i

Grace School of Theology

CHAPTER 7- DOCTRINE OF MAN

A Paper Submitted to:

Dr. Mark M Cancel, D. Min.

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of:

TH-435: Doctrinal Summary 2

by

Roland Wade Peete

January 27, 2025

 OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. The Origin of Man

A. Supernatural Creation
B. Creation vs. Evolution Theories
C. Image of God (imago Dei)

III. The Nature of Man

A. Material
B. Nonmaterial
C. Composition (Body/Soul/Spirit)
D. Bipartite Unity (or Dichotomy) vs. Trichotomy theories

IV. The Original State of Man

A. Moral Nature
B. Dominion
C. Purpose

V. Conclusion

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 Chapter 7—Doctrine of Man

Introduction

This chapter will discuss the Doctrine of Man. We will examine what God’s Word says

concerning the origin, nature, and original state of mankind. Although we will briefly cover the

theories of evolution when it comes to man, it is only to compare the secular worldview of

mankind’s origin against the biblical record that God has preserved for us. When we are done,

we will have shown that man was created unfallen by God, that humans are more than just flesh

and bone, and that God created us for a purpose.

The Origin of Man

When discussing the origin of man, it is necessary to some extent to include the

universe’s origin. People who cannot or will not believe that God created time, space, and

matter, as stated in Genesis 1:1, will certainly not agree with the Christian view on the origin of

man. The human author of Genesis tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the

earth” (Gen. 1:1)1 , which is backed up by the disciple John in his gospel, “All things came into

being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John

1:3). The prophet Isaiah faithfully recorded God’s words on the matter when he wrote, “It is I

who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I

ordained all their host” (Isa. 45:12).

All scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 edition, unless otherwise noted.
1
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The Bible is emphatic on the subject of where man came from. There was nothing until

God created the universe and all it contains, including humankind. Something cannot come from

nothing, so theories like the Big Bang Theory must be rejected outright. Likewise, theories that

we evolved from primordial ooze must be rejected. In simple terms, those ideas state that it was

from goo to the zoo, and now you, and preclude any possible notion that we reflect the image of

God.

Supernatural Creation

We mentioned Genesis 1:1 earlier because it is the Bible’s starting point and where one

must start when discussing man’s origin and the beginning of everything. It was a supernatural

creation by God, not something that happened by chance billions of years ago. In his book Basic

Theology, Charles Ryrie reminds us that when it comes to supernatural creation and how all

things came into being, there are some necessary presuppositions the reader must assume and

hold to, namely, that only the Bible contains absolute truth, even concerning creation.2 The

reader must have faith in God and His word and not hold scientific findings and theories as

absolute truth.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by

the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Heb. 11:3).

No person alive has ever seen anything created from nothing. It boggles the mind even to try and

comprehend such a thing. However, we know that is precisely the way God created light, the

earth, other planets, and all the stars in the sky (cf. Ps.33:6, Col. 1:16, Rev. 4:11). Whether

people choose to believe it or not, the fact remains that God created the universe out of nothing,
2

Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systemic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth
(Chicago, Ill: Moody Press, 1999), 206.
 3

or, to use the Latin phrase, ex nihilo. “This means that before God began to create the universe,

nothing else existed except God himself.”3

Creation vs. Evolution Theories

The debate over whether or not God created the earth in six days, as Genesis claims, is of

utmost importance, even though many Christians do not comprehend how foundational it is. If

the first chapter of the Bible cannot be believed literally, if it is just an allegory or myth, how can

we witness that Jesus is truly the only way to the Father? The following is a quote from a devout

humanist who was known as “Darwin’s bulldog” due to his ardent defense of evolutionary

doctrine,

I am fairly at a loss to comprehend how anyone, for a moment, can doubt that Christian
theology must stand or fall with the historical trustworthiness of the Jewish Scriptures.
The very conception of the Messiah, or Christ, is inextricably interwoven with Jewish
history; the identification of Jesus of Nazareth with that Messiah rests upon the
interpretation of the passages of the Hebrew Scriptures which have no evidential value
unless they possess the historical character assigned to them. If the covenant with
Abraham was not made; if circumsion and sacrifices were not ordained by Jahveh; if…
that of Creation the dream of a seer; if all these definite and detailed narratives of
apparently real events have no more value as history than have the stories of the regal
period of Rome—what is to be said about the Messiah doctrine…?4

Even Thomas Huxley, who wrote the preceding excerpt, saw the inconsistencies and problems

that arise when Christians give way to the authority and clarity of God’s word to make it align

with the views of modern science. God’s word is uncompromising, and when science does not

agree with the Bible’s clear teachings, science must be reexamined and reinterpreted, not the

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 338.
4

Ken Ham, ed., The New Answers Book 1 (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008), 32.
 4

Bible.

