Kemper wrote:
In Genesis 1:26 it states; And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that crept upon the earth. Let it be considered, is God mortal or corruptible? No, God is the Existing One, He has no beginning or end and He cannot lie. He is immortal and incorruptible. Was Adam, even before his fall, immortal or incorruptible? No, or else he wouldn’t have fallen and become subject to death and corruption. Did Adam exercise dominion over the serpent? No, but the image of God would have and not fell from his first estate. So maybe Adam, although created upright, wasn’t the man God was referring to as the “image of God.” At least not yet. For man to be the image of God he would have to become incorruptible and immortal. So even as heaven and earth existed as an image produced from the intent of God before overcoming its formless and void state by His Word, the image that God intends man to become still exists within the foreknowledge of God until the completed work of His Word in man reveals that predetermined image.
The Father’s Word (Jesus) was sent not only to restore man to his Creator but also to wrought within him that image the Father has ordained him to become. God’s Word, functioning as a sword, both severs man’s heart from that which does not conform to such foreknowledge and pierces it for the implanting of the nature of Christ, Who is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3). For the Word of God is also the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23) that contains His nature. Even as 2 Peter 1:4 states; Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises (God’s Word): that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. His Word contains His divine nature and circumcises the heart, removing the lusts of this world and giving us hope of things to come.
God’s Acceptable Will
Creation through Adam was subjected to vanity (Romans 8:20), who being confronted with the tree of knowledge of good and evil was given the command not to eat of it lest he die. This dilemma, presented to Adam by the Almighty, instigated his will and introduced an avenue for either truth or corruption to be conceived. Without the commandment Adam wouldn’t have a free will and without a free will man couldn’t become the image of God. With his will, man became a sovereign steward over his intents, thoughts, words and deeds. Instead of agreeing with the will of God, he chose to pursue the establishment of his own way refusing to obey and conceive the incorruptible seed (God’s Word, the seed to sonship).
This introduction to the commandment, exercising man’s will, was the beginning of what is called God’s “acceptable will.” Although man exercised his will in a manner contrary to the will of God, God honored and allowed it as being acceptable until He could work His perfect will. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly (not by man’s will but God’s), but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope (Romans 8:20). God’s hope and purpose in doing this was for man to overcome sin and death by and through Christ, thus becoming the incorruptible and immortal Image of God.
Paul refers to this purpose in 2Timothy 1:9, Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. In Genesis 1:31, God beheld everything that He had made and acknowledged it as very good. Yet, His creation would have to be subjected to a time of proving to become His perfected and incorruptible creation. This period of proving is referred to by Paul in Romans 12:2 as God’s acceptable will; And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The manifestation of God’s creation is His good will, but it must survive His acceptable will before its proven to be His perfect will. God’s good will created man as a living soul. Yet, God’s perfect will is for man to become a begotten son of God, Who is a life giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). During God’s acceptable will, sin and death is to be overcome through Christ and His cross. During this age, God has consented to the will of man and given him over to the pursuit of his own desires. Even as Proverbs 1:31 states, Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. As a result, man experiences afflictions, trials, temptations, and tribulations which are produced by his disobedience to the Truth which is God’s will. Even as the Spirit says in Jeremiah 2:19, Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
The Fire of Truth
Even while abiding in the obedience to God’s Word we still have loved ones, acquaintances, friends and enemies that continue to stir up the waters of chaos, wherein is found the opportunity to exercise our faith, and mature our Christ-given nature. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7). This agitation is necessary to remove that which doesn’t conform to Christ and to exercise that which does. The Truth is the standard that remains incorruptible and undefiled.
Like fire, the truth purifies what it touches. For, By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil (Proverbs 16:6). For anything to exist it must be tried in the fire of Truth. Man’s way is contrary to the truth and is therefore destroyed upon exposure to it. This visitation with the truth is a cleansing wherein the unlearned fear but the wise embrace. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you (1 Peter 1:12). For, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). The fiery trial is a result of the visitation the truth has with our deception. Without it there would be no correction.