March 24, 2017 Show with Greg Nichols on “The Doctrine of Man”

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Now here's our host Chris.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Lake City, Florida.

And the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming.

This is Chris Arnzen your host of iron sharpens iron radio wishing you all a happy Friday

on this 24th day of March 2017 and I'm in studio with my co -host the Reverend buzz

Taylor.

Hello, and it's great to have you in studio today.

And we have returning to the program of someone who has proven to be an excellent guest on iron

sharpens iron radio.

We always love having him back and that's pastor Greg Nichols.

He is one of three pastors at Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He's the author of what does the Bible say about God the biblical doctrine of God truth for

eternity and We have in print right now Lectures and systematic theology

volume 1 today.

He's going to be addressing the second volume that is not Yet in print

that is going to be focused on the doctrine of man.

And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to iron sharpens iron pastor Greg Nichols.

Well, thank you very much.

It's my privilege to be here and for those of our listeners who did not hear you.

The last time you were on the air, please tell our audience about Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids,

Michigan the grace Emanuel.

1689 London.

Confession the church.

Three decades.

It's a three decades

have three generations in the church and We we are

a spirit that love each other and love the local.

To Grand Rapids the United States.

And for those of our listeners who are unfamiliar with the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith or

a second London Confession as it's also called. This is basically a Baptist

version of the Westminster Confession of Faith is it not because the Baptists did have a first London Confession and

Then they had the second London Confession where they wanted to show Their Presbyterian

brothers that they had much harmony with them, but did have of course baptist distinctives.

Am I right?

That is true.

1689 but it is a combination in many places of that original

six in

chap combined.

First London says the first London

Confession.

Another thing to note is that the

with John Owen and the Independence.

I said that one time John Owen and the Independence and the Savoy Declaration of 1658.

And when I said John Owen and the Independence somebody thought I was talking about a rock band.

It's a good name for one.

Anyway and a lot of place wherever the Savoy written by John Owen at all.

In 62nd London

Confession follows John Owen and the Savoy rather than Westminster.

And one example one the clear London Confession following Savoy and expressing

unity with them is chapter 20.

Which does not exist of the gospel in the extent thereof which does not exist in the Westminster

and the Baptist father.

Yes, and for those of our non confessional Brethren who are

looking at or listening to us and they're puzzled because they are thinking to themselves.

What are these just traditions of men that they've heaped upon themselves.

Well, it's really just a summary of what we believe the Bible teaches.

Am I right?

Yes, it's a summary as these as they say of the right

and.

As I've said before on this program and of others has have said every

Christian is confessional whether they call themselves that or not because even the statement I

have no creed but the Bible is a confessional statement

and Today we are talking about an important Subject to the doctrine of man because

the doctrine of man when it is wrongly understood leads to all kinds of

heresies and when the secular society around us

Continues to spread their false understanding of man

it leads to all kinds of despot despicable and wicked and

Unspeakably evil activities.

Even the infanticide of millions of unborn children, I think

That occurs globally every year.

This has a lot to do with a false understanding of man but if you could I

guess a good place to start with a Discussion on the the doctrine of man would be

on man's origins and why this is even an important issue.

The perspective

the outline or development of the

doctrine of said last time.

We in the doctrine of God We deal with the existence of God.

Okay, that's the first thing.

Does God exist a second and then who and what is God the

nature of God?

So

that's

the doc and he decided in eternity.

Everything that would have a second volumatic

theology is God's great

work of

commonly called the doctrine of

man.

So I refer to it as the doctrine of the original

called the doctrine of now in the doctrine of man court

topics

or parts

of the

and then

the Devastation the doctrine of human sin and then

finally ruined the

doctrine of common grace.

So in the doctors man

with regard to

shin

body and

soul his sacred identity the image of God and his

Procreative form male and a

bird marriage government and in

the day you eat and finally the moral

status of man the state of innocence.

And I addressed a man

under the

super

the human

body and who clearly teaches

this.

A Long thinking about creation and about the

origin of man is behind the Holocaust a horrible monstrous Holocaust of

abortion on demand.

A man, that's it's amazing how how lackadaisical and flip it

and Unconcerned and Disinterested the planet has

become over this Holocaust that's occurring right in our own neighborhoods.

And it is mind -boggling when you think about the numbers of of these precious

Human lives that are are snuffed out and very gruesome and barbaric ways.

Now, why don't you tell us something about why it is important to believe

the creation account of man as it is recorded in the scriptures.

Because There are those Christians among us who

are old earth Creationists and I wouldn't say that they were they are all in the

category of believing in theistic evolution.

But there are those that have adopted

Very close to Darwinian understanding of man having come from

another life form or life forms Rather than having been molded from clay

By the hand of God himself and then of course Eve being molded from the rib of Adam, but if you could

Why explain why this is important?

Everything else Rests upon the creation

true in what

it says.

Knowledge about what man is why man is think

they

want to do or define

man any way you like.

You can define humanity any way you like.

You could define male and female any way you like.

You could define marriage any way.

You like or undefined marriage any way you like.

You could do whatever you want when you destroy creation.

You destroy morality you destroy human dignity human life the

purpose of human life.

We shouldn't be surprised that.

The false doctrine the heresy had influence in our

society.

Went on decades.

We shouldn't be sizing up

in our society.

We shouldn't be with respect

to human value with respect to marriage and sexuality.

Morality all kinds of issues

creation.

And if you could Explain what you mean by?

Psychosomatic Constitution of man.

Oh, yes.

Okay psycho has to do with the soul

put together from a trainer body and soul it comes

from PSY see we get psychology from it.

It's pronounced Sukay.

But it has to do and then that's we get psycho from that and somatic comes from the

Greek word soma which means body so Psychosomatic is soul body is what it means.

