Orthodox Anthropology I

OBJECTIVE

To demonstrate that the purpose of our life, since our creation was for sanctification in Jesus Christ, and to learn how sanctification carries into everyday facets such as spiritual life, family, relationships, studies, and personal activities.

INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 10 Minutes

Please review the previous week's lesson. (5 minutes)

Read these Bible verses together and find the common theme. You can put the verses on strips of paper and they can work in small groups, or write them on a board and discuss together.

"Adam, the son of God" Luke 3:38
"These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." John 20:31
"And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." 1 Corinthians 15:45
"Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord: "Israel is My son, My firstborn." Exodus 4:22
"Out of Egypt I have called My Son" Hosea 11:1
"having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will," Ephesians 1:5
"15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba,Father."" Romans 8:14-17
"For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." Galatians 3:26
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God," John 1:12

1 John 3:1-2
Galatians 4:5-7
Philipians 2:15
Ephesians 2:19

COMMON THEME is "Son of God"

Discuss: SONSHIP status refers to the unique relationship between God and those individuals (Adam, Israel, Christ, us). These are God's choices because God wants a human family. God never gave up on His original purpose even if the individuals sinned.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 10 Minutes

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Gn. 1:24-31).
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Col. 1:15-17).
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain (Pp. 2:5-16).
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 Jn. 3:1-3)
Memory Verse: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" (Col. 1:15)

CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 15 Minutes

Creation of Mankind

Created out of Love

God is love, and this love is seen in the Persons of the Trinity

Since God is love, the Father loves His Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son loves the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son

God, in His perfect love and wisdom, gave us an icon of this love through our parents

As our mom and dad are united in marriage with God, so God loves our parents, our parents love one another, and our parents love God

Through this icon of love, we, their children, are born

Although earthly relationships may be broken, we find perfect love in our relationship with God, by which we becomes sons of the Father through adoption

Therefore, God, in His love, creates mankind so that we may be united with Him, know Him, and abide in Him forever

God made us a Loving Home

God did not just create us right away, but wanted us to have a special place and a special home so this creation may serve as an icon of His love and care for us

God made us in a Special Way

After carefully creating the world over a series of five days, He, on the sixth day, created Adam and placed him in the garden to be the king of the creation and the masterpiece of His works

Adam was not created like anything else, which occurred through the Father speaking, the Son creating, and the Holy Spirit perfecting, but rather God molded Adam's body from dust of the earth and created by His breath Adam's soul according to the Image of God

Creation of the soul according to the Image of God was necessary to having a relationship with God, and was the means by which we may be like God

When the Church Fathers talk about being the image of God, they mean in dominion of our passions, perfection of our virtues, in reason to have a relationship with God, in free will to choose to follow God, and in creativity to make offerings to Him

God, being invisible, revealed Himself to us, who are visible, so that we may know Him, walk with Him, and develop a loving relationship

The Fall of Man

When Adam and Eve abused their free will by choosing evil instead of God, death entered our nature and we were separated from God through sin

This was a very upsetting situation, and God put enmity between the seed of the serpent and the woman (cf. Gn. 3:15) so on the one hand the generations of man would know not to follow the serpent, while, on the other hand, Christ, the woman's seed, may bruise the head of the serpent and redeem humanity

Man, having fallen, turned his head from God and placed his gaze upon the earth so that he became worldly, as God said, from the dust you were born and to the dust you shall return

Although the creation, holy men of God, and the law were means for the people to turn their heads once more to see God, our nature was fallen and we were in the condition of death and sin

No matter what we did, whether it be repentance, sacrifice according to the law, or any rites of purification, mankind could not redeem himself
Mankind used reason and creativity to come up with worse and worse sins to satisfy itself, resulting in futility of our thoughts and foolishness that made our hearts dark (cf. Rm. 1:21)
Dominion was used for taking advantage of our brothers and sisters, and virtue was totally gone since humanity had exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator (cf. Rm. 1:24-25)

The Incarnation

As God said there must be a death, our Lord Jesus Christ, who had created us in His Image, took flesh from the Virgin Mary according to the fullness of time (cf. Gal. 4:4) so that the Holy Spirit may return to mankind and so death could be defeated

