Know Thyself to Know Thy God

Can'ts and won'ts. Do's and don'ts. Forget that and follow this. To the nonbeliever, the Christian faith can appear to focus primarily on the rules we follow (or fail to follow), the feelings we work to cast aside, and the self-control we strive so hard to possess. But what if following Jesus was less about controlling the self and more about understanding the self? What if, before denying ourselves, we had first to know ourselves? While ancient philosophy, modern psychology, and aspects of the Christian tradition have failed to provide a holistic understanding of the self, an understanding of the Biblical creation narrative, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and the ministry of Jesus, can show how “knowing thyself” can provide a way to know thy God.

The Origins of Know Thyself

Legend has it that at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, located a two-hour drive from Athens, Greece, a carving in the forecourt bears the inscription of a Delphic maxim reading, “Know thyself.” Scholars debate whether this maxim came directly from the lips of the Greek god Apollo himself, or if (and perhaps, more likely), this is one of many popular proverbs that were later attributed to particular sages.[1] Either way, this piece of philosophical wisdom has been interpreted in a myriad of different ways.

Ancient Greek literature ascribes various meanings to this phrase.[2] In Prometheus Bound, a play written by Aeschylus, Prometheus (prone to speak against the gods above him) is cautioned to “know thyself,” most likely meaning that he should know his place in the world.[3] A similar definition is found in Plato’s work, Charmides. Here, “know thyself” is used synonymously with the phrase “be temperate” as an admonition to those entering their temple to know their standing and to act accordingly.[4] Later, Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia of Greek knowledge, defines the phrase “know thyself” as meaning “pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude.”[5]

Fast forward a few hundred years and this idea takes a much more literal turn. In the early 16th century, the Latin phrase nosce te ipsum begins to show up in anatomical atlases in reference to things learned about the human body through dissection.[6] To avoid continuing down an all too vivid medicinal road, this same Latin phrase was later turned outward. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes reinterpreted nosce te ipsum to mean “read thyself,” which he used to support the argument that one could learn about both their own self and others if they regarded themselves as books, saying, “whosoever looketh into himself and considereth what he doth when he does think, opine, reason, hope, fear, etc., and upon what grounds; he shall thereby read and know what are the thoughts and passions of all other men upon the like occasions.”[7] Of course, this task is easier said than done. Or, as Benjamin Franklin remarked in Poor Richard’s Almanac, “There are three shings extremely hard, steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.”[8] At this point, one has to wonder which is more difficult: to interpret the meaning of the phrase “know thyself” or to actually know one’s self.

This list still barely scratches the surface. Other great thinkers who have pondered the topic of self-knowledge include Alexander Pope, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Samuel T. Coleridge, and Sun Tzu. But before opining on the various historical and philosophical musings around the concept of knowing oneself, a turn to the more modern approach of psychology may shed some light on the subject. After all, to begin the process of understanding the self, a mirror may be the best place to start.

The Mirror Test

When someone is asked to describe themselves, several variables come to mind— physical appearance, occupation, hobbies, relationships, etc. When it comes to defining identity, this list represents a great start. Wrestling with an answer to that question is the beginning of self-awareness. The process that follows for anyone looking to understand themselves is both existential (“Who am I?”) and practical (“What am I like?”). To answer the second question, a simple place to begin is with a mirror. In fact, it is such a simple place to start that even some animals can do it.

In 1970, psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. wanted to find out if animals were capable of “visual self-recognition.”[9] To do so, he came up with an experiment where he would anesthetize an animal, place a mark on a part of the body that the animal didn’t normally look at it, then place the animal in front of a mirror. If the animal noticed the mark in the mirror and turned to investigate that spot on their own body, that animal could be said to have at least some sense of self-awareness. Typically, it is not until a human is 18 months old that they are able to self-recognize, and other species that have passed this test include dogs, chimpanzees, pandas, dolphins, and even a robot.[10] But take this test a step further.

It does not take high levels of self-awareness to look into a mirror and recognize oneself in it (it would be more alarming if someone could not do that than impressive if they could). But turning a physical mirror onto a physical body is only the first step in self-awareness. Step two begins to move away from the practical questions of physical appearance and into the existential questions of what it means to be human. Here, the Christian tradition is more than ready to step in and begin answering this question.