So it's referring to the fact that human one

material but

Intimately

combined again in the resurrection separated temporarily

by death in the intermediate.

Reverend Reverend Buzz Taylor has a yes.

I was I was writing along with your list here and.

Kind of second -guessing you so I could write neatly ahead of you and I took a wrong turn because you

surprised me.

You said creation.

You said Providence then man then sin and I started to write the word salvation and you said

common grace.

Yes, that's the doctrine of the doctrine of the original creation is creation.

Providence man sin common grace.

Cool point is salvation from sin and that's.

That's five different volumes or five.

Okay, so yeah, I see what you're saying then that that's a whole separate thing all together then.

Yeah, this is all that's right.

That's only the second focal point the original creation.

The third focal point of my systematics is salvation.

From into

salvation.

Application of salvation.

And the seminaries want three credit courses.

It takes five courses, right?

Yeah, well since that is a separate issue altogether then what did you mean when you said common grace?

I'm referring to what professor Mary calls fine favor that he shows to

Animals and humans alike to Saints and sinners like in this life until death

falling short of salvation.

Yep, the fact that the the rain falls on the just and the unjust the reason I wanted to do here.

You say that is because I know that it's a term that we're not familiar with very much.

We don't hear it very much and yet it's it's very important.

Yes, and there's even some disagreement over it amongst reformed Christians.

There are some who think that grace should only be attached to.

Selvific grace.

Yes.

I do address that in the lecture on common grace I

Word car is translated grace in the New Testament is only used in reference to

saving grace and on that point It's acknowledged where they got it, right?

On the other hand in the Old Testament

came

found favor found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Translation the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament that grace is what I'm

talking about by common grace.

All God's grace is covenant grace even common grace.

It's common grace in Noah.

And what I'm referring to is the favor that God shows to Noah and all of his physical descendants.

Which by the way, we all are yes.

So we're also because we're all descended or you all enter into that favor that came that chorus that grace

That he shows to Noah now, it's called common grace.

You could just as well. Call it a way of grace Hmm as opposed to grace at

saving from sin in Christ.

So I think it's perfectly legitimate to refer this as chapter 6 it the scripture

calls it grace.

And of course, that's in your list your itemized list.

That's the final thing that we were supposed to be talking about today.

So we've kind of jumped way ahead here.

As far as the body and soul distinction that we were discussing is the soul

that which is The genuine person as it is often referred to.

In fact even unbelievers often Think of the soul at least those who believe in some kind of an

afterlife.

They will say that you know when the person dies, it's just the body is just The shell of

the person.

It's not who the person really is.

So even if that person dies in a horrific accident if whether

they are burned alive whether there was an explosion or Or any kind of a thing that

happens to this person that that is not the thing that affects the soul.

The thing that affects the soul is whether that soul is covered with the blood of Christ

shed for Him or her on Calvary's cross, but would you say that the soul is

the actual the the the.

Essence of the person of the human.

Exactly how I would word that.

Okay, but let's start.

Let's start with this in Genesis chapter 3 verse 19.

God says to Adam dust.

Hmm.

Oh, he is his

body.

It is true.

Dead bodies don't communicate.

Dead bodies

Deteriorate.

The part that continues the part that is indesirable the part that

non -material.

That part that continues to subsist as a personal being after

death is

conscious in the.

In the

lecture on

body and

soul I.

And then the biblical terminology for the body that.

The definition of the soul the definition of the body wishing.

Characteristics of the

body that exists between body and

soul in this life

early.

That unity.

But it must be underscored.

There will be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust.

Body and soul.

Him that's able to kill the body and

after that has no more that he can do.

But him who is able to cast both body and soul into hell.

Yes, that would of course be for the damned and and the those that the Lord.

Chooses to save will have a glorified body that that's the point.

The point is that there will be a Resurrection both of the just and of the unjust.

The point is that there's a distinction between body and soul.

Human beings can kill your body they can't destroy your soul but God is the wicked

both body and soul in the lake of fire which he and also the bodies

and Reunited with their souls and they will be with Christ

forever in new heavens and earth in glory.

Human nature will be reunited body and soul either in the lake of fire or

where the other.

So the severance of body and soul is only temporary and there's a mystery.

Attention.

And with the soul

the part of me after I die that's dissolving

in a grave and Painted with that experience.

Yes, I think with these fives man.

That's correct in the intermediate state.

There's a sense of incompletion.

There's a sense of that our ultimate hope is not to go to heaven as a disembodied spirit our ultimate hope.

Second coming of Christ that body and soul we will be conformed to his glorious

body and soul and we will.

There's a longing and

finished yet until the body is resurrected

and glorified.

So yeah, I'd be careful.

Hi, what you said is right a dead body doesn't think it's and

rots and yet somehow He says dust you are and unto dust and

I'm gonna have I'm gonna ask a question of a

listener.

Before our first break and then I'll give you time to mull it over during the break.

So when we come back, you can actually answer the question.

But Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island says I know this is not the focus of your discussion.

But I was wondering if your guest has any thoughts on whether it is Right

or wrong or is he indifferent to the issue of cremation?

Must a Christian have their loved ones buried or entombed.

Or is creation a Valid option for the Christian.

And you can answer that when we return from our break.

And If anybody else would like to join us on the air with a question.

Our email address is Chris Arnzen at gmail .com Chris Arnzen at gmail .com.

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Welcome back, this is Chris Arnzen.

If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours With 90 minutes to go is Pastor Greg

Reynolds Of Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We are discussing today the doctrine of man.

If you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnzen at gmail .com.

Chrisarnzen at gmail .com.

And before the break, Pastor Greg.

Our listener in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.

Ronald asked if it is acceptable for a Christian to have a loved one

cremated.

