Verbal Vomit:

                                                 Wesley’s Doctrine of Humankind
                                                                 Image of God

           John Wesley’s doctrine of humankind is a critical thread woven throughout his
entire theology. He builds this doctrine on the Biblical understanding that God created
humankind in His own image. Surveying this illustration through the lens of John
Wesley’s doctrine of humankind, we can see that humanity has interacted with the image
in which it was created, in three distinct postures through which we approach humankind
in Wesley’s doctrine: Pre-fallen, fallen, and new birth. Each posture is marked by certain
characteristics, which impact humanity’s being, soul, and relationship to God. This
commentary will explore these three expressed postures and the attributes therein as it
concentrates on understanding how John Wesley approached the ‘image of God’ within
his doctrine of humankind.
            To fully discern how Wesley understood the ‘image of God’, we start with how he
approached the physical, namely the human body. Wesley understood our bodies to be
created from the ‘dust of the earth’ as the Geneses account states. As he knew the Earth,
being comprised of four different elements, he then made the conclusion that if the human
body came from the soil of the Earth, it’s composition is similar with the addition of a
fifth; “But besides this strange compound of the four elements,--earth, water, air, and fire,-
-I find in me of a quite different nature, nothing akin to any of these. I find something in
me that thinks; which neither earth, water, air, fire, nor any mixture of them, can possibly
do: Something which sees, and hears, and smells, and tastes, and feels; all which are so
many modes of thinking.” (7:226) This fifth element contained within these four elements
is our immortal spirit.
           This immortal spirit is not simply contained within the physical body but it
governs it, placing it as the overarching trademark of humankind causing all other
qualifiers to be secondary; “namely, that the body is not the man; that man is not only a
house of clay, but an immortal spirit; a spirit made in the image of God; an incorruptible
picture of the God of glory; a spirit that is of infinitely more value than the whole
earth…” (7:171) It is this immortal spirit that Wesley labels the soul. He would say that
soul is the lens through which we judge and discern life in every mode of reason. It is
where true children of the Enlightenment would appeal to as what identifies them as an
individual. But for Wesley, we only give it such a place of prominence because it bares
the image of God and therefore is endued with His attributes. “But my soul has from Him
an inward principle of motion, whereby it governs at pleasure every part of the body.”
(7:227) It is in the interaction with this inward principal of the soul that differs within the
three distinct postures of Wesley’s doctrine of humankind.

           The first posture that we encounter in Wesley’s doctrine of humankind is that of
the pre-fallen nature, seen through the biblical figure Adam. The soul that Adam
embodied in his pre-fallen state provided him with immense decrement according to
Wesley. Adam was able to not simply understand the existence of truth and falsehood but
he was able to truly and fully distinguish between the two. “Light and darkness there
were, but no twilight”. (Outler,15) He alludes to how Adam was able to give labels to all
the creatures of the Earth in such a short span of time to strengthen this argument.
However, what Wesley is really concerned with in what we understand about Adam’s
soul is how closely tied to the creator it actually was; “Man was what God is, Love. Love
filled the whole expansion of his soul; it possessed him without a rival. Every moment of
his heart was love: it knew no other fervour. Love was his vital heat; it was the genial
warmth that animated his whole frame. And the flame of it was continually streaming
forth, directly to him from whom it came, and by reflection to all sensitive natures,
inasmuch as they too were his offspring; but especially to those superior beings who bore
not only the superscription, but likewise the image of their Creator.” (Outler,16)
          Adam’s soul did not have to be told the primary commandment: " 'Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " (Luke 10:27) This command would
have made no sense to his soul because all it knew was the fulfillment of it. Adam’s soul
did not contemplate an alternate way of existing because it only knew ultimate reality and
saw everything as it was; “his understanding was just; everything appeared to him
according to its real nature. It never was betrayed into any mistake; whatever he
perceived, he perceived as it was. He thought not of many things, but he thought wrong of
none.” (Outler, 15) The need for satisfaction on any level was not known to Adam’s soul
because it had no understanding of what it was to need. Because he was so tied with the
image he was created in, he knew ultimate rest, he knew ultimate joy, and he knew
ultimate love undefined and unaware for it dwelled in and through him unceasingly.
           It is important to note here the intricacy that Wesley saw in the relationship
between our souls and our earthly bodies. Wesley was constantly fascinated with the
latest sciences of his time concerning medicine and health, and this fascination shows
through his preaching. Often times in our society we emphasis the distinction between
soul and body to such an extent that we find ourselves separating them from one another.
This is not the case with Wesley. He is constantly exhorting us to see that we are both clay and spirit, intricately fused with one another until the day our clay returns to the
Earth and our spirit to God. “Indeed at present this body is so intimately connected with
the soul, that I seem to consist of both. In my present state of existence, I undoubtedly
consist both of soul and body: And so I shall again, after the resurrection, to all eternity”.
(7:228) This ‘intimate connection’ between soul and body is critical in understanding
Wesley’s perspective of the ‘image of God’. When this intimate relationship is properly
maintained, true happiness is the result, as we see with the pre-fallen Adam. However,
when this complex bond is rejected, it has devastating consequences that affect every
facet of existence, as we will see in the next section.