Starting with some of the most obvious examples, Paul writes “put off your old self…and put on the new self” (hard to put on or off any selves that one neither knows nor understands). [11] He also instructs Timothy to “keep a close watch on yourself,”[12] and in Corinthians, he reminds the church to “examine yourselves.”[13] This tradition of self-knowledge continued to Augustine in AD 400 who asked, “How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self?” As an answer to that question, he prayed, “Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know thee.”[14] Also, John Calvin echoed this sentiment when he wrote, “Our wisdom…consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.”[15] Lastly, in a more modern example, Henri Nouwen writes, “The mystery of the spiritual life is that Jesus desires to meet us in the seclusion of our own heart, to make his love known to us there, to free us from our fears, and to make our own deepest self known to us. In the privacy of our heart, therefore, we can learn not only to know Jesus but, through Jesus, ourselves as well.”[16] The Christian faith teaches us that the value God imparts on those who loves says something about those people (us) as well as the nature and character of God himself.

Self-awareness, then, seems pretty straightforward. In one hand, we hold the knowledge of God while in the other we hold the knowledge of self. As one increases so does the other—or, at the very least, the two appear intertwined. The problems arise in discovering that knowing ourselves isn’t all that easy—or, even worse, when we finds that we dislike the version of ourselves we have begun to discover.

Rejecting Our Own Reflection

Earlier, the mirror test showed how humans and (some) animals alike have the ability to recognize a reflection of themselves. In Gordon Gallup’s experiments with animals, however, there is no record of an animal being repulsed by their own reflection—or feeling what humans call “insecurity.” In beginning to increase the consciousness of self, humans almost immediately hit the roadblock of self-consciousness and begin to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. This is a uniquely human trait. Man and woman alone are capable of looking at themselves in a mirror and hating what they see. And what’s worse: we hate that we hate what we see.

When 1,000 Americans were asked which feeling they’d most like to avoid, 38 percent said shame.[17] Negative self-perception, and the shame that comes because of it, then leads into a downward spiral of mental disorders. In 2019, 1 in 10 American adults reported symptoms of anxiety or a depressive disorder.[18] In response, the church hasn’t exactly excelled. In a Stanford survey, over 30 percent of participants reported a negative church interaction in the context of their mental distress.[19] In a similar survey of a group of Christians, over 40 percent described having their psychiatric diagnoses dismissed by the church.[20] But perhaps the ultimate reflection of the inability to come to terms with who one is boils down to the ultimate act of self-hate. In 2018, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States.[21] It ranks fourth among all causes of death in terms of potential years of life lost.[22] And from 1999, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking suicide, to 2018, suicide rates increased 35 percent to 14.2 suicides per 100,000 people.[23]

One might look at these numbers and hope that Christians are different. Surely, people of faith have set an example of what it means to look in the mirror, recognize what’s there, and do the hard work of understanding themselves and their relationship with God. But to come face-to-face with Christianity’s failure in this area, we turn to an unlikely source: The Da Vinci Code.

The camera opens on a man in a dark room removing his robe to reveal scarred and bruised alabaster skin. As he steps forward into the light that shines on a crucifix hanging against the wall, the man kneels to remove his cilice—a spiked chain he wears on his upper thigh as a reminder of Christ’s suffering—which reveals open and bloody wounds. Switching the cilice to the other leg and tightening it once more over bruised and broken skin, the man grimaces in pain and makes the sign of the cross toward the crucifix, murmuring a painstaking prayer. Then, after standing and steadying himself, the man picks up a knotted whip and flagellates himself over both shoulders until blood slides down his back.

This scene from The Da Vinci Code is traumatizing—both for the viewers and, one could assume, for the actor forced to portray such a brutal act of self-harm. Though this moment was most likely included in the film for its shock value, the history of this type of behavior within the church is both ongoing and surprisingly well-documented. St. Dominic Loricatus, who died in 1060, received his surname from the rough iron coat of mail he wore next to his skin and only removed when he performed the canonical penance of receiving three thousand lashes while reciting ten psalms.[24] The popular 13th century mystic, St. Francis of Assisi, was known for wearing a hairshirt beneath all his clothing, which rubbed and irritated his skin as a sign of penance.[25] Only a little over a century later, one can study Catherine of Siena who is sometimes recognized for her “holy anorexia,” wherein she would subsist only on the Lord’s Supper—before she eventually died of starvation at the age of 33.[26] For some time, Saint Therese of Lisieux, the 19th-century French saint, wore a small iron crucifix with a sharp point that pressed into her chest as a reminder of the penance she owed to God.[27] Even into the 20th-century, there are records of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, and even Mother Teresa practicing various forms of self- flagellation.