And I'm assuming he also means to request that be done to you as well.

After you should pass on.

Yes, Chris.

Did I call you doctor?

No, you called me Greg Reynolds.

Oh!

I'm sorry.

Oh boy, I am so sorry.

Greg Nichols.

Oh man, your name is staring me in the face.

I don't know how I said Reynolds.

And for those of our listeners who don't have any clue Why I keep saying Greg Reynolds is because he is another person I've had as a guest

On a number of occasions who happens to be an Orthodox Presbyterian, not a Reformed Baptist.

But my apologies to you.

No apology needed, I just couldn't help it.

It hit my funny bone and I couldn't help it.

I told you, I would try to keep my New York sense.

By the way, I don't know what happens occasionally.

But sometimes you cut out on your phone, I don't know why.

I don't know why either, I'm sorry about that.

Well anyway, as we said before the break I asked you a question from our listener, Ronald

in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island.

Who wanted to know about cremation.

I am not aware

of it.

It says that

cremation of that body.

No matter how we made it, God

will.

One

way,

the

Bible

forbid

it.

You can't bind your

conscience.

Yeah, and there are Christians out there.

But I personally couldn't bind people's consciences one way or the other.

Right, there are Christians out there Who are well -read and learned men

That would agree with us on a whole host of things.

Who do believe that the most, I guess, respectful and honorable way

To deal with the body of a person who is deceased Is to bury them.

But I have not yet gone into an in -depth study on it.

I know that a guest of mine that I've interviewed before on different issues Has

written some kind of a book or booklet on it.

But I assume that there is a time when out of necessity.

Especially in impoverished areas.

If you have an inability to bury a large amount of people That may have died in

a catastrophe or something That burning may be the best way of preventing the spread of

disease.

Especially, as I said, in some impoverished nation.

Or even in centuries, bygone centuries Where it might

not have been as convenient or accessible To bury people, especially in large numbers.

Okay.

That's just a thought that popped into my head.

Thank you, Ronald.

And we also have Joe in Slovenia Who says,

Dear Brother Chris, please ask.

And he called you doctor.

But I'll say, please ask Pastor Nichols To interact with the concept that as man

We are all tempted at the point of our appetites Things that we desire to satisfy our

bodily desires.

Is it correct to say that all sin is an abuse of things To satisfy our appetites in

an unholy manner?

It seems to me that this is a fundamental understanding From the standpoint that both Adam and Jesus

Faced this basic temptation with opposite results Genesis chapter 2,

verses 15 through 17 And Matthew chapter 4.

Thank you for the highest quality of programming.

That's Joe in Slovenia.

Well, I think that what he says.

About

his

human body.

I'm thinking.

Right.

With bodily appetites.

I'm thinking of

a text, but angels still sin.

Yeah, very good.

With regard to human sin.

Says, beloved, let us cleanse

ourselves of flesh.

Not just bodily appetites.

It might be.

Yeah, it would seem to me that Romans chapter 3, verses

10 through 18 Would be in complete harmony With what

Joe in Slovenia was saying.

As far as.

There is no one righteous Not even one.

There is none who understands No one who seeks God.

All have turned away They have together become worthless.

There is no one who does good Not even one.

Their throats are open graves Their tongues practice deceit Their poison are The poison of vipers is on their

lips.

Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Ruin and misery mark their ways In the way of peace they do not know.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

It would seem that The reason why.

Unlike our Arminian Unlike our Arminian brothers Who

think that man in his natural state Prior to regeneration Can please God By

willingly choosing to follow him and repent.

It seems that this is nowhere to be found In the Bible In regard to their.

Even having such a desire.

Before they're born again.

It's impossible for those in the flesh.

So then those that are in the flesh.

Please God, Roman If you're in the

state of.

And then he says If you don't have this.

You don't belong to Christ.

Please God.

By God.

And people.

Yeah, one of the reasons Not to belabor this issue.

Or take us off course.

But I think one of the reasons Why that whole issue is important In the debate

between Theologically reformed Christians And Arminians.

Is that the Arminian Apparently over and over again Seems to misunderstand what

we believe.

And they think.

Or at least they perpetuate A slanderous notion about us

That we are teaching that Men would otherwise want To be

saved and follow Jesus.

But God is preventing them From making that choice.

If left to themselves They would have a shot at it And may want to

From their own desire Come to Christ.

But according to this False caricature That Arminians construct About Calvinism

They make it sound as if We are teaching That if God had not Gotten his hands involved In the

situation That men might be coming To Christ and being saved.

If you understand what I'm saying.

I do understand what you're saying It is true that that is a If that's what people think That

is a real There's no

Save me And God looks in the book and says Nope, can't save you You're not elect You're not written That is

There's no such thing As a person that wants to be saved.

Amen.

And well thank you Joe in Slovenia.

Keep listening and spreading the word To your fellow Slovenians And beyond.

About Iron Trump and Zion Radio.

We have B .B. in Cumberland County Pennsylvania who asks.

I have often heard of Body, soul, and spirit Being mentioned in the same sentence As

if they are three different things.

Does Pastor Greg believe That soul and spirit are different.

Or are they synonyms?

Okay, let me Learn about trichotomy.

Can I just finish that other one?

Oh yeah, sure.

Please.

Jesus said regarding people You do not That you might have life

Amen.

And also

And on

circumcised after

nine He has mercy on whom he will And whom he will.

But that's not a Calvinist that said that.

That's Paul that said that.

Right.

Whom he will he hardens.

Now when I've tried to explain that to people What does God have to do.

What does he have to do to them To harden them in their sin?

My answer is Nothing.

Right.

That's right.

And By removing Restraining influence Of grace

Of common grace if you want to call it Or any other Once he removes

it He just lets them be themselves.

