The Glory of Fallen Man

The Glory of Fallen Man

True, all men sin and fall short of the glory of God, but not all fall “utterly” or “fall

long the Glory of God”¹Psalm 37:24.

Glory means weight or value. Adam, before he fell, had great value, having been made in God’s image. When he fell, God’s image in him was marred, but not obliterated. This is very clear from what God said after Adam’s fall, and in fact even after the Flood:

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.

And you, be fruitful and multiply; abound on the earth and multiply in it.”

(Genesis 9:6-7)

Man still bears God’s image and has great value in God’s eyes, as He requires capital punishment for any who would fail to respect His image in his fellow man to the point of committing murder.

But beyond that, God commissioned Noah and his sons after the flood to be fruitful and multiply abundantly on the earth. If man was now worthless and totally depraved, why would a loving Creator want to fill the earth with such creatures?

So fallen man still bears the image of his Creator and retains intrinsic²intrinsic — belonging to a thing by its very nature. worth to the degree that he lives by the knowledge of good and evil, inherent³inherent — existing as an essential constituent or characteristic; in the nature of something. in his conscience. Even though he has an inborn inclination to sin, he is able and accountable to do the good that he knows in his conscience and to keep himself from the kinds of sins that would make him worthy of the second death.⁴Revelation 21:8; 22:15; Romans 1:28-32

Yet regardless of how carefully a man lives by his conscience, he will not do so perfectly, for he is a fallen creature. He will sin, and his sin must be paid for, as it is an inviolable law that the wages of sin is death. A man’s good deeds cannot save him from the consequences of his sin — the first death. His natural righteousness cannot restore him to fellowship with God, nor make him worthy of ruling and reigning with Messiah