THE Biblical statement found in the first chapter of Genesis, that man is made in the image and likeness of God, arrests attention. Since God is everlasting Spirit, His reflection, man, must be everlastingly spiritual. Nothing can change this basic truth. The Bible record also refers to man's unlimited dominion. The eternal relationship of God and man is never disturbed by the rumblings of the carnal mind. So man is forever safe.
The Psalmist points out that God crowned man with glory and honor. Then man can never be uncrowned or dishonored by an assumed lesser power. God-bestowed character cannot and never will be degraded, for honor, integrity, perfection are the essence of man's eternal, unfailing identity. One who accepts this true and only idea of man gains a warmth of assurance and a corresponding freedom from the aggressive but transient suggestions of materiality.
The book of Ecclesiastes records (3:14), "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it." Later on, the writer comments (7:29), "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." The son of God stands forever upright and perfect; as the complete and changeless creation of the almighty One, he is above human frailty. There is no competing creator or creation. The human senses—the "many inventions" of the carnal mind—suggest that man is made up of matter, subject to chance and change.
