What Is Man? Psalm 8 - Sermons from the Baptist Faith and Message

Written by Lucien Coleman

Sermon 5 of 19 Sermons on The Baptist Faith and Message.

The Baptist Faith and Message sets forth "certain definite doctrines that Baptists believe, cherish, and with which they have been and are now closely identified." You may read The Baptist Faith and Message on SBC.net. This sermon series by Lucien Coleman originally appeared in Proclaim! magazine.

An Myong Chol worked for eight years as a guard in a North Korean political-prisoner camp before escaping to the free world, where he told stories of tortures and executions so horrible that even a seasoned reporter called them “unprintable.”

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“Once you start killing people,” Chol said, “you develop a certain pleasure and brag about it ... At first, the shock was so great I felt my heart drop and I wondered, Are they human or animals?” That question presupposes a prior question, the question posed by the psalmist in Psalm 8:4, “What is man?” (The Hebrew word for man frequently is used in the Old Testament as a collective noun meaning “mankind,” “human beings,” including both men and women. This meaning is quite obvious in Genesis 5:1–2.)

Man’s Place in God’s Plan (Ps. 8:5–7)

The place of human beings in the created order is lower than God but higher than all other created things (Ps. 8:5–8). (The word translated “angels” in the KJV rendering of Psalm 8:5 is elohim, which also can be translated “God.” In either case, the meaning is that man is human, as opposed to superhuman.)

One of the most common words for sin in the New Testament is hamartia, which means “missing the mark.” We can miss the mark established in Psalm 8:5–9 by aiming too high or too low, by usurping the place of God, or by behaving like animals.

Crowned with Honor and Glory (Ps. 8:5)

God bestowed the highest honor imaginable on mankind when He created us in His image (Gen. 1:26–27). God loves all the creatures in the natural order, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:26; but only human beings have a unique capacity for a relationship with the Creator.

The Fatal Flaw (Rom. 3:10–11)

God has given us freedom to choose. This is a supreme privilege and a serious responsibility. To have the ability to choose God and to refuse to do so, is the essence of sin (Rom. 3:10–11). “In the New Testament as well as in the Old, sin is seen to belong to the essential man. Something is wrong with man where the damage is greatest . . . Sin is a crippling disease at the center of selfhood.”(Frank Stagg, New Testament Theology, 24).

The New Humanity (2 Cor. 5:17)

The incarnation was God’s way of dealing with the tragedy of humanity’s sin. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Created in the image of God, humanity fulfills that destiny when people are recreated in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

About Professor Coleman

Professor Lucien Coleman retired in 1993 after twenty-seven years of teaching Religious Eductation at Southern Seminary and Adult Education at Southwestern Seminary. Before teaching served as a pastor in Kentucky. He holds degrees from Southern Seminary and the University of Kentucky. He and his wife, Bobbie, live in Parker County, Texas. They have three children, fifteen grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

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