         “He willfully and openly rebelled against God, and cast off his allegiance to the
Majesty of heaven. Hereby he instantly lost both favor of God, and the image of God
wherein he was created.” (7:230) As in the pre-fallen posture of the ‘image of God’, the
intimate partnership affected every facet of human existence. This is no different in
Adam’s rejection of the image that he was created in, if not exemplified. Wesley does not
only see Adam’s rejection of the image he was created in, but also the attempt to take on
and create a new image for himself with horrific results. “Not only deprived of the favor
of God but also of his image; of all virtue, righteousness, and true holiness; and sunk part
into the image of the devil, in pride, malice, and all other diabolical tempers; partly into
the image of the brute, being fallen under the dominion of brutal passions and groveling
appetites. Hence also death entered into the world, with all his forerunners and attendants,
pain, sickness, and a whole train of uneasy as well as unholy passions and tempers.”
(Outler, pg. 476)
          Wesley’s fascination with the human body and meticulous detail are again
revealed in no small way in his interpretation of how Adam lost the ‘image of God’. His
view on the deadly elements of the fruit Adam ingested is an indication of this; “…the
fruit of the tree alone of whose deadly nature he was forewarned seems to have contained
a juice, the particles of which apt to cleave to whatever they touched. Some of these,
being received into the human body, might adhere to the inner coats of the finer vessels;
to which again other particles that before floated loose in the blood, continually joining,
would naturally lay a foundation for numberless disorders in all parts of the machine.”
(Outler, pg.17) In this even ‘finer’ rejection of the image he was created in, Adam was
sealing the fate for the rest of humankind in this action. For through him being the first
human, his willful rejection of the image he was created in to take on another was
representing all of humankind at that time. Whereby all of his descendants would
inevitably have to fallow the path that he willfully chose.
“For all this we may thank Adam, has echoed down from generation to
generation. The selfsame charge has been repeated in every age, and in every nation
where the oracles of God are known. In which alone this grand an important event has been discovered to the children of men.” (Outler, pg.476) It is in this fallen posture,
between the full happiness of the pre-fallen and striving for such through new birth that
we can explore the dynamic effects of the ‘image of God’. Stretching from Wesley’s
complex outcomes of a negative and positive interaction with the ‘image of God’, in
terms of the individual, to the synergistic understanding impacting the whole of creation.
As we know from before, the pre-fallen posture of a perfect interaction between the
human soul and the image, wherein it was created, endued to the individual a perfect
decrement to clearly distinguish between ‘falsehood and truth’. This allowed the
individual to participate in perfect union with nature, God, and other human beings.
Through Wesley’s doctrine, we can see the ‘image of God’ illustrated in three distinct
aspects: natural, political, and moral.