Right.

And If God were not restraining sin In various ways We would

see what total depravity Really Reproduces.

Leave out common grace.

And we've got a very.

We've got a world that

Humanistic thinking doesn't realize How much sin God restrains Even among the

unconverted.

Yeah we wouldn't even be able to.

Not only leave our homes and be safe.

We wouldn't be safe in our own homes If there was not any kind of Common restraint amongst mankind That God

is performing graciously for us.

That's true.

So all God has to do to harden somebody Is nothing.

Yeah I had a I can still remember years ago Having a Friendly debate.

Actually it got pretty intense at times.

It wasn't always friendly.

But with a Free will independent fundamentalist Baptist pastor friend of mine.

And he Made much of the fact That Pharaoh.

Yeah sure it says that God Hardened Pharaoh's heart.

But it also says Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

I said yeah but where does it ever say That Pharaoh softened his own heart.

That's the key issue there That you were just saying That is the thing that takes a miracle of God Is the softening of a heart

And the transforming of a heart.

Okay.

Amen.

And I can also recall Having a discussion with a Brother an Armenian

brother Where I We were having a little conflict About the doctrines of grace.

And I said well what do you think of this.

And I opened up the Bible.

And I read Romans 9.

And he said you know who He said to me you know who believes that.

The biggest cult On the face of the earth.

The Muslims.

And I said excuse me Do you know that I just read Word for word The

apostle Paul in Romans 9.

And he said yeah but it's what you read into it.

And I said I didn't read into it.

I didn't exegete it or explain it.

I just read it.

So he had nothing to say after that.

He got it.

But It is hard.

For at

the same time

Explain that I can't explain that But I'm not about to give up The free well meant offer of Christ Or

the absolute sovereignty of God In hardening some sinners And regenerating other sinners.

I'm not going to give up either of those things But I do simply

I'm logically putting it together.

Right.

And The trichotomy question.

If I Yes that's right.

Yes that if someone wants to read An excellent article on trichotomy They get out

Volume 2.

And read the article on trichotomy It gives in there Four reasons Why

the scripture clearly teaches That trichotomy is not true.

But let me say In common parlance We speak Like this all the time.

I might say to you Chris How are you doing spiritually.

How are you doing emotionally.

If I ask you how are

you.

Yes and And.

Why.

I may not I may sometimes think That there is little distinction If you said How are you doing spiritually.

Or mentally.

Yeah okay.

I could say well How are you doing spiritually How are you doing mentally.

How are you doing emotionally How are you doing physically.

I mean If I ask you how are you doing physically You could talk to me About whether you're having problems With various

aches Maybe you've had this

Or some other thing.

Or oh you know We're through a wedding And da da da Or you know We lost somebody We're

sorrowful Etc.

If I ask you How are you doing spiritually You're probably gonna You know Talk to me About devotional life

About keeping a good conscience About praying And secret.

So I could ask you How are you doing spiritually How are you doing emotionally And how are you doing physically.

That doesn't mean I'm a trichotomist.

Right.

That doesn't mean That I believe That the emotion And the spirit Are two different parts.

So yes It's true That in one sense Sukhe and Numa Or Numa Are

We get pneumatic From the From the The uh The Greek word Pneuma

The Greek word Psyche Or

Sukhe.

So yeah In one sense They're synonymous In the non -material part of man In its

entirety That entity Which survives After death Independently

Exists And subsists And goes to heaven To be with Christ.

Sometimes it's called The spirit And sometimes it's called The soul.

Right.

Yeah.

Now that doesn't mean That they're exactly Synonymous Any precisely Synonymous

Besides the same Exact thing.

Um If I asked you How you're doing Emotionally Or how you're doing Spiritually You would understand There's a distinction

Mind Drive the

non -material Part of man.

It doesn't mean When the Bible Talks about the mind The spirit The soul The heart And the body That man has five parts

And that his heart Is separate from his soul And his soul Is separate from his spirit The spirit Is separate from his mind.

Because the scripture shows That these are different Terms To describe That entity

Which is the non -material Part of man In its entirety But featuring different Aspects Or

capacities Or relations Or faculties Of that entity That non -material Part

of man.

And sometimes The word mind Is used

Sacrifice And be renewed In your mind It's contrasted With

body And body And mind Are the whole Person, body and soul

Cleanse ourselves From all defilement Of flesh That refers to the Material part of man And spirit That refers to the Non

-material part of man.

So there Flesh and spirit Refer to the whole Psychosomatic Human being

Body and soul Body And

mind Body and soul.

Sometimes it's Heart And flesh To

the material Part of man.

Mind Spirit Refer to the Non -material part of man.

But it doesn't mean That man has five Parts of man That are separate

Primarily called the body And the non -material Entity

Emphasize and feature Different things.

And in the lecture On that I get into Some of the By heart

And some of the things Featured by mind.

And in one

sense It's a non -material

Entity.

And we have to go to A break right now.

If anybody would like To join us With a question Of your own About the doctrine Of man For Pastor Greg

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Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnzen, and our guest today is Pastor Greg Nichols, who is one of

three pastors at Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and we are discussing the

doctrine of man.

He will be our guest also for the next hour.

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And now we return to our discussion, a very important topic, on the doctrine of man with

Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church.

And the next item that I'd like to address with you, Pastor Greg, is the sacred

identity of man, God's image.

And this, of course, is coming from Genesis chapter 1 and 26, verse 26.

And God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish

of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping

thing that creeps on earth.

And as you know, there are very deeply heretical notions

that cults and false Christians have developed from this idea

of God making man in his image, because you have the Mormons on one end

teaching that God the Father has a physical body just like you and I, and they think it's

a laughable and ridiculous blasphemy and heresy that we believe God is spirit.

