inward Look that define who a person is and how they perceive themselves. So, it’s quite a big deal. Identity defines who I am. Hence, the title of this book — Who Am I? How many questions can a person have that are of greater significance than that one? There are some, but not many. Second, any contemporary definition is likely to stress the notion that “identity is subjective.” Some will add that it is “fluid.” In other words, it is defined according to my personal feelings, perceptions, desires, opinions, and so forth, and it changes according to those same feelings. It is not the sort of thing that is defined according to some fixed standard that exists apart from me. It’s not about “the” truth — rather, “my” truth is the relevant standard. As for any standard God may have, well … that’s obviously discounted by definition. In this humanistic philosophy, it’s as if God did not create me, but I create myself. I do that by way of the inward look and my own feelings about my sense of self, my values, experiences, traits, introspection, emotions, desires, thoughts, self-perception, and so on.

13

14

WHO AM I?

But the “Who am I?” question of identity is bigger than this. It is not merely something that stays in my head. Once I’m answering the question, I am building a foundation from which I can live my life and interact with the world. It is a whole philosophy of life. Consider some of the usual attributes that come up when considering one’s identity: gender, cultural heritage, race, sexuality, psychology, personality tests, interests, beliefs, and so forth. If I feel I am an introverted trans-woman of Latino heritage, this is not merely my truth about who I am — it is also my purpose in life. My well-being requires that I must pursue these attributes and others must respect them. If I do not pursue them, then I am engaging in self-phobia, or internalized oppression. Indeed, I must reach that point of “pride” — I must be proud of my identity. This is why we have Pride Month. If others do not respect my identity attributes, then they are “toxic” people who are actively harming me and erasing my existence. They won’t see me, hear me, or acknowledge me. They hate me. They’re bigots. Oh, and speaking of bigots, this is not merely personal and social — it is also political. Identity

The Inward Look politics make my identity attributes into my political mission. It shows me the various ways in which the “culture” and “society” are oppressing me. In this case, that would be things like transphobia, xenophobia, racism, and normalized extroversion. These evils are everywhere. Others can’t tell because they’re not awake, but I am. Also, they don’t have the relevant lived experience to expose them to these truths. But I do. My reform agenda is clear: LGBTQ pride, refugee rights, fighting institutional racism, and visibility for the socially anxious. You can see how the issue of identity begins with one of the biggest questions a person can ask and answers it in such a way as to provide an entire life and worldview, founded in self.

15

16

The Big Mistake

17

18

WHO AM I?

There is an obvious question which arises from all this. Namely, is this identity theory of life a good one? There is an extremely easy way to work that out. Let me explain. Remember, this all began with that simple question, “Who am I?” and the invitation it presents, to look within at the self. So, it all depends on whether this thing called “self” is good or bad. If self is good, then the life which is built on it will be good. If self is bad, then the life which is built on it will be bad. Likewise, the quality of the worldview which it creates — informing my social life and political creed — will depend on this same question. They all come back to the same foundation of self. We must therefore examine that foundation. Scripture never uses the word “identity,” and it seldom uses the term “self” in the way we’re thinking about it now. It tends to refer to our subjective insides as “the heart.” That is the place of passion, desire, what we feel, our emotions, our wanting,

The Big Mistake and the subjective impulses. Scripture has a lot to say about the heart. So does Jesus. In Mark 7:20-23, He warns us how we should think about it, and it's quite shocking:

…“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” The prophet Jeremiah (in 17:9) echoes the same warning:

The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (NKJV) Oh my! Many a Christian reader may even cringe at that or find themselves searching for other Scriptures which might soften the blow. But there are none — quite the opposite, actually. And if we were familiar with our Bibles, we would know that. I recall my days leading a youth group — I told the kids, “Nowhere will you find negative feedback about yourself like you do in the Bible.” From the Fall of mankind into sin in Genesis 3 onwards, 19

WHO AM I?

20

the diagnosis of the human condition is profoundly miserable and desperate. We are dead (Ephesians 2:1), deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), unrighteous (1 Corinthians 6:9–10), reprobate (Romans 1:28), children of the devil (1 John 3:10), and at enmity with God (James 4:4). And that’s just the beginning. I challenge any reader to find me positive feedback on the human condition, outside of Christ, after the Fall, anywhere in Scripture. If there is any, it is overwhelmed in an avalanche of deadly serious reality checks. And the reality is, you and I frequently do the wrong thing because our hearts are corrupted by all kinds of sin. That has always been the human predicament. So, here’s the thing: self is bad, not good. It is a corrupt foundation. It leads to a corrupt view of self, a corrupt social life, and a corrupt political creed. It creates a corrupt life and worldview. And if self is this bad, it means the identity theory of life is not only wrong, but it is exactly wrong. That is, it is as perfectly wrong as anything could ever be. It’s the opposite of right. It teaches an anti-gospel. So, is the identity view of life a good one? No! Since self is as bad as the biblical warnings say it is, then this identity theory of life should be yielding

The Big Mistake some very bad fruit because it traps people in self. Let’s check that out. The first thing to note is that we are trapping a generation in their sin. Because the thing they are looking at — their subjective insides, which the Bible calls their heart — is a petri dish of sin. If this is true, we should be seeing an explosion in the sorts of sins that Jesus said live in our hearts and defile us. For example, an explosion in sexual immorality, adultery, and sensuality. Have the problems of pornography, unfaithfulness, and the elevation of every sensual thing ever been worse? I could give endless examples, but if I did, they’d be out of date by the time this book is published — such is the avalanche of new sexual deviancy in our day. The statistics speak for themselves, though. For example, only 12% of American teenagers think that couples living together before marriage is a bad thing.1 And only 20% strongly believe homosexuality is morally wrong.2 As a pastor friend of mine once said, “If God does not judge the West, He is going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” What of the sin of pride? We no longer even regard it as a bad thing—we’ve named a month after it! 21

22

WHO AM I?

Indeed, a month in which Western nations raise their voices to declare they are proud of their sin. It is small wonder, then, that only 34% of young Americans strongly agree that lying is morally wrong.3 To me, that was a surprising statistic, but it shouldn’t have been. Jesus told us that our embrace of the self would only lead to an explosion in deceit. He names it among the sins that live in the human heart and defile us. Consider all of those sins He mentioned carefully, in turn — is this not our problem right now? Some may have read His diagnosis of the heart and considered it too harsh, but surely the proof is all around us. We are gazing at our sin, and it is corrupting our entire life and worldview. The second thing to note is that we are condemning a generation to depression. The identity theory of life is incapable of giving hope because hope is, by definition, beyond us and bigger than us. True hope is given by God and eternity (Romans 15:13; Titus 2:12–14), things that transcend this life. True hope is objective — it survives the ups and downs of our lives. It is not beholden to feelings. But the best “hope” that can come from “self” is a hope

The Big Mistake that I will feel good in myself and about myself. So, what happens when I just don’t? Indeed, only 45% of young American people say they feel in good mental health4 — less than half. That means many of them, having been thoroughly steeped in the identity theory of life, have lost hope. Of course they have — they have nowhere else to look! The results are tragic. Thirteen percent have had a serious psychological event in the last month. Thirteen percent have had a major depressive disorder in the past year. At least 10% have thought of suicide in the past year.5 Forty-two percent have been diagnosed with a mental disorder.6 From 2007 to 2023, there has been a 56% increase in suicide rates among young people.7 Indeed, all these statistics have increased drastically over the past 15 years — and the rate of increase is getting faster. It is the most depressed generation the West has ever raised. Strangely, while life has never been better, materially speaking, Westerners have never felt worse. The third thing to note is that if your entire view of self and life is subjective, then it is inherently

23

24

WHO AM I?

unstable and uncertain. Is there anything less stable than a teenager’s feelings? Consider an analogy. Maybe you’ve been stuck in a situation in life where you can’t trust anyone. If you have, you know it has a profoundly confusing and destabilizing effect on you. It’s a situation you need to get out of, quickly, for your own sake. Now, consider having an existence where you have nothing trustworthy to rely on. Where there is no firm foundation for who you are. Where the foundations you’re looking at are entirely changeable, fickle, and uncertain. That destabilizing feeling must be overwhelming. This is one reason why anxiety is at epidemic rates among young people and increasing rapidly. Indeed, it’s almost enculturated in the generation — that is, accepted as completely normal. Many an internet meme or TikTokTM video is a commentary on “my anxieties” as if it’s a normal way to live.

The Big Mistake All of these outcomes should have been predicable. Trapping a young person in their self is akin to trapping them in sin and uncertainty. It also cuts them off from real hope. Indulgence in sinful behaviors with no conscience or conviction, accompanied by spiraling depression and anxiety, was always going to be the result. And these problems are rapidly getting worse. Those that are not yet out of control threaten to become so, and soon. But I want to take care not simply to focus on the costs to psychological and personal well-being. Many are content to stop here because it is the focus of this age. But there is a cost that is far worse than anything I’ve mentioned so far, and it is the cost that should grieve us the most. See, the greatest cost of this “age of self” is spiritual. I’ve already mentioned that this identity theory of life is not only false, but it is exactly false. It is the opposite of the truth. It is as wrong as anything could ever be. What is the real reason I said this? I said it because the gospel starts from the opposite position. God’s Word to the human race is a word that starts with the opposite truth (the actual truth, that is!).

25

WHO AM I?

26

Let’s start in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was teaching the people about the kingdom of heaven. He opened with a list of sayings that have become known as the Beatitudes. They are eight character traits which emerge in the lives of those who are supremely blessed (that is what “beatitude” means in the Latin). But what makes a person “supremely blessed” according to God? Is it a good feeling? Happiness? A prosperous life? Freedom from pain and trouble? A fit body and a pretty face? Actually, the person who is supremely blessed is the person who has citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. In other words, the person in whom God has done such a work that they serve Him in this life and are destined to live for Him and with Him in His eternal realm forever. He is their King, now and forever. The blessings of His kingdom are theirs, now and forever. That’s a very long way of saying it’s the person who Christians might say is “saved.” These are the people, Jesus says, who

The Big Mistake know real and ultimate blessing. And it all begins with the first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Notice that this privilege has come to people in whose lives a certain character is evident. Not other people! Only these people. Which people? The poor in spirit. “Poor in spirit” means what it says. It speaks of a person who knows that in themselves — in their spirit — they are poor. That is, they have nothing of value. They are more or less broke. There is nothing of worth to be found in the self. Their identity, by itself, is destitute. They say, with the Apostle Paul, “in my flesh nothing good dwells; ...” (Romans 7:18; NKJV). Or, with Isaiah, …“Woe is me! For I am lost;” (Isaiah 6:5). Or, with Peter, …“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). Or, with Abraham, …“Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). Or, with Job, “Behold, I am of small account;

what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth” (Job 40:4).

They are those who feel the weight and sadness of that Scripture I mentioned earlier, “The heart

is deceitful above all things And desperately wicked;

27

28

Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9; NKJV). Or that “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6). They know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “ … None is righteousness, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

WHO AM I?

These are just a few of the selections I can draw on from Scripture. It speaks with one powerful voice on the matter. We are truly sinful, and that is a tragedy. Some years ago, I was speaking at a school camp. I had just completed a talk about the life of Joseph, including his resistance to sexual sin. Afterward, there was a knock at the door of my room. When I opened it, I was greeted by a young man who was completely broken, tears streaming down his face. I asked him what was wrong. He was able to blurt out, “I am addicted to pornography, and I don’t know what to do.” In reply, I said, “I am almost certain there are others at this camp with the same problem. And yet you’re

The Big Mistake the only one standing here, torn up about it in response to today’s message. Why is that?” The truth is, he was under conviction. He was experiencing the weight of his guilt. He was confronted with his sinfulness. He was reaching the same conclusion about himself that each of those biblical examples I just mentioned had reached. This is not a bad thing! Indeed, this is a very good sign. This was the hallmark of God’s work on his life — as Jesus Himself said about the Holy Spirit, “ … he will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgement” (John 16:8). The Spirit of God was at work on this young man’s soul. In fact, that feeling of conviction of one’s own sin is the surest sign that you are drawing nearer to God. A television reporter once challenged me that it was hateful to assert that a sinner would go to hell, to which I responded, “The day I found out I was a sinner going to hell was one of the best days of my life.” And it was. Because it turned me, once and for all, away from the false foundation and slavery of self, in all its poverty and corruption. It made me hate the sin that lived within me. It made me look outside myself to another foundation. It made me crave the righteousness of God. 29

30

WHO AM I?

In today’s world of self-esteem and self-love, we rush to assuage a person of negative feelings like guilt, believing we are doing them a favor. But guilt is not a bad thing. Guilt is a very good thing if we respond to it rightly. It is the impulse that the Spirit of God uses to turn us out of ourselves to seek God. Remember, “ … theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is not for other people — it is exclusively for these people. That tells me that nobody ever got converted without a real conviction of their own sinfulness. Nobody ever became a Christian without a knowledge of their guilt, their internal poverty, their sin. It is a grave concern to me that in the midst of this generation of self and identity, when such realities are resisted, I seem to be hearing more and more Christian testimonies that make no mention whatsoever of sin and repentance. This should not be so. I understand that a person may not express the details of their experience articulately — that is one thing. But it is another thing to actually claim to be saved without conviction and repentance. That is a salvation that does not come via the Cross of Christ, which was the towering cost of my sin, in all its perversion and wretchedness. It is no salvation at

The Big Mistake all. This is a person whose view of themselves has never been torn free of the false gospel of trusting in our identity that pervades our culture. Through the prophet Isaiah, God declared that He dwells in two places — the holy realms of heaven, and the hearts of the lowly and the contrite. That is, those who see their own poverty and repent. Of course, that is where the ultimate blessedness of which we spoke comes from. When we are being emptied of self, we may receive from His fullness.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15) Can you see the real, awful cost of this age of identity and self? It is immunizing a generation against a sense of their sinfulness and desperate need

31

32

WHO AM I?

before God. It is telling them to take that for which Christ had to die — their “true selves” — and to embrace it, live by it, and be proud of it. This is a message that ensures people will never get over the threshold of God’s kingdom because they will never be poor in spirit. It is condemning a generation to hell. There is an insult from a previous generation — “You’re so full of yourself.” I am not sure if it would pass as an insult today. It almost reads like a self-help quote! But it was once very shameful to have this said of you because it pointed out a grave character flaw. It is indeed an insult, not a compliment. To take it as such is to receive good life advice, and even better spiritual advice.

The Big Mistake Surely, we have erred greatly in relation to the identity question. But there is a better answer. There is a right answer. That answer comes not from the foundation of self, but from somewhere else entirely.

33

34

In the Beginning, GOD

35

36

WHO AM I?

My parents named me after the great Welsh preacher, Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was very wise concerning the human condition and delivered a series of sermons on the subject of “Spiritual Depression,” for which he subsequently became famous. He later remarked that despite the somewhat miserable topic — “the mumps and measles of the soul,”8 as he called it — his congregation thoroughly enjoyed the series. Why? Because they were talking about themselves. They were contemplating their own psychology and diagnosing their own problems. The human being never tires of such things. Lloyd-Jones went on to note that his next series, which began with a discussion of the glory of God, was not met with nearly so much enthusiasm or curiosity. I feared the same problem with this book. In my first outline, the whole thing began with, “In the beginning, God …” But I realized what a change of gear that would be for a reader to see a book about identity, only to

In the Beginning, GOD open it up and be met with a disappointing baitand-switch. Rather than reading about themselves, rather than enjoying that inward look, they would find themselves reading about God — in whose image they are made. This is a sad reality. Content on psychology is infinitely more sought after and popular than content about God. We are trapped by a morbid obsession with self, personality, well-being, and the unending quest to find out what makes us tick. To put it bluntly, this tells us how little we know God, because if we knew Him well, we would be craving more. There is no greater, more exhilarating subject in the entire cosmos. Of course, this is the entire problem with the “Who am I?” question. It provokes our natural instinct to look at ourselves. As we have seen, that’s exactly the wrong move. In fact, what if I told you that you could never actually know yourself until you first understood who God is? If I achieve nothing else with this book, I pray that I help us to correct that error. Rather than following our instincts, or the way of the world, by beginning with self, I pray that we would train ourselves to

37

38

begin where Scripture begins. Before the Bible discusses any part of reality at all, it frames everything with this statement: “In the beginning, God.” Those are the very first words of Scripture. Those are the first words of everything God has to say about everything — it is His foundation. It is as opposite to the foundation of self as anything ever could be.

WHO AM I?