      The natural aspect of God’s image is referring to the picture of what we discussed
earlier in regards to the pre-fallen soul. Adam clearly had perfect understanding which
allowed him to see his existence for what it truly was; being in constant communion with
God. This allowed Adam to have full control over and even negate the understanding of a
personal will. His knowledge was complete and therefore the presence of any deviating
desires was simply not an issue. This perfect understanding and placement of will lead to
an unprecedented liberty. This is the aspect of God’s image that directs all the desires of
humankind into what God is; love. In understanding that all of humankind was created in
this image of God, Wesley stresses that all of humanity still bares a resemblance of that
natural image; “…an immaterial principle, a spiritual nature, endued with understanding,
and affections, and a degree of liberty; of a self-moving, yea, and self-governing power.
And, secondly, all that is vulgarly called natural conscience; implying some discernment
of the difference between moral good and evil, with an approbation of the one, and
disapprobation of the other, by inward monitor, excusing or accusing? Certainly, whether
this is natural or superadded by the grace of God, it is found, at least in some small
degree, in every child of man.” (7:345)
       The political aspect of the image of God for Wesley, places humanity as God’s
instituted governors of His creation. He obviously draws this from the language in the
Geneses account, whereby God gives Adam authority in both labeling the living creatures
and the freedom to harvest from whatever the Earth yielded. Just as the immortal spirit
was the governing attribute within humankind through which all ‘passions and tempers’
are regulated, so did God place humanity as the great regulator of His great creation. “As
all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures; as man
was the great channel of communication between the Creator and the whole brute
creation; so when himself incapable of transmitting those blessings, that communication
was necessarily cut off”. (2:442) This communication was cut off because humankind
decided to no longer be the apparatus through which blessings and unity could flow through, but rather chose to be the primary receptacle to which the blessings flowed and
remained. With this type of reservoir being implemented God’s hierarchy of rule and
ultimately His political image no longer functioned as it was meant to.
      The moral image of God, for Wesley, was the chief of all three. It was through
this image that humankind’s purpose was designed after. “In this image of God was man
made.” Wesley declares, “God is love: accordingly man at his creation was full of love,
which was the sole principle of all his tempers, thoughts, words, and actions.” (Outler,
337) It seems that for Wesley, it was this image that all the other images of God was
regulated by. As long as this moral image was maintained, the political and the natural
images then would be used as tools through which to communicate this chief image. As
God is triune through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; as God impressed His image in a
triune manner upon humanity, natural, political, and moral; humanity was to be triune as
the image it was created in through constant passionate communion with God, creation,
and other human beings. It was this purpose that God created humanity for and it was this
purpose that humanity rejected.
         This brings us to the third and final posture of humanity’s interaction with
the ‘image of God’ that we encounter through Wesley’s doctrine of humankind, the
posture of seeking new birth. In the pre-fallen posture, we have humankind placed in
perfection, fully incorporated within the image of God wherein they were created. The
rejection of this perfected state, strips them of the hierarchy of their immortal souls
through which transmits God’s image that governs them in blessedness. They no longer
have total control nor regulation over any of their faculties. Losing touch with the chief
image they were designed to emulate, maintaining order was impossible; “He lost the
whole moral image of God, righteousness and true holiness. He was unholy; he was
unhappy; he was full of sin, full of guilt and tormenting fears. Being broke off from God,
and looking upon him as an angry judge, ‘he was afraid’”. (Outler, 446) This broken, lost,
and frightened state is where we find humankind; in desperate need of reconciliation to
the original image they were created in.
         With this dynamic that humanity finds themselves in after the fall, all concerns
point to what hope they have in reconciliation. Fallen humanity, for Wesley, is caught in a
dizzying spiral. They no longer have the parameters in which they relied on for guidance
and truth, provided through a maintained immortal spirit. With this disorientation, the
sources in which they consult to guide them do not bring the solace they would hope, but
rather even more confusion. “Nor is it strange that though they sought for a remedy, yet
they found none. For they sought it where it never was and never will be found, namely,
in themselves-in reason, in philosophy. Broken Reeds! Bubbles! Smoke! They did not
seek God, in whom alone it is possible to find it. In God! No; they totally disclaim this,
and in the strongest terms.” (Outler, 443) Wesley cannot understand the rational behind
looking for guidance from the very source of the disorientation. “God made man in his
own image, a spirit endued with understanding and liberty. Man abusing that liberty
produced evil, brought sin and pain into the world. (Outler, pg. 483) It seems that Adam’s
choice doomed the rest of humanity to repeat it till the end of the Earth. An endless cycle
of rejecting the image they were lovingly created in for the guidance and purpose found
solely within themselves, leaving them empty and lost.