In fact, I heard a recording recently of one of the presidents of the Mormon

church going back a decade or so, where he was mocking the Westminster Confession of Faith as

teaching one of the worst heresies ever known to man, that God is spirit.

And then you even have within, I guess, within the realm of evangelicalism, you have the

Word of Faith Pentecostals, many of whom believe that God the Father actually has a physical body,

as Kenneth Copeland was famous for saying, that God the Father has a body about

the size and weight of his body.

But what does this really mean, though, that God is making, God has made man in.

His

image?

Amen.

As in

John chapter 4 verse 24,

he says

that God is a spiritual.

The beginning was the Father

and the Son, one of

those persons,

and the Word

became flesh.

He became human.

God the Son took to himself a true human body and a true human soul.

He became a, he became human without ceasing to be God.

And so you read in Colossians chapter 1 that Christ is, quote, the image

of the invisible God.

Oh, by the way, those that want to say that God has a body, does he have an invisible body?

The image of the invisible God?

So notice the contrast between invisible God and Christ, the God

-man, who is the image.

God is a spirit.

He is invisible.

Anytime.

Because he doesn't have a body.

He's a spiritual being, and he's invisible.

But Jesus is not invisible.

Notice how contrasted,

I say

that to get

back to the idea of the creator

referred to by God

as a

reverse

in Genesis 5 of man.

That man's relation

to

Christ,

so God created body and soul,

making

the ark.

You look at the image, you

look at

the presentation,

you see the distinguishing features of a mouse when you look at the image of the mice.

Yeah.

Visible represents

the

difference between man, God's image, is that

God's image is alive.

Image is not dead.

So all idols, all man -made images that try to represent God are abomination

because they have eyes, but they don't see.

They have ears, but they don't hear.

They have feet, but they don't walk.

They're dead.

And how can any dead thing be an accurate picture of the living God?

So man, the image of God, is a living, visible representation.

The other word that's used is

likeness.

It's

every aspect of the

picture of God.

And you can't isolate one thing and say, well, God's man's

mind.

That would teach the dignity of the mind, but not necessarily the picture of God's

mind.

And man's feeling and heart is a picture of God's heart.

And man's activity of work and rest.

Six days will you labor and do all your work?

Because on six days, the Lord created, and the seventh day he rested.

So the human week is six days of labor, and his day of sacred rest is a picture of the

creation week of God.

It's a living, visible picture of God.

Man's dominion is a picture of God's dominion.

Man's relationship of husband and wife is a picture of God's

relationship to his people.

So everything about human life was designed to depict, to be a living,

visible representation of the invisible God.

That's what it means that man is God's image.

He is a living, visible representation, a living analogy of God.

And God created man so that every aspect would picture himself.

And when you see man, you see a picture of God.

So now this gets us to the question of sin that was asked before.

Sin is misrepresentation of God.

So that a sinner

is still a living, visible representation of God.

But the way I describe it is this.

The fall took man from being a living, visible representation of God, and he became a living, visible

misrepresentation of God.

So now the way he communicates misrepresents God.

The way he feels misrepresents God.

The way he acts and chooses misrepresents God.

The way he thinks misrepresents God.

His pattern of work and rest, what he violates, God's pattern, misrepresents God.

His way that he relates to his wife, the marriage relationship is no longer an accurate

picture of God.

The whole thing is a distortion now.

He's a living, visible misrepresentation of God.

So that's one of the questions that I ask the students on the midterm exam.

Is fallen man God's image?

And the answer is yes and no.

In one sense, yes.

In another sense, no.

In another sense, no.

That's the idea that man is God's image.

Man is a living, visible representation, a living analogy of God, of the invisible God.

When you see him, you see a picture of God.

So you can't divorce man from God.

And it's our responsibility.

It's our privilege.

It's our dignity to represent God accurately to the whole moral universe.

And to misrepresent God is sin.

The very essence of sin is to disobey God and to misrepresent him.

And at the Genesis, a slander,

a misrepresentation of God, and the essence of

sin is, eat thereof, you shall surely die, with disobedience, to eat from the tree.

So sin is disobedience and misrepresentation of God.

It's misrepresentation because man is God's.

Image.

And as I said last time, I love interviewing Pastor Greg Nichols because the interviews always

become powerful sermons.

And if anybody has never heard until now an interactive sermon where somebody

is actually asking questions in the middle of a sermon, this is what our interviews with Pastor

Greg Nichols are.

And I just, I absolutely love it.

I'll repeat, if you have never heard Pastor Greg Nichols preach before, you've got to pay a

visit to Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And their website is girbc .org, girbc .org.

And you've got to make it a point, whether you wanted to travel to Grand Rapids or not, you've got

to make it a point to go there and hear him preach.

Or go somewhere where he may be preaching at a conference or something.

But...

Can I address that second?

Oh, sure.

Briefly, I am not, now I am

out of four times, but

mario .com.

And yet, if

they came to Grand Rapids, I wouldn't want them to come here expecting to hear me

preaching anymore regularly.

We call him JJ, our dear brother, Pastor Jeff Johnson, is doing most of the preaching at Grace Emanuel now.

Yeah, and I assume this is a different Jeff.

Johnson than I've had on my program a number of times as an author and a Reformed Baptist pastor.

I think he's somewhere in Arkansas or...

Oh, that's correct.

This is a different Jeff Johnson.

Yes, hopefully, I have a plan actually to go to Arkansas and teach the doctrine

of God in a modular format to that Jeff Johnson's theological students that he has in his church,

that he's training and preparing for ministry.

But this Jeff Johnson is from South Carolina, the dear man in his 40s, the wonderful

speaker.