Many well-meaning theologians have done harm to the word of God over the years by

trying to make the Bible fit modern science’s understanding of our earth’s history. Regarding

creation, Charles Hodge wrote, “According to the generally received interpretation of the first

chapter of Genesis, the process of creation was completed in six days, whereas geology teaches

that it must have been in progress through periods of time which cannot be computed.”5

Statements like those are extremely unfortunate, for they miss the clear word of God. It

should be obvious to anyone reading, “There was evening and there was morning, a third day”

(Gen. 1:13), that only a twenty-four hour day has an evening and a morning, not a long indefinite

period.6 Hodge went on to say, “The Church has been forced more than once to alter her

interpretation of the Bible to accommodate the discoveries of science. But this has been done

without doing any violence to the Scriptures or in any degree impairing their authority.”7

There is no objection here to microevolution, where minor adaptations happen, like

becoming immune to antibiotics over time. We have a problem with macroevolution, which

teaches that humans evolved from monkeys, which evolved from some lower form, and so on, all

the way down to protezoa billions of years ago. Some have tried to align the Bible to modern

science via theistic evolution. To simplify theistic evolution, God created the first organism and

gave it life, which He let (and helped along) evolve into higher forms of life. When He created

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 570.
6
Douglas Hamp, “The Language of Creation: Confronting the God Plus Evolution Myth,” 2013,
[Link]
7

Hodge, 573.
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Adam, God infused a specially created spirit with Adam’s physical nature, which had evolved

from a lower life form.8

If God created the first man in this way, we must question precisely what it means to be

created in the image of God. Furthermore, theistic evolution portrays God’s creation not as

something good as Genesis says it was but as something incomplete and lacking. It portrays the

Almighty as incompetent and unable to create what He wanted from the beginning.

Progressive creation is similar to the former in that it claims God continued to create

using special acts of creation, but between those times, “development took place through

evolution.”9 However, it differs by stating that Adam was not made from another life form but

rather an entirely new one. Any theory that implies God’s work of creation went past day six is

at odds with the Bible. His word states, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all

their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on

the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Gen. 2:1-2).

Image of God

The Bible states that Adam and Eve were created in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen.

1:26-27; 5:1). What is meant by man being created in the image of God is something that has

been debated over the years. Some have stated that it refers to God speaking in the royal “We”

when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26a). Others

have stated that it was God speaking to the heavenly court.10 Most likely, God was stating that
8

Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Book House, 1998), 504.
9

Ibid., 505.
10

Michael Rydelnik and Michael G. Vanlaningham, eds., The Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody
Publishers, 2014), 38.
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He would create man to be His regents on earth who were to care for and subdue the earth (i.e.,

Gen. 1:28).

God created mankind to be His representatives on earth, which is what Adam was before

he sinned. We can reflect His goodness only after being brought back into a right relationship

with YHWH. As Paul wrote, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good

works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

The Nature of Man

When God created the heavens and the earth, He took special care when it came to His

creation of Man. He formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him (e.g.,

Gen. 2:7). Man was initially created good and unfallen. However, with Adam’s sin, death

entered the world, which spread to all of mankind (i.e., Rom. 5:12). Upon death, the material part

of man decays, but the immaterial part continues to exist.

Material

This is the part of man that we can see and touch, which is also the part that decays and

turns back to dust after a man’s death (i.e., Gen. 3:19). Many terms are used in the Bible to refer

to this part of man. The body or flesh is the most obvious used by the biblical writers in places

like Matthew 10:28, Acts 2:31, and 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. When the biblical authors refer to

man’s body or flesh, they speak of the part that can be seen: physical attributes such as height,

size, distinguishing features, etc. It is also the part that will be raised again and glorified for

followers of Christ (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:53).

Nonmaterial
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Aside from the outer man, an inner man is composed of an immaterial part. The soul of

man is what gives him life (e.g., Gen. 2:7), and occasionally, it refers to the body, but it can also

refer to the nonmaterial makeup of man. Sometimes, the words soul and spirit are used

interchangeably. However, when “spirit” is used, it almost always refers to the immaterial part of

man, which lives on past the grave. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, the

inward man is given new life, and once again, they can commune with their Creator. As Paul

wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man

is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man is made up of the nonmaterial part of

the man.