How is it that a faith built on hope, peace, joy, salvation, and everlasting life turned into one of hatred and self-loathing? One possible answer is that self-awareness hasn’t gone far enough. Looking at the examples above, it would seem that the more we know ourselves, the more we dislike ourselves, so why would we want to go further? It makes sense that the Christian, knowing the countless ways in which they fall short of God’s standard,[28] grows frustrated and fed up with trying to get there on their own.[29] Hence, the strong sense of shame and the reflex that turns the “self” into an enemy to be punished and ruled over. Christians take one look in the mirror and get tired of their humanity, tired of their brokenness, tired of repeated failure, so they begin to view “themselves” as the very enemy of the spiritually full life they so crave. The reality, however, is that a fallen humanity is just the surface of what awaits us in the mirror. Beneath the layer of sin and shame there exists the image of God, the Holy Spirit himself, and someone for whom the son of God deemed it was worthy to die.

God In Us

“In the beginning, God created.”[30] Everything that follows this phrase tells the story of a good, powerful, relational God creating, loving, and saving. And after reading the narrative of his creation of heavens, earth, plants, and animals, readers arrive to the jewel of all he has made—humans.

God created humanity to represent His image[31] and to rule the earth.[32] By creating humanity from dust and breathing life into him,[33] God instilled a unique responsibility for us to relate to both the earthly and heavenly realms, or as C.S. Lewis puts it, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”[34] Humanity was made from both the physical, temporal, dirty ground upon which he lived and from the very breath of the holy, infinite, beautiful God that made it all. It’s the combination of these ingredients—one part dirt, one part God’s breath—that makes understanding the human condition so complicated. Humans are instilled with the holiness of God while also being tied to the temporality of this world. And as history has already shown, it’s much easier to focus on what’s dirty about us (our fallen and broken humanity) than it is to discern how God’s breath exists in us and what that means about how we are called to live. But knowing how and why God made humanity is crucial to discerning not only everyone’s role on this earth, but their relationship to the one who made it.

Continuing through the creation narrative, God puts man in charge of the animals,[35] with the goal that his dominion would spread from the Garden of Eden to the rest of the earth.[36] Adam existed to represent God to the world. Where God brought order out of chaos, Adam was supposed to do the same. Where God created life, Adam was supposed to cultivate and care for that which had been created. This purpose did not stop with Adam but has continued through the generations.[37] It is, therefore, still humanity’s responsibility to care for the earth in a way that reflects God.[38] Therefore, the lives of image-bearers should be ones defined by love,[39] justice,[40] compassion,[41] service,[42] and grace.[43] Yet, at the same time, this clear and obvious command to be like God must be held in tension with the fact that we know we can only fail to do so.

This is where, yet again, we discover that what reflects back in our mirror isn’t to our liking. Yes, man and woman were made in the image of God, but that image seems so rarely to shine through. Thankfully, God foresaw this very issue. He knew we would get here. So, he sent a helper.

God With Us

When Jesus left the disciples on earth, he promised that he would send them a helper.[44] He promised them that they would never be alone, and that this helper would teach them and tell them what to do.[45] Putting oneself in the disciples’ shoes, it’s easy to understand why they might have felt fearful, uncertain, and overwhelmed. They had just witnessed an event that would change the course of human history, and while they knew they had to tell people about it, the very person they had followed for the past three years doing that exact thing had just left them completely alone. Turn the page to Acts chapter 2 and God shows how he would solve for this loneliness problem:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.[46]

The Holy Spirit is consistently considered one of the most confusing topics within the Christian faith. Believers rarely know how to talk about it, let alone discern how it’s working in their lives. Yet, as seen here in Pentecost, the Holy Spirit “filled” the followers of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is much more than a side assistant, a little helper, or an extra pair of hands—he is the substance which sustains believers. So, to understand the Holy Spirit is to understand the very nature of God that fills those who believe in him.