If you come to Grand Rapids, at least 70 of the

time, that's who you're going to hear, Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Okay, great.

Well, thanks for that clarification.

And that's interesting, the other Jeff Johnson has also written a book about Reformed Baptist covenant

theology, where I think that you two would have some differences.

So that's interesting that you two have not only differences, but a.

Friendship, nonetheless.

I count it a privilege to be able to go down there and to...

Amen.

And we have Bob in Westchester County, New York, who wants to know, what is Pastor

Nichols' take on Genesis 126 in regard to God referring

to himself as our, in the plural form, is he speaking to the other persons of the Trinity,

or is he speaking to the.

Angels, or is it something else?

God's personalities who are

the one and only supreme being created man.

So it doesn't specify,

let the three of us.

It doesn't give you his

personality.

It doesn't say how many persons, it just says, let us.

Could be two, could be three, could be four.

From that text, you wouldn't know.

From the rest of scripture, you know that it's not two, it's not three, it's not four.

Sorry, it's not two, it's not four, not five, it's three persons, and of three persons only, and they are the Father, and the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

So that text, that there is plurality.

And of course, we do have, even in the Gospel of John, where

Jesus, the Word, is creating along with the Father.

That's right.

God the Father is the creator, God the Son is the creator, and God the Holy Spirit...

Well, thanks, Bob, in Westchester.

County.

Keep listening to Iron Sharpens Iron and spreading the word about the program.

Let's move on, unless you have something else to say about God's image or the sacred identity of man.

Let's move on to the procreative form of man, male and female, which is obviously

something that involves news stories every single day in this

dark and wicked time that we live in.

Tell us exactly what you delve into under the umbrella of the doctrine of man in regard to the

procreative form of man.

Yes, in preparation for

the syllabus, I have to admit, I did go through

my lecture.

I thought it might come

up.

Let me

just say,

male and female, created he them, and God

blessed fruitful and multiply,

because in the context, male and

female

and

multiply, husband and wife, in marriage, one male, one

female, one

female that God had created.

Now, that's the setting of male and female, created he them.

And so, when I deal with it, creative form,

because male

and

female...

Now,

I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.

His

own name, the

idea comes in New

Testament.

The point

is, female, I didn't make

this up, to

bore a hole.

It's very

graphic,

very clear imagery as to what a female is.

So it defines male and female in terms of

faculties, procreative faculties.

And if you look at the use of these words in the Old Testament, Jewish parents and society

observed these and treated every child born with male procreative

faculties as a male.

And on that basis, they circumcised all male babies when they were 88 years old.

How did they decide whether the baby was male or female?

So they would know whether to circumcise it or not.

How could they tell that at birth?

How could they tell?

Which ones to circumcise?

Which ones were male?

Well, guess what they did?

Not rocket science.

They looked at the male and the female.

They looked at the procreative faculty of that

faculty.

Then

the different sacrificial

was born.

If a female was born, the requirements for male, certain for female, how did they know what to

do?

They looked at the physical procreative faculties of those babies.

And on that basis, they decided.

And on that basis, they numbered the Levites.

On that basis, they numbered all the males age 20 to serve in the army and upward to serve in the army.

And on that basis, they numbered all the first born males of Israel.

So they raised every little boy with male procreative faculties to become a man, dress like a

man, function as a man, behave like a man.

And they raised every little girl with female procreative faculties to become a woman, dress like a woman,

function as a woman, behave like a woman.

Scripture affirms this fundamental fact emphatically, repeatedly.

Biblical masculinity is sexual in definition and recognition.

Biblical femininity is sexual in definition and recognition.

Emphatic, it's undeniable.

Could be said about it.

In fact, could you summarize it when we return from the break, we're going to our final break right now.

And you could summarize that then.

And if anybody else wants to join us, we do have a couple of you still waiting to have your questions asked and answered.

But if anybody else wants to join us, you better do it quickly because we're running out of time.

And our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

Chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

Don't go away.

We'll be right back with Pastor Greg Nichols.

I'm James White of Alpha Omega Ministries.

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Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnzen,.

If you just tuned us in.

Our guest today for the last 90 minutes in the next half hour has been and will continue to be

Pastor Greg Nichols, one of three pastors at Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We are discussing the doctrine of man.

If you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnzen at

gmail .com.

Before the break, you are about to summarize the procreative form of man, Pastor Greg.

And leadership.

Now, I'm not saying that female bodies are not strong or that female souls have no courage.

That's not my point.

He fitted the female body with beauty and the feminine soul with compassion.

And again, I'm not saying that there's no beauty in a man and no compassion in his heart, but he especially fitted the

female body with beauty, the feminine soul with compassion, with the functions of support and nurture.

So scripture commends diligence and faithfulness and sacrificial love as

virtues that men distinctly should cultivate.

And similarly, and serenity and charity,

distinctly feminine virtues.

Now, let me be clear.

These qualities, these virtues are relatively, not absolutely distinctive.

Females have a measure of strength, and some males have a measure of beauty.

But we have a world's strongest man contest, not a world's strongest woman contest, and a Miss

America pageant.

The Bible does not encourage gender conflicted

society.

That only grows out of rejecting the idea of creation.

It's one of the wonderful benefits of the lovely heresy of evolution.

Rather, scripture assumes that humans can discern the difference between a male and a

female from the moment of birth.

And accordingly, you can

decide after a long struggle.

Rather, parents discerned the gender that God gave them simply by

observing their procreative faculties, and the society of God's people treated them accordingly.

The Bible is very clear about that.

So sex and gender should never be at odds.

And if a culture operates under the influence of scripture, its cultural display of

gender will never conflict with created procreative faculties.

But when you throw out the Bible, and you throw out creation, you open the door for all kinds of things.

So masculinity displays in culture the maleness that God created.