Christ fashioned a human body through the Holy Spirit and Virgin Mary in a mysterious way in her womb, and took this body to the Jordan River so it may be washed

Analogy of the Painter: Jesus Recreated Us

In washing the body, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, and His Father spoke, and thereby the image of God was restored and made new

St. Athanasius used an analogy of a painter to show how Christ could take mankind and recreate him according to His image

Imagine an artist created a beautiful painting of a man, but due to an accident in the studio, the image has been ruined
The artists calls over the man to be the model while he restores the image
He places the image of that man on the canvas, which now has that same image of the man as it did before
According to St. Athanasius, we are the canvas and Christ is both the artist who paints the image and is also the man who is the model of the image since Christ is the image of the invisible God (cf. Col. 1:15)

Sanctification

At the time of our baptism, this image of Christ within us is restored, and yet we continue to be depicted more and more like this image according to the work of the Holy Spirit

Through unity with Christ, we become more and more like Him, and the more we are with Him, the less we are attached to the world

Separation from the world as a result of unity with God is holiness, in which we are no longer of this world, but rather are of God

This process of uniting with God and being made holy in Him is called "Sanctification"

As we saw above, Christ became man so that we could be redeemed in Him

He created in His Image, but we tarnished this image through sin, meaning that the image is distorted

A nice illustration of this would be if we had a penny in a glass cup of water

As long as the glass is clear, the image of the coin is visible
Now if we add dirt to the glass or food coloring, the water will turn opaque and we won't be able to see the image of the coin

Christ came and recreated mankind so His image may be revealed brilliantly, and that we may have access to holiness through His body and blood

Sanctification through Sacraments

During His ministry, Christ established for us Sacraments

Sacraments, which were likely studied in another module, are visible actions with invisible grace through Christ and the Church

Really the word sacrament comes from the Greek "Mystery"

The Church understands these mysteries to be the mysteries of salvation that God works in us through rites of the Church

For example, it is a mystery how God uses the waters of baptism and the oil of chrismation to transform us so that we receive a second birth and are born again as adopted children of God and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the seal of our salvation and the guarantee of the inheritance

It is so beautiful when we consider that by this baptism, we participate in the circumcision, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we gain access to His body and blood

As the door for Noah's Ark was on the side, so do we enter the body of Christ through His side, which was pierced and gushed blood and water, a type of baptism and eucharist

The Church does not understand how bread and wine may be transformed by the Holy Spirit to be the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, but in faith we believe that these are life giving mysteries by which we partake of eternal life

Specifically in the Eucharist, we partake of the bread of life, which has the promise of eternal life (cf. Jn. 6:51) and are united with Christ so that we may abide in Christ, and Christ in us

Sanctification and the Image of God

It would be an incomplete icon of sanctification if we did not return to the image of God and consider how this image shines clearly in the aspects of our lives, as outlined in the objective for this lesson

As the image of God is dominion, free will, reason and creativity, and virtue, we consider how each aspect of this single image affect our lives

Dominion

This has never meant having dominion over other people or bullying, but it means having dominion over ourselves

To use very simple language, it means having self-control

Free Will

This will be discussed in the next lesson, but for now just keep in mind that we are given free will to choose God, not to choose sin

Reason and Creativity

God gave us a reasonable mind, by which we may consider His love and mercy and may have a relationship with Him

Connected to reason is creativity, which allows our mind to figure out clever ideas and mechanisms by which we may make offerings to God

This might sound sort of complicated, but think that through creativity iconographers create beautiful icons, prophets like David composed beautiful hymns, and even servants have come up with solutions to issues in our congregation or ways to serve others

Virtue

The beauty of the image of God is that, as we conform to this image according to the Holy Spirit, we reap the fruit of the spirit

Therefore, we find that from our hearts grow love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Gn. 5:22-23)

It is Christ that plants these virtues in our heart, and it is by the Holy Spirit that these fruits grow, and it is according to the image of God that we are drawn by God to God that we may become more and more like Him through grace and tender mercy

