No Free Lunch: Economics for a Fallen World: Third Edition, Revised

Chapter One: Introduction to Economics 8 God not only creates ex nihilo , but He creates and changes one form to another, and increasingly brings order out of chaos. Shaping reality from one form to more completely align with God’s plan is good . Creating seeds with the potential to recreate and grow, to produce yet more, is good . Transformation from one form to a more productive form, consistent with God’s plan, is good . Each subsequent day of God’s creative activity leads to more diversity and order. The animals, like the plants, are created with the ability and command to produce more. God created plants and animals according to their kind, i.e., the kind that God had ordained. There is no randomness here—the master artist is creating His masterpiece. GENESIS 1:26-31 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. God created man, God’s name for the male and female equally created in His image, as the crowning act of His creative activity. God says let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. This is another reference to the Trinity. God’s Spirit was introduced in v2, and the Son’s role in creation is revealed in John 1:1-3, Hebrews 1:1-4, among other places. Humans made in God’s image are not only individuals but are also social creatures. We were created to be in communion with God and others. As God says in Genesis 2:18, “it is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” We are socially members of families, community organizations, and most profoundly (if Christians), a part of the body of Christ. So humans choose as individuals, but they also have some consideration for the social implications of their actions. In so doing, they image their creator God, who is social in His trinitarian nature. To be created in God’s image or likeness (the Hebrew words are often used interchangeably) suggests that God’s attributes should be seen in humans, in a more limited sense. Many debate what it means to be an image-bearer, but it at least implies that we are unique in creation with special responsibilities. We are His representatives on this earth; in New Testament language we are ambassadors for Christ. It is this designation as image-bearers, or Imago Dei , that is the foundation of human dignity and why every human being is especially valued in God’s sight. Should we take another image-bearer’s life, God demands the life of the one who shed that blood, since striking an image-bearer is effectively striking at God Himself.