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"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect."
Matthew 5:48
When God first decided to create man it was determined that he would make him in his own image, after his own likeness. The very fact that he said, "Let US make man in OUR image" (Gen. 1:26), clearly reveals the trinity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Angels were never given creative powers, nor were they ever made in the likeness of God, so the idea of who "US and OUR" represents can only refer to one thing: the Godhead. This leads us to two very important truths. One, that man was to become a triune being just as God is triune. First Thessalonians five says, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray that your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23). The trinity of man is a revelation of the trinity of God. There are three distinct aspects of man's essential being and yet he is one life, one person, one individual. This is certainly a mystery, and yet, it is conceivable by the very fact that we know each aspect of our being is distinctive. Clearly, the word of God makes a point to define man as a triune being. Hebrews chapter four also brings this out, "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of SOUL and SPIRIT and of the JOINTS and MARROW (or the body), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
The second vital truth is that man has five distinctive characteristics that are truly Godlike in nature, all of which are unique to the human race. These are: one, the ability to love; two, the ability to operate in faith; three, the ability to speak words that have creative power; four, the ability to discern; and five, the ability to choose. These are godly attributes that puts man in a God class of being. Of course, we understand that after the fall of man, when sin entered the world, these abilities were grossly diminished. In fact, the sin nature that took hold of man left him depraved of these abilities from any sense of functioning from a heavenly nature. Man was able to love, but he was never able to walk in AGAPE love - the love of God. Man was able to operate in faith, but never from the position of the God-kind of faith, only natural faith. He was able to speak words with creative power, but he lost the ability to speak right words that would produce life. James even points this out, "The tongue can no man tame" (Jam. 3:8). Man had some sense of discernment through inward intuition, but never to the degree that God intended for him. He also was able to make choices, but unfortunately those choices were skewed because of the lack of wisdom he possessed by being void of the nature of God.
Only through redemption have these attributes become available, in the fullest sense. And in order for us to implement the possibilities that now exist we have to bring our whole being: SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY into complete conformity to the will of God. I call it a pilgrimage to perfection, because the ultimate goal is for our triune being to become one, even as God is one.
If the church is ever going to reflect the image of God, she must first bring the whole man into conformity to the image of Christ. After all, he is the prototype. He is the perfect image, the exact expression of the person of God, and the only one who possessed the power to bring his whole being into perfect divine order: SPIRIT, SOUL, and BODY. The more we follow after him, the more we will bring our whole being into divine alignment. Our aim must focus on these five attributes where we strive to develop each of them, until the God nature in us is fully revived and by them we regain the dominion of life that awaits all of us in Christ! |
