Man as God Intended - Christ in You Ministries

234 Pages·2006·2.81 MB·English

Man
s
a
God Intended
James A. Fowler

Man
As God Intended
A Theological Survey
from an
Anthropological Perspective
Ä
James A. Fowler
Å
C.I.Y. PUBLISHING
P.O. BOX1822
FALLBROOK, CALIFORNIA92088-1822
http://www.Christinyou.net
MAN AS GOD INTENDED
A Theological Survey
from an Anthropological Perspective
Copyright ©1994, 1998, 2005 by James A. Fowler
All rights reserved. No part of this publiction may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including
photocopying, recording, digital transmission) without the prior written
permission of the author, except for brief quotations embodied in critical
articles or reviews. For information contact author at C.I.Y. Publishing.
Published by C.I.Y. Publishing
P.O. Box 1822
Fallbrook, California 92088-1822
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN xxx
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fowler, James A.
Man as God Intended: ATheological Survey from
an Anthropological Perspective.
p.
1. Theology, Doctrine of Man
2. Anthropology, Theological
3. Man – Doctrine of
I. Title
Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible copyrighted 1960,
1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975 by the Lockman Foundation, LaHabra,
California.
Dedication
With the utmost of gratitude, I dedicate this volume to sev-
eral men who were instrumental in the formation of the
thoughts herein. What these men shared became the spring-
boards for the formulation of my own thinking and teaching.
Major W. Ian Thomas has been my foremost spiritual men-
tor. One week after I was regenerated and began to understand
spiritual realities in 1973, Jim Morris of the Navigators handed
me Major Thomas’book, The Saving Life of Christ. Soon
thereafter I read The Mystery of Godliness which was even
better suited to my theological mind. In fact, the title and
theme of this book is a phrase that I borrowed from the teach-
ing of Major Thomas.
The three pastoral colleagues who were used of God to
reveal my spiritual bankruptcy and the need for spiritual
regeneration were also vessels used of God to assist in the for-
mation of my life and thought from 1973 to 1981. Pastors
Harry Jennings, Frank Miller and Vernon Whitmore essentially
discipled me for almost eight years as we prayed together,
studied together, and played golf together. It was Harry
Jennings who first encouraged me to put these studies in writ-
ten form, and I am sure he is rejoicing in heaven as they are
now being disseminated in this book.
James A. Fowler
2005
Acknowledgements
I want to acknowledge and recognize
. . . the various audiences, in churches, seminars, retreats,
Bible schools and seminaries, who have graciously listened
to these messages over the past thirty years. Your response,
questions and challenges have been beneficial in the devel-
opment and refinement of my thinking and teaching,
. . . the participants of the Neighborhood Church who have
listened to these themes for twenty-four years,
. . . my sister, Sylvia Burnett, for editing assistance,
. . . Kathie Larsen for a final edit and checking of scripture
references,
. . . and my dear wife, Gracie, who has often chided me for
going into “screen-saver” mode as I pondered these spiritu-
al realities.
Table of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i
11
What is Man? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
22
The Constitution of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
33
The Fall of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
44
The Natural Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
55
The Perfect Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
66
The Restoration of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
77
The Response of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
88
The Regeneration of Man . . . . . . . . . . . .135
99
The Fullness of God in Man . . . . . . . . . .153
1100
The Sanctification of Man . . . . . . . . . . .181
1111
The Responsibility of Man . . . . . . . . . . .191
1122
The End of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
Glossary of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
i
ii
Foreword
Caution must be exercised in approaching theological stud-
ies from an anthropological perspective. One must never ele-
vate the creature, man, above the Creator, God. The proper
starting point of theology must always be the Being and char-
acter of God. Acting out of His own Being, always consistent
with His character, God created all things, and man was the
highest life-form of the created order of this physical world.
Much of theology, therefore, pertains to the interactions of
God and mankind. The redemptive acts of God, in His Son
Jesus Christ, are even more specifically related to mankind in
the Self-revelation of God in His Son, whereby the “Word
became flesh” (John 1:14), and the “man Christ Jesus” (I Tim.
2:5) engaged Himself to redeem and restore humanity. So,
although our stated subject matter is “man,” humanity is not
our focal point, but we focus on God in Christ and His divine
activity with man, in order that “man might be man as God
intended man to be.” (The phrase is not original with the
author, but must be credited to British Bible teacher, Major W.
Ian Thomas, from whose teaching the author has greatly bene-
fited.)
In this age of gender sensitivities, a word of explanation is
probably necessary concerning the use of “man” throughout
this book. “Man,” as used in the title and elsewhere in the text,
is a generic reference to mankind or humanity. Although brief
mention will be made to the sexual division of humanity into
male and female genders, the predominance of our theological
concern transcends gender specificity. Whether male or
female, we are part of the generic classification of mankind,
who are “made one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). In addition,
let it be noted that pronominal references to the human race
will retain the traditional masculine gender (i.e. “he,” “his,”
“him”) with no intended slight or denigration of the female
gender.
This volume is not intended to be a technical treatise of
academic theology, so technical terminology has been kept to a
minimum – utilized only where precision of explanation is
facilitated by such use. For the most part general biblical and
theological vocabulary has been employed that should be
understandable to the average Christian reader. (Readers of the
first printing, however, continued to request a “glossary of
terms,” so this has been added to this printing, attempting to
define and explain some terms utilized in this book.)
These studies have been taught in various forms and
forums over the past thirty years – in churches, retreats, semi-
nars, Bible schools and seminaries – in the United States,
Canada, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Philippines, etc. They
are foundational to everything else that I teach and write. I
often refer to this series as my “life message.” It is my desire
and hope that this volume may serve to enhance a clearer
understanding of what God has done in Jesus Christ to allow
“man to be man as God intended.”
James A. Fowler
2005