          There is no hope for new birth towards reconciling the image of God in
humankind through physical birth for Wesley. When a human is born, they are born into
this disorientation of the fall. This is the reality of their existents. The damaged image of
God that is within them urges them to find reconciliation, but because of their
disorientation, they cannot understand the language of their soul and continue to rely
upon their own will to satisfy these yearnings. “While a man is in a mere natural state,
before he is born of God, he has, in a spiritual sense, eyes and sees not; a thick
impenetrable veil lies upon them. He has ears, but hears not; he is utterly deaf to what he
is most of all concerned to hear.” (Outler, pg.339) However, God proving once again His
endless grace and love towards humanity offers them a physical manifestation of his
moral image through His only Son Jesus Christ. Christ not only perfectly represents but
also reconciles the image of God wherein humanity was created.
           As Adam altered the course of human existence, down a path of disorientation
through the rejection of the image he was created in, Christ would alter their existence yet
again but in a more permanent nature; restoring humanity to it’s original image in God
through his constant adherence to it, even to his death. “For if Adam had not fallen Christ
had not died. Nothing can be more clear than this; nothing more undeniable. Unless all
the partakers of human nature had received that deadly wound in Adam it would not have
been needful for the Son of God to take our nature upon him. Do you not see that this was
the very ground of his coming to the world? ‘By one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin. And thus death passed upon all’, through him ‘in whom all men sinned’
(Rom. 5:12)”. (Outler, pg477) In this declaration from Wesley, we see that in his
doctrine, Christ unifies all three of the postures of approaching the image of God into one.
Through Christ Jesus, one can realize the intended image that they were created in as in
the pre-fallen posture, comprehend that humanity has fallen from that image into
disorientation, and realizing the need for recovery take on the faith of Christ and walk in
his ways.
This is a very brief survey of how Wesley approaches humanity being created in
the ‘image of God’ within his doctrine of humankind. However, it is the hope of this
author that in understanding the three major postures that humankind has approached
participating with the image they have been created in, a context has been provided in
which to dive deeper into this critical topic. Wesley clearly defines humanity being made in the image of God. That image being threefold: natural, moral, and political; a perfect
union with God, themselves, and creation being provided for humankind through this
image; and finally humanity rejecting this image for the terrible and endless cycle of
seeking purpose through their own will, only to be fully restored to that perfect image
through Jesus Christ, the Son of God to participate in their intended purpose. “Having
prepared all things for him, He “created man in his own image, after his own likeness.”
And what was the end of his creation? It was one, and no other—that he might know,
love, and enjoy, and serve his great Creator to all eternity.” (7:229)

Verbal Vomit:

                                                         Nietzsche and Christianity

           

I would interpret Nietzsche’s “Madman” as a blatant illustration of himself and the message that he wished to communicate to the world through his work. Nietzsche portrays himself as a madman because he realizes that he is one of few that have become aware of the ideology of human reason, virtue, and morality that occurs within Christianity. The death of God that Nietzsche speaks about is the death of this ideology. More simply put, the death of anthropomorphism. Nietzsche saw that through this ideology of virtue, reason, and morality we make ourselves a slave to them through our worship of them. We then only find a meaningful existence through our acting out of this type of morality, which causes us to lose focus of the true intrinsic value of life, thus life cannot be truly lived. Being one of few able to see this major tragedy within Christendom in his time, Nietzsche knew that he would be the “madman” speaking of things so foreign on critical issues to the listeners of his time. Nietzsche is still the madman today, speaking of things that desperately need to be investigated by today’s Christian, so that they can take up their knife and put God to death. Put anthropomorphism to death so that life can be truly lived.

The path I will take to illustrate my interpretation of Nietzsche’s “madman” will be to first, briefly shed some light on Nietzsche’s personal perspective as it was shaped by his upbringing. Second, I will expound on Nietzsche’s meaning behind the statement “God is dead” with the help of several scholarly sources. Thirdly, I will conclude my interpretation with how I see Nietzsche’s message as being of critical importance to Christianity with how we view and proceed towards reason, virtue, and morality in our attempts to truly live a life of freedom as followers of Christ.