“In the beginning, God” is a statement of reality. Because all things did indeed begin with God. He made them. Therefore, He gave them their place, their order, and their meaning. And He continues to do so, as the Creator who sustains all things. He is the only proper foundation from which to understand any reality. This includes the reality of the human person. This is why “In the beginning, God” is the reality that holds the key to wisdom. Consider Proverbs, which tell us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10; NKJV). This is not just a nice sentiment — it is true! Because all things truly did begin with God, so when we raise our perspective to His perspective, we see them truthfully and know how to deal with them wisely. Indeed, to train ourselves to see a thing from God’s perspective is to unlock

In the Beginning, GOD all the blessings of wisdom. It will teach us how to live. This is extraordinarily countercultural in an age where so many answers to important questions are framed with the phrase, “I feel like …” We speak out of ourselves and our own authority, not from God’s authority. If a modern man on the street were to write the book of Proverbs, he might prefer something approximating, “To follow your heart is the beginning of wisdom.” That seems to be much more aligned with the world’s wisdom on how to live. Again, it builds a life philosophy on the false foundation of self and looks at things from our own perspective … which is exactly the wrong perspective. But when we return to that glorious framework, “In the beginning, God,” we raise our eyes to His level, put aside ourselves, and stand on the threshold of wisdom. On so many matters, God takes us back to their beginning, because it is there that we find out how and why He made things. We get a very clear insight into this logic when Jesus is asked about divorce. He not only raises our perspective to God’s per39

40

spective, but He also takes us back to the beginning, when God created marriage, and what He said about it at the time. He frames His answer by saying, …“Have

WHO AM I?

you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?'" (Matthew 19:4–5). That is all quoted from Genesis 1 and 2.

Jesus then uses this foundational blueprint of truth about marriage to answer the question at hand, about divorce: “So they are no

longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). That is the wisdom on the matter, drawn from God’s perspective, from the beginning. He did not say, “Do what’s right for you,” or “Be true to yourself,” which has justified many a modern divorce, not to mention many marriages! He said the opposite!

In the Beginning, GOD We see this same approach at other times throughout Scripture, on so many creation issues. But why? Because all that God created and ordered before the Fall He called “very good” in Genesis 1:31 and assured us that “His work is perfect” in Deuteronomy 32:4 (NKJV). The blueprints that we find there are God’s very good ideals. The very good ideal for marriage is that God intended to join a man and a woman such that they become one perfect whole, whose unity is, in turn, incarnated in their children. Once we understand truths like this, we can start to apply the principles in our own lives and live up to God’s plan. In other words, we live in wisdom. This is a logic that applies to all manner of current issues, concerning which 41

WHO AM I?

42

there is great confusion today — race politics, abortion, climate change, sexuality, gender, truth, family, animals, “what is a woman?”, “what is a man?”, and more. About all these things we can say, “In the beginning, God …” We can take His perspective and go back to the start. In this, we find great blessing. This is the discovery of wisdom — it is the secret to how to live. Identity is also a creation issue. We can go to God’s perspective, and He will take us back to the very beginning, where there are answers. When you read, you begin with A, B, C. When you sing, you begin with do, re, mi. When asking “Who am I?” you begin with Genesis 1, 2, and 3! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!) When we do this, we will find that the answer is not given all at once. It comes to us in pieces which we must collect and assemble together to get the big picture. It’s a little bit like an identity jigsaw puzzle. It is only when we have all the pieces together that we will have clarity about the answer to “Who am I?” — that is, the identity question.

In the Beginning, GOD The rest of this book is dedicated to collecting each of these pieces from the Word of God, from the very beginning.

43

44

Piece #1

“Let Us make mankind…” Genesis 1:26

MADE 45

WHO AM I?

Piece #1

46

The first thing we learn from our higher perspective is something simple, but important: we are created by God. Remember, the identity theory of life asserts that identity is subjective. It emerges from how we feel, what we think, and what we want. It is not beholden to any fixed standard outside of us. It is “my” truth, rather than “the” truth. It is, in effect, an exercise in creating ourselves. But before God says anything about anything, He starts at the opposite position, framing it with the phrase, “In the beginning, God …” (Genesis 1:1). Then, when He specifically has something to say about human beings, He says, “Let us make mankind …” (Genesis 1:26). That is to say, we didn’t make ourselves. There is truth outside of us from which we cannot escape, which has a decisive impact on what we are and who we are. This “Who am I?” question is answered on God’s authority, not from our own authority. It arrives as “the” truth, not “my” truth. I can either submit to that truth or rebel against it. There are no other choices.

Piece #1 This is the first piece of the puzzle toward answering the “Who am I?” question. P.S. Since you probably noticed it — when God says “us,” He seems to be making deliberate reference to the fact that creation — including the creation of human beings — was an act of the whole Godhead. That means it was an act of Father, Son, and Spirit — the Triune God.9 Genesis 1 has already referred to the Spirit of God “hovering over the face of the waters,” and John 1:3 says of Jesus, “All things were made

through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

There is no suggestion anywhere in Scripture that the angels were involved in creation, so this seems to be the obvious conclusion.

47

48

Piece #2

DISPLA

LAY “So, God created man in His own image…” Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)

49

WHO AM I?

50

A few years ago, I received a package at my office. Someone had painted my portrait and gifted it to me. My executive assistant asked, “What are you going to do with it?” It was a hard question to answer. Hard, because the painting was exceptionally good — the woman who painted it had very evident talent. It wasn’t the sort of thing to throw away. But if I kept it, what on earth would I do with it? If I put such a painting up in my own home or office, you could rightly start to worry about me! I had a brainwave — I’ll send it to my mother, and she can decide! Sure enough, she framed it and hung it over her piano. A few years later, I was standing near that same piano teaching a Bible study on “identity” with my nieces and nephews, just to make sure they knew how to answer what the world was telling them on the subject. I gestured toward the painting, saying, “See that painting over there …” Before I could finish, they all cried out together — “THAT’S YOU!” My answer probably surprised them: “Actually it isn’t me. I am standing right here. It’s only my image!” See, the painting really was very good. It had captured something so essential to me that the children could see it — they could

Piece #2 see it so clearly that they had no doubt whatsoever — that was a painting of Uncle Marty. When we read that in the beginning, God created mankind in His image and likeness, we learn that mankind clearly reflected and embodied something that was God’s. Like those children looking at my painting, the angels could look at man and woman and see an uncanny resemblance to the Creator. But what is it about God, specifically, that we reflected? It must be something special because no other created being is described as made in His image. There has been no shortage of theories about what it may include. Many have speculated that it has something to do with rational thought — a faculty animals don’t have. Or objectivity — the ability to stand outside ourselves and think about ourselves. Or something about the human spirit — a spiritual inclination. Or our creative drive to make things, build things, and maintain things. Or love — the desire to love and be loved. 51

52

All of these things certainly find a superior and unique expression in human beings as opposed to other creatures. However, all of these things are only grasping at the true answer. There is something greater which is key to understanding the image of God.

WHO AM I?

In Colossians and Ephesians, the Apostle Paul connects the “new self” with the image of God, and in so doing, he tells us what the image is. From Colossians 3:9–11:

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. The image of the Creator is the same as saying the image of God. Indeed, it is expressed in such a way as to turn our minds back to Genesis 1. The same thought is expressed in Ephesians 4:23–24:

be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. This time, the new self is described according to the likeness of God, which is also Genesis 1:27 language — mankind was made in God’s image and likeness.

Piece #2 I am not addressing the new self in this book, but suffice to say that whatever it is, its template is the image and likeness of God, and the core features of that image and likeness are given as follows: 1. Knowledge 2. Holiness 3. Righteousness Therefore, when we read that mankind was made in this image, it means mankind was distinguished from the rest of creation by their knowledge of God, and their virtues of true righteousness and holiness. Scripture tells us that the whole of God’s nature may be summarized in that sacred word, “holy.” First, it means sinless and perfect. So, man and woman were made sinless and perfect. But holiness is also a short way of referring to all of who God is. It includes all the aspects of His perfection — that is, all His character traits. So, God’s character traits were able to be demonstrated by mankind in creation because of their holiness, to radiantly image Him and reflect His glory. This

53

54

WHO AM I?

includes things like His love, grace, mercy, righteousness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and so forth. Wow! You may wonder what the difference between holiness and righteousness is. Holiness is a state of perfection, unblemished by sin. Righteousness tends to refer to activity — it is the doing of all that is right, putting holiness into practice. Man and woman must have been a stunning crown on creation. Here were human beings, beautifully holy, commissioned to rule the world in God’s true and perfect righteousness. So great was their stature that one could look at them, framed by the Garden of Eden, and immediately have their eye turned to the truly Holy God Himself. Just as my nephews and nieces turned their mind to me when they saw my image in that portrait, so man and woman could turn angel’s minds nowhere else but to God when they saw His image-bearing

Piece #2 creatures, both in who they were (holy) and in what they were doing (God’s righteous works). Next, we turn to knowledge. To be made in God’s image means to be made with the knowledge of God. Think about it — when does a dog gaze at a beautiful sunset and ponder the meaning of life? Do a couple of camels wandering in the desert have theological debates with each other? Do dolphins muse with their friends about whether God is real? On one level, those are silly questions, but on another, they demonstrate something. Unlike animals, human beings relate to spiritual things, ultimate meaning, and God. Contrary to animals, plants, and rocks, human beings were made with a faculty that was designed for knowledge of God. Only human beings feel the burden of that on their life and existence. A quick read of Genesis 1–3 shows that Adam and Eve did indeed know God. They spoke to Him directly, and He with them. Mankind existed in a state of directly knowing God, and they did so in perfect peace and harmony. But what are we to make of this assortment of other things which seem to find a uniquely high expression in human beings — rationality, objectivity, 55

56

WHO AM I?

creativity, love, and other such abilities? These are not directly connected with God’s image in Scripture, unlike righteousness, holiness, and knowledge — but they are obviously special. These things cannot be irrelevant to God’s image, but we must be clear about what they are for. We are not creative for the sake of it, nor is love an end in itself. We have all these unique abilities in order that we might apply them to the great, high calling of God’s image on the human race. They enable us to be holy. They enable us to act righteously. They enable us to know God. These are the ends for which they are designed. This is what we should use our special faculties for. Take the human mind as just one example. It is unique. We apply it rightly when we use it to grow in the knowledge of God. When the mind is renewed by that knowledge, it changes our whole person, teaching us to reject sin, embrace righteousness, and be holy. It also animates our lives in a new way, to do small and big things in a way that serves God. The renewal of our minds makes our bodies “living sacrifices” — it guides a life which animates us, in all things, in worship of God. So, the rational mind is simply a means to enable that great end for

Piece #2 which we were created — knowledge, holiness, and righteousness. The same is true for all our other human faculties: hands to serve God, ears to hear God, mouths to speak for God, feet to go for God, hearts to love God. How sad it is to see the results of sin on the minds of men and women, who use great intellect to distance themselves from God, puff themselves up in intellectual pride, and even to deny Him altogether. How tragic to see people’s bodies animated to do things which sin against God rather than honor Him. How dreadful to watch men and women create, build, and advance things which champion wickedness. How sinful to see them try to unburden their craving to know God by serving self, demons, and idols. All these are perversions of the very faculties that were supposed to enable us to image God. When we understand this truth about what God’s image is, we understand the high calling on our lives. Mostly, when we hear people say that humans are made in God’s image, we hear them say it as if that’s the end of the story. It is not the end of the story. It may be better to put it this way: human beings were made to image God. 57

58

WHO AM I?

Notice the subtle difference. We shouldn’t just think about it as our status, we should think about it as our calling. It is a calling to be holy, righteous, and to know God. Every part of our lives and every faculty we possess is supposed to be applied to that end. That is how we start to live up to our purpose of bearing God’s image. You may have heard it said that we were made to glorify God or — as the words in a Reformation catechism say — that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”10 The word “glory” is a little bit like “the image of God.” People say it, but they haven’t always thought about what it means, exactly. Glory is simply the display of what God is like. His glory is often described in terms of blinding, incinerating light. That light is a display of His perfect beauty, albeit too great a display for human beings to cope with. But there are other displays which we can cope with. One is the display of the heavens, described by the psalmist — “The heavens declare the

glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). The heavens

Piece #2 display something of God’s eternal power, according to Romans 1. We can see an aspect of who He is and what He is like when we look at them. Another example of glory is the Lord Jesus. The gospel says, “… we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He certainly put God on display, especially through His character — full of grace and truth. By now you can see how this applies to mankind, made in God’s image. We were made to glorify God — to display what God is like in a way that the rest of creation could not do. Specifically, to display his holiness and righteousness by knowing Him. This may sound high and academic, but it is very practical and personal. The more we know about God, the more we discover who we ought to be, and the more we want to be that person. When we see what God has done, we are burdened with a sense of debt and duty, desiring to serve Him. When we learn what God is like, we see a blueprint of what we should be like. The Christian life is a life marked by an increasing knowledge of God and a resulting increase in holy character and righteous actions.

59

WHO AM I?

60

Now, the thoughtful reader may ponder the content of this section and feel a bit confused. How is it that God made humans in this way? Surely this is not the human race we see today? Holy and righteous people do not lie, steal, kill, abuse, oppress, act selfishly, speak profanely, indulge lust, argue, rebel, struggle with pride, divorce, hate, break relationships … Societies of such people do not struggle with war, pain, depression, fear, trafficking, crimes, loneliness … Such people are not close to God! So, how can this blueprint be true in light of the realities we see today? But that is exactly the point. It isn’t the whole picture, but it is part of the picture. It answers the inherent greatness we see in the human race. It explains why even the atheistic, secular humanists are in awe of humanity, even if their own worldview cannot account for it one little bit. But it does not answer the inherent corruption we see in the human race. That is why we need all the pieces of the identity puzzle to answer the “Who am I?” question. There is no greater error than the one which pervades too much modern Christianity, which answers this question only by saying, “We are made

Piece #2 in God’s image.” Many a parent, teacher, pastor, author, and musician has unwittingly given such a partial answer to the question and moved on — not realizing that they have played into the false identity worldview that is all around us. When you tell a child that they are “special,” “unique,” and “in God’s image,” they hear something akin to what the world has been telling them. They hear that they are good and their true self is good. They add it to the shopping list of things they have heard which promote the identity theory of life — it gets twisted to fit a worldly mold. Remember, this is what we are called to be, not what we are right now. This is how God made us, but a lot of time has passed since then — there is so much more that we must learn. There are more pieces of this puzzle!

Piece #2

For now, we can say that we have discovered the second piece of the puzzle toward answering the “Who am I?” question. The first piece was that we are made by God. This second piece is that we were made to bear His image. That means we were made to know Him and reflect His holiness and righteousness. 

61

62

Piece #3

ETERNA “The Lord God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” Genesis 2:7

NAL 63

WHO AM I?

64

“If your dog and a stranger were both drowning, and you could only save one, which would you choose?” That was once an online poll on a platform mostly used by young people. The response? Overwhelmingly, people were choosing their dog. Meanwhile, nearly all the comments were justifying their choice by criticizing people in general, especially strangers. Now, I am very fond of dogs — big ones, to be specific — but that poll deeply concerned me, leaving an impression that I have not forgotten. Why? One of the strongest points made about human life in the Genesis blueprints is that it is different to other kinds of life described in the creation account. We have already looked at one way in which this is true, insofar as human life was made to bear God’s image. Therefore, human life has the astonishing privilege of being able to know God and put His holiness and righteousness on display. Now, we see another way in which human life is different: it is directly God-breathed. This is very significant. It means that our life has an eternal quality, breathed directly by an eternal God. Our life was made to participate in creation and to participate in eternity. This means we have some-

Piece #3 thing more than animal life. An animal is alive because of biology. Its life is sustained by biological building blocks mechanically working together — things like atoms, chemicals, reactions, tissues, organs, and such things. When those biological pieces decay and fail, the animal’s life fails entirely. It no longer exists. But human life has a transcendental aspect. When our biological parts fall away, we still have life that continues. Our God-breathed life is life that continues, even when our biology fails. This is a quality of being “alive” that nobody will ever replicate in a science experiment. History has shown that people are aware of this quality, even if they are somewhat confused about it. The human race has generally wondered about their afterlife and been curious about a “spiritual” realm, including their place in it. This is true of pretty much all cultures and all time periods. We have a dual existence of sorts — created, and eternal. This means that human life has eternal significance. It is an awesome and extraordinary thing to consider. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours 65

WHO AM I?

