IMAG-INATION The Doctrine of Biblical Self-Love. Miles J. Stanford
Introduction
Believers today are being challenged and exhorted to develop a better self-image, and to exercise more self-love. It is our intent to present both the unscriptural, and the scriptural aspects of this important facet of the Christian life.
If I have anything prominently before me except the Lord Jesus, that thing, however good it is, becomes a screen for something of myself, and where there is any self- consideration, the region of spirituality is lost. It may be an amiable thing, but because it is of man and not of God, it is not spirituality. --J. B. Stoney
Fall Of The Fall
There is a growing number of Christians for whom the fall has fallen. To the degree that the believer weakens his concept of the fall, he weakens his Christian life and service. Error concerning the fall results in error concerning the two Adams; and error concerning the two Adams results in error concerning one’s spiritual growth and outreach.
Totality Of The Fall
Scripture leaves no doubt as to the totality of the fall. It was utter, and irrevocable. God made it very clear to Adam that if and when he should sin, he would surely die. And the day that Adam disobeyed God’s single stipulation, he died spiritually--he died unto God. And all the race of mankind died unto God in Adam that day.
"For as in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). As a result, "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." "Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation" (Heb. 9:27; Rom. 5:18). "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:10, 23).
Without question Adam was originally created in the image of God. "And God said, Let us create man in our image, after our likeness...."So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him" (Gen. 1:26, 27).
But when Adam died to God, his God-like image perished with him. "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh" (Gen. 6:3). "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). "Among whom also we all had our manner of life in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:3). "For to be carnally (fleshly) minded is death....Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be. So, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:6–8).
The extent of the apprehension of the depth and utter ruin of the first Adam nature caused by the fall, determines the extent to which the new life in Christ can be brought to full growth in the believer; for just so far as man clings to one supposed "good thing" in him, so for the power of the Cross is nullified in his life, and so far the growth of the new life is constricted in him.
Freedom from the dominion of sin is the message of the Cross, but it can only be realized in experience up to the extent of the believer’s recognition of the fall, and a consequent offcasting of the fallen life of the first Adam at the place called Calvary.
Anomaly
Those who slight the fall refer consistently to the image of fallen Adam as "marred," or "blurred," or "in need of restoration." They dare not consider Adam’s image a total ruin because they are seeking its restoration, its reformation. For them it is back to the unfallen Adam, via Christ!
There is a strange anomaly at the core of the Reformation realm. On the one hand they go to the extreme of teaching that the fall was not beyond recovery of the original; while on the other hand they go so far as to insist that man is so dead in sin that it is impossible for him to believe--"total depravity."
These Calvinists insist that the Spirit must first regenerate the dead-unto-God individual, thereby giving him life in order that he may believe unto life. This the Covenant theologians refer to as "monergistic regeneration: the faith which receives Christ for justification is itself the free gift of a sovereign God, bestowed by spiritual regeneration in the act of effectual calling." --J.I. Packer
"Faith Cometh By Hearing"
The Scriptures present the reverse of this theory. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43). First believe, then receive. John writes, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" (5:24). First hear, then believe, then receive. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). As a result of hearing, the dead are given life.
James, Peter, and John all clearly testify to the fact that life is entered into by believing, by faith. James: "Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth (1:18). Peter, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God" (1 Pet. 1:23). John: "But these are written, that ye might have life through his name" (20:31).
God commanded Israel to choose life. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (Deut. 30:19). Concerning this plea to choose life, Dr. L.S. Chafer wrote:
God having designed that man as creature ... more »