Nietzsche was raised in a strong Christian home in the Lutheran tradition. With several relatives as ministers and his mother’s strength of faith, it is safe to assume that Christian beliefs came naturally to Nietzsche. At age thirteen Nietzsche wrote the following: “I have firmly resolved within me to dedicate myself for ever to His service. May the dear Lord give me strength and power to carry out my intention and protect me on my life’s way.” (Benson, 71) As strong of an influence as his mother was in the practical area of faith, she unfortunately lacked any theological reflection or sophistication entirely.  His aunt Rosalie was a dominant theological figure in Nietzsche’s life that lead him to seek a more rational approach to the Christianity of his time. Through these two dominating pictures of faith in Nietzsche’s life, he became more and more skeptical of Christianity to the point that he rejected it completely. In any case, despite the fact that Nietzsche’s skepticism was a personal phenomenon, it clearly reflected the culture of the time. Whereas belief in God had once been a dominant part of European culture, it was on the wane in Nietzsche’s day. Thus Nietzsche’s loss of faith seems to be the result of a realization that educated people of his day were finding religious belief decreasingly acceptable. His own move from devout faith to disbelief, then, parallels what he sees as the wider cultural shift. (Benson, 72)

It is with this understanding that we can now label who the “we” is in “we have killed him!”. It is clear that he is the madman and the others in the square are his educated peers and other radical thinkers of his time who shared disbelief in God. When the madman, says aloud that God is dead he is met with astonishment. Perhaps it was because although everyone was thinking it, no one was yet comfortable in proclaiming it or hearing it. This is indicated in the prophetic nature of the madman’s words towards the end of the story such as “I came to early”, and “I am not at the right time.” (Pojman, 186) Nietzsche knows that the death of God is the desired outcome of his and his peer’s work, but he feels that he is alone in this knowledge, hence why he dubs himself as the madman.  He puts himself in this role of the madman because he is a foreigner to both Christian and atheist with a great deal to convey to both parties.

Focusing on what Nietzsche has to say to the Christian through this story of the “Madman”, it is clear through statements such as, “Whither do we move?” and “Do we not dash unceasingly? Backwards, sideways, forwards, in all directions?”(Pojman, 186) that he sees that without God, the Christian would have no meaning or identity, which leaves them in a very fearful and unknown position. However, with statements from Nietzsche such as, “My life has no aim and this is evident even from the accidental nature of its origin. That I can posit an aim for myself is another matter. But a state has no aim; we alone give it aim” (Pojman, 188) this state of unknown is the where all humans should in fact realize they are in. It is only in this state that humans can truly be free to posit an aim for themselves. This state in which to posit an aim for our lives can only be accessible through the death of God.

With how Nietzsche was raised and the intellectual climate that he cultivated his knowledge, I interpret the death of God in the story of the “madman” as the death to Christendom. Christendom in Nietzsche’s day was in stark contrast with the New Testament picture of Christianity therefore highly exemplifies our anthropomorphism of God. Nietzsche is right for wanting to put this God to death. We do truly become a slave to our morality once we determine through our human reasoning that the value of our lives is determined through some moral force. We then continuously justify life in this fashion and drastically overlook the life’s true value. For Nietzsche, life is simply valuable in itself; it needs no justification or “meaning”. He thinks that all claims along the lines of “Life is valuable because…” are wrongheaded. Life is intrinsically valuable, so it needs no further justification. (Benson, 83)  This attempt to justify life through this sense of moral value is an attempt to gain power and dominion over this life. The attempt to judge life places one above it. I become superior to life (since I and my reason become its measure), and in affect I take the place of God. (Benson, 83) We are then made slaves through this type of morality and indirectly become slaves to ourselves. When Nietzsche pronounces the death of God, he pronounces the death of what can be only an idol or an ideology. (Benson, 94) It is the death of this God that Christians should eagerly take up their weapons against. Because with the death of this God, humans are truly free to see life’s intrinsic value, posit an aim through which every choice is made their own on this intrinsic value, and where the true God can be worshiped unfettered by false idols.

                                                      Works Cited/Consulted

Benson, Bruce Ellis. Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche, Derrida & Marion on Modern Idolatry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2002. Print.

Blackham, H. J. Six Existentialist Thinkers. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul LTD, 1952. Print.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. Twilight of the Idols, Or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub., 1997. Print.

Pojman, Louis P. Who Are We?: Theories of Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Roberts, Tyler T. Contesting Spirit: Nietzsche, Affirmation, Religion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1998. Print.