The Art of Being Human (Part I)
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
What is a human being…? (Psalm 8:4 CSB)
Battle lines change as history evolves. In the 4th and 5th centuries, Christians fought over the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology. In the 9th century, the church split into an Eastern and Western branch over the question of the origin of the Holy Spirit. And in the 16th century, there was a huge debate related to the doctrine of justification. More recently, I’m old enough to remember church splits caused by fights over speaking in tongues, End Times chronology, and guitars in worship. For some reason, what we fought about yesterday no longer sparks controversy today. Have you noticed?
This line of thinking leads naturally to a very important question: What is the great doctrinal debate facing the church today? What causes people to argue and fight, to change churches, and in some cases, to abandon the faith entirely? If we hope to make the gospel relevant to our children and have an impact on our culture, answering this question rightly is of critical importance. A quote attributed to Martin Luther warns us not to waste our lives answering questions that no one is asking.
If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.
So, where is the battle raging in our day? I find myself in agreement with those who believe that the great question the church must answer today is this: What does it mean to be human? This is the issue, I believe, that is most crucial for our day. If you preach the gospel and fail to address this issue, I fear that you are only making noise and fighting skirmishes of marginal importance.
In his book The Desecration of Man (Sentinel, 2026), Carl Trueman notes that once upon a time in the West, there was a strong consensus on what it means to be human. We are creatures made in the image of God. Therefore, life works when we conform our lives to God’s purposes. Tragically, this consensus no longer exists. In our cultural denial of God, we have lost the ability to define ourselves. Trueman believes that today we face “a crisis of anthropology” (p. xvi) and that defining what it means to be human is the great question the church must answer.
Whether we are talking about sexuality, gender, abortion, euthanasia, celebrity culture, social media, sex reassignment surgery, or Artificial Intelligence, we see all around us the evidence of what happens to a culture that no longer knows how to define what it means to be human. The real battle comes, however, when we try to determine who should write the definition. When God is eliminated, there is no one left to define humanity but humans. In other words, most people today believe that they must define themselves; they must create their own identity. They cherish the notion that they are autonomous, that is, they have the right to be whoever they want to be. Perhaps no single phrase captures the reigning philosophy of the day better than the statement, “I identify as ______” . In claiming the right to fill in the blank anyway I choose, I become my own god and imagine myself to be self-created.
Although a sense of euphoria often accompanies the assertion of one’s independence from God and his created order, the act of self-definition comes at a price. Yes, creating our own identity is a bargain made with the devil himself, and the consequences are catastrophic. Those who take this path soon discover that they are following the dictates of ideologies that demand loyalty and slavish obedience. Whether these worldly philosophies are driven by politics, pop culture, or economics, they usurp control over those who fall under their spell. C. S. Lewis spoke prophetically of this reality when he wrote: “For the power of Man to make himself what he pleases means… the power of some men to make other men what they please.” In other words, “Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of Man.” (The Abolition of Man, 1943).
Begin Where David Did
There is no better place to begin in answering the question of human identity than Psalm 8. Succinct and beautiful, David states the question powerfully and points us toward the answer.
3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you set in place,
4 what is a human being that you remember him,
a son of man that you look after him?
5 You made him little less than God
and crowned him with glory and honor. (Ps. 8:3-5 CSB)
What is a human being? David encourages us to:
Look up. Rather than looking in the mirror to find his true identity, David looks into the night sky. Wisdom comes to those who realize how small and insignificant they are in comparison to the One who created the cosmos. To answer the question of human identity, look upward, not inward.
Ask God. When a kitchen appliance is not working properly, it helps to read the Instruction Manual. And when one’s identity becomes confused and chaotic, well, it makes sense to talk to the One who created you. The idea that we can create ourselves is a fiction made in hell. God created us and finds joy in helping us to find our identity in him. His Instruction Manual (the Bible) is the best place to start.
Embrace paradox. On the one hand, compared to the cosmos, we are small and insignificant. On the other hand, we are a “little less than God and crowned with glory and honor”. Both are true, at the same time! When we live in the tension of that paradox, we begin to understand who we are.
Behold the Man (Jn. 19:5). The New Testament tells us that Psalm 8 is talking about Jesus Christ (see Heb. 2:5-9). This means that I find my identity when I contemplate Jesus and model my life after his. He illustrates perfectly the art of being human.
For the next two blogs, I’ll be devoting more attention to the question, What does it mean to be human? In Part II, we will seek to define a human person by explaining what he is not. Then, in Part III we will look at what he is.