The Jewish and the Christian Thought of Man
W. Clarkson, B. A. Genesis 1:26-27 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea… I. THE JEWISH CONCEPTION OF MAN. It involved — 1. A similarity of nature to that of God Himself. 2. Likeness of character to the Divine. 3. A share in Divine authority. 4. Divine interest and attention. 5. Privilege of approach to the Most High. 6. A sense of man's degradation and misery through sin. The same heart that swelled with loftiest hope and noblest aspiration, as it felt that God was its Father and its King, was the heart that filled with tremor and shame, as it saw the heinousness of its guilt and the depth of its declension. II. THE DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN VIEW. What has Christ added to our thought about ourselves? 1. He has led us to take the highest view of our spiritual nature. A treasure of absolutely inestimable worth. 2. He has drawn aside the veil from the future, and made that long life and that large world our own. 3. He has taught us to think of ourselves as sinners who may have a full restoration to their high estate. (W. Clarkson, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. WEB: 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 sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."