What is Anthropology?
Question 5000
In theology, anthropology refers to the study of humanity from a biblical perspective. The word comes from the Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthropos), meaning “human being” or “man,” combined with λόγος (logos), meaning “word” or “study.” While secular anthropology examines human beings through cultural, biological, or social lenses, biblical anthropology asks what Scripture reveals about who we are, where we came from, what has gone wrong with us, and what our ultimate destiny is.
Created in the Image of God
The foundation of biblical anthropology is found in the opening chapters of Genesis. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). This is the starting point for understanding what it means to be human.
The phrase “image of God” (Hebrew: צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים, tselem Elohim) has been the subject of much reflection throughout church history. It includes at least these: we are intelligent beings capable of thought, communication, and relationship. We have moral awareness, able to distinguish right from wrong. We have creative capacities, reflecting our Creator’s creativity. We have dominion over the earth, given the responsibility to rule and care for creation (Genesis 1:28). We are spiritual beings, capable of knowing and worshipping God.
Being made in God’s image gives every (and I mean “every”) human being inherent dignity and worth. This is why murder is so serious (Genesis 9:6) and why cursing another person is inconsistent with blessing God (James 3:9). Every person you meet, regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, or social status, bears the image of God and deserves to be treated accordingly.
The Constitution of Human Beings
What are we made of? Scripture presents human beings as unified wholes, not merely souls trapped in bodies. At the same time, there is a distinction between the material and immaterial aspects of our existence. Genesis 2:7 describes God forming man from the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a living creature (Hebrew: נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, nephesh chayyah).
Christians have historically debated whether humans are bipartite (body and soul) or tripartite (body, soul, and spirit). Some passages seem to distinguish soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23), while others use the terms interchangeably. What is clear is that we are more than physical bodies; we have an immaterial aspect that survives physical death and will be reunited with a resurrected body at the return of Jesus.
Male and Female
Genesis 1:27 emphasises that God created humanity as male and female. This is foundational. Both men and women are equally made in God’s image, equally valuable, and equally called to bear fruit, fill the earth, and exercise dominion. At the same time, there are distinctions in how men and women are designed to relate to one another, particularly in marriage and in the Church (Genesis 2:18-25; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Timothy 2:11-15).
In our current cultural moment, there is enormous pressure to deny or blur the distinction between male and female. Biblical anthropology insists that this distinction is not a social construct but a creation ordinance. It is good, intentional, and reflects something of God’s design for humanity.
The Fall and Its Effects
We cannot understand humanity without understanding the Fall. Genesis 3 records how Adam and Eve disobeyed God, bringing sin and death into the world. The consequences were catastrophic: alienation from God, broken relationships, pain, suffering, and physical death.
The image of God was not erased by the Fall, but it was marred. Every aspect of our being has been affected by sin. Our minds are darkened (Ephesians 4:18), our hearts deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), our wills enslaved (Romans 6:17), and our bodies subject to decay and death (Romans 8:10). No part of us has escaped the corruption of sin.
This fallenness is not merely a personal problem; it is universal. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. The problem is deeper than our behaviour; it is our very nature.
This is a study that falls under another theological concept: Hamartiology, the doctrine about sin.
Redemption and Restoration
The good news is that God has not abandoned His image-bearers to their fallen condition. Through Jesus, God is redeeming and restoring humanity. Those who trust in Jesus are being renewed in knowledge after the image of their Creator (Colossians 3:10). The Spirit is progressively conforming us to the image of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29).
The ultimate hope of Biblical anthropology is resurrection. Our bodies, currently subject to weakness, decay, and death, will be raised imperishable, glorious, and powerful (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). We will be like Jesus, seeing Him as He is (1 John 3:2). The image of God, marred by sin, will be fully restored and be even better than before as we share in the glory of the risen Lord.
So then, Biblical anthropology answers the most fundamental questions about human existence. Who are we? What has gone wrong? What is the solution? And what is our destiny?
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
