Necessary to Understand Ourselves
God’s revelation is, of course, necessary for us to know Him. Without His revelation—His gracious self-disclosure—we are in the dark as to His character, works, and will. And without knowledge of God, relationship with Him is impossible. Indeed, our entire experience of the gospel is predicated upon the truth of Scripture, truth revealed to us by God. The Bible is theopneustos, the breath of God. In and through Scripture, God speaks to us, making Himself knowable, making Himself known.
As we’ve seen in previous articles, we cannot know God without divine revelation. It is equally true that we cannot understand ourselves aright without revelation. True, man has found many diverse ways to explain his place in the world apart from Scripture. But our efforts at self-discovery are feeble and frail compared to the effectual word of God, which reveals the very soul of man. “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Scripture reveals our condition. But it is not just true that Scripture is one place where we can know ourselves correctly. It is certainly true that Scripture is the only place we can go to know ourselves as we ought.
Anthropocentrism
As fallen creatures we naturally view the world anthropocentrically[1] (that is, with ourselves at the center). We see things from our own perspective and, mainly, we see ourselves as the central figures in the world. We live to provide for self, to preserve self, to promote self, and to please self. We think that our ideas are best and that our priorities are primary. And we think we are the source of truth about ourselves, the most reliable witness to our own condition.
This is exemplified by men like Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, and Carl Rogers, psychoanalysts who defined reality by their own experience and worldly wisdom while deliberately rejecting God’s truth. In this approach man looks inward at his own experiences or around himself at the experiences of others rather than looking upward to God. He is his own authority. But left to himself, he descends down the rabbit hole of his own imaginations without an inkling of true understanding.
The anthropocentric issue is twofold. Not only do we look to ourselves to define the truth, we think that we ourselves are the center of the universe. We think this world exists to make much of us. We do not glorify God as He deserves. We live as our own kings, following the dictates of our own hearts, indulging in sin. The natural man is “foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). This verse describes life lived with self at the center. Our ideas, our desires, our passions, our success—these form the nucleus around which our lives spin. The natural man lives for self.
Theocentrism
Divine revelation counters both aspects of the anthropocentric issue. Rather than leaving man to define reality, God defines it for us. He reveals the truth to us. We understand ourselves correctly only as we see ourselves through the lens of God’s word. In Scripture God gives us His own divine perspective as with precision and clarity He diagnoses the sinful human condition and with love and grace He reveals His means of redemption. Without revelation we spiral in helpless ignorance, but with God’s revelation we are able to understand ourselves as we ought to.
On the second aspect, divine revelation moves our gaze from us to God. A worldview with man at the center is sinfully skewed; Scripture corrects the distortion. While we by nature are anthropocentric, Scripture is theocentric. It is God’s story, and God Himself is the key figure. Yes, man is a prominent actor, but he is not the hero of the story—God is. And we understand the world correctly only when we realize who we are relative to God. We figure out who we are and what our purpose is by figuring out who God is and what His purpose is.
Biblical introspection begins with biblical theospection. That’s one way to say that we can only understand ourselves if we understand our Creator. Our reality is fixed in God’s reality. Our purpose is set by God’s design. Our sin is known against God’s righteousness. Our redemption is experienced in God’s mercy. Until our perspective shifts so that we see everything that exists relative to God’s nature, we are incapable of understanding the world as we ought to. A proper understanding of self begins with a proper understanding of God.
Scripture moves us from an anthropocentric view to a theocentric view. It shows us God’s perspective, God’s goals, God’s standards. And we understand ourselves in that context. Scripture is therefore necessary for us to understand ourselves, because Scripture leads us to God.
In God’s Image
In that vein, I want to take you to Genesis 1 as we consider what it means to be created in God’s image. Genesis 1:26-28 says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
Let’s zero in on the phrase “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Man was not created as a free entity, but as an entity copied after another—God. We are God’s image, God’s likeness. Our existence reflects His. Our purpose reflects His. Our nature reflects His. We are true (though imperfect) reflections of the thrice-holy eternal God. If we want to understand ourselves, we need to look at who we are relative to who God is.
The questions that are common to human experience are answered by considering what it means to be the imago dei, the image of God. Where did we come from? We were created from dust by God Himself. Who are we? We are those who bear the divine nature. What is our purpose? To spread God’s glory through the earth. Where we go, God’s image goes. God’s nature, character, and yes, His authority go with us as we spread through the earth. We are to make order out of chaos, to make beauty from minerals and mud, to nurture and care for the earth as God Himself would. These questions are answered if we realize the significance of our being created imago dei, in the image of God.
We should note also from this passage that man needed revelation even before sin. I included verse 28 to draw your attention to this. God created man and, even before the fall, revealed His will to him. Even before the fall and its effects, man needed God to speak to him. Before the fall, man in his finitude still needed divine light. Adam and Eve needed revelation to know their purpose on God’s earth. God placed them in His garden, then spoke to them. “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Even in paradise, Adam and Eve depended on God’s revealed truth to guide them, to give them direction and purpose. If divine revelation was necessary for them, how much more is it for us.
[1] From the Greek anthrōpos, translated “man” (e.g. John 2:25).