FIRST MAN AND FIRST WOMAN

That act of rebellion by the first man and first woman defaced the image of God in the human in various ways. Human intelligence was impaired so people constantly erred in their reasoning. Morally and socially humankind no longer reflected God's image, being unable any longer to distinguish between good and evil but rather began to exploit others. Human mental, emotional and relational health has been damaged ever since. And you can’t fix those areas first and then hope to have a relationship with God.

God’s good news is that because God made humanity to reflect him and that image was marred by sinfulness he determined to restore the image bearing capacity and to do that he sent his Son into the world where the Son, Jesus, lived such a perfect sinless life that he revealed the exact image of the invisible God, actually God in human flesh, and the plan all along was that this sinless one would give himself as an atoning sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. This is the great recovery of the image bearers.

When the resemblance was distorted, God went to an extraordinary length to rescue us. And from the moment that you place your faith in Christ’s atoning death for sin, you are redeemed through Christ and you begin to bear the image of His Son. Jesus modeled that life. Your life now corresponds with God’s creation purpose that you should be like God and enjoy powers that God puts in you. It is what it means to be truly human.