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From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor 5:16–17 ESV)
Each of us constructs our own understanding of human nature, origins, and purpose, and of our place in relation to each other and our environment. A person with a materialistic or evolutionist worldview reduces human dignity to a very low level. If we are just matter and the result of millions of years of evolution, our price can be calculated according to the value of human raw materials (oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen). Many other evaluations of the human image are based on a jungle of different emotions and assumptions. Perhaps the most familiar idea of a person is that they are valued according to their productivity and achievements. These and many other interpretations of human worth are part of a sense of “according to the flesh,” the world’s standard assessments of human worth. Such conceptions of the human person degrade the human image and lead to many distortions and damaging decisions, both in personal relationships and in state policies aimed at guiding citizens towards ‘real life,’ according to the prevailing images of the human person.
Changing definitions
In many countries today, a person’s worth is determined by his loyalty to, for example, the head of state. A recent example in Finland is the confusion over who and what is a man and a woman. Laws are being used to confuse the differences between men and women and ‘create’ entirely new types of people that are not based on reality. The Finnish Lutheran Church has also largely gone along with this changing definition of fallen man. Bishop Matti Repo reveals in the morning newspaper Aamulehti his positive attitude to same-sex marriages. His reasons for this include “because society and the church and public opinion have changed.” In the same article, he claims the understanding of the gospel has changed. This is certainly true in the sense that if the Bible is no longer the supreme authority of the church, then the gospel has been replaced by another gospel: man’s own definitions and deceptions (Gal. 1). In short, our conceptions of man guide our attitude to the gospel, ourselves, and our neighbors, the value we place on human life, and even to who and what man is. A false conception of man leads to a distorted gospel.
Defined by God
What then does the apostle Paul mean when he says, “We no longer know anyone by his flesh”? This is an image of man based on God the Creator and his standard of man. The secular view of man defines man from the state of the fall, whereas the Bible reveals to us a view of man based on God’s definition.
God created man in his own image, to reflect his Creator in this world. First of all, it is important to recognize that man is created—he is not just the sum of chance or a freak of nature! Secondly, man was created for eternity. He has a soul that will continue to live beyond this short life, either with God or in damnation. The Bible thus gives the highest human dignity, since it extends to eternity.
Paul also relates this highest understanding of man to the knowledge of Jesus. We no longer know Christ only by the flesh. Muslims, for example, while acknowledging Jesus as a historical person and even as a prophet, deny his divinity. For them, the Son of God is only a man, not God. Everyone has some definition of who Jesus is, but most people’s confessions are based on the very limited perceptions and interpretations of the fallen man.
Restoration program
What then does it mean to know a man according to Christ, according to God’s standards? God gives us a true understanding of man, transcending all human interpretations of human dignity. We were created not only for this fleeting age, but for eternity. God created man in his image, and so there is something unique about him that is not found in the rest of creation. Even though we live under the fall, in a state distorted by sin, in the corruption of body and mind, we still have in us the image of God, which only God himself can make completely new. Therefore, the person who comes to Christ becomes part of God’s “restoration program.” Through and because of Christ’s atoning work, he becomes the new man he was originally intended to be and is transformed into the image of his Creator. This is the wonder of the new covenant and the central purpose of the biblical revelation to man (2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:21). C.S. Lewis describes this well in his book Mere Christianity, when he speaks of the liberation of our person and the transformation from glory to glory:
In that sense, our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to “be myself” without Him… It is something like that with Christ and us. The more we get what we now call “ourselves” out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.
Present perspectives
In this fleeting and disappearing age, therefore, we are forced to live in a state of inferiority, for our bodies and minds are shaped by sin. However, if a person is Christ’s own, he has begun to be transformed into the likeness of the image of Christ, and on the day of fulfillment, his whole person and being will be freed from this body of sin (1 Cor. 15:51–57). Therefore, when we meet a person, we should see him as:
- An eternal being, regardless of his background or what his present state of being suggests.
- A person created by God, destined to find fellowship with God (Acts 17:26–28).
- A potential new creation in which the human person is transformed into what he was originally intended to be.
- In a “developmental stage,” if he is already Jesus’ own. That is, growing in the knowledge of God, in discipleship, and sanctification by God’s grace, not by his own merits or achievements.
Creator intended eternal value
It is important, therefore, that human dignity is based on the value that the Creator intended, and not just on people’s changing values and fickle emotions. While the definitions of the human image of our time change, God’s original plan does not. He created man in his own image, whose life consists not only of this brief earthly walk but continues to eternity either in the fullness of God or in damnation. So precious is man, in fact, that Jesus Christ took it upon himself to sacrifice himself for us, so that we might receive the eternal and abundant life he intended (John 10:10).