66

as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”11 He puts the gnats among the mortals, but he could also have put bears, kangaroos, frogs, and cats on the list too. There is only one life that has an eternal significance: human life. Jesus even said in Matthew 10:31 (NKJV), “Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”12 What a monumental significance that is! The gravity of this matter is made greater by the fact that there are two possibilities. Our eternal significance can be the eternal life of heaven, or it can be the eternal damnation of hell. Of course, the original blueprint was more along the lines of the former option, but as we shall see, subsequent events have left both possibilities confronting every human being. This is why, in the New Testament, Jesus came offering “eternal life.” He defined this as the quality of life a soul receives and enjoys when a person

Piece #3 knows God — and it survives eternally. John’s gospel says it clearly, “And this is eternal life, that they

know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3). Can you see a theme emerging in history in relation to this matter? God has always sought to befriend human life, that He might bless us and we might know Him, forever, into eternity. He made us for that cause. Now, despite our fall into sin and brokenness, He has moved the course of history with one persistent goal: to give Himself completely to the project of restoring our relationship, thus making us into eternal glories. Human life is the only kind of life that God has moved all of history to redeem. Human life is the only kind of life that God made for eternal friendship and eternal glory. Human life is the only kind of life that has the necessary qualities to receive such blessings. This should make us consider how we view the lives of those we encounter each day. Do we see their eternity? Do we care about it? What do we do to show that we care about it? We may be concerned about their political opinions, whether we can get

67

68

WHO AM I?

along with them, what opportunities they can bring us, and various aspects of their personality. These things are not meaningless, but they miss the true value and significance of these lives. Are we concerned about their eternal destiny? It should be apparent by now that there is such a gaping inequality between a human life and an animal life that words are almost inadequate to express it. Indeed, God made the hierarchy of life extra clear in Genesis 9, where He prescribed the death penalty for a human who kills a human and for an animal who kills a human. But in the same breath, he sanctioned the killing of animals by humans, for food. It is as if He is requiring the whole of creation to look up to human life as supremely valuable among all the kinds of life He made. There is no equality here.

Piece #3 So, should you save your dog or a stranger? We may conclude that it is a wrong choice to save your dog. It is a sinful choice. The lives at stake are not the same in value or significance, although the culture around us is increasingly watering down the differences. Indeed, we are confusing the matter in so many ways. Just start by considering the level of humanization being given to pets. With a straight face, people call themselves “doggo mom” and “cat dad.” Their animals are their “fur babies” — or worse, simply their “babies.” They call their children and their animals “siblings” or “brother” and “sister.” We see growth in pet funerals, pet birthday parties, and similar ceremonies normally used to value human life. We even see some dogs in strollers or pets being clothed. The humanization of animals is an extraordinarily viral internet phenomenon, with dog and cat language invented to accompany cute videos. Consider DoggoLingo — words like “hooman,” “fren,” “boop,” “bork,” “cronch” — if you’re confused, yes, it’s a really big thing. I wonder — have we really stopped to think about this? Because it’s far from the end of the matter. It represents a confusion that 69

70

has deeper consequences. One consequence was the poll I already mentioned.

WHO AM I?

Another is phenomena such as the rise in children presenting at schools in some parts of the world demanding to be identified as “fuzzies” and “furries.” Reports are even emerging of children using kitty litter rather than restrooms. Confusion abounds as we blur boundaries that God made crystal clear. There is another Genesis blueprint which especially applies to human life, ascribing to it a value that is not applicable to other kinds of life. It is the pro-life mandate. We often think of that term in relation to protecting unborn life in the womb, and so we should, but it has a broader context than that. The pro-life command is found in Genesis 1, where humanity is told to “ … Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth …” (Genesis 1:28). This command is repeated in Genesis 9 with the additional emphasis to “increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it … .” (Genesis 9:7). Given that God prescribes the death penalty at the same time for those who do the opposite, we may surmise that our instruction concerning human life is “make human life, don’t take human life.”

Piece #3 And this command is never modified or diminished, except for the narrow exceptions to marriage, which are provided elsewhere in Scripture. Single people will honor the pro-life mandate in less direct ways. But those who marry and are able to have children are required to be makers of life — fruitful, and multiplying, and increasing greatly on the earth. Meanwhile, takers of human life — including those complicit in abortion—find themselves in a very grave position before God.

71

72

WHO AM I?

But given the inherent spiritual quality of human life which we have already considered, this pro-life command may be thought of even more broadly. To make life has both a physical and a spiritual responsibility. While we make physical life through procreation, we make spiritual life by raising those children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), and the truth of the gospel. In the same way, the command against taking life can have a physical and a spiritual responsibility. It is possible to harm or even spoil life in a spiritual sense by introducing innocent lives to sin and corruption. It was in this regard that Jesus gave His sobering warning,

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6; NKJV). Take note, PBS, DisneyTM, and others who target children with false beliefs.

Piece #3 Take note, drag queen story time. But also, take note, reader! How we should tremble at the thought that we could — in a moment of foolishness or sin — say or do or be responsible for something that affects the innocence of a child and interferes with their spiritual life! God forbid. I

recently attended the funeral of a young man, just 28 years old. He died of chronic alcoholism, deep in the grip of a wildly immoral life, openly rejecting Christ. As I sat in that service, I was deeply moved by the scale of the tragedy. How can parents endure such tragedy? What can be said? Even one of the pastors leading the service was obviously struggling for words. 73

74

WHO AM I?

I found myself in prayer, asking the Lord to give me wisdom and show grace — should I ever have children — that they would be with us in heaven, having honored Him with their lives. The pro-life command is a weighty matter indeed. The project of making and raising a human life is among the greatest sacrifices that can be embarked upon in the human experience. It brings the highest highs, the lowest lows, the lightest and the heaviest of experiences. It is something of eternal significance and value. The sheer gravity of the matter is overwhelming. It almost makes me tremble. Confusing human and animal life is increasingly a convenient and selfish counterfeit of the prolife mandate. I’ve heard inquiries about whether couples have children frequently answered with, “We have cats”

Piece #3 or “We have dogs,” as if that’s a reasonable reply. Animals almost always please us. They require substantially less care and investment. They do not have spiritual life, so our responsibility toward them is orders of magnitude lower, simpler, easier, and less costly. Animals tend to indulge us, make us happy, and require a tiny amount of self-denial and selfsacrifice compared to the project that is creating and raising a human life. There is no comparison. There is only a self-gratifying counterfeit. It should grieve us when we hear people say, “Well, we have grand-dogs,”or when we see mothering and fathering instincts hopelessly misdirected on mere pets. We are called to sacrificially place children at the center of our lives, not selfishly substitute with animal counterfeits. We should not blur lines that were never supposed to be blurred in God’s ordering of things. We can start by being sharper with our language and careful with our behaviors. We can be a testimony to the world concerning the truth about human life and the primacy of children. We can also remain fond of pets while rejecting any confusion about what they are exactly. They are merely animals. They are 75

76

WHO AM I?

Piece #3

no more than pets. Human life is supremely valuable and supremely significant. So, we have discovered another piece of the identity puzzle, bringing us closer to answering the “Who am I?” question. The first piece was that we are made by God. The second piece is that we were made to bear His image. That means we were made to know Him and reflect His holiness and righteousness. This third piece is that human life is the most important kind of life because it is eternal. P.S. When we read that command to “increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it” — in the modern era — we are inclined to pause for thought. So much is said today about overpopulation, sustainability, resource security, and carbon footprints that it is widely frowned upon in such circles to violate the planet with a big family of carbon-belching offspring. Surely the future of the planet is at stake? The reality is that God has never revoked, qualified, or wound back this command. The abundance mandate continues to this day. But He knew that we’d reach this point in our history —

Piece #3 a point of fear about the future of such a practice. That must be why, within the very same section — just a verse prior to the pro-life mandate in Genesis 9 — He made a promise of security for the planet,

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). We must never forget that the planet is on God’s timeline, and His timeline is always compatible with our obedience to His commands. P.P.S. Another justification people use for not having children is their fears about the world getting worse … but if you read the section in this book about mothers, you will see how misguided that is. Keep an eye out for the phrase, “the seed of the woman is the hope of the earth” — that’s where you’ll find the answer.

77

78

Piece #4

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground” Genesis 2:7

DUST 79

80

WHO AM I?

It is popular to talk about the image of God. But in a sense, that is only one side of the coin. The other side comes to us in Genesis 2 when we read that man was made from the dust of the ground. This is a much more humbling truth, less likely to be pushed too hard in sermons that err more on the feel-good side of things. We must hold these truths in tension, however, because both convey something vital. Being made in the image of God reminds us that we are more than animals, that we are a unique part of God’s creation. Being made from the dust reminds us that we are nonetheless mere creatures. We are not gods. We are part of the stuff of creation. If we did not know this, we would not know the limits on our God-imaging. As we saw, God’s holiness and righteousness which we are called to reflect as His image-bearers includes elements of His character — attributes like purity, love, mercy, kindness, and so forth. But holiness also refers to God’s set-apartness, as One who has no equal and no copy. Consider some of His other attributes, like His omniscience, aseity (self-existence), infinity, omnipotence, and so forth. Theologians call these attributes “incommunicable,” which means

Piece #4 no part of them can be communicated to us in human virtues. Yes, He can make us more merciful, righteous, kind, pure, and good, and we will be all of those things when we are glorified with Christ in heaven. But there is no human virtue called “aseity” or “omnipotence” — and these things will never belong to us. They are God’s alone. We are not gods. We are mere creatures. We are finite. We are dependent. We are created. It was an awareness of this truth which led Abraham to say, … “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27), and Job to say, “Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?” (Job 10:9). You may think this is obvious, and it sort of is. But that does not mean it is irrelevant. Far from it — in our day, many people have a major problem with this truth. They are at war with it. In fact, our whole Western culture is at war with it. Among the many online videos I’ve created, I once did one as a response to those who have participated in this recent trend of “deconstructing” their faith. Or, as it is sometimes (incoherently) put, “deconverting.” I commissioned a research brief to analyze about a dozen cases of medium- to 81

82

WHO AM I?

high-profile individuals who had been down this road. Invariably, they made a public statement of it, so there was plenty of material to read through. I read the first case in their own words. Then the second. Then the third … By this stage, a trend was emerging. It was almost as though my researcher had given me the same story 12 times. They were all saying similar things, like a formula. If I could capture the biggest theme, I’d do it with one of the phrases which I kept reading. It’s this one: “If I was God …” See, each of these individuals had a problem (or several problems) with the way God has done things, and as they dwelt on these problems, they ultimately decided that they couldn’t believe in a God who did things in a way that made no sense to them. They mentioned things like why children suffer, why homosexuality is immoral, why doesn’t God just show up and reveal Himself, why … you get the picture. See, if they were God, they would do it differently. They had a problem with God being God and with them being creatures who can’t twist His arm to do it their way. When Jesus was on the Cross, there were very similarly minded skeptics looking on. They saw this One who claimed to be God dying in shame

Piece #4 and humiliation, and it made no sense to them that God should do such a thing. Surely God would demonstrate His power by escaping such a situation! So, they put Him to the test. “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matthew 27:40b). My response to that is I sure am glad they are not God! And that they don’t get to decide what God should do! Because if they did, the gospel would not exist. Salvation would not be possible. Do you see the arrogance of presuming to tell God what to do? Of even imagining, for one millisecond, that we know what it takes to run a world? To bring all things into submission to the counsel of His perfect will, to complete His perfect plan (Ephesians 1:11)? If I were God, every atom in the universe would collapse in a fraction of a millisecond, or less. I would be bewildered

83

84

by the ludicrous complexity of it all. I am a mere creature, of the dust. The very thought is utter folly at best — realistically, it is prideful sin.

WHO AM I?

Sadly, this sin is widespread in our day. We live in a time when men and women are raising themselves up, in pride, to rebel against their status as creatures of the dust. Incomprehensibly, we think we have enough knowledge and wisdom to do God’s job for Him. It sounds crazy, but it is unsurprising, given it was part of the original sin of Genesis 3, to

“…be like God…”

This means, of course, that part of being a creature is simply not knowing everything. We are often too slow to accept this. We strive to understand what cannot be fully understood humanly. Then, we doubt God. Then, we have a crisis of faith. Consider the age-old problem of evil — something these “deconstructors” were grappling with. Why did God make a world in which evil was possible? And where did evil come from, if God did not create it? There are lots of long attempts at answers, but the short answer is, I ultimately don’t know! How can I? I am a finite creature with utterly minute knowledge of the eternal realms that have to be entered to answer the question. When God made the world,

Piece #4 everything was “very good” and “perfect” — so, He did not author any kind of evil within it. But evil did enter the world from outside of it, through Satan’s possession of the serpent. How exactly did Satan fall? How is it that he was capable of evil if he was created by God? Where did this evil actually come from? What’s the backstory here? What is the nature and dynamic of the spiritual realm which explains it all? These are unknowable realities that transcend our own finite existence, into a realm with which we have very limited experience and understanding. Could it be that there are chapters in God’s works concerning the spiritual realm which are simply not revealed to us? Which relate to realities that we cannot grasp? It certainly seems like it. No scientist alive pretends that science will ever unlock all the secrets of the universe, and yet no scientist thinks that this means that science is worthless. How much more, then, should we expect that we could never know all that there is to know about the mind and plans of the Creator of the universe! 85

WHO AM I?

86

In short, there were always going to be things we do not know and are not capable of knowing. But we do know that the entire cosmos is moving unstoppably toward a set of circumstances in which every last atom of wickedness will be quashed, and the possibility of its return will not exist. And it is God Himself — not me, you, or those who suffer in this life — who has borne the lion’s share of the cost of this great work. He has more skin in the game than any human who has ever lived. As Genesis 3 tells us, the heel of the eternal God has been bruised for the cause of salvation. I once mused to a friend that we must not need to know, or God would have told us. His reply was enlightening. He said, “I suspect it’s more than that. I suspect it would not be good for us to know. We are dealing here with the very essence and depths of evil. We are better off for not knowing.” We know this even from our own experience — there are things we wouldn’t tell others for their own sake, lest it traumatize or corrupt them. Alas, I am a creature with a sinful nature — there are things I cannot know and things I should not know. But I do know this: no matter how far down I go in this fallen place, God Himself has been deeper down, for me, and for that coming day of

Piece #4 perfection which will never be undone. Therefore, I walk by faith, though I have not yet seen all things clearly. Part of being a creature of the dust is coming to terms with our finiteness. Our smallness. Our ignorance. Any question pertaining to the eternal perspective will be impossible to truly comprehend — whether it be the origin of evil, the nature of God, predestination, or other such themes. At the cultural level, another great rebellion against our dust nature is playing out everywhere. Let me put it this way: What is it that connects so many of the sins of our social political culture? So many of the false philosophies that are avalanching upon us? Consider abortion, transgenderism, queer sexuality, critical race theory, climate alarmism, feminism, family breakdown, fuzzies and furries, fur babies, childlessness, cultural Marxism, postmodernism, and all that stuff. The common thread is this: all of them seek to usurp God’s authority as Creator by redefining what He has already defined. All of them seek to do His job for Him, only better. All of them are marked by the sin of getting too big for our boots, forgetting we are mere creatures, 87

88

WHO AM I?

and seeking to become the Creator. Let’s break this down for a few of them. The pro-life debate is no longer marked by arguments about when human life should be protected in terms of age. It’s not so much about weeks of gestation or moments in time. Rather, it’s about when human life should be protected in terms of how we feel about it. If the life is wanted, then it must be saved. If the life is not wanted, then it is the mother’s right to destroy it. In other words, I decide whether this is a life that can live. Many say that we don’t know exactly when human life begins. This is scientifically incorrect, but even if it were true, then why don’t we respond cautiously in the face of uncertainty about something so serious? Even if we didn’t know, we would at least know that there is a strong chance we are destroying human life. Of course, that’s not how we think because it takes the power entirely out of our hands. As those who want to be as gods, we don’t like not being in control. Instead, we opt for a response that preserves our highest concern — it allows us to do as we please. But this is not my decision to make. This is a decision that the Creator of that life (and mine) has already

Piece #4 made, when He made human life in His image and animated it with His own breath. He then said in Genesis 9 that human life must ruthlessly be protected from other humans and from animals. God the Creator has defined the value and purpose of human life — it is not mine to redefine. He is the Creator; I am the creature. Transgenderism is advanced by a belief that the fingerprint of the Creator on my biology means nothing about how I ought to live and who I ought to be. It is the mindset that looks at my own sex and says, “So what?” What God has done is not the relevant issue — rather, what I feel trumps created reality itself. I can live as the opposite sex if I want to. I can change my body in a misguided attempt to affirm it if I want to. But the same problem confronts us in this matter — namely, my gender is something God already defined when He made the human race male and female and described the implications of our maleness and femaleness. The Creator has defined gender — it’s not mine to redefine. He is the Creator; I am the creature.

89

WHO AM I?

