DAVID CLINES
A comprehensive account of the biblical view of man is yet to
be written; the following pages offer only a sketch of some aspects
of that doctrine, particularly as it comes to expression in Genesis
1-3. In the first and fourth sections of this paper I have ranged more
widely than those chapters, though what I have said may be regarded
as an elaboration of some fundamental sentences about man
in Genesis 1-3. In the second and third sections I have been chiefly
concerned to explore the significance of two of the major themes of
those chapters within their own context.
The first biblical sentence that speaks of man expresses a basic
ambiguity in the nature of man. 'Let us make man in our image'
(Gen. 1: 26) affirms on the one hand that man is made, a creature of
God-in that respect no different from firmament, sun, moon, and
stars, great sea monsters, and every living creature that moves.
Yet on the other hand he is made in the image of God, or rather as
the image of God. Whatever that may mean precisely (which
is the subject of the second section of this paper), it clearly implies
that there is another dimension to man's being which is not exhausted by names that would describe a mere creature-'naked ape'
and 'biological machine', and so forth.
Man is thus both a part of nature and an entity who stands on
the side of God as distinct from nature.l There is a tension here
between the humility and dignity of man, between his finiteness and
freedom, between his twin responsibilities of obedience and authority. This tension may be viewed as the site of the origin of human
sinfulness, a theme that will be developed in section three.
Genesis 1 : 26f. opens yet another fundamental perspective on
the nature of man when it says: 'In the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them'. This points not so much to the
sexual aspect of mankind as to the social aspect. Man is created
from the beginning to live in community. So I have considered also,
in section four, some aspects of biblical thought about man in
society.