The Baptist Faith and Message
III. Man
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own
image, and is the crowning work of His creation. In the
beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by His
Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man
sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.
Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command
of God, and fell from his original innocence; whereby his
posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined
toward sin, and as soon as they are capable of moral action
become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the
grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and
enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The
sacredness of human personality is evident in that God
created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for
man; therefore every man possesses dignity and is worthy of
respect and Christian love.
Gen. 1:26-30; 2:5,
7, 18-22;
3; 9:6;
Psalm 1; 8:3-6;
32:1-5; 51:5;
Isa. 6:5; Jer.
17:5; Matt. 16:26;
Acts 17:26- 31; Rom.
1:19-32; 3:10-18,
23; 5:6,
12, 19;
6:6; 7:14-25;
8:14-18, 29;
1 Cor. 1:21-31; 15:19,
21-22; Eph.
2:1-22; Col. 1:21-22;
3:9-11.
Reprinted from the Baptist Faith and Message Tract (Stock
Number 11-051). Published by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention, Nashville, Tennessee:
Tract Editor
Baptist Sunday School Board
127 Ninth Avenue, North
Nashville, Tennessee 37203