90

Sexuality is a creation issue too. Indeed, the Apostle Paul makes this very point in Romans 1. He observes that there is something so utterly obvious about the fact that males and females are sexually designed for each other. Apart from anything else, it’s an anatomical thing. Hence, homosexual acts are described as being “against nature” — that is, contrary to the way we are made in creation. They are also described as acts which demonstrate that we are worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator. This is because we have seen the work of the Creator in our bodies and once again said, “So what?” We have tried to define our own categories like “homosexual,” “bisexual,” “queer,” and others, which have no basis in the Creator’s blueprint and defy His plan. The Creator has defined sexuality — it’s not mine to redefine. He is the Creator; I am the creature. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is another example — sometimes called racial justice, or in my lexicon, I prefer to simply use the relatable term, “race politics.” The basic problem here is always the belief that there are different races

Piece #4 rather than one human race. In an odd twist, while CRT actually claims that race is a mere ideological construction, created to serve the desires of white capitalists, nonetheless, like Darwinism and all forms of racism, the doctrines of CRT highlight our differences rather than our sameness as humans. In fact, much of CRT declares that a colorblind emphasis on humanity is itself racist! CRT emphasizes dividing lines between the shared humanity of different people groups, based on their skin color, that cannot ultimately be resolved. The whiter man will always oppress the darker man because whiter humans and

91

92

WHO AM I?

darker humans are divided. Indeed, they are so divided that their “lived experiences” are not understandable to each other — as though they actually inhabit different truth paradigms which are mutually inaccessible. The preachers of these false ideas do not believe that these divisions are ultimately resolvable. Creation tells us that this is not true. We know from science that the genetic differences between people groups are utterly minute and that we all descended from two common ancestors — Adam and Eve. The Creator has also revealed this to us since the beginning of time in Genesis. Race was always His to define, as the Creator of every human, not ours to redefine. He is the Creator; I am the creature. When the Apostle Paul preached to the Greeks at Mars Hill (in Acts 17), he was aware of false beliefs about race that divide us. His problem was that he, a Jew, was claiming to know truth which applied to the Athenians, who were Greeks. What can a Jew know about Greeks? How can he understand their lived experience? What do these “races” have in common?

Piece #4 Paul eloquently argued that there is one God who made all humans from one man — meaning one race — so that He might redeem them through one gospel and one Savior. Isn’t that the greatest equality in the world? CRT specifically discourages what the gospel affirms and discourages what the Creator has defined and encouraged ever since the beginning. Climate alarmism is another example. It is the belief that the human race is responsible for the ultimate destiny of the planet — that things will end in a matter of years if we do not take control. This really springs from our forgetting that God is real and He has His own purpose for the earth which we cannot derail. While we may do things which are advantageous for the environment, the planet’s destiny is something which is well above our pay grade, including the continuation of natural cycles that God has created and on which 93

94

WHO AM I?

we depend: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). I cannot help but think there is a special kind of arrogance in thinking that the destiny of this world is ours to command. That was the arrogance of Babel and the arrogance of nations like Babylon, whose pride God judged. The Creator has set the natural cycles in place and has a plan for this world. He is the Creator; I am the creature. Feminism strikes at the heart of God’s creation mandate for women. As we shall see in more detail later, God made a woman with the commissioning word “helper.” Then, she is called “mother.” When she was created, she was created with a mission that was firstly toward her husband and secondly — through and with Him — toward the world. Whether or not a woman ultimately marries, she is by creation design a radically person-centric human with superior giftings in interpersonal discernment and concern. Many of her best gifts are for the benefit of others — indeed, she is equipped to be a strength, stay, and nurturer of people, and

Piece #4 God not only clearly declared as much but also called it “very good.” Feminism entered the picture with one defining word, as a banner unfurled for women — “independence.” It undermines her entirely. It totally redefines women when God had already defined them. This is among the most controversial and vexed struggles in our day as we reap the rewards of decades of forgetting — especially in the matter of gender — that God is the Creator and I am the creature. As we have already seen, the Creator’s definitions are also becoming steadily more blurred in regard to human and animal life. When we speak of animals as our babies and treat them accordingly on the one hand, and children earnestly identify as fuzzies and furries on the other, we humanize what is not human and animalize what is not animal. Childless young couples who call themselves “doggo mom” or “cat dad” are substituting real human relationships — which we are called to create — with counterfeits. God has already defined human life as supremely valu95

96

WHO AM I?

able and significant, and contrasted it clearly with animal life. How I feel about an animal cannot redefine this. He is the Creator; I am the creature. Postmodernism made it possible to say, “My truth.” It opened the way for ignoring “the” truth in favor of my subjective experience and feelings, as if they are more valid than reality itself. This is the ultimate rejection of the Creator’s authority, which quietly lies behind all of these examples. It is blasphemous. It says I can get too big for my boots and engage in ultimate arrogance by raising my viewpoint above His, by redefining what He has already defined. Indeed, the opening subject matter of this book is yet another example. My choice of language was intentional when I described the identity theory of life, founded on the self, in terms of creating ourselves rather than being created by God. Yes, we have forgotten that we are dust — creatures made by the Creator, living in His world under His authority.

Piece #4 I have only dealt with some of these contemporary social political issues, but the theme should be clear. We are in a struggle with the Creator Himself, to pry His scepter from His hands, that we may rule with it instead. We crave the status of the Creator. We want to redefine what He has already defined. We have forgotten that we are dust. At the Fall, God’s Word was questioned. In that case, the question was aimed at His determination of what was good and what was evil. Was eating the fruit really an evil act when it looked good for food and desirable to make one wise? When God’s Word became subject to man’s critique, everything fell apart. We decided to do the Creator’s job for Him by deciding what would pass as good or evil on our own terms. We knew better than Him. So, we tried to redefine what He had already defined, and in doing so, we committed high treason against an all-powerful God. It was a foolish effort, which not only led to misery but also was indeed sin. How little things have changed!

97

WHO AM I?

98

Between Genesis 1 and 2, therefore, we discover an important tension. On the one hand, we were made to bear God’s image. On the other hand, we were made from the dust of the ground. If we forget that we were made to bear God’s image, we will think of ourselves as animals, enslaved to the debasing effects of sin — lust, appetite, passion, degradation, instinct. If we forget that we were made from the dust of the ground, we will think of ourselves as “gods,” pumped up on the arrogating effects of sin — rebellion, self-determination, narcissism, power, and pride. You are not a god. You are made by God. You are not an animal. You are made for His glory.

Piece #4 Piece #4

Thus, we have a fourth piece of the identity puzzle, bringing us closer to answering the “Who am I?” question. The first piece was that we are made by God. The second piece is that we were made to bear His image. That means we were made to know Him and reflect His holiness and righteousness. The third was that human life is the most important kind of life because it is eternal. This fourth piece is that we are creatures, not gods, made from the dust.

99

100

Piece #5

DOMIN

“… and have dominion” Genesis 1:28

INION

101

WHO AM I?

102

Dominion doesn’t sound like a very nice word to modern readers. It carries thoughts of subjugation and power. In a world that is preoccupied with victimhood and oppression, I suspect we think of dominion like we think of something threatening. Whose dominion? Over whom and what? Hopefully not me! But is there a kind of dominion that is a good and godly thing? It seems as if there must be since God gave it to us in creation. But to work out what it is, we are going to have to use some more unpopular words like “rule,” “submission,” “authority,” “responsibility,” and “duty.” To be made with dominion means we were made to rule the world. That doesn’t mean we were all meant to be kings and warlords. Rather, it means we were made with enough authority to put a stamp on whichever corner or sphere of the world that God gives us. For many, the corner seems small. For others, it seems large. It may include simple things — say, a home and a family. It may include complex things — say, a nation. For Adam and Eve, it was a garden and their forthcoming family. But, between us all, as the human race, we were made with authority that enables us to put a stamp on the whole earth and rule over the entire creation.

Piece #5 It is important to notice, however, that this authority was not meant to be purely our own authority. It is an authority from God, given to us to be exercised within the boundaries of His will rather than our own self-will. It is both an authority and a submission at the same time. When I worked in a commercial law firm, we frequently encountered legal entities known as trusts. To take one example, there was an extremely rich man with an abundance of assets and wealth. He had taken some of his wealth and put it into a trust. Then he appointed someone called a trustee to look after it all for him. In doing so, he gave the trustee a lot of authority over his wealth, but at the same time, the 103

104

WHO AM I?

trustee had to ultimately submit to the rich man’s intentions. In fact, the law says that a trustee can only deal with that money “in the best interests” of the true owner. While the trustee has authority and appears to be in charge, he is ultimately accountable to a greater authority and an ultimate owner. The dominion that human beings have over the world is just like this. We are like trustees. We appear to have a lot of authority, and we appear to be in charge. But we are ultimately accountable to the God who owns all things and put us in charge to act according to His interests. In this way, it is ultimately His stamp that we must put on our corner of the world, not simply our own. We were made to help bring things into submission to His will. The best word to sum up this situation of authority and submission is “duty.” We have been given a duty to God, concerning the world in which we live. To think of our lives in terms of duties is very countercultural. Most people today think in terms of their rights — we make ourselves the ultimate authority, as if things are owed to us and we have a right to them. But God is the ultimate authority. Our actions ought to be in the light of what we

Piece #5 owe Him. He is the One with all the rights over us, our neighbors, and our world because He made all these things and has ultimate authority over them. Once God is in the picture, we may wonder whether we truly have any rights at all — rather, we are called to a life of duties. We are called to such a life not only in creation but also by Jesus Himself. He summed up our life in terms of duty to God and duty to neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39), and He said these things were duties because God commanded them — He exercised His right to do so, as the Creator. We may conclude that neither authority nor submission are bad things in themselves. They have a proper place and function in God’s world. Regarding authority, Scripture tells us that all authority is from God. A world without authority would be a world of anarchy, which — if you think about it — is usually worse than a world of deficient or corrupt authority. Authority even existed in paradise, at least in the dominion mandate, and through Adam’s 105

106

WHO AM I?

headship, which is demonstrated by the spiritual accountability to which God held him. Authority is only bad when it is disconnected from our submission to God. In such circumstances, we no longer act out of duty to God but out of self-interest or the interests of false gods. Scripture affirms and often prescribes authority structures for families, churches, and the civil government. Of course, there were no churches or civil governments in Eden, but Scripture teaches that these types of authority all have the same foundation — they are given by God to certain people, on trust. These authorities are real, and they are intended to be dutifully exercised in submission to God’s will, to bring His will into our world. Together, these authorities that God gives are a system of dominion by which humans are meant to rule the world and all creation for Him. This brings me to the matter of submission — another dirty word in the eyes of our culture. But did you know that submission is a strongly emphasized Christian virtue in Scripture? When we hear a word like “submission,” we often think of it in terms of being made to submit, as in subjugation or oppression. But that is not

Piece #5 what it means in this context. It is not referring to some outside force, but a personal and voluntary decision. Scripture speaks of submission to God (James 4:7), which is absolute. It also speaks of other categories of submission, such as citizen toward government (Romans 13:1), child toward parent (Ephesians 6:1), church member toward church leader (Hebrews 13:17), wife toward husband (Ephesians 5:24), servant toward master (perhaps employee toward employer) (Colossians 3:22), and a general attitude of submission toward each other (Ephesians 5:21). The precise content of these submissions can vary a little, and they are not absolute, like our submission to God. For example, a person must not sin out of deference to another person. Nonetheless, the categories are real, and they can be hard to honor. Indeed, they are often the cause of much controversy, and people come up with all sorts of excuses to avoid them. The truth is, however, that they are good things. They honor the kinds of authority that God has given to some, on trust. One of my favorite words in Scripture is “meek.” It is the virtue that Jesus ascribed to Himself — “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29; KJV). It is 107

108

WHO AM I?

also the affirmation given to Moses, who was called the meekest man on the earth (Numbers 12:3). To really understand its meaning, we need to go back to the origins of the word. It was used to describe the training of horses. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched a horse being broken in — the animal undergoes a remarkable transformation. It goes from wild and self-willed to an alignment with the will of another. In short, it submits. Once it has done so, it seems for all the world like it was made to be that way. It is purposeful, productive, strong, and one might even say beautiful. It also makes the one to whom it has submitted stronger, better, and more effective. Horses are remarkable animals, especially when they fulfill their purpose in this way. Human beings are made for meekness. Jesus modeled it in aligning His will to the will of the Father in perfect submission. We are called to follow in the same pattern. And we are called to volunteer our meekness to others, especially in the categories described for us in Scripture. What is the stamp you are leaving on your corner of the world? Whether it be small or large, known or unknown, there is a duty to God, to bring His

Piece #5

Thus, we have a fifth piece of the identity puzzle, bringing us closer to answering the “Who am I?” question. The first piece was that we are made by God. The second piece is that we were made to bear His image. That means we were made to know Him and reflect His holiness and righteousness. The third piece was that human life is the most important kind of life because it is eternal. The fourth piece was that we are creatures, not gods, made from the dust.

Piece #5

will into that place. Whether it be toward our children, a spouse, a home, a neighbor, a community, a church, a company, a government … humans always leave a mark. We carry an authority that makes it so. It is an authority that is good, to the extent that it is the result of true submission.

This fifth piece is that we are made with dominion, which is a duty to bring God’s will to God’s world.

109

110

Piece #6

GE

“male and female He created them” Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)

GENDER 111

112

WHO AM I?

When the issue of identity comes up, the issue of gender is never far behind. Classically, gender meant a male or a female,13 but the term has now been repurposed to describe something that is intentionally distinct from our sex. Contemporary thinking says sex is a question of our physical biology, while gender is a question of how I feel about myself or how society says I should feel and behave, given my sex (hence, the strong connection to identity). Over time, gender has become increasingly disconnected from sex. At one time, it was possible to be a “tomboy” without any real impact on one’s essential femaleness. Then, being a tomboy became a potential sign of maleness in a female body. More recently, the two questions — gender expression and biological sex — have been completely disconnected from each other. But even more recently, the question of gender has ceased to be only about masculine and feminine traits — it now describes a general sense of how I feel about my inner self, whatever that may arbitrarily include. That is why you now see gender categories described in terms of personalities, including personalities that are neither male nor female, or personalities of animals … there really is no limit.

Piece #6 But one thing is for certain, it all went wrong when we lost the connection between our biological blueprint and our personality. When we decided that sex may not have an impact on our gender. This was always likely to happen once we decided to begin with personality and how we feel, to make it supreme (i.e., humanism/seeing yourself as “god”). The result is that we seek to create ourselves based on how we feel about ourselves rather than submitting to God’s creation order, design, and power.

113

WHO AM I?

114

The basic problem we face today is not a denial of biological sex as a concept. Rather, the problem we face today is what I call the “so what?” problem. This problem arises when a person admits they are biologically male or female, but so what? Biology is one thing, but how I feel and what I want is another thing entirely. Why shouldn’t that matter? Why shouldn’t it be the most important thing? Why isn’t that my true gender? This thinking is everywhere. We often, naively, believe that making an argument from science, truth, or objective reality is persuasive. But for many in this generation, it is not persuasive. Points about truth and reality and biology are simply met with, “So what?” The truth is, how I feel and what I want are held as greater truths than truth itself. “My” truth trumps “the” truth. So, the question we really must contend with regarding gender is exactly the one being posed by this generation — God made us males and females … so what?

Piece #6 Well, in the beginning, God did not only create humans male and female, as a biological distinction. Genesis 1–3 goes to great lengths to tell us that this biological difference amounts to more than just the sum of our physical parts. It is not merely about muscle mass, body shape, genitals, and height. God made males and females with male and female brains, chemical balances, personalities, and abilities. His creative fingerprint on our biology is meant to tell us something more about ourselves and the shape of our lives. It is meant to tell us something about who we ought to be and how we ought to live. It is even meant to tell us how to shape the way we feel. Genesis 1–3 very clearly does not end with a blueprint for our biology and physical design. It goes much further. We are very carefully and deliberately given a blueprint for our gender expression as well. Indeed, it is one of the most dominant themes of the creation account and a major preoccupation of Genesis 2. There, we read how the man is made and commissioned, then the need for a woman is noted, and the woman is made and commissioned. Then, the two are commissioned together. Differences and similarities are articulated all along the way.

115

WHO AM I?

116

Whenever a discussion of the differences between men and women comes up, many people are very quick to stress that men and women are equal. But I want us to think critically about that. We need to ask, “Equal with respect to what?” Things can be equal with respect to one thing, but not another. A pair of roller skates and a sports car may be equally described as modes of transportation that use wheels, but that is where the equality stops. This illustrates a difference between two common uses of the word “equal.” It can mean that two things are exactly the same, or it can mean that two things are the same with respect to something particular. For example, in mathematics, whenever you see an equals (=) sign, you know that the thing on the left must be the same as the thing on the right, or the statement is a lie. Consider 2 = 2. This is true. Both sides of the equals sign are exactly the same.

