6. The ultimate purpose of the divine image.
We are not dependent on counsel here either. The final purpose of the divine image is certainly evident from its content. God created the man after his own, the divine. God created man in his own, the divine image, because he wanted to have a creature among the creatures a. that would recognize him, live according to his will and enjoy bliss in his fellowship, b. that would be his representative ruler on earth. After this original purpose has fallen away through the sin of man, God takes it up again in Christ in such a way that he cancels the sin of man for the sake of Christ's substitutionary
1550) Luther, Opp. ex., Eri. I, 82 sqq.: Fiunt Adam et Heva rectores terrae, maris et aeris. Committitur autem eis hoc dominium non solum consilio, sed etiam expresso mandato. … Ergo nudus homo sine armis et muris, imo etiam sine vestitu omni in sola sua nuda carne dominatus est omnibus volucribus, feris et piscibus. ..… Quis potest cogitare istam quasi portionem divinae naturae, quod Adam et Heva omnes omnium animalium affectus, sensus et vires omnes intellexerunt? Quale enim regnum fuisset, nisi hoc scivissent? ... Si igitur volumus praedicare insignem philosophum, praedicemus primos nostros parentes, cum adhuc essent a peccato puri. ... Etiam stellarum et totius astronomiae rationem certissimam habuerunt. Quae autem efficimus in vita, ea non fiunt per dominium, quod Adam habuit, sed per industriam et artem. Sicut videmus, dolo et fraude capi aves et pisces; sic arte cicurantur bestiae. Nam quae maxime domestica sunt, ut anseres, gallinae, tamen per se et sua natura fera sunt. [Google] Ergo leprosum hoc corpus habet adhuc Dei beneficio speciem aliquam dominii in alias creaturas. Sed id perexiguum est et longe inferius illo primo dominio, ubi non arte, non dolis opus fuit, sed simpliciter divinae voci paruit creatura, cum iuberentur Adam et Heva dominari eis. Ergo nomen et vocabulum dominii retinemus ceu nudum titulum; ipsa autem res fere tota amissa est. Et tamen bonum est ista scire et cogitare, ut suspiremus illum venturum diem, in quo haec nobis restituentur, quae in paradiso per peccatum amisimus. Expectamus enim eam vitam, quam expectasset quoque Adam. Atque hoc recte miramur, et Deo ob id gratias agimus, quod nos peccato sic deformati, sic hebetes, stupidi et mortui quasi, per beneficium Christi expectamus eandem gloriam vitae spiritualis, quam Adam expectaturus erat, si mansisset in sua animali vita, quae imaginem Dei habebat. [Google]
626 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The doctrines of man. [English ed. 523-524]
satisfaction and restores the knowledge of God and the holiness of the will in those who believe in Christ, Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24. The knowledge of God after the Fall thus gains a new object, because it has primo loco the God as object, who forgives sin for the sake of Christ and through faith in Him without the works of the law (Luke 1:77: γνώοις σωτηρίας ... εν άφέσει αμαρτιών. Whether at what point and how God, if man had not fallen, would have allowed a change to occur later in the status of man before the fall (in the "paradisiacal state") is only a matter of conjecture. Certainly, the concept of salvation, σωτηρία, salus, does not apply to man before the fall, because the σωτηρία acquired through Christ has the Fall as a prerequisite. Luke 19:10: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save (σώσαι) that which was lost."