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 15 Minutes

Considering virtue and the image of God, it is no wonder that sanctification enters all aspects of our lives, including church, family, school, personal life, and friends

Let's go one by one down a list and try to apply some of these concepts we just learned into everyday facets of our lives

What role would our parents play in God's plan for our sanctification?
What role do our parents play in our lives in the Church?
How may little chores and tasks they make us do be opportunities for us to practice imitating Christ and opportunities for us to draw closer to God?
What role do our friends play in our sanctification?
How may good friends affect becoming more like God? What about bad friends?
Given we were created to be like God and focus everyday on becoming more like Him through the gift of the Holy Spirit, how do we evaluate those with whom we spend our time?
How may we make God the center of our relationships?
What role does school play in my life as a Christian?
Why would a Christian who is called to pray without ceasing spend so much time working hard at school trying to excel and get good grades?
What are examples of Christian leisure and hobbies? How do we define these?

LIFE APPLICATION - 10 Minutes

Sanctification is a Trinitarian act, meaning we become like God through the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

As we mentioned in the beginning, as we were created out of our parents love to each other in God, so as a race was mankind created in God's Trinitarian love

Therefore, when we consider sanctification and consider holiness, we don't rely on our own strength or righteousness since these fall short of holiness

Rather, in working out our own salvation (cf. Pp. 2:12), we rely on Christ, who has begun a work that He will complete (cf. 1:6)

The work by which our faith lives is the work of Christ, which include His suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection, of which we become partakers through baptism

In this baptism, we are united and joined with Him and are made worthy to partake of His body and blood, by which we live forever

Partaking of the body and blood, we are united with Him and transformed by Him

As Jesus abides in us and dwells in us, so He is present in every situation in which we find ourselves

Parents

When my parents ask me to help them, this is an opportunity for obedience, to show love, to put someone before myself, to be humbled because I don't always understand the reasons why they ask whatever it is they ask, and to serve

Friends

I seek friends that lift me up, that remind me to pray, that call on me to read the Bible and attend church with them, to learn hymns, and to eve participate in services

Likewise, I lift my friends up, as we all should, that we may edify one another as iron sharpens iron

School

School does not become a place to act out with lack of supervision, but rather becomes a home for discipline, a place filled with opportunities to help others in academics, and a place to learn ascetic discipline of working hard towards a goal

However, school does not become the center of my life, but is framed within the context of transformation in Christ, and therefore does not take the place of attending Church, reading the Bible, praying, or other aspects of my spiritual rule

Leisure and Free Time

Finally, as David may have spent his free time playing his harp and singing songs, or others may find hobbies or crafts or even activities to enjoy in a wholesome way where God is the center, so can we find some sort of activity that creates holy leisure

Our leisure shouldn't become an addiction, and we shouldn't find rest at the expense of others, such as abusing one another, gossiping, being idle, or other behaviors that really don't befit a Christian

As the Church taught us, our rest is truly found in the Resurrection, while we may relax in a meaningful way by dedicating even our off time to being with God in the same way that we may spend our leisure time with friends or family

ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

In your own words, write out your purpose in life.
How does your purpose in life affect your relationship with your parents, siblings, extended family, friends, school, teachers, sports, art, music, goals.
How does Sanctification change your idea of your purpose in life? Did it change it?
How does the way we live show that we are children of God?
How should we treat others who are Christians if we are all children of Christ?
How should we treat others who are non-Christians?

SERVANT RESOURCES

Sanctification and Divine Life (appendix attached below)

The Image of God - The Spiritual Man, book by H. H. Pope Shenouda III

To Be Truly Human - LACopts

Deification - St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church Chicago

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Really make an effort to continue bringing your child early to the liturgical services, and emphasize prioritizing the church calendar by finishing studying, projects, and other school related activities before or after Bible studies or other weekday services

Talk to your child about the importance of choosing good Christian friends and lifting each other up

Take an interest in your child's hobbies and create opportunities to try new things, like sports, a class at a rec center, or some sort of arts and crafts so they don't find that they spend all their leisure time on their phones doing who knows what talking to who knows who and gossiping or sitting on social media all day