The Creation of Man

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But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” (Romans 9:20).


The Bible tells us that man is a creation of God. How ironic it is then that if there is anything we humans deny and resist with all our power, it is the fact that we are creatures. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, it was to deceive them into rejecting the limitations of creaturehood and make them think they could become gods. The atheistic German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that man’s lust for power is what makes him different from all other creatures. History has demonstrated that man cannot stand the fact that he is a creature.
Take an honest look at yourself. Do you have trouble with authority? With humility? We have these problems because we do not like being creatures. We want to be gods. We do not want to concede our dependence on anything or anyone else, and we do not want to be subordinate to anyone else.
Jesus Christ saves us from sin and makes us new creations, but He does not make us gods. God cannot make us gods because if He did, we would be created gods, thus we would still be creatures.
There is a massive qualitative difference between the creature and the Creator. Confusing the two is the sin of idolatry, for it involves worshiping creation. In the early church, various heretics tried to maintain that Jesus was a man who became God. The church replied the opposite, that Jesus was God who became a man. An example of how this distinction is maintained today is the Nicene Creed, which states that Jesus is very God of very God, who through His incarnation, was made the man. The Creator and the creature are joined in Christ but are not merged.
Because man is a creature, he has a relationship with the Creator. Man cannot escape being completely dependent on God because God sustains his life. Thus, the relationship between man and God is inescapable. Men may resist and disclaim this relationship, but they cannot change it. All men exist inescapably in the relationship with God and, by virtue of their creatureliness, are accountable to Him.



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