But the tongue can no man tame; it is an
unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father;
and therewith curse we men, which are
made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be (James
3:8-10).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
James 3:9 is often referred to as proof
that fallen man is still God’s image-bearer.
“Violations of the ninth commandment are such dreadful sins (especially when hypocritically a man blesses God and curses his fellow man) because man was made in God’s image” (so it is interpreted).
What has all this to do with common grace?
Well, if fallen man retains the image of God, even in a measure, he remains like God in certain respects, even
though fallen. And it is easy to make the jump from saying that man, even in
his fallen state, because he is still image-bearer, is still under grace, is less
than as bad as he can be, and is capable
of doing good things. And so the retention of the image becomes the avenue
to introduce common grace as a restraining inner influence in fallen and
unregenerate man.
But if the image is truly lost in the fall,
in its entirety—as Scripture teaches—then man is truly depraved, incapable of
doing any good and inclined to all evil. Then he is not the object of grace,
but of wrath. And grace comes to him only through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(I)
Prof.
Herman C. Hanko
(a)
[Source: Comm. on James
3:9-12, in Faith
Made Perfect: Commentary on James (RFPA, 2015)]
This
text has been misused and misinterpreted. It has been used to prove that some
remnants of the image of God that Adam possessed are still found in the wicked.
This interpretation is pressed further to prove that some elements of good are
still to be found in totally depraved man, and that the preservation of these
remnants of good is due to God’s universal grace.
However,
scripture is clear that when man fell in Adam, he lost entirely the image of
God. The scriptures maintain that since the fall of Adam and as universal
punishment for the guilt of the fall, man is totally depraved (Rom. 3:9–19),
dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). Paul spoke of the restoration of the
image in the people of God in Ephesians 4:23–24 and Colossians 3:10, which
teach that the image of God is spiritual and consists of true knowledge of God,
righteousness, and holiness.
Man
continued to be man after he fell: he retained his rationality and morality. It
was corrupted and badly weakened, and worst of all, it was put into the service
of sin. Because he is rational and moral, able to distinguish between right and
wrong, he remains capable of bearing an image. In paradise Adam was an image
bearer only because he was created as a rational and moral creature. This
rationality and mortality were not lost after the fall, although now, because
man remains capable of bearing an image, he bears the image of the devil. Jesus
tells the wicked Jews that they are not children of Abraham, but that they are
children of their father the devil, whose works they do (John 8:44).
The
text therefore does not teach that man still possesses the image of God, but
that man is unique in all God’s creation because he was created to be an image
bearer. Although he lost the image, he is still capable of bearing God’s image,
if it is graciously restored to him. When you curse any man, James says, you
curse one who could, if God is merciful to him, become an image bearer once
again. You ought to be seeking his salvation, not cursing him.
(b)
[A
careful] scrutiny of the [text], and the [context] in which [it is] found, will
clearly show that the reference is to the original
creation of man by God. Man is unique in God’s world. He alone, among all
creatures, was originally created as image-bearer of God. That unique character
of man remains even though he fell. The image does not remain in the sense that
man still bears the image, but it remains in the sense that he is still unique and still capable of being an image-bearer, because he is rational and moral.
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(II)
(II)
Cornelius Hanko (1907-2005)
Here
we have a reference once more to the original creation of man in paradise. Man
is made according to the image, or the similitude of God. Even though that
image is greatly perverted by sin, man still remains man, the man who once was
image bearer of God. He remains a rational, moral, responsible creature before
God. To curse that man is to call God’s judgment upon him, that God may condemn
him to hell. What a terrible offence that is when one sinner damns another
sinner to hell. But how far more offensive it must be in the ears of God when
one who professes to believe in God and blesses God turns about and curses his
fellow man, even when he does that thoughtlessly and carelessly.
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(III)
John Owen (1616-1683)
(III)
John Owen (1616-1683)
[Source: The Works of John Owen, vol. 12, p. 162]
They cannot prove that man, in the
condition and state of sin, doth retain any thing of the image of God. The
places mentioned, as Gen. ix. 6, and James iii. 9, testify only that he was
made in the image of God at first, but that he doth still retain the image they
intimate not; nor is the inference used in the places taken from what man is,
but what he was created.
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(IV)
(IV)
More to come! (DV)
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