Every Christian An Anthropologist

Anthropology is the study of human beings and their similarities/differences to animals. I contest that every Christian is an anthropologist. We have to be. Genesis 1 warrants us to be nothing less. Verse 26 of that chapter says this, “then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””

This is the blazingly clearest distinction any human being ever needs to understand the similarities and differences to animals. God created us both. We, like animals, have that creator-creature distinction. In addition to that, humans are created in the image of God; animals are not. Humans are given rulership over animals; not the other way around.

Why is this so important for Christians? It is important because if we forget how we were created, we are tempted at every turn to blur the creator-creature distinctions between us and humans/animals all day long. Knowing that every human is created in the image of God affects us how we view every single human being. Why? Because they were made the same way as you, which means if you think of yourself as special and unique, then you ought to think of every other human being as such. Humility seeps in and arrogance is forced out. Self-righteousness is done away with and sacrifice replaces it. This impacts every possible type of relationship we can have – man to man, woman to woman, and man to woman.

Popularity or prestige or power has no rank in this fight. When we all recognize that we came into this world the same way with different stories, nothing else matters. What you have or believe or do for a living can make you different from the next person, but nothing beyond that. This cuts into how men view women and vice versa. No longer objects of pleasure and comfort, but people who share the image of God along with you. That is so powerful. Gender battles are minimized somewhat due to this truth. Testing one’s manhood or womanhood gains  you nothing. Valuing the fact that each of us share the image of God is priceless.

This also spills over into how we view animals. It is undeniable that how we view things will determine how we treat them. If we view animals are Gods’ creations first, and things we are to care for and rule over second, then we can rightly treat them with the right motive in which God commanded us in Genesis.

Now I don’t write this with some blind eye to the presence of sin. However, I do write this with an understanding that the death and resurrection of Jesus destroyed the power of sin for the Christian. Therefore, all you Christians have the power over sin because you are in Christ Jesus, the one who destroyed the stronghold. The same stronghold that blurs the lines of gender battles. Let us embrace a Christian understanding of anthropology.

#creation #Genesis #worldview