Piece #6 On the other hand, when it is said that “in the eyes of the law, all people are equal,” that does not mean the law thinks everyone is actually the same. That would be absurd. Rather, it means they are the same with respect to a specific thing only — the law. They have equal, or the same, standing in our legal system. We do not have an old Indian caste system or Islamic sharia law where some people are considered legally inferior. Now, consider 2 = 7. This is obviously false. But I might argue with you by saying, “Are you telling me that 2 is a worse number than 7? Or that 7 is a less important number than 2? Or that one of these numbers is a less than perfect representation of a number? Surely all numbers are inherently equal?” But this is confusing the two common meanings of “equal” outlined above. When I say they are not equal, I am not making any of the objector’s claims. I am simply 117

118

WHO AM I?

saying they are not the same. You could repeat the exercise with colors. Red = Red is true. Red = Green is false. Yet, they are both colors. Neither color is better or worse in itself. Neither color is a less-than-perfect representation of a color. Now, here’s the rub. Man = Woman is false. They are not the same. Let’s be more precise in our thinking. The truth is that men and women are both human. With respect to anything that is true of us as humans, we are the same. We are equal. But there are things which are not true of us as humans. Some things are true of us as men. Other things are true of us as women. In these matters, we are not the same. We are not equal. The most glaringly obvious example of inequality, or difference, is childbirth. Men and women are not equal in their relationship to that truth. Only biological women give birth. This may seem irrelevant, but it is not. The notion that “men and woman are equal” — without qualification — has led to a culture-wide drive for absolute sameness between the sexes, which is both false and destructive. If men and women are equal, women

Piece #6 must be able to live without the concern of pregnancy. If men and women are equal, women must dominate the spheres that men dominate. If men and women are equal, men must be permitted to compete in women’s sports and enter women’s spaces. If men and women are equal, a better man is a more feminine man. If men and women are equal, it is offensive to speak of our differences, much less to say there ought to be differences. Men and women are not the same in all things. Rather, we are the same in respect of those things that make us human. This includes being made in the image and likeness of God. That means we are equally able to image God and please God and glorify God. We are equal in our set-apartness from other kinds of life, which were not God-breathed. I am getting ahead of the flow of this book in saying this, but it must be said: this also means that the gospel of Jesus Christ is equally for men and women, equally 119

120

WHO AM I?

accessible to them, equally effective in their lives and in the life to come. God shows no partiality or favoritism when it comes to saving human souls. He demonstrates His love in Jesus Christ to humans as humans — not as man or woman. This is the point being made in Galatians 3:26–29:

… for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. That Scripture can be twisted to claim that there are no differences at all between men and women, but that is not the point being made. God is saying there is no difference between men and women in the matter of salvation through Christ because salvation through Christ is for the human race, regardless of differences. Likewise, distinctions of ethnicity and class are irrelevant to the gospel, which comes to all on the same terms through the same Savior.

Piece #6 It is important, however, to note that man and woman were also equal in this: they need each other. Indeed, they were expressly made — by design and intent — for each other. They are quite literally a match made in heaven. They were made as two humans, capable of becoming “one flesh” through marriage — as one perfectly harmonious human unit in all things. At the time of this writing, the blockbuster movie Barbie was released. I have been grieving for the scores upon scores of young women and girls watching that movie, which so obviously teaches that a higher form of womanhood is available to them, to the extent that men are of no value to them, except as an occasionally interesting or useful accessory — like a keychain, a glittery pen, or a phone case. To quote Alesha Dixon’s song, “The Boy Does Nothing.” This is the devil’s lie. It is the latest in a long line of ideological and cultural attempts to push men and women apart. It was never meant to be thus.

121

WHO AM I?

122

One might say the same of the rising movement among young men for male separatism. “Men Going Their Own Way” (MGTOW) is one manifestation. These are young men who have decided that a genuine relationship is not worth the pain or the cost, mostly blaming feminism, female entitlement, and favoritism toward women in marital and domestic disputes. The incel (involuntarily celibate) phenomenon is another example. Some young men are self-identified incels, meaning they do not believe it is possible for them to attract women, whose standards are increasingly unrealistic and superficial because they overestimate their own desirability. None of these things, and the layers of problems that explain them, are God’s plan. Indeed, one of the first recorded things that God ever said was that it was “not good” for the man to be alone — even in paradise.

Piece #6 “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). Thus, God made woman and “ … brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:22). Because the man was not himself by himself. He had a need. A deficiency. A not-goodness in his aloneness. Thus, woman was made with such care and purpose that she perfectly complemented and completed him. She too was not made to be alone. The two became one.

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:23–24). In today’s melting pot of ideologies and social issues that are driving men and women apart, this seems like a romantic ideal that is ultimately unrealistic. And yet, this is what God made us for, so it must be possible, and it is right. How badly we need to reassess our understanding of the sexes to make right the very broken relationship between them!

123

WHO AM I?

124

To do that, we must consider the ways in which men and women are different. Again, it is a major preoccupation of Genesis 2, where the man is made and commissioned, then the need for a woman is noted, and the woman is made and commissioned. Then, the two are commissioned together. The differences articulated along the way carry deep meaning.

A Note About Differences In today’s world, much is made of personality differences and preferences that could be labeled masculine or feminine. For example, a girl who is a tomboy may be considered more masculine. A boy who appreciates fashion and ballet might be considered more feminine. The transgender movement has placed huge significance on these differences of personality and preference, claiming that they are indicative of a gender identity that does not align with a person’s

Piece #6 biological sex. Many children have been misled into believing that these things define their gender. It needs to be said that this is nonsense. These things are simply not significant to our essential maleness or femaleness. The differences between men and women that Scripture regards as important have little to do with mere personality or preference. We can dispense with such things and focus on the more substantive matters that the Bible addresses. The differences between men and women come to us in the form of virtues that are addressed to men as men, or women as women. Typically, they are virtues that have significance to both sexes but are nonetheless underlined and placed in bold type when addressed to one of the sexes. For example, if a woman is called “helper” — does that mean a man cannot help? No. It just means God put it in bold type when He said it about women because it is part of her fulfillment of her creation mandate. Also, as we shall see, a man is made for a special kind of responsibility. Does this mean women should not be responsible? Obviously not. But God has, for reasons we must discern, placed the issue of spiritual responsibility in bold type when He addresses men.

125

126

WHO AM I?

It is the same with vices. Men are especially warned about some vices — like the forbidden woman in Proverbs, idleness, and a failure to study. Does that mean women can’t be tempted by a forbidden man, be idle, or fail to study? Of course it doesn’t. But God, in His wisdom, wanted men to be on special alert regarding these things because they, by their nature, detract and disable a man from his creation mandate of godly leadership. There is a reason that these differences of emphasis are made. It is because there is something called masculinity, to which men are suited in their constitution and are called to pursue. There is also something called femininity, to which women are suited in their constitution and are called to pursue. All virtues are good for all people, but a man’s masculinity is designed to amplify the impact of some virtues in a way that femininity cannot. He must embrace this and act on it. Likewise, a woman’s femininity is designed to amplify the impact of some other virtues in a way that masculinity cannot. She must embrace this and act on it. Similarly, we can say that all vices are sinful for all people, but some vices particularly attack, blunt, and demean masculinity. Others have these

Piece #6 negative impacts particularly on femininity. That is why special warnings can be given to one sex or the other concerning some vices. Masculinity and femininity are mysterious in some ways and hard to define, but God has placed the potential for them within men and women respectively. They exist to empower and energize those virtues which interact with masculinity or femininity. In this way, they bring a good impact to the world, which is otherwise lost, where masculinity and femininity are weak, absent, or despised. The good news is that even though it can be elusive to define masculinity and femininity, the virtues which interact with them are not elusive. They are clearly spelled out in Scripture. So, we have been told which virtues to keep in bold type in our own lives if we are to develop our God-given masculinity or femininity and thereby bring an impact to God’s world, which is consistent with His plan since creation. When we begin to answer the gender question at the proper place, in Genesis, we are immediately presented with certain of those qualities that God intended a man to amplify, so we may discern that he has been created with a masculinity that is 127

128

WHO AM I?

designed to achieve it. Likewise, we are presented with certain qualities that a woman is intended to amplify, and we know that she has been created with a femininity that is designed to do just that. It is important to note that the qualities presented in Genesis are not the last word on men and women. In other words, it isn’t possible to say they are meant to act as strict limits on us. But they are the first word, meaning they are foundational. More than that, they are the best word, meaning they must be held up as supremely valuable. We know they are the best words because God called them “very good.” He made women with femininity, to give certain good things their power in the world and said, “Very good.” Likewise, He made men with masculinity, to give other good things their power in the world and said, “Very good.” It is no wonder, therefore, that the blueprint given here in Genesis is upheld throughout Scripture as supremely valuable. These things are always prioritized for men and women because God meant what He said in the beginning. When we see that these things are indeed good, we learn to love them. That means we will value them, pursuing them for ourselves, promoting

Piece #6 them at large, and always honoring them in others. We do not have to be married to do this. It is true, of course, that masculinity and femininity are particularly evident and impactful in marriage, but we can value them regardless of our life circumstances. This will lead us to develop them in ourselves to the extent that is possible and promote them at large in many contexts. I think I have skirted around what these masculine and feminine virtues are for long enough. Let me articulate them.

What Is a Man? When the man is made first, he is commissioned with two words which describe His God-given purpose as a man. First, he is commissioned to “work.” Second, he is commissioned to “keep.” Both charges were given to him in relation to “the garden” — which speaks of a focus toward the world of things around him. He was a man on a mission, with a sphere of responsibility. The Hebrew word translated “work” is abad. It carries both the notions of laboring and serving. 129

130

WHO AM I?

So, the man is called to work in his world, not for himself or for the sake of work itself, but in service to something beyond himself. The Hebrew word translated “keep” is shamar. It carries the notions of guarding, preserving, and saving. So, the man is called to take responsibility for the protection and prosperity of the place where God has put him. Men are called to industry. They need to work in the world. Through such activity, they can serve a purpose beyond themselves. One such purpose is providing for others, including family. Another is the common good, building parts of culture and society. Another is the kingdom of God. I often ask groups of young men, therefore, “What is your work? What is your mission?” It is vital that a young man has a sense of purpose in life, a sense of direction, and somewhere he is going. He must be developing this part of himself so that he can advance a purpose that is beyond himself. Many young men struggle in this area. They change majors, drop out of degrees,

Piece #6 change jobs, generally don’t finish what they start, and struggle to lock onto a long-term, serious endeavor. Imprudently, too many older folks dismiss this as “youth” — when it is actually a crucial period in which they set themselves up for a fruitful life. Of course, you may be stuck in something you don’t really enjoy, but that in itself is not reason to stop. Unless you have a clear, alternative pathway which is going somewhere definite, you should think carefully before changing things. The truth is, whatever you do in life, it will have its disappointments and imperfections, and if you are meant to change, God will bring an alternative to you. As a teenager, I had these tendencies. I wanted to quit my science degree. I wanted to change my job. I found a lot of things hard or unsatisfying and didn’t want to focus on them. I questioned whether high grades were really worth the effort.

131

WHO AM I?

132

My father, being a wise man, always pressed me in these matters. I remember his constant advice, “You must succeed at something,” and “You must have achievements,” and “Nothing you do will be wasted.” He helped me stay the course and apply myself, to develop the skills I needed to be a man on a mission beyond myself, not meandering about without direction. He also made sure that I gained the confidence that comes with achievements, not the doubt that accompanies a sense of failure. I am grateful that I was pushed in this regard. Another point to note, briefly, is that the mission, or the work, is not an end in itself. Some men struggle with idleness, but others struggle as workaholics. The latter can be just as wrong. It is not ultimately about the work. It is ultimately about the will of the One for whom we work, and His will tends to require more from us than just work. Men who

Piece #6 work at the expense of time with their families, for example, are forgetting this point. Responsibility is the next part of the picture. Adam was made responsible. Have you ever wondered why Adam bears the stigma, through all Scripture and all history, for the Fall? This, despite the fact that Eve fell first? Why are we told that “in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22) rather than “in Eve all die”? Is she not the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20)? Didn’t she eat first? Didn’t the serpent approach her? Didn’t she convince her husband to follow (Genesis 3:17)? Yet, when God seeks to confront the matter, whom does He call? The man!

“The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ ” (Genesis 3:9). The Hebrew “you” is singular in this verse. So, whom does He address the matter to? The man! All three of the bad actors — Adam, Eve, and the serpent — bear consequences for what happened in Eden, but overall responsibility is accounted to the man. He was held responsible for what happened in the sphere of his responsibility, which was Eden. 133

WHO AM I?

134

There is nothing more pathetic than a man who won’t take responsibility. I think this is one reason why the incel and MGTOW movements attract such disdain. These are men who can appear to be playing the victim. They blame women. They refuse to get on with doing the right thing — continuing forward, despite the obstacles, in the face of adversity. They decline to do the manly thing — pressing into the mission and taking responsibility even when it’s hard. A real man takes the slings and arrows, bears the disappointments, stands strong in adversity, and just does what is right — even when it blows up in his face. There is nothing new in the victim mentality, though. Adam made excuses by pointing at the behavior of the woman. On one level, that seems reasonable. But God was having nothing of it. He had made man to be responsible, so he was held responsible — no excuses.

Piece #6 Men are made for special responsibility in certain spheres into which God has placed them. For many men, their responsibility will look a lot like Adam’s — a family and a garden. Other men may have more. Or, for others, it may be different. But we must never forget that while we are made for these responsibilities, they are nonetheless fearful things. To be held accountable to them by the living God is a sobering reality. We are not given them for ourselves. They do not exist for our power, control, aggrandizement, ego, self-fulfillment, or prominence. They exist so that we can give them back to God in fear, grateful He made us men on a mission, but burdened by the weight of that mission. We are men, not merely responsible, but submitted to the One who holds us responsible. To drive the seriousness of this point home, observe just one example, from Ephesians 5 — the matter of marriage. The condition of a man’s wife on judgment day will be addressed to him by the great Judge Himself. That is not to say a man is responsible for the entirety of his wife’s sanctification — that would deny her own agency and responsibility — but it is to say that he is not unresponsible for it. His spiritual leadership (or lack thereof) will impact his family in ways for which he is accountable. 135

136

WHO AM I?

I once heard a theologian challenged on radio: “Do you really believe that wives should submit to their husbands, like it says in the book of Ephesians?” He replied, “Yes. I also believe that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, which is in the very next verse. The question I have is, whose job is harder?” Of course, the answer is not clear. Both are hard, but they are right, and they are glorious. A young man once asked me how he could practice taking responsibility. I asked him if he often hung out with groups of friends, and he said he did. I asked if there were often situations where the group couldn’t decide what to do or where to eat. He said there were. I suggested that the next time that happens, he should suggest a place, lead the way, be the first to speak to staff and ask for a table, then make sure everyone is seated and that he takes the worst seat. I then suggested that about halfway through the meal, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, and pay for everyone’s meal. At that point, he gasped at the thought. The moral of

Piece #6 the story? Responsibility is costly. It’s not about you. It takes practice. But when you start in such little things, it will become second nature to you — and larger responsibilities will gravitate toward you. He who is faithful over little will be set over much (Matthew 25:23; Luke 16:10). But what is the essential nature of our responsibility? When we think of saving and defending a family and a garden — to use but one example — we may wonder whether it’s all a little old fashioned. Are there marauding tribes threatening to take the women and children? Must we subdue wild beasts to feed the village? Is there a war on? Do we really need many strong men in a day of modern conveniences and relative peace? A man with smooth hands, disappointing abs, an office job, and a sharp brain might wonder how manly he really is. But we must pause for a moment and consider the essential nature of Adam’s responsibility, lest we go astray here. Adam’s responsibility was firstly spiritual. His ultimate accountability was spiritual. His legacy was spiritual. Actually, the responsibilities he had, at their root, could be summarized in this way: He was responsible to ensure that the Word 137

WHO AM I?

