In the latest chapter of Martin Luther’s Theology I discoverd that Luther was playing with a question that can seem ridiculously simple but also incredibly complex. What is a human being?
I’m sure if you talked to scientists you would get a certain answer. If you talk to a sociologist you’d probably get another one. Teachers, historians, the list goes on, all probably with different answers. So what happens when you ask a thelogian?
Well, Luther goes back to the Scriptures and lets God do the defining. A human being is one who has been created by God. A human is God’s workmanship. This is integral. Humans are not in and of themselves, but they are a creation, and the creation of God himself. Of course, Luther continues to push this. That’s what humanity was, but after Genesis 3, soemthing else entered humanity, namely sin. Humans were perverted and corrupted. Now the question becomes, is that still a human? Luther says yes. After all, they were still the creation of God, even though corrupted.
But then he goes one more level as he often does. Humans are those who have been brought out of sin by Jesus Christ, those who are new creations through his grace. This is what God intends for humans, so it starts to become integral to our understanding of humanity. Indeed, as Luther continues to unpack humanity he speaks of the image of God as given in Genesis and defines it as the ability to respond to God in faith, something that is gifted by God. The human in the image of God is then one who carries out God’s works on earth. So clearly, even though sin still corrupts our flesh, we are humans. God has sanctified all that we are, and in his new creation he is making more fully into humans as he intended again.
But what about nonChristians then? They certainly share God’s creation, so in that element they are human. They share original sin. But they do not share in relationship to God and faith. They in a sense have the image of God in that he wants them to respond in faith as he approaches them, but they reject that. So are they fully human or not? This seems to be one that involves a lot of definition and you could answer yes or no rightly to this question.
The key then is not so much the answer, but how this changes your perspective. When you realize the pieces that are integral to your humanity, how does it make you feel? That God designed you, watched you fall away from that design, but then restored your essence, your very humanity. How does it make you feel that you have friends, neighbors, and even family that do not share in that element of humanity?Does it help you understand that while much about us and nonChristians may look similar, there are in fact some differences that go very deep? How do you see those differences manifested?
Some thoughts. I would suggest you keep them fresh as you people watch and even as you watch the world through the lens of media this week. Look for places where you share humanity, and where there is something that sets Christians apart.