Composition

The composition of man is the many facets that make up what a man is. There are

different theories, such as bipartite unity and trichotomy, which we will discuss below. Bipartite

unity could also be referred to as dichotomy. “Some believe man is composed of only two parts,

body and soul, with the terms spirit and soul totally interchangeable.”11 We hold to the theory

that man is a multi-faceted being because Genesis says that God breathed into man, and he

became a living soul (i.e., Gen. 2:7). However, within the living soul there are many facets: the

heart, mind, will, spirit, and soul.

Bipartite Unity vs. Trichotomy Theories

As mentioned above, there are two main theories as to the composition of man. We

mentioned above that we hold to the bipartite unity view of man. Ryrie notes, “Trichotomy,

11

Steven Waterhouse, Not by Bread Alone: An Outlined Guide to Bible Doctrine, 1st ed (Amarillo, TX:
Westcliff Press, 2000), 70.
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popular or formal, cannot be substantiated logically, analogically, or scripturally.” 12 One of the

issues with the trichotomy view is that it tries to draw an analogy between the parts of man and

the Triune God. However, the persons of the Triune God are perfectly equal, whereas the parts of

man, body, spirit, and soul, are not equal. This is just one of many reasons why it should be

rejected.

The Original State of Man

The original state of man, the way God created Adam and Eve in the beginning, was

unfallen and uncorrupted; it was all very good (e.g., Gen. 1:31). We know this is the case

because Adam was created without a sinful nature. Through Adam’s disobedience, sin entered

the world, and through sin, death entered also (e.g., Rom. 5:12, 17).

Moral Nature

Adam was created perfect and without sin. However, he was also untested, meaning that

his holiness had not yet been tested. God created Adam with free will, capable of making his

own decisions. It was not until Adam chose to follow his wife, Eve, over God that he sinned.

Some tend to look at the story of Adam and Eve in the garden as a beautiful love story, one

where the man could not bear to live without his wife. It is a story of idolatry where Adam chose

his wife over his Creator. There is nothing beautiful about it. Adam made Eve a god unto himself

when he chose her, which is in direct rebellion to God. Later, God would warn the Israelites of

this very thing, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod 20:3).

Dominion

12

Ryrie, Basic Theology, 224.

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Adam was trusted by God and given dominion over the earth and everything it contained.

The biblical record states, “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply,

and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and

over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Therefore, initially, man had

dominion and rule over all of the earth. Adam was to be God’s representative here on earth, until

he lost that right when he sinned.

We know that Adam lost this right and turned over his dominion to the devil because of

what we are told in the Gospels. Luke records, “And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all

this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish”

(Luke 4:6). If the devil did not truly have dominion over the earth it could not have been

considered a true temptation for Christ. Furthermore, Paul calls the devil the god of this world

(i.e., 2 Cor. 4:4). At one time, Adam had dominion, but he lost it, later to be regained by the

second Adam, Jesus Christ.

Purpose

As previously stated, Adam’s purpose was to be God’s representative here on earth. We

were to rule the earth and reflect God’s goodness as we did so. God created Adam and all of

mankind to be in fellowship with. We can see this from how He originally walked and conversed

with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (i.e., Gen. 3:8). God desires to be in fellowship with

His creation (i.e., 1 Cor. 1:9) because He profoundly loves mankind (i.e., John 3:16). God did not

need to create humanity because He lacked anything, He created mankind out of His goodness so

that we may share in His kingdom and goodness.

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The Bible records God doing miracles and making a way for humanity to be brought

back into His family without violating His justice. In the Old Testament, YHWH would

tabernacle with His people, showing them how to be holy and draw near. In Christ, He made a

way for us to dwell with Him forever.

Conclusion

As we have shown, mankind was a unique creation of God. We are not like animals or

plants, which He also created. Unlike anything else God created, man is a complex and multi-

faceted being. Although Adam was created unfallen and without sin, that changed when he

disobeyed God. However, that did not change God’s desire to be in a relationship with man,

which is why He sent His Son to make a way for us to dwell with Him forever.

Bibliography

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Book House, 1998.

Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2020.

Ham, Ken, ed. The New Answers Book 1. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008.
 11

Hamp, Douglas. “The Language of Creation: Confronting the God Plus Evolution Myth,” 2013.
[Link]

Rydelnik, Michael, and Michael G. Vanlaningham, eds. The Moody Bible Commentary.
Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014.

Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. Basic Theology: A Popular Systemic Guide to Understanding Biblical
Truth. Chicago, Ill: Moody Press, 1999.

Waterhouse, Steven. Not by Bread Alone: An Outlined Guide to Bible Doctrine. 1st ed. Amarillo,
TX: Westcliff Press, 2000.