138

of God was applied in his sphere of responsibility. His failure was a failure to lead in that respect. He allowed God’s Word to be questioned and undermined. He subjected it to critique. He disobeyed it. He knew Eve disobeyed too. He failed to resist these things. But this is the true battle, in every society, every generation, and every era. It is the battle of good versus evil, truth versus lies, and God versus Satan. It is a battle for the souls of men, women, and children. It is a fight to the death against evil. It is an onward march of righteousness. It is the most challenging battle into which anyone can be enlisted. It requires unimaginable strength of character, knowledge of truth, hard work, and masculinity. Many a muscle man has shrunk from the weight of God’s great commission to spiritual leadership and responsibility. It is truly formidable, yet God has

Piece #6 equipped men for such a fight, and the call goes out in every generation for them to take up arms in submission to Christ, to advance His cause. I have often been disappointed in recent years by the tendency for men to abdicate spiritual leadership in their homes. So often, they are hard workers in material things, furnishing their family with material blessings. This is good, of course. But they are not hard workers in matters spiritual. They are not studying, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). They are not the major conduit of spiritual input into their families. They are not nurturing the faith of their wives and children. They are not looked up to within the home for their godliness. Rather, I encounter many women who are compensating for their husbands in this area. They should not have to do this. Indeed, their husbands are giving them an uphill battle — it will always be a struggle for them to fully compensate for the failure of male responsibility in this area. We all know that there are feminine qualities that men struggle to replicate — some of those will become clear in the next section — but there are also masculine qualities which women struggle to replicate. The spiritual effect of a man on his sphere 139

140

WHO AM I?

is one such quality. For good or for evil, he will have an impact at large, on his times, that is essentially male. There is no getting around this truth. The witness of Scripture is clear — whether prophets, priests, patriarchs, apostles, pastors — the biblical blueprint for such things is overwhelmingly male. God designed it so, ever since Adam. Indeed, we read in Isaiah 3 that the spiritual failure of men is a judgment of God on a society. I am troubled about this possibility in our day. Now, consider the devastating effects of young men wasting away hours, spiraling in the endless YouTubeTM algorithm, or playing video games, “just chilling,” getting hooked on pornography, partying and chasing shallow pursuits … These are the hours, the days, and the weeks he is supposed to be applying to study the Word. They are the window of opportunity he is supposed to be using for industry — for growth in his aptitude for worthy work, to shoulder more responsibility and serve his world. It is no wonder that the New Testament warns a young man about idleness.

Piece #6 Men — redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16)!

A Verse for Men I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14) There is a logic to this verse. Each line is almost a precondition to the one before it. The man who is truly strong where it counts is one in whom the Word of God abides and who has overcome the evil one. Together, these qualities demonstrate that a man knows God. To overcome the evil one is first to put sin to death in our own lives. Unresolved sinful behaviors erode at the foundation of a man’s masculinity. If he is called to spiritual responsibility, how can he acquit that responsibility when he is compromised? This is hypocrisy. Indeed, the fruit of persistent, unresolved sin in a man’s life is that it awakens the great accuser (Revelation 12:10) himself, Satan, whose voice will say, “Hypocrite!” every time he thinks of

141

142

WHO AM I?

stepping up. This is the catastrophic impact of pornography in this generation. It leaves a man stagnant, unable to spiritually advance, accused of his own spiritual inadequacy. Men — kill sin, or it will kill your masculinity. This is why the Apostle Paul instructs Timothy to “flee … youthful lusts” and “call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22; NKJV). This also means that we resist the evil one’s baleful and horrible influence on our spheres of responsibility and the world at large. We protect our families, our churches, our communities, and our neighbors from evil. We wisely discern good from evil, and we take active steps to promote the one and save people from the other. We proclaim truth and name lies. We step up to the plate in a world that lies in the grip of the evil (1 John 5:19) one, under the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). Someone needs to be the first line of defense against him. That should be the men. Of course, none of this is usually easy. It requires a solid knowledge of good and evil, and wisdom concerning what exactly

Piece #6 to do about it in given situations. Where can we get such wisdom? How can we rightly discern these things? Scripture gives us the answer: it comes from the Word of God. A real man studies the Scriptures. He learns the Scriptures. He discusses the Scriptures with others. He applies the Scriptures as part of his masculine responsibility. He commits his time and his life to a knowledge of the truth. Indeed, he is so steeped in his reading and application of the Word of God that it “abides in him.” It is present in his mind and demonstrated in his actions. He is thoroughly steeped in it. I have spoken widely to groups of young people and at youth events. After some time, it occurred to me that I was noticing a pattern. Young women tended to listen with a notebook and pen in hand, writing notes. Young men tended to lean back in their chairs, perhaps with arms folded, and simply listen. I have taken to actively calling this out when I see it. The command to a young man in Timothy is to “study” (2 Timothy 2:15; KJV) — one cannot properly study by only using the ears. Study requires reflection, writing, and consideration of the content. Often, it also involves verbalizing it. Of course, this means it requires discipline — something young men are repeatedly instructed to pursue in 143

144

WHO AM I?

the New Testament. We need a great resurgence of men who are true students of the Word of God. What is the outcome of all this? Our verse tells us: strength. He is spiritually strong, which is the same as saying he is strong where it counts most to his manhood. He is the first line of defense against the evil one. He is marked by a knowledge of the Word and a willingness to see it applied. He actively takes responsibility in these things. And his own sanctification is advancing — not stagnating with unresolved sin. Of course, it also makes him a man who is close to God and knows God, which is the high calling of every human being made in His image, as we have seen. It is possible that a man might try to do these things without godliness. He may try to be a bastion of righteousness, a Bible guru, and a strong man for himself. Such a man will fail. It is likely that he will also cause damage because he is acting for himself, rather than in submission to God. Never forget that responsibility is never rightly exercised unless it is in submission to God.

What Is a Woman? When the woman is made second, she is commis-

Piece #6 sioned with a single word which describes her God-given purpose as a woman. She is commissioned as “helper.” This charge is given to her in relation to “the man” — which speaks of a focus toward persons. Then, in the following chapter, she is described as “mother.” The Hebrew word translated “helper” is ayzer. It means to succor, which is an antiquated but very good word. Its shades of meaning are to render strength, enablement, support, and aid. It may contain a suggestion of an alliance. In a world where power and self-advancement are highly coveted, this strikes some people as demeaning. But God describes Himself with the same word in other parts of Scripture, so He clearly does not agree. His value system is not the same as ours. The woman was at her best when making another person their best. That was her commission. And it spills over into her motherhood too. Only women are mothers, and this is a good and beautiful thing indeed — a commission from God, for which she is designed biologically, psychologically, and spiritually. 145

146

WHO AM I?

When God called the woman a helper, to succor another, He told us something about her femininity. It is something that matches with the findings of modern psychology. Namely, women tend to have special abilities in the interpersonal realm. The phrase “a woman’s intuition” has a basis in reality. Their interpersonal antennas tend to be finely tuned. Women are far more interested in matters of relationship and personality, as opposed to bricks, mortar, electronics, and such like. It’s a distinction between people and things. Or to turn Genesis 2 into metaphor, a woman was made facing a person, while a man was made facing a garden. A person orientation versus a world orientation. It is why novels written for women tend to take on a Jane Austen hue — tales with relationships at the center. Mr. Darcy likes her. She doesn’t like him. Suddenly, she likes him. But is it too late? Now,

Piece #6 someone else likes him. But all’s well in the end because they like each other again … and they lived happily ever after. A man’s novel tends to be far more missional — a soldier, a detective, an adventurer, or a superhero must achieve the mission against the odds. If a woman comes into the story, then all the better — he can win her because he’s a man on a mission, then she can help him finish the mission! These instincts align with our creation blueprints. It is why women have faculties that understand people in a way that sees past the words they may speak. They can anticipate needs and meet them. They can discern deficiencies and intercede for them. They can see anxieties and comfort them. They can be an interpersonal strength-giving, life-giving, and nurture-giving tour de force. They can be mothers, they can be wives, and they can find many other ways to succor a whole world of people. It is hard to ignore the fact that here, great value is being placed on things that our world does not value. It values grasping power, but it does not value the giving of power. It values being strong, but it does not value the giving of strength. It values the 147

148

WHO AM I?

exaltation of self, but it does not value the giving of self to another. It values being first, but it does not value being second. None of these things normally bring a woman worldly notoriety. They don’t put her in the limelight. They don’t make her an independent, self-empowered, corporate climbing, feminist wonder woman who needs nothing and serves nothing greater than herself. This work is very often humble, quiet, unseen, unrecognized, and selfless. It is also risky. When you commit to people like this, you could get burned. It is work that may not get a woman the world … but it will get her heaven. We are often inclined to forget that our lives are lived for an audience of one and the accolades of one. What He values must be what we value. Once I preached a sermon in which I mentioned some of the darkest eras in redemptive history. I cited the days of the judges, the slavery of the Jews in Egypt, the Babylonian exile, and the 400 years of silence in the intertestamental period. Afterward, a young woman asked me, “How do these kinds of dark ages end?” I answered, “Because of a mother.” Think about it. Hannah prayed for Samuel, who ended the days of the judges. Jochebed hid her

Piece #6 child in the bulrushes, and Moses ended the days of slavery. Mary was visited by an angel, and God finally spoke as He had never spoken before through His Son. God has endorsed motherhood time and again. It is the single most significant ministry of women in Scripture. The first endorsement came very early in Scripture, in Genesis 3:15. There, God announced that Satan’s head would be crushed through the child of a woman. That child would end the dark night of sin and death that descended on the world at the Fall and destroy the one through whom that night came. God placed humble, selfless, often despised motherhood at the very center of His grand plan of salvation for the cosmos. In fact, it was the first thing He ever said about it! It was the protoevangelium (first gospel). Ever since the promise of Genesis 3:15, Satan has hated mothers and children. The prospect that the next child born could be his mortal foe plagued him and drove him to provoke demented 149

WHO AM I?

150

evil. He feared Hannah’s child, and her womb was closed. He greatly feared Jochebed’s child, so he demonized Pharaoh into making a paranoid order to kill all the Hebrew boys. Certainly, he knew things were fearful when an angel visited Mary. That is why Herod initiated the massacre of the innocents, from which Jesus was delivered by more angelic intervention. Satan knows — because he heard it from the mouth of God Himself — that the seed of the woman is the hope of the earth. Not every child is Jesus, but every child could be his next powerful enemy, standing against wickedness and promoting salvation in a new generation. In our era, we see such varied and powerful attacks on mothers and children that it’s hard to keep up. The foulest violence is anti-woman and anti-child. We see this in acts of terrorism. During the 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, babies were beheaded and pregnant women butchered. Special violence was reserved for them.

Piece #6 Meanwhile, serious problems of domestic violence simmer under the surface in Western societies, too often brutalizing our women and children. But there are more subtle attacks too. How many ideologies are at large in the West today which disconnect women from motherhood? Which deprive children of the care they need? There are so many. Being a mother is not a top priority for many women. It is considered a form of oppression, or a means by which a woman is deprived of her true empowerment, or too great a sacrifice, or an inferior choice compared to work or some other pursuit. Women are encouraged to serve male bosses in the workplace before they serve families. They are prompted to sexual promiscuity in the name of liberation from dependency on men, but they only fulfill the wildest dreams of evil men and subject themselves to objectification. Scores of millennial women have woken up in their 30s, from what they thought was feministic utopia while in their 20s, only to find they’ve lived a youth of mistaken priorities which has left them with lasting consequences. The best things in life were rejected. Now, it’s hard to find them.

151

152

WHO AM I?

But even in the Christian context, how many Christian women’s conferences preach and promote notions like “helper” and “mother” in their core messaging? Not enough. Need I mention the deception that has overtaken many women to believe that sacrificing your child in abortion is somehow a good decision? The multi-pronged attack on what God has declared greatest about women is bewildering. Perhaps the saddest example I have seen in recent history are the young women having their breasts removed in the name of “gender affirmation.” It is purely satanic. The physiological reminder of her special power to nurture and sustain, and be a mother, is quite literally cut off. Satan is alive and well in our day, launching an all-out, deranged assault on femininity from every angle. Could it be that his paranoia has now been amplified by a desire for revenge? Because Jesus did, in fact, crush his head. His doom is sure. What an insult it must have been to the prince of angels, mighty in power, swollen with pride, to be undone by a plan which involved a young, diminutive, poor, powerless Jewish woman. A mother.

Piece #6 It may be important to add a comment for those women who are not mothers or wives. I have been asked many times, “What can a woman in that circumstance do?” The short answer is, almost anything. There are some things which might be so at odds with femininity itself that they are ill-advised — for example, some police forces, active military, an MMA fighter, or (depending on your reading of the Scriptures) a pastor. But God places us all in particular circumstances and brings various opportunities our way. A woman should pursue those things and be busy. But she should not forget her femininity. She should not forget those virtues which her femininity is designed to amplify in the world. It would be only right for her to reflect on what opportunities she might take to develop her femininity or be part of the good impact that femininity is supposed to have on the world in God’s design. Hospitality, babysitting, taking a special interest in children and their well-being, various forms of care and support for all types of people, visiting widows, children’s ministry … there are many examples. As we have 153

154

already seen, these things are not the hard limits of what a woman can do, but they align neatly with those virtues God called “very good” and amplified their impact on the world through femininity.

WHO AM I?

A Verse for Women Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. (1 Peter 3:3–4) If God describes something as very precious in His sight, it demands our serious attention. We have that approval here, in this verse. That is why I chose it. It’s a verse which asserts that a woman’s true and primary (and eternal) beauty is her person rather than her appearance. That person is marked by virtues called “gentle” or meek, and “quiet.” I once delivered a talk aimed at young men. It spoke of the scriptural virtues directed toward men, such as spiritual responsibility and work done for others. I noted that one of the main sins about which young men are warned in the Bible is idleness because it

Piece #6 severely blunts masculinity. YouTubeTM, video games, parties, chilling out, and other time-wasting pursuits — they absorb the time which young men are meant to spend in study and industry. Time that could be making men out of them rather than idle boys. Afterward, a young woman approached me and asked, “If idleness is currently such a besetting sin of men which undermines their masculinity, what is today’s besetting sin of women that undermines their femininity?” I replied, “I don’t know if it’s top of the list — I’d have to think about it some more — but the one which immediately springs into my mind is ‘control.’ ” If meekness is anything at all, it is the preparedness to relinquish control. As we have seen earlier, that is the meaning of meekness in the Christian life — to align with the will of Christ in submission to Him and, in doing so, to amplify Him and glorify Him. Jesus Himself modeled this, stating that He was “meek and lowly in heart”(KJV) in Matthew 11:29. Indeed, His voluntary submission to 155

156

WHO AM I?

the Father was among the qualities about Himself that He spoke of the most. Women are called to do a hard thing in marriage — to model this character of Jesus toward their husband (Ephesians 5:22–24). Of all the times the New Testament addresses women as a group, it is most frequently addressing them concerning this subject. Now, I hasten to add that a wife’s role is certainly not harder than the husband’s role, which is to love His wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25–33). It turns out marriage is an intimidating thing to do, but also one which sanctifies us to be more like the Lord Jesus and less like sinners in very profound ways. But just as men shy from true responsibility, women shy from true meekness. Indeed, the number of times these Scriptures have been interpreted to say the opposite of what they clearly say is impressive! Remember, the Genesis blueprint for women — that is, the first and best thing ever said about women

Piece #6 — arrived in the word “helper.” So, Scripture is consistent from start to finish. It follows that there is a strong connection between meekness and femininity, and it is beautiful — beautiful because God has called it beautiful and ordered the universe accordingly. While men might prefer to exercise illegitimate control through brutishness, force, and cruelty, women tend to use different methods. They play games. They manipulate circumstances. They might even get their girlfriends involved to “make” things happen or drop ideas, seeds, and prompts through third parties. Their minds are always storyboarding, working out what people are thinking, how they’re feeling, and preempting next moves. They operate in the realm of the emotional, subjective, and interpersonal. To use such powers of discernment to manipulate circumstances and control outcomes is ultimately an abuse of those feminine giftings. They were given to be exercised selflessly and meekly, without the taint of self-will and premeditated outcomes. There is a difference between godly help and controlling “femcraft.”

157

158

WHO AM I?

Just consider Christ — “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). It was not about Him or what He thought was best. He was prepared to relinquish control. He was prepared to align with the Father’s will. He was meek. This is a model of what meekness means, wherever it is required. Selfishness is not the only reason meekness is such a challenge. It is also a challenge because of anxiety. Anxiety is a real and growing problem in our day, and it can drive women to become controlling. When one needs everything to be “just so” and perfectly idyllic because one is struggling to cope with anxiety, it is likely that her feminine giftings will be similarly abused. Whether or not she set out to be a control freak, she risks becoming one. Thankfully, anxiety is treatable — medically and spiritually. On the spiritual front, Jesus commanded us, “Do not be anxious” (see Matthew 6:25–34). This seems immense, but if

Piece #6 He said it, it must be possible. No doubt it is complicated, and most of us are learning one day at a time, but the life of faith — that is, the life of trusting God daily — is a life that is being freed from anxiety because He is trustworthy and He is in control for our good. This is a necessary part of our sanctification. Wherever meekness is commanded in the Christian life, it is an act of faith. If we give up control, we can only trust God for the outcome. That means we need not fear or be anxious because we are in the best of hands. That does not mean it isn’t risky — it is! It is also hard. And it may not be properly appreciated. But it draws us to prayer and faith, and to Christ who sees our hearts when others do not, and is in daily command of all things. As I write this, I sense that it is a tough word, but it is the teaching of the whole Bible, and it is comprehensively challenged by decades of feministic influence. The Scripture we are considering in this section doesn’t dwell on the hardness of it, however — it dwells on the beauty of it. Beauty always leaves a lasting impression, and true beauty (as opposed to mere glamor) always glorifies and elevates. Such a woman will leave an impression, 159

160

WHO AM I?

and it will be a holy impression that lasts. She will also glorify and elevate all that she touches and all whom she blesses. The second virtue which this Scripture elevates has been covered implicitly within the things already said about meekness because it’s interwoven with meekness. In one sense, it is a result and outcome of meekness. It is translated “quiet,” but it’s not quietness in the sense of not speaking or of speaking softly. It’s quietness in the sense of peaceableness — think of the old saying, “Peace and quiet.” Indeed, the same Greek word is used in one other place in Scripture, and it is translated there as “peaceable.” A woman marked by meekness is a woman at peace. The two go together. She is not acting anxiously. She is not manipulating. She is not striving for control. She is content with God’s ultimate and sovereign control and her place in His grand plan. If she is at peace, it follows that she is someone who brings peace. She does not bring troubled waters, disturbance, and conflict. She doesn’t create agitation and unrest. She brings help, imperishable beauty, and peace.

