To be human means to be morally responsible. Anyone who denies his or her needs in any of these three areas is refusing to acknowledge part of his or her humanity. Our spirits must feed on the Word of God and have a relationship with Christ (Luke 4:4 John 6:35). Our souls must have fellowship with others, outlets for creativity, and times of mental, emotional, and aesthetic stimulation in order to maintain health. Our bodies must receive food, drink, and rest in order to survive. Only God is self-sustaining and self-sufficient. Our highest purpose is to glorify God: “All things have been created through and for him” (Colossians 1:16). Our purpose includes knowing God and having a relationship with Him. But we are more than tenders of the planet. We still fulfill this purpose when we domesticate animals, use natural resources, shape nature, and carve out an existence even in the harshest environments. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). God’s stated assignment to Adam and Eve was to “be fruitful and increase in number fill the earth and subdue it.
Because we are created in the image of God, we have a basic dignity and inherent significance. We are driven to name and classify the animals, just like our father Adam did (Genesis 2:19– 20). We possess the gift of language, relating thoughts from one self-aware mind to another, learning thousands of words and coining new words when we need them. We possess creativity, inventing, fabricating, synthesizing, making music, and creating all types of artwork. As image-bearers, we, too, have intellect, emotions, and a will. We are not divine, but we reflect divinity. To be human means to bear the image of God. Neither of these extremes has any biblical support. Other views, such as naturalism, see mankind as a wildly complex, physical machine with no spirit at all-any feelings, thoughts, or inspirations we experience are solely the byproduct of chemical reactions within our brains. Classic Gnosticism, for example, takes the view that mankind is primarily a pure, spiritual entity shackled by an unwieldy, corrupt body. There are various unbiblical views of what it means to be human. Human beings are different from angels, which have no physical body, and animals, which do not reflect the imago dei. Human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Part of this immaterial aspect is the possession of intellect, emotion, and a will. Humans have a physical body and a spiritual component: a soul and/or spirit. God has made humans different from all other created beings.
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