Module 3 - Anthropology: The Doctrine of Man

The scope of this third module is to explore what the Bible teaches about man. And what we learn from Scripture about God leads us to a right understanding of man. Men are tireless in their pursuit of understanding themselves. Their origin, their makeup, their identity, their purpose, and destiny, and so on. But true knowledge of man is not found within himself. It is discovered in what God reveals in Scripture. So if you wish to gain a deeper understanding of man, these lectures aim to benefit you. The lectures in this third module, on the Doctrine of Man, are introductory, not exhaustive, and they are intended to furnish you with a foundation that you can build upon in your further studies.

Lessons

Lesson Number Title Summary
1 Introduction Men are tireless in their pursuit of understanding themselves. Their origin, their makup, their identity, their purpose, and destiny, and so on. But true knowledge of man is not found within himself. It is discovered in what God reveals in Scripture.
2 The Nature of Man Truly understanding ourselves requires looking beyond what is skin deep. We need to answer questions like, Who am I? What is my origin? Where is my destiny? What is my purpose in life? How do I know things?
3 Man as the Image of God You can train a dog to do all sorts of things, and you can train a person to do all sorts of things. What exactly makes a person a person?
4 The Freedom of Man’s Will Let me begin with a question: Why do we do what we do? Now, I’m speaking broadly. In all the various situations and circumstances of life, the little things and the big things, what prompts us to do the things we do?
5 The Nature of Sin God has given to us his holy law, and that law works its way, by way of application, into the deepest crevices of man’s being.
6 The Doctrine of Original Sin Our understanding of man’s natural condition has far-reaching implications. For example, if a person believes that men are born innocent, or born as a blank slate, or that people, at root, are...
7 The Doctrine of Total Depravity The word “gospel” means, good news. But how exactly good is the news of the gospel? To understand the amazing message of salvation, you have to first know something about why sinners need...
8 The Doctrine of the Covenant of Works God created mankind after his own image, and made man to have a personal relationship with himself. The Lord determined to manifest his presence to man, and to open the possibility of holding...
9 The Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace We’ll begin by looking briefly at a passage of Scripture to open up our consideration of the Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace. In Genesis 3, verse 15, we read, “And I will put enmity between thee...
10 The Doctrine of the Law of God The theme of this last lecture ties together what we learned about the fall, about man’s sinful nature, and about the continuity of Old and New Testaments. The series of lectures in this third...