Piece #6 Speaking of beauty, that is the third and final element of this Scripture. Notice that it sets up a contest between the external and the internal — the outward appearance and the inner person. This contest is noted elsewhere in Scripture. For example, when the Lord speaks to Samuel concerning his quest to find a king: “The Lord sees

not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”

(1 Samuel 16:7b). God rejects the tall and handsome son of Jesse, preferring David instead. This is not because God has a problem with good-looking people but because — as is often the case — the outward appearance was not matched with inner character. The reality is that beauty will get you anything this world has to offer. A very beautiful woman has power, influence, 161

162

WHO AM I?

and opportunities that nobody else has. She receives favor, honor, and advantage. It is possible for such a gift to be used powerfully by God. Indeed, it was key to Esther’s participation in His grand plan. As an exceedingly beautiful woman, she not only was chosen to enter the king’s household but was also able to boldly appeal to him and remain in his favor. Yes, God was in it all, but He always uses the right person, and Esther’s beauty is noted because it was part of what fitted her to be that right person. So, it is not wrong to be beautiful in appearance — it’s a good thing. God is the author of beauty, and He can use it in His purposes. Nor is it wrong to dress beautifully, stay in shape, or otherwise present oneself well where it’s consistent with relevant virtues like modesty. But the great danger with beauty is that it gives you the world. When one has the world, one does not feel in need of much. Worldly satisfaction quenches our spiritual hunger. Affirmation and favor shape us profoundly

Piece #6 to believe that we really are in need of nothing. This was the problem the church at Laodicea had in relation to wealth — they believed that they “needed nothing” (Revelation 3) because they indeed had so much … but Jesus warned they did not realize they were “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). In other words, they were unaware of their spiritual poverty because they were deceived by all this life had given them. Such a situation is a grave threat to our character, and as such, a threat to our eternal wealth. Meekness will not get you the world. Peaceableness will not get you the world. It won’t make you famous. It won’t put you in charge. It won’t bring notoriety. It isn’t glamorous. Bluntly, the world despises it. But

163

164

WHO AM I?

this world is passing away. These things it offers us are not eternal. How foolish it would be to pursue them at cost to that which is “imperishable” (1 Peter 3:4). How foolish it would be to refuse to see the beauty of what God has called beautiful and refuse to see the value of what God has called precious. Those who do may not get what the world thinks is important, but they will get that which is truly important in heaven.

Piece #6

Thus, we have a sixth piece of the identity puzzle, bringing us closer to answering the “Who am I?” question. The first piece was that we are made by God. The second piece is that we were made to bear His image. That means we were made to know Him and reflect His holiness and righteousness. The third piece was that human life is the most important kind of life because it is eternal. The fourth piece was that we are creatures, not gods, made from the dust. The fifth piece was that we are made with dominion, which is a duty to bring God’s will to God’s world.

Piece #6

To the extent that Christ modeled meekness, that is abundantly true of Him. Whatever meekness we display in life — including feminine meekness — will do a work of eternal value.

This sixth piece is that we were made to live up to our design as a man or a woman.

165

166

Piece #7

FALL

LLEN “Adam… fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image” Genesis 5:3

167

168

WHO AM I?

Now, let’s finally talk about the elephant in the room. Because there is one. See, the truth is, someone could be excused for reading these blueprints in Genesis — these pieces of the identity puzzle — and concluding that they are entirely false. Well, maybe not entirely false … they ring true in some ways … but they can’t be entirely accurate when we compare them with the way the world is today. If people were made by God, then why are they seeking to make themselves? That seems contrary to their nature. If they were made in His image, then why are they so impure and corrupt, and why do they do the wrong things? There’s not a lot of holiness and righteousness going around at the moment. Not to mention, people are debating whether God even exists, so they can’t know Him very well, yet they were made knowing Him? If human life is superior to animal life, then why are people so often content to behave like animals? If we are creatures of the dust, then why are

Piece #7 we becoming so arrogant and prideful? If man and woman are made perfectly for each other, then why are they at war with each other in more ways than we can count? Why do they so frequently get hurt when they try to live together? And why are men refusing to be men, and women refusing to be women, and getting so angry about it? And if we were made to rule the world responsibly, God’s way, then why are all the authority structures of the world so rife with corruption and self-interest? Actually, these are all extremely good questions that demand an answer. It is not Christian to be hopeless romantics, idealists, and to hype everything up. We are to face the stark realities of our world and give an answer. And there are answers because there is truth. The first thing to note is that the first three chapters of Genesis are not false. It’s just that they are preliminary. There is more to be discovered. These are not the last pieces of the puzzle. When we read these chapters, we see truth, but we don’t see the whole truth. Actually, when I read Genesis 1, 2, and 3 I find myself having a strange experience as I deal with the tension that this sounds real and familiar, but also unreal and distant.

169

170

WHO AM I?

You may have experienced it when reading this book. On the one hand, the blueprints we’ve been looking at hold incredible explanatory power and ring so true, but when you read the objections mentioned previously, it hits you that maybe it is indeed all a little bit fanciful. Eden reads like a kind of lost world. In fact, it’s the same sense I get when I read about heaven. It is both familiar and distant, both real and unreal. That’s because it is described to us in familiar words, and there are many parts of it that we can picture in our minds. Regarding Genesis, we can see a garden, a man, a woman, animals, conversations, rest, work, love, marriage … but when those things start combining to describe open and verbal conversations with God, we move into less familiar territory. Or when we read of God walking in the Garden. Or a serpent that speaks. Or wild animals that are entirely safe under the authority of the man. Or a woman made from a rib, or a man made out of dust. One moment, it all feels real. The next moment, it all feels unreal. It is familiar and real because it is our world, and these are our parents. But it is unreal and distant in the sense that things have moved on. The world is no longer the same as what it was, and we are no longer the same as what we were.

Piece #7 There are only a few dividing lines in history which represent monumental paradigm shifts — moments when everything changed. One, of course, is the Cross of Jesus Christ. I love the fact that “cross” in Latin is crux, which means “the decisive or most important thing.” One may say that the Cross is the crux of history. But there is another monumental event in history that changed everything, including from a heavenly perspective. That moment was the Fall. Just as we have before Christ and after Christ, Old Testament and New Testament, the common era and before the common era (B.C. and A.D. to use the Christian notation), so we have before the Fall and after the Fall as a similarly profound shift in all reality. Before the Fall, we saw how things were made, when they were obedient to their “very good” blueprints, as designed and ordered by God. That is why we have so much to learn before the Fall, because anything described there is perfectly in accord with God’s design and obeying God’s will. Whether it be marriage, so-called race relations, human life, family, gender, masculinity, femininity, our relationship to the earth, our identity, or any other thing which is revealed at that time in history, we must seek to 171

172

WHO AM I?

learn the blueprint that is given then and seek to apply it today. As mentioned at the start of this book, to begin at the beginning in this way, with God’s perspective, is to stand on the threshold of wisdom. But what about after the Fall? Most of Scripture, and most of history, plays out in a post-Fall context. This is the world we know today, which is groaning under some kind of affliction and a seeming withdrawal by God. It is the world described in the first paragraph of this section, blighted by unrighteousness, unholiness, godlessness, pride, conflict, and rebellion against the way things were made and the way we were made. One of the crucial changes in this post-Fall world, as it relates to the theme of identity, is introduced to us in Genesis 5.

… When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. (Genesis 5:1b–3)

Piece #7 Did you notice the very clear contrast? Adam’s creation, in God’s image and likeness, is remembered. That happened before the Fall. We read about it and spoke about it earlier. But things have moved on — they are different now. Things have changed such that Adam’s son is not described as being made in God’s image and likeness, but in Adam’s image and likeness. This is not simply a figure of speech. This is a statement of theological significance. That much is confirmed in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, where the spreading of Adam’s image to the human race, which descended from him, is taught clearly. It was not just Seth who bore his image, but so do we! This means there has been a change in our constitution, or a change in our identity.

… sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. (Romans 5:12) … by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners. (Romans 5:19) … we have borne the image of the man of dust … (1 Corinthians 15:49) 173

WHO AM I?

174

Adam’s image includes two things that God’s image did not include. It includes sin and death. Since the Fall, when Adam became a dead sinner, all human beings have become dead sinners because we bear his image. This is now part of our identity. It is the source of all the twistedness and corruption we’ve mentioned in this chapter. It is the reason why Jesus described the human heart as a source of all kinds of wickedness. It is the reason why Eden is a lost world — it’s our lost world. We were made for it, and it is good, and we see the goodness of its perfections, but we’ve twisted them almost beyond recognition. Such is the present reality of our sin in our lives. Sin is a targeted strike against humans. It catastrophically undermines the very things for which we were made. If we were made in God’s image for holiness, righteousness, and knowledge of God, then sin has dealt a comprehensive blow. Holiness is purity — sin is pollution. Righteous acts are God’s acts — sinful acts are contrary to God. If we are impure, polluted, unrighteous, and contrary to God, then the possibility of knowing God with clarity and familiarity is removed from us. He can have no part in sin, or He would cease being God, so we are alienated from Him.

Piece #7 As a consequence of these things, the other parts of our identity are corrupted too. Pride is sin which attacks our status as creatures of the dust. The disabling and corrupting effects of sin also cause us to pervert our dominion, to rule in our own image or the images of false gods. We even attack or rebel against our own maleness and femaleness, and men and women can barely live together in peace. Like sin, death is also a targeted strike against humans. We were made to participate in eternity, sustained by an eternal life from the eternal God Himself. Death is the destruction of that life, forever. It takes humans, who were supposed to be eternal glories, and destines them to eternal damnation. What other eternity can we inhabit if we have become such sin-cursed beings, opposed to God in so many ways? So, what has happened to God’s image in humans? An illustration will help us here. Europe is my favorite place 175

176

WHO AM I?

to visit because I love history, architecture, nature, tradition, and church history. The first time I went there, I was with two friends, roughly following the course of the Danube River by car. One of the cool things about the Danube is the way castles were built on so many of its nearby hilltops. As we drove, we’d often spot these structures and make it our mission to reach them. Some were tourist attractions and easy enough to drive to. Others were simply ruins in the forest, harder to reach. At one site, we encountered a large ruin which had been partly preserved for tourist purposes. As we approached, there was an artist’s impression of what the castle once looked like. The name of the owner — let’s call him Count von Zimmermann (I can’t remember his real name) — was also listed, along with the kind of man he was. The image was stunning. It conveyed a place of grandeur, full of life, a home and a community.

Piece #7 But as one looked past the sign to what remained, the reality was a little less inviting. It was gray, broken, crumbling, and sad … albeit still carrying some sense of the great place it once was. Most of the foundations were still there. Half of two turrets were there. A few rooms remained. The beautiful chapel was still mostly complete. But it was a ruin. Yes, Count von Zimmermann did once live there, in all his glory. But he wouldn’t be able to live there today. It is a bare shadow of what it once was. Human beings are a little bit like that castle. We could have a sign in front of us that reads, “God once lived here.” And He did dwell with us, and through us, in all His glory. But He is gone now, and we are a bare shadow of our former selves. We are in ruins. At best, we can say that Adam’s image contains a decaying, defaced ruin of God’s image. But Adam’s image isn’t only a ruined image of God. A ruin implies mere brokenness. And while we are broken, we are more than broken. See, a broken plate doesn’t do anything — it simply sits there in pieces. A ruined castle simply sits there, missing its grander parts. But we are not only missing our grander parts, we are also infected by something active and malicious. We are actively doing sinful 177

178

deeds, indulging sinful feelings, and undermining the very things to which God called us by our own deeds.

WHO AM I?

So, Adam’s image has lost some things that the human identity once had in God’s image — it has lost true righteousness, holiness, and knowledge of God. It also contains some things that the human identity never had in God’s image — sin and death. One of the great paradoxes of the world in which we live is the apparent contradiction in human nature. On the one hand, we might look at people and marvel. We are capable of such greatness: civilization, advancement, morality, spirituality, generosity, relationship, and more. Human beings are utterly extraordinary creatures, frequently demonstrating a nobility that no other created thing can live up to. At exactly the same time, however, we might look at people and recoil in horror. We are capable of such wickedness: degeneracy, idleness, deceit, strife, perversion, oppression, killing, selfishness, and more. Human beings are utterly vile creatures, frequently demonstrating a propensity for evil that no other created thing can live up to.

Piece #7 Somehow, all of this is true. History is our witness. The experience of our own lives is our witness. People are impossible contradictions. What explains this? Only one thing really explains it: people were made great, bearing God’s image, but they fell and now bear Adam’s image. Both are true. Notice that the answer to the “Who am I?” question now has a concerning ingredient. To say, “I am in God’s image,” isn’t the whole story. It is only one piece of the puzzle. Because of the Fall, our present status is also “bearing Adam’s image.” In other words, we are dead sinners, actively corrupting the already broken image of God which has lost so much of its former glory. To bear the perfect, uncorrupted image of God that we received in creation is a high calling on our lives after which we may strive, but we can no longer live up to it. We are in a very grave condition, alienated from God, sinning against Him, rebelling against the identity He gave us in creation. We 179

180

are fatally flawed, unable to reach our former glory. The true answer to the identity question shouldn’t make us feel good — it should alarm us.

WHO AM I?

See how important it is to collect all the pieces of the identity puzzle? To give an incomplete answer, especially an answer that forgets about the Fall, is a terrible error.

Thus, we have a seventh piece of the identity puzzle, bringing us closer to answering the “Who am I?” question. The first piece was that we are made by God. The second piece is that we were made to bear His image. That means we were made to know Him and reflect His holiness and righteousness. The third piece was that human life has eternal significance. The fourth piece was that we are creatures, not gods, made from the dust. The fifth piece is that we are made with dominion, which is a duty to bring God’s will to God’s world. The sixth piece is that we were made to be male or female.

Piece #7

Piece #7

This seventh piece is that we are presently fallen in Adam’s image as dead sinners.  

181

182

Piece #8

REST

“… We shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” 1 Corinthians 15:49

STORED 183

WHO AM I?

184

Our situation is not hopeless. As we have already noted, there are rare events in history that change everything. The Fall was one of those events, and it brought with it a change for the worse. Sin and death have become a horrifying reality of this world, including our own hearts, where they have shaped our identity, to break it and corrupt it. If that was the end of the matter, then everything would be hopeless, but it is not. Another everything-changing event has happened in history. The first time I studied the image of God in Scripture, I did a word search for “image” and “likeness.” What I discovered took me by surprise. I had expected to find a bunch of Scriptures that spoke of people like me — after all, isn’t the image of God all about human beings? Wrong. In the New Testament, I found S c r i p t u re s that spoke of the Lord

Piece #8 Jesus Christ. It turns out that the perfect, clearly displayed image of God was not lost from history. He has come — the “last Adam” — to bring a fallen world and fallen humans face to face with God’s image once again.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15) … the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person … (Hebrews 1:3; KJV) … the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) How typical it is for us self-focused, fallen humans to think of ourselves when we should be thinking of someone else. When we hear the phrase “image of God,” we have limited grounds to think of ourselves because we are really Adam’s image bearers first and foremost. Hearing that phrase should cause us to think of Jesus. It should have always caused us to think of Jesus. He is the glory of God, in the “dust” of human flesh, once again. The entrance of Jesus Christ into world history was not a surprise. It was planned. When the earth was young, right around the time of the blueprints we have been considering in this book, God the Son

185

186

WHO AM I?

had already determined that He would bear the cost of entering history to undo the Fall. That is the promise that God made in Genesis 3:15, arguably the darkest moment in world history. Tungsten light bulbs are phased out in many countries now, but most people will have had the experience of walking into a pitch-dark room, feeling for the light switch, and turning it on, only to have the room flash with light for a fraction of a second and be plunged again into total darkness as the bulb “dies.” There is something of that in Genesis 3. God created human beings gloriously, in His image, to do His will, eternal in their significance, and to show the world His glory. He had painstakingly and lovingly prepared everything: food and resources to sustain them, meaningful work to do, a perfect spouse to marry, friendship with God, beauty to elevate the senses, and so much more. But despite all that, they did what humans continue to do today — they rebelled. The earth was plunged into darkness. A long and black night began that day, and its darkness is with us still. Sin, death, and ruins are the new normal. But such is the mercy of God that He did not snuff

Piece #8 the world out, although it’s what we deserved. Instead, He spoke a word of promise. It was a glorious flash of light from eternity that blazed for just a few words before the darkness fell again. But the creation held together because God’s Word is a true word, and that promise guaranteed deliverance. These are His words of promise, spoken to the serpent, who tempted Eve:

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15) “He” is a woman’s child. He will be injured — that is the meaning of the bruised heel. But He will utterly destroy sin and death — that is the meaning of the bruised, or crushed, head (the translated Hebrew word implies both). As we have already seen, God chose to elevate motherhood into the middle of His grand plan to undo the Fall, and Satan chose to hate motherhood because he knew it would bring his own doom.