To start, the Holy Spirit is a distinctly divine person with intelligence,[47] emotions,[48] and personal will[49] who stands parallel[50] to God the Son as the other counselor.[51] God works through the Holy Spirit by comforting[52] and guiding[53] believers. As the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit works as the personal presence of God in the hearts of believers and the body of the church.[54] While the Bible reveals that God the Father and God the Son dwell in heaven,[55] the Holy Spirit is the means through which believers personally experience God on earth.[56] He is the internal operating presence of the eternal God.[57] Like the early church at Pentecost, believers have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit[58] and experience His influence and regeneration.[59]

This triune God is a loving and relational being[60] who reflects the deepest mysteries of the universe,[61] and who loves us,[62] died for us,[63] rose for us,[64] and lives in us[65] that we may better know, love, and worship Him.[66] This is the triune God in whose image man and woman were made.[67] This is the God who Christians reflect to the world. When believers look into the mirror, they can know that this God is with them—both in the fact that he created them in his image and that he has indwelled them via the Holy Spirit. But the good news keeps getting better. If that wasn’t enough to show that looking into ourselves can open our eyes to see God, we can also look at the way Jesus viewed humans and the value he gave to their lives just by being himself.

God For Us

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus spends almost all his time doing two things: teaching and healing. In all things, he is serving those around him.[68] While his mission on earth was to die on the cross for the sins of humanity, come back to life, and open the door to eternal life with the living God for all who would believe, he did even more than that. In his life and ministry, he exhibits something about the nature of God and the way he views people.

There is a section early in the book of Matthew that describes the beginnings of Jesus’s earthly ministry. He has just called Matthew to follow him, given a teaching on fasting, and healed a handful of people before something stops him in his tracks: “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”[69] This moment is one of the most beautiful images of Jesus’s distinct divinity and humanity. He looked out at the people he had chosen to create, to come down to, and to save, and he felt compassion for them. If humanity could only see themselves the same way Jesus sees them. While men and women look in the mirror and see what they hate, Jesus looks at them and sees what he loves—what he deems as worthy to live and die for. It’s quite literally the best news there ever was. And in his awareness for the state in which humans were living, Jesus took this compassion he felt, and he acted upon it—while also encouraging his followers to do the same.

In the Gospel of Luke, there’s a similar moment amidst the madness that was Jesus’ ministry. It’s easy to read story after story and jump through the life of Jesus like a jackrabbit, but occasionally, things happen that cause Jesus to stop or slow down. And when we slow down with him in our reading of Scripture, we can find something profound. This instance happens when Jesus is drawing near to Jericho, and on the roadside a blind beggar is desperately crying out and trying to catch Jesus’ attention. Luke describes what happens: “Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.’”[70] Jesus asked a question that forced this man into self-reflection. This is the way Jesus acted. He looked at people—really looked at them—felt compassion for them and asked them what they wanted. He knew them intimately and asked them questions that forced them to know themselves, their wants, and their desires, and then he met them there.

How powerful would the Christian faith be if men and women of faith encouraged one another to view themselves the way Jesus viewed them? What would it look like to go to church and be met not with the mirror that leads to self-loathing but with the compassion that Jesus showed toward those he encountered? How much more would believers come to love their God if they took the time to inquire of themselves in the same way that Jesus inquired of those he took the time to heal? If Jesus deemed people worthy of knowing, worthy of feeling compassion for, worthy of living, dying, and coming back to life for, then who has the right to disparage the very selves that God has outwardly claimed he loves?

Know Thy Self To Know Thy God

Many have been taught that when it comes to a loving relationship with God, they’re the problem. Their sins, their faults, their failures are what keep them from fully knowing and experiencing him. Therefore, they believe that what’s left to do is live out this life as best they can, hoping for glimpses of God’s presence in a broken and fallen world while waiting for eternity when all these problems will then be solved. But if we understand that God instilled his image in humanity, sent the Holy Spirit to always be with those who believe, and through Jesus showed that he is for them, we can begin to live today with an understanding that we are much more than living, breathing, boxes of sin—we are actually reflections of an all-powerful God, empowered by his indwelling spirit, called to live like his one and only son. What we see then is that when we learn about ourselves—when we pay attention to who we really are—we’re learning about God. We can better know our God by better knowing ourselves because he is in us, with us, and for us.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux explains how understanding the way we know and feel about ourselves impacts our view of God like this: “[The human soul, however] cannot feel anything about God or feel God except through her own being….There are, then four kinds of human beings: the bad, the worse, the good, and the better. Each one feels about God according to the way they feel about themselves.”[71] Knowing ourselves opens our eyes to see the virtue with which we are capable of behaving while also showing us our own limitations. The virtue that someone lives with reflects God because it shows how God can work in and through someone—there’s a reason they’re called the fruits of the Spirit and not the fruits of the self. Yet, at the same time, knowing our inadequacies emphasizes humanity’s need for God. When it comes to looking at virtue in one’s own life, Hans Urs Von Balthasar explains it like this:

There are two ways in which a Christian can regard virtue; either he can treat it as a quality inherent in himself, a habitu which he has some justification for attributing to himself (after all, he sees that he has initiated these ‘acts of virtue’, rejected temptation, and acquired skill in doing good); or else he can realize that it depends entirely upon the grace of God working within him—in spite of him![72]

Self-awareness should point us toward the latter view of virtue. Holding both of these aspects of humanity in each hand allows us to live with incredible gratitude for the ways in which God has chosen to work through us and it gives us an appreciation for the fact that he has not abandoned humanity to our own self-centered devices. In knowing ourselves, we can come to a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the God who made us, who loves us, and who is in us, with us, and for us.

Conclusion

Throughout history, philosophy and psychology have shown us that the self is something we can never fully comprehend or understand while many in the Christian faith have considered the “self” solely as the enemy against which we fight. Neither gets it right. In exploring the way God designed man and woman to bear his image, in the way the Holy Spirit indwells and works in and through humans, and in how Jesus viewed and treated people, we can see that knowing oneself is a step toward knowing God. In exploring who we are, why we do what we do, and what makes us feel the way we feel, we can better understand the God in whose image we were created. Self-awareness shows us the beginning of the virtue with which we are capable of living (via the image of God in us and the Holy Spirit working through us), and it opens our eyes to the areas of our lives where we desperately need a savior—one of whom has already been provided through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[1] H.W. Parke and D.E.W. Wormell, The Delphic Oracle (Oxford: Blackwell, 1956), 389.

[2] Eliza G. Wilkins, “ΕΓΓΥΑ, ΠΑΡΑ ΔΑΤΗ in Literature” in Classical Philology (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1927), 121-135.

[3] Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (Portland: Mint Editions, 2020).

[4] Plato, Plato in Twelve Volumes (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955).

[5] Suda Online, s.v. “know thyself,” SOL, last modified August 2002, accessed July 19, 2021. https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/gamma/334

[6] William Schupbach, The Paradox of Rembrandt’s “Anatomy of Dr. Tulp” (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1982), 67-68.

[7] Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, (Cambridge: University Press, 1904), xix.

[8] Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography. Poor Richard. Letters. (New York City: D. Appleton and Company, 1904), 195.

[9] Gordon Gallup Jr., “Chimpanzees: Self Recognition” in Science, Vol. 167, Is. 3914, (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1970), 86-87.

[10] “Robot learns to recognize itself in mirror.” BBC News, last modified August 2012, accessed July 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19354994

[11] Eph. 4:22-24. Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced employ the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008).

[12] 1 Tim. 4:16

[13] 2 Cor. 13:5

[14] Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 39.

[15] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), 37.

[16] Henri Nouwen, “Jesus Makes Our Deepest Self Known,” Henri Nouwen Society, last modified April 2020, accessed July 2021, https://henrinouwen.org/meditation/jesus-makes-our-deepest-self-known/.

[17] Bob Smietana, “Americans Want to Avoid Shame, Make Their Loved Ones Proud,” Lifeway Research, last modified May 2017, accessed July 2021, https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/05/23/americans-want-to-avoid-shame-make-their-loved-ones-proud/.

[18] Nirmita Panchal, “The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Abuse,” Kaiser Family Foundation, last modified February 2021, accessed July 2021, https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/.

[19] Matthew S. Stanford. “Demon or disorder: A survey of attitudes toward mental illness in the Christian church.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, last modified August 2007, accessed July 2021. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13674670600903049

[20] Matthew S. Stanford and Kandace R. McAlister, “Perceptions of Serious Mental Illness in the Local Church,” Journal of Religion, Disability & Health 12, no. 2 (October 11, 2008).

[21] “Leading Causes of Death,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last modified March 2021, accessed July 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm.

[22] Benjamin Miller and Justin Coffey, “Understanding Suicide Risk and Prevention,” Health Affairs, last modified January 2021, accessed July 2021, https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20201228.198475/full/.

[23] Holly Hedegaard, “Suicide Mortality in the United States, 1999-2017,” National Center for Health Statistics, last modified November 2018, accessed July 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db330.htm.