And similarly, femininity displays in culture the femaleness that God

created.

And cultural expression of gender includes such things as cosmetics, and costume, clothing, hairstyle,

customs.

And that's why the mosaic civil law enforced this.

It didn't allow men to dress like women in that culture or vice versa.

Cross -dressing is not pleasing to God because it expresses a rejection of creation of

mankind as male and female.

The apostles also enforced that in the Christian church.

Christian men and women should appear in public in a manner that appropriately expresses their masculinity

and femininity in their culture.

If you wish, it would be my privilege, Chris.

Great.

And we have an anonymous listener who wants to know, is it ever appropriate

for a man and woman to get married knowing that one or both of

them have an illness or injury that prevents sexual consummation of the marriage or

procreation?

I'm thinking.

Well, while you're thinking, I'm going to...

I'm at airspace like I did last time.

While you're thinking, I'm going to repeat our email address.

It's ChrisArnzen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

And please give us your first name, city and state, and country of residence if you live outside the USA.

And of course, the listener is not talking about a person marrying somebody without

divulging this before they're married, but something that is mutually agreed upon.

And I guess he could also, he doesn't specifically say anything about the elderly, but I guess this

would include, you know, you may have people in their 90s who want to get married, a man and a woman who want to get married in their 90s, and that's

something that they are incapable of doing for one reason or another.

Yeah, right.

That's what...

Okay, that's what...

Would you please...

That's exactly the way I was going...

That's the way I was thinking.

And so would you repeat the precise question?

Because I wouldn't want to forbid people in their 80s and 90s who, like

Abraham and Sarah, had their procreative faculties no longer functioning.

You know, his body was, quote,

like that in their 80s, marry?

I wouldn't say that.

I wouldn't say they can't marry, no.

But would you maybe...

Maybe I'm misunderstanding...

Is it ever acceptable for Christians to marry when, due to an illness or injury, they are

incapable of sexually consummating the marriage or procreating?

Now, he may be, this anonymous listener, maybe even a woman asking, I don't know, maybe

even asking, you know, suppose these are robust people in their 20s but have an injury or illness

that prevents them or prevents one of them from sexually consummating the marriage or procreating.

Perhaps you have one of them who's quadriplegic, you know, etc.

I would not say

in the interest of

discussion, I don't

want to get into that.

I wouldn't think it's inappropriate for people to get...

To please each other in the marriage bed in some different way.

Yeah, that's right.

If they have...

With respect to that issue, if they're open about it, they're agreed to it, and

to the needs of the...

In the light of 1 Corinthians chapter,

the Bible would not forbid people in a nursing

home in their 80s.

Yeah, I think Reverend Buzz Taylor has a comment or question.

I want to make sure that the distinction, because I have no idea what you're going to say, so I want to make sure that people know it's you.

Saying it.

Yeah, this is not Chris now, this is me, but yeah, well, I was going to just add that that's, of course,

I wouldn't assume there's an understanding in that situation that they also do not go elsewhere for the gratification.

Oh, of course.

Yes, that's correct.

That's right.

That's a good clarification, Reverend.

That's an excellent point.

I certainly did not intend to say find gratification from some

prostitute or through adultery or something like that.

Absolutely not.

Yes, thank you for making that clarification.

Which is actually, I guess, in some ways what Abraham did, right, when he went to the concubine.

Not because of sexual gratification, though, but to conceive a child because he doubted the

Lord's promise to Sarah.

With Sarah's permission, actually.

That's the point, is it was Sarah's idea, but

that, you

know, that polygamous practices

might be more accurate.

So I think they should not resort to bigamy or

polygamy or anything like it to satisfy those sexual drives.

We have Arnie in Perry County, Pennsylvania,.

Who is asking, I have very recently for the first time heard some Calvinists

say that they are open to the concept of possibly people being

born with a proclivity towards homosexuality since the doctrine of total

depravity is a biblical truth.

These Calvinists are not in any way, shape, or form saying that this gives license to these

people to act upon the sin, but just that it is possible for

a proclivity towards that to be something they are born with.

If they are born evil and have a proclivity towards other forms of sin, what would make

homosexuality different?

Well, yeah, I think it's possible for Calvinists to be born with a proclivity toward pride.

Yeah, right.

You're absolutely right.

Or certainly they can develop it, because we've all met those.

Folks, haven't we?

I think it's possible for other—I won't mention denominations, but for others that

call themselves Christian to be born with a proclivity toward greed.

Yeah, you're right.

It's possible to be born as sinners,

and with a proclivity toward all kinds and

not simply spirituality, that wouldn't justify any sin.

It wouldn't justify pride, wouldn't justify greed, wouldn't justify sexual lust of any kind,

it wouldn't justify—.

Right, I've

even seen, and I'm not even saying whether or not—I'm.

Not a scientist, so I couldn't tell you whether or not these findings are true,

or even whether I necessarily believe them fully, but I've heard even with murderers

that there have been scientific studies of some people who have been arrested and are

in prison for murder who have a higher level of testosterone within them.

Naturally, and obviously, even if that is true, we're not going to

justify somebody being a murderer just because they're born with more testosterone surging

through their veins.

I would agree that it's possible to be born with a proclivity toward violence and murder.

It wouldn't surprise me to discover that people

have a total

depravity.

Well, you know, rather than start on a new thread with some of the many other

subcategories we have here under the doctrine of man that we can wait until the next time you're

with us to delve into in greater depth, I want you to basically take

five minutes, if you'd like, to basically uninterrupted summarize what you most want

etched on the hearts and minds of our listeners today regarding the subject that we've been discussing.

Thank you for that opportunity.

The lawful

doctrine that denies

Kree has done tremendous—of

our thinking.