187

WHO AM I?

188

God promised another man, born of a woman, who would not only stand where Adam fell but also go further by destroying all the dark consequences of Adam’s Fall. This was a flash of light, indeed, to our first parents. But in our day, it is no mere flash of light. It is a brightness that shines in the One who fulfilled this promise in history and is dawning ever brighter by the day as His redemption of this fallen world draws nearer and nearer and grows stronger and stronger. Thousands of years passed in which God taught the human race many important things, but His great word of promise from the dawn of time finally came to pass —

“ … when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman …”

(Galatians 4:4b). This was no ordinary man. This was God and man. That is important because sin and death are our problem, not God’s. It is on us to put it right, but it is beyond our power to put it right because it is against God. So, the powerful God became man to put things right for mankind.

Piece #8 When the man who is God came to answer the promise, His identity became very clear very quickly. When the angel told Mary of her pregnancy, he said,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Notice that word: holy. Why is that significant? For one thing, it speaks of the image of God. It speaks of One who, for the first time since the Fall, is unpolluted by sin, perfect, and radiantly displaying God’s holy character in human flesh. He is “ … without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). But He is also positively righteous, perfectly doing God’s righteous works. Scripture says of Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness …” (Hebrews 1:9). And Jesus said an astonishing thing near the end of His life in prayer, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). Surely, this is One upon whom Adam’s image has no hold. That is why we also read that “ … the Word became

flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). His glory is His holy character and righteous works. And, as we have seen, glory means to put God on display.

189

190

WHO AM I?

This is what humans were originally made for! This was our calling! We were to image God. In this regard, the angel who spoke to Mary was announcing that this man who is God has exactly what we need … and He does. In Him, we even find the knowledge of God that we have lost. He is God, after all, and to know Him would mean to know God — “ … If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19). In summary, He has holiness, righteousness, and knowledge. He is the image of God. If He was all these things, then it seems logical that He would have no relationship to sin and death. If He is free of Adam’s image, then He is free of its basic ingredients and all the destructive power they bring to the human identity. He would have no relationship with them — that is, unless He chose otherwise. But why would He choose otherwise? What kind of madness is that? It is not madness, but a righteous desire which rises from God’s own holy character, to allow these things to be laid upon Him, that He might take them and destroy them once

Piece #8 and for all so that there might be the opportunity for Adam’s image bearers to be released from their prison through His victory. This is the light of which I spoke — it is not merely that God’s image returned in Jesus Christ, but that He weaponized it against the forces that have broken us, corrupted us, and alienated us from God. Scripture records that He was made “ … to be sin in our behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:21; NASB) and “taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). He had none of His own sin to suffer for and no death of His own to die … but He had ours. Only He could bear those things and come out the other side because only He didn’t deserve them. So, He did it for members of Adam’s fallen race. Jesus Christ truly has everything we need. He has God’s image in the dust of human flesh, in holiness, righteousness, and knowledge … and victory over our sin and death. That is, He has both the resources and the victory necessary to restore God’s image, wherever Adam’s image is found. He can destroy the sin and the death and rebuild the ruin. The logical question which flows from this is, “How does the restoration take place?” It does not happen automatically because, although we are 191

192

WHO AM I?

automatically in Adam by reason of our genetics and ancestry, we are not automatically in Christ. He has the resources and the victory, but they must become ours by a special act of God. When God acts toward a human being in Adam, to place them in Christ, He first brings them to an end of themselves. He causes them to utterly reject the anti-gospel of identity and all its false doctrines. He makes them reject themselves rather than embrace themselves. Rather than love themselves, He makes them see their own corruption and rebellion in such a way that they are alarmed, burdened, and grieved. Rather than celebrating themselves, He reveals all that truly characterizes them and makes them guilty, ashamed, and regretful. His Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, as the Scriptures say (John 16:8–11). He makes them poor in spirit and contrite. But He does not leave them there. He turns them out of themselves, toward the very resource they need to answer their predicament. He leads them to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, all that they are in their sin is paid for. He has that victory. So, He can answer their repentance with true forgiveness, once and for all.

Piece #8 Having been brought to repentance in this way, they can trust One who answers all the needs of their soul, even while rejecting and refusing to trust in themselves. He alone has those resources as the true image of the invisible God. This is placing our faith in Christ, and it naturally follows repentance. This is how God does a work which truly changes our identity. He leads us away from self to salvation in Christ. If we have no sense of this work in us — if none of this rings true to our experience — then we can pray that He will do it, and we can read the Scriptures through which He speaks to us and applies His truth to us. If we do have such a sense of His work in us through His convicting Spirit, then we can respond rightly through prayers and actions of repentance and faith. But some people will read this and be unsure. Has a work of repentance begun in them? Have they put their faith in Christ? Do they trust? Are they convicted? They are the category of person who says, “I don’t know.” I was that person for a long time, albeit when I was a child. But even at times in my adult life, I have had cause to pause, soberly reflect, and reconsider my standing in Christ. Is there evidence 193

194

that God has done a work in me? Is my identity — that is, who I am — actually changing to prove it? This is not something that’s merely academic, or romantic, or spiritualized. This is real. Things that are real tend to have evidences. Let’s consider what these evidences might be so that we might examine ourselves as this book draws to a close.

WHO AM I?

New Love, New Hate When God made that first promise that a woman’s child would come with the power to crush sin and death, He promised that something else would happen too. He spoke of two families — two sets of “offspring.” One would be the enemy of the other. In other words, in the family of the Lord Jesus, we will find a new kind of person: a person who hates the serpent, his evil works, and his evil influence. As we have seen, the human identity changed at the Fall, when Adam’s image became our blueprint instead of God’s image. In Adam’s image, there was a new power on the throne of fallen human lives — a power to enslave us to sin. That is the human problem today. Human beings have a love of sinning and so little concern about it. They are complacent, happy sinners. The serpent — or Satan — has this new power in their lives which was not

Piece #8 there before the Fall. But when we are taken out of Adam’s family, controlled by the serpent, and translated into the human family that is in Christ, a new love and a new hatred emerges in our hearts. It is a love and a hatred that marked Jesus as different from Adam’s family. Namely, He “ … loved righteousness and hated wickedness” (Hebrews 1:9). That is a change that also translates into our lives when we are in Christ. I once overheard an anecdote from a Christian evangelist who traveled the world spreading the gospel. A man had approached him to discuss a grave concern — “I don’t believe I am converted,” he said. The evangelist asked him why. “Well, I can’t stop sinning. I try and I try, but I seem to keep falling.” The evangelist paused for a moment, then said, “Consider one of those sins for a minute. Now, tell me, what do you think of it?” He said the man’s face became cold and stern. He clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white and suddenly cried out, “I HATE it!” “Praise God!” said the evangelist. “That’s a sign of true conversion!” See the point? The man is still living in the flesh and bone of fallen humanity, so sin will still afflict him. But he hates it. He hates it because his connection 195

196

WHO AM I?

to the Lord Jesus is just as real as his connection to Adam. The one is biological; the other is spiritual. That real, spiritual connection has created a love of righteousness and a hatred of sin that was not there before. This new power to love and to hate is changing us. It is causing us to reject the old nature of Adam and embrace the new nature of Christ in an ongoing process the Bible calls sanctification. The holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ and the image of God is being translated into us, bit by bit. A preacher I listen to once spoke of a vacation during which he visited several hotels, all of which were being renovated. The signs they had erected in the lobby read, “Please be patient with us. We are under reconstruction.” He quipped that he wanted to steal all the signs, bring them back to the church, and hang them around everyone’s necks. This is the Christian reality! Scripture teaches exactly the same thing when it says, “And we all, with

unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another … ”

(2 Corinthians 3:18).

Piece #8 Test your identity. If you are in Christ, a new love and a new hatred are on the throne of your life. Their power ought to be changing you. Yes, it can feel like two steps forward and one step back, but it is nonetheless changing you. You are not the same person you were a year ago. Rather, the image of Christ is being revealed in you, from one degree of glory to another.

New Destiny A new identity through Jesus Christ does not only guarantee we are changed in the constitution of our hearts right now, but it guarantees a change in our ultimate destiny too. We touched on the fact that human life is of eternal significance. In Jesus Christ, that eternal significance has been restored to a significance of eternal glory rather than eternal damnation. In short, we are going to heaven. That is when this journey of “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18) will be gloriously concluded, when we are truly like Jesus, in His own realm of eternal glory. As we have said, this is not fanciful and romantic — it is real. That means it has real effects. You have a life from heaven itself, and you are going there. So, are you becoming heavenly minded? Do you desire 197

198

heaven? Do you want to be where Christ is? If you are a dual citizen of the earthly and heavenly kingdoms, you will have an emerging consciousness of both places. You know that this is not all there is, and you desire all that there is.

WHO AM I?

This change of destiny will be changing you now. It will change your value system, making you prize those things which are valuable to heaven and become indifferent to those things which are merely valuable in this world. The most obvious example is people’s souls, which are eternal. Do you see people’s eternal lives and find yourself concerned for how they will spend eternity? Do you act on that concern? Another very practical example is your response to compromises. Many times in this world, you will feel pressure to do something wrong or something that is of questionable moral value. The pressure comes because refusal will often lead to some negative outcome. It may be that your social acceptance will suffer. Or your professional life could be at risk. It may be worse than that. Or it may simply be that you will feel stress or discomfort.

Piece #8 Consider Daniel who refused the king’s food at potential cost to his own head. He also refused to cease from openly praying, though it sent him to the lions’ den. Joseph refused a sexual liaison for the price of over a decade in an Egyptian prison. Esther appealed to the king, no doubt after sleepless nights and unthinkable anxiety, even though she would probably die for it. How pathetic we look in the modern west, capitulating at the faintest sign of being “canceled” or viewed negatively by the culture! What makes people act in such a way? Heaven makes people act in such a way. Our consciousness of it is so strong that we pursue what is valuable there, even at personal cost in this world. We know that it is the greater thing because it is where we shall be forever. Therefore, we reject what is merely valuable in this life, which cannot last. It also places the sufferings of this life into context — they are not worthy to be compared with the eternal weight of glory, for which they are preparing us (2 Corinthians 4:17). In Daniel’s case, the day came when Babylon ended. The pleasures and joys of that kingdom were over. All that was done for her favor and enjoyment was 199

200

lost in just one day. All the compromises people made to enjoy her benefits led to brief and passing rewards. But the day never came when Daniel’s heavenly glory was revoked. The price he paid for living for God in that place was superabundantly rewarded forever.

WHO AM I?

May God give each of us the perspective to see our first day in heaven, with Christ, right now. Because if we do, it will change the way we live each day. One of my favorite Scriptures speaks of this very thing, in 1 John 3:2–3, “Beloved, we are

God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” When a runner is in the middle of a race, every decision and every movement is carefully designed to advance him toward the goal.

Piece #8 He does not step left or right. He does not look behind. He does not daydream. He does not engage in any action that would be considered wasteful, unhelpful, or disadvantageous to reaching the finish line in the best way he can. Everything is being measured in the light of that goal, right down to his very breathing. Our goal is Christ. Our goal is to be like Him, bearing His image. What am I doing today to advance that goal? What sin am I rejecting? What righteousness am I learning? What compromise am I rejecting, no matter the cost? What is my schedule? How am I living this Christian life, and is it measured by this singular goal? As we learn to live this way, things that are eternally worthless are rejected, while things that are eternally worthy are embraced. Our hearts are in heaven, so our treasures are also.

201

202

WHO AM I?

These concepts of a new love, a new hate, and a new destiny from the last two headings are beautifully exalted in Titus 2:11–14:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Conclusion The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of a new human family, which stands in contrast to Adam’s humanity. Adam’s image is the plight of dead sinners, eternally doomed. Christ’s image is the hope of those alive to God, eternally secure. Just as our link to Adam is real because of our biology, therefore our sin and death are real, so we can be linked to Christ in a way that is just as real. The Spirit of God can take what is His, with all His resources,

Piece #8 His victory, and His destiny, and truly make it mine “ … from one degree of glory to another … ” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home; Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head Adam’s likeness, now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place: Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love.14 This book has journeyed through three images which affect our identity: God’s image, Adam’s image, and Christ’s image. It is worth noting that God’s plan is such that each of us who is in Christ will ultimately have even more than Adam would have had if the Fall never happened. God’s Word of promise in the Garden of Eden, and the way He has moved history to enact it and translated it into our lives, shows us who He is and what we have received in a way that otherwise wouldn’t have ever been known. It is the study of a lifetime and the subject of rejoicing and praise that will never end.

203

204

So, Who Am I?

205

206

There are eight pieces of the identity puzzle revealed in this book.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6

WHO AM I?

1. First, I am made by God. 2. Second, I was made to bear His image by knowing Him and putting His holiness and righteousness on display. 3. Third, my life is eternal. 4. Fourth, I am a creature made from dust; I’m not a god. 5. Fifth, dominion means I have a duty to bring God’s will to God’s world. 6. Sixth, I must live up to my design as a man or a woman. 7. Seventh, I am a dead sinner, fallen in Adam’s image. 8. Eighth, I can be restored to glory, only in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, Who Am I? But there is a much shorter way to answer the question too. The short answer I want to give to the “Who am I?” question is simply, “No.” When Joshua was on the battlefield, he encountered the Commander of the Army of the Lord as a man with a drawn sword. He approached the warrior and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” (Joshua 5:13; NASB). The Commander of the Lord’s Army gave the same perplexing answer — “No.” Joshua had asked the wrong question. It was invalid. The relevant question is not whether He is for us or against us — the better question is whether we are for or against Him!

6. 7. 8.

Regarding the identity question, “Who am I?” is not the relevant question. The better question to ask is, “Who is God?” And when we find the answer to that question, especially in Jesus Christ, everything else will fall into place. After all, we are made to bear His image.

207

208 Endnotes 1 Kim Parker, Nikki Graf, Ruth Igielnik, “Generation Z Looks a Lot Like Millennials on Key Social and Political Issues,” Pew Research Center, December 12, 2023 https://www.pewresearch. org/social-trends/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-politicalissues/#fn-25640-2 2 “Gen Z and Morality: What Teens Believe (So Far),” Barna, December 12, 2023 https://www.barna. com/research/gen-z-morality/

WHO AM I?

3 “Gen Z and Morality.” 4 “Stress in America: Generation Z,” American Psychology Association, December 12, 2023. https:// www.apa.org/news/press/releases/ stress/2018/stress-gen-z.pdf 5 Jean M. Twenge, A. Bell Cooper, Thomas E. Joiner, Mary E. Duffy, Sarah G. Binau, “Age, Period, and Cohort Trends in Mood Disorder Indicators and Suicide Related Outcomes in a Nationally Representative Dataset, 2005–2017,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol 128, No. 3 (2019), 185–199, https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/abn-abn0000410.pdf 6 State of Gen Z Mental Health,” Harmony Healthcare IT, December 12, 2023 https://www. harmonyhit.com/state-of-gen-zmental-health/

7 Sally C. Curtin, Melonie Heron, “Death Rates Due to Suicide and Homicide Among Persons Aged 10–24: United States, 2000–2017,” NCHS Data Brief, No 352. (October 2019), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ data/databriefs/db352-h.pdf 8 Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn. Spiritual depression: Its causes and cure. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1965. 9 B. Hodge, God Is Triune, Answers in Genesis, accessed December 1, 2023, https://answersingenesis. org/who-is-god/the-trinity/god-istriune/. 10 Westminster Shorter Catechism 11 C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, Accessed December 1, 2023, https://www.goodreads.com/ quotes/42142-there-are-no-ordinary-people-you-have-nevertalked-to 12 See also Matthew 6:26; 12:12, and Luke 12:24. 13 Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, Entry: Gender, https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/ gender. 14 Charles Wesley, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, 1732.