March 30, 2025
Previous: The Role of Faith In Salvation
L. John Bost
Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet – Dallas Christian Adult Concert Choir.
Introduction
Have you ever wondered who you are, why you are here, or both? It is a legitimate question. Just who are we and why are we here? In this article, we will delve into these important questions.
Who Am I?
To learn who we are we need to see what God, our creator’s, inspired writers have to say about who we are. But, who we are, is not who God intended us to be, unless we are a child of God and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ (See What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?). So, we will first examine who God intended us to be, then examine who we are, and who we can become.
Who God Intended Us to Be
Moses wrote in Genesis 1:26-28:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
He wrote in the next chapter (which is a more detailed discussion of what was recorded in chapter 1), Genesis 2:7-8, Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
He would write in Genesis 5:1-2:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
So, God intended man to be and created him to be in His own image and likeness. God is pure and sinless, and God created man pure and sinless.
The psalmist David wrote in Psalm 8:4-6:
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet…
David said that God takes thought of and cares for us. Why? because He made us a little lower than Himself and crowned us with glory and majesty. Further, the inspired writer said we are the rulers of God’s works and all things are under our feet.
Arthur S Peake writes commenting on Hebrews 2:6-8, (As quoted by Coffman, “The author of Hebrews 2:6-8 gives a temporal sense to verse 5a, making 5b a contrast rather than a parallel, expressing man’s lordship of the world to come, not as yet realized, it is true, but guaranteed to us by the fact that Jesus is already crowned!”
Paul references Psalm 8:4-6 in Hebrews 2:6-8:
6 But one has testified somewhere, saying,“What is man, that You remember him?
Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?
7 “You have made him [a]for a little while lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
[b]And have appointed him over the works of Your hands;
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.
Note that God had made man a little lower than the angels but, as Peake pointed out, being “crowned with glory and honor was not yet a reality at the time that the psalmist wrote. However, Jesus came to earth, died on the cross, rose again, and was crowned with glory and honor. Paul writes:
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name… (See Jesus Died for You).
The Apostle Peter told the Council (Sanhedrin) in Acts 5:31, “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus, God’s Son, sits at God’s right hand crowned as “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:15-16). Man was created in God’s image, made a little lower than God, and crowned with glory and majesty. But something happened that caused him to lose that lofty position.
In Genesis 1:-28, man was created image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. But, soon, Satan appeared to Eve, the first woman, in the form of a serpent. The serpent convinced Eve to partake of the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which God had forbidden the first couple to eat (Gen. 2:15-17). This was the first sin and the penalty was death. Though they did not die immediately, they died spiritually immediately and began to die physically. The man was not longer “crowned with glory and majesty!” Now, he needed4 a savior who would come in the person of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ (See Why Do You Need to Be Saved?) The good news is that because of the sacrifice made by God’s Son, you can regain that lofty position lost because of sin (See The Good News).
Who Are You and Why Are You Here?
You are here because God created you. He loves you. Jesus, His Son, said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” If you have never obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are a sinner, separated from God by your sins (See Is. 59:1-2). But God’s Son died for you. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
Conclusion
God created man in his image and made him a little lower than Himself, crowned him with glory and majesty. But sin entered the world because Eve, the first woman, and her husband, Adam, ate the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat. Sein entered the world and since then all have sinned (Rom. 3:23). You have sinned. Sin has separated you from God (Is. 59:1-2). But, you can be reunited with God by obeying His Son.
Jesus says that to be saved and have your sins removed, you must believe the gospel (the good news) that Jesus is the Son of God, repent of your sins, confess your faith in Him, and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins (See What Does Jesus Say?).
Why not contact a member of a church of Christ near you today and let him/her help you learn how to be saved?
Contact the Strasburg church of Christ at strasburgcoc@yahoo.com or 540-465-3311.