[24] "Dominic Loricatus, St." in New Catholic Encyclopedia. Accessed July 2021. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dominic-loricatus-st.

[25] Augustine Thompson. Francis of Assisi: A New Biography. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012), 15.

[26] André Vauchez. Catherine of Siena: A Life of Passion and Purpose. (New York: Paulist Press, 2018)

[27] Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Mission. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1954), 175.

[28] Rom. 3:23

[29] “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” – Ecc. 1:18

[30] Gen. 1:1

[31] Gen. 1:26-28

[32] John A. Adair. “Lecture Videos: Introduction and Creation” Unit 1. Video 9: Genesis 1. ST103 (Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall Semester, 2020). “Humans are caretakers of the world, rulers.”

[33] Gen. 2:7

[34] C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity. (New York: Macmillan, 1960.)

[35] Gen. 1:26

[36] Gen. 1:28

[37] Gen. 5:1-2

[38] John A. Adair. “Lecture Videos: Made in the Image of God” Unit 2. Video 2: Imago Dei in the Scriptures. ST103 (Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall Semester, 20120). “The idea of ruling here should be connected to caring for God's creation.”

[39] Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012). 24. “For if, before all things, God was eternally a Father, then this God is an inherently outgoing, life-giving God. He did not give life for the first time when he decided to create; from eternity he has been life-giving.”

[40] Is. 1:17

[41] Jn. 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; Col. 1:19-20

[42] Phil. 2:1-11

[43] 1 Pt. 4:10

[44] Jn. 14:16

[45] Jn. 14:26; 15:26

[46] Acts 2:1-4 (emphasis added)

[47] Jn. 14:26; 15:26; Rom. 8:27; 1 Cor. 2:10-13

[48] Eph. 4:30; Heb. 10:29

[49] Acts 8:29; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 1 Cor. 12:11

[50] Scott Horrell. ST102A, PowerPoint 6.D2, “Holy Spirit,” pg. 27. “John 14:16-17a, ‘And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor (allon parakleton) to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.’ Allon = ‘one of the same kind’ cf. 1 John 2:1”

[51] Jn. 14:16-17; Rom. 8:26

[52] Ac. 9:31

[53] Jn. 16:13-14

[54] Gordon Fee, “Paul and the Trinity,” The Trinity, eds. Stephen T. Davis, Danial Kendall, Gerald O’Collins. (Oxford Scholarship Online, 2002). “The Spirit literally is the personal presence of God sent into our hearts and into the church.”

[55] Ac. 2:33; 7:55-56; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pt. 3:22

[56] Scott Horrell. ST102A, PowerPoint 6.D2, “Holy Spirit,” pg. 46. “It is especially through the Holy Spirit that we directly experience God. Moreover, it is through the Spirit that the presence of the Father and the Son are mediated to the believer. So, if we are ‘born again’ and indwelled by the Holy Spirit, we are also ‘in Christ’ and Christ is in us, and we are the temple of the living God. So, God comes to us as Trinity especially through the Holy Spirit.”

[57] John Owen. A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, Bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III (London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852) p. 200. “It is sottish ignorance and infidelity to suppose that, under the Gospel, there is no communication between God and us but what is, on His part, in laws, commands, and promises; and on ours, by obedience performed in our strength, and upon our convictions unto them. To exclude hence the real internal operations of the Holy Ghost, is to destroy the Gospel.”

[58] Ac. 4:31

[59] Rom. 8:9, 14-16

[60] Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 42-43. “It is that the Father has always enjoyed loving another, and so the act of creation by which he creates others to love seems utterly appropriate for him.”

[61] Ibid, pg. 12. “God is a mystery in that who he is and what he is like are secrets, things we would never have worked out by ourselves.”

[62] Jn. 3:16

[63] Rom. 5:8

[64] 1 Pt. 1:3

[65] Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 4:6-7; 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:27

[66] Jn. 14:16, 26; Rom. 5:5; 15:13; 2 Cor. 3:17

[67] Gen. 1:26

[68] Mt. 20:28

[69] Mt. 9:35-36 (emphasis added)

[70] Luke 18:40-42

[71] Franz Posset, The Two-Fold Knowledge: Readings on the Knowledge of Self & the Knowledge of God Selected & Translated from the Works of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2004), 48.

[72] Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Mission. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1954), 175.