Introduction
Created in God’s Image, is a powerful book about how humans display God’s image in an imperfect way. Anthony A. Hoekema the author walks through the different doctrines of man trying to help believers understand why God has created man and woman. Hoekema is known for being a professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. He is also known for writing The Christian Looks at Himself, and The Four major Cults. These books and his teaching ability more then give him the credentials for writing this book. In his book Hoekema focuses on the doctrine of anthropology which is the study of man, where he brings to light how the image of God is not lost in man through sin. He searches through not only the Bible for his…show more content… The driving force of this book is to explain what the actual Christian view of man is, how it is different from none-Christian views, and what impact ones discernment on man has on their living and thinking. One way Hoekema explains anthropology is in the way he shows man is created as person and creature. A person is defined by the independence he has and how he is able to make decisions, to set goals, and to accomplish those goals: freedom in being able to choice. However, man is also a creature, which means he cannot make a decision without God; he cannot utter a word without God’s aid. Gen 1:1, 27 and Acts 17:25, 28 both show how man is both creature and man. Hoekema brings out so much truth from the scripture on this point that it is almost impossible to honestly think man is totally dependent or fully independent. This mystery is profound, but discussed well by…show more content… 1:26-28; 5:1-3 and 9:6 all are passages that fight for this view of man. Hoekema explains that man does not bear or display God’s image but is God’s image. The NT explains this also in Rom. 8:29, explaining that man is conformed to the likeness or image of Jesus Christ who is God. Hoekema makes it apparent that man is truly God’s image slightly perverted by sin but not lost by sin. A great yet hard truth this book expounds upon is the origin of sin. It goes in depth of how Adam was a historical man who was created good: without sin. He had a perfect relationship with God. Matt. 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-8 are used by Hoekema to show how even Jesus Christ viewed Adam as a real being made clean by God. However, Adam’s helper Eve was deceived by a serpent and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil with Adam. Thus sin entered into the world. Adam was the world’s representative therefore, when he sinned we all sinned. The fact that Adam and Eve were historical figures is foundational to the redemptive story. For the only way one can be redeemed is if they were created good or had a past relationship with God. Therefore, Adam and Eve must have been perfect so that the world can be perfected by God through Jesus Christ to their original