HUMANITY
Indeed, the existence of
fellowship within the Trinity (John 17:23-24) makes it evident that the
creation of mankind was not intended to meet some deficiency in God. God was not lonely, bored, or incomplete
before he created humanity. God is
perfect in himself, happy in the fellowship and love that exist from all
eternity between the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Thus, rather than being an attempt to make up for a lack within the
Trinity, God created mankind simply because he delights in sharing himself as
an expression of his overflowing self-sufficiency.
The God of Promise and the Life of Faith. Crossway Books,
2001, p. 32.
The opening chapters of the
Bible show us what man's nature is, by teaching us that he is created in the
image of God, which is to say that he is neither a god, as the myths made him
out to be, nor a product of nature, as the evolutionists saw him, but that he
transcends nature and at the same time is transcended by God.
Jean Danielou
There are only two kinds of
men: the righteous, who believe themselves sinners; the rest, sinners who
believe themselves righteous.
Blaise Pascal
God asks no man whether he will
accept life. This is not the
choice. You must take it. The only questions is how.
Henry Ward Beecher
I classify the human race
into two branches: The one consists of those who live by human standards, the
other of those who live according to God’s will. I also call these two classes the two cities, speaking
allegorically. By two cities I mean two
societies of human beings, one of which is predestined to reign with God for
all eternity, the other doomed to undergo eternal punishment with the devil
Man is never sufficiently
touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared
himself with God's majesty
John Calvin
Institutes, 1, 1, 3.
“Sinner” is a present-tense
description of everyone, including those who have put their faith in
Christ. Of course, those who have
called Jesus “Lord” are justified, meaning that they are no longer guilty. Also, they have been given the Spirit, which
makes them slaves to Christ rather than to sin. But we all are sinners.
Perfection awaits eternity.
Edward T. Welch
When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing,
1997, p. 150. Used by Permission.
It is no accident that God
has chosen to call us sheep. The
behavior of sheep and human beings is similar in many ways. …Our mass mind (or
mob instincts), our fears and timidity, our stubbornness and stupidity, our
perverse habits are all parallels of profound importance. Yet despite these adverse characteristics
Christ has chooses us, buys us, calls us by name, makes us His own and delights
in caring for us.
Phillip Keller
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Permission by Zondervan, www.zondervan.com, 1970, p. 7.