We would be

honored to

acknowledge him.

Let me just illustrate,

for example, American politics.

The Declaration of Independence says we hold these

truths to be our

life, liberty, and

these rights.

And

it

goes

on.

Governments

were given to them by God

that no human being has the right to take away from them.

For example, God gives to all human beings the right to life when he says, you shall not murder.

There's no

creator, and there's no

God -given right.

And government wasn't instituted to protect those rights.

So evolution is a threat to the very dignity of human beings,

to the rights of human beings, and to government being benevolent and

protecting the rights.

If it's not there to protect human rights, what's it there for?

And who put it there?

Then might makes right.

It'll give rise to all kinds of tyranny and

horrible—might makes right, survival of the fittest, have the

right to impose their strong.

There's no God to say, this is right, this is wrong, and I can do whatever I want and have the power to do to

you.

That's a horrible way to live, and that's the world of evolution.

And I want people to see that that's not biblical, that that's not what man is about, that that's

not—man is about being like God.

Man is about giving the entire moral universe an accurate living picture of the invisible God.

That's dignity, the dignity of every human being, and the dignity of every aspect of human life.

And that is restored in Christ, and only in Christ.

Fallen men are—and Christ came of

the representation—so that's

what I

would want people to see, the

value of human life, the purpose of human life.

God put us here to do something.

He put us here to be fruitful, to multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it.

He put us here to pursue that vocation to His honor and glory, and

the value and the dignity of work and

calling to

our work.

And human life makes sense

because God ordered it.

It tells us what marriage is.

It tells us what male and female is.

You know what?

It's all—and

God created man for evolution.

It's all gone by the doctrine of

every—horrible,

horrible evil in every branch and fabric of our society.

And the glory of

God restoring to them a sense of their dignity, and that it

would all be for the honor and glory of God.

I mean, that's not a very clear summary, but that's basically what's.

In my heart when I teach doctrine.

Well, it's an excellent summary, and I appreciate you for it, and thank you for it.

And I want to remind our listeners that Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in

Grand Rapids, Michigan has a website, and it is GIRBC,

which stands for Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church, GIRBC .org,

GIRBC .org.

And if anybody listening, especially a lot of you out there who listen and are pastors,

because I do have quite a number of pastors in the United States and in the UK and in other

places in Europe that listen to the program, and some who are

seminary students, get a hold of the Lectures in Systematic Theology.

Volume 1 is already in print, and Volume 2, God willing, will be right

around the corner, which will address what we have been discussing today, the doctrine of man.

But if you want more information on the volume by Pastor Greg Nichols,

that is already in print, go to solid -ground -books .com,

solid -ground -books .com, and you

can find out more about Lectures in Systematic Theology by Pastor Greg Nichols.

And I also want to take this time right now to thank Pike Lambeth

and the publishers of the New American Standard Bible for renewing their advertising contract

with Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Their funds are so deeply appreciated and needed,

and the publishers of the NASB, the New American Standard Bible, have been supporting Iron

Sharpens Iron Radio ever since we went on the air in 2006 initially in New York.

And even going back earlier than that, they have been helping to fund the

debates that I have organized with Reformed Baptist theologian and apologist Dr. James R.

White of Alpha Omega Ministries and his theological opponents within

the realm of Roman Catholicism and liberal Protestantism and

Islam and the cults like the Oneness Pentecostals and other groups that

oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well, the publishers of the NASB, or the New American Standard Version, have been very,

very instrumental in a lot of these things that I have been participating in and orchestrating

for a number of years, going all the way back to the late 1980s and early 1990s.

So I just thank them from the bottom of my heart for being faithful supporters of Iron

Sharpens Iron Radio.

And if you ever want to purchase Bibles for those you love, go to

NASBible .com, NASBible .com, and

purchase a New American Standard Bible for those you love.

And also, if your church wants to either put Bibles for the first

time in your pews, or if you want to replace those Bibles that are already there because they're

tattered and falling apart, or you've come to realize that the translation or

version that you have in your pews is perhaps not the best translation and you want to

move on to something that is a more literal translation, please, especially for large numbers

of Bibles like that, to stock the pews in churches, please go to NASBible .com,

NASBible .com.

And I know that Pastor Greg Nichols, even, I know that you prefer the, it seems

you prefer the early 1901, is it, American Standard Bible and the New American

Standard Version on occasion in some of your lectures and writing.

Don't you.

Actually have that as one of your favorites?

Well, when I was in New Jersey, we used the 1901 American Standard.

Here at Pew Bible, we read from it.

On Sunday, we read from the New American.

Standard Bible.

Amen, well thanks for help bolstering my major sponsor here.

I never.

Knew anybody that actually used the 1901.

This is amazing.

Yes, we used it in New Jersey.

I don't know.

If you'll use it at Trinity in New Jersey, but we used it there.

And so I got used to the

1901.

I would take out that these were in modern English.

They certainly didn't want that to Grand Rapids about 20

years ago.

They said, look, you need to buy a New American Standard because

that's the one we use.

So we always read from the New American Standard Bible.

It's our Pew Bible.

Don't get me wrong, I like it.

You better like it.

But thank you so much, Pastor Greg, and I look forward to you coming back on.

And as I said, if you could hold on for a minute, we would love to schedule an exact date for you

to return to continue this discussion on the Doctrine of Man when we go off the air, if you could hold on, I would

appreciate that.

I want to thank everybody who listened today, especially those who took the time to write and email

questions to us.

I want to thank everyone again who has already sent checks to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio because you know

that this is a valuable program in your life.

And that means the world to me.

And most of all, I appreciate your prayers.

I hope that you all have a safe and joyful and richly blessed weekend and Lord's Day.

And I hope you all always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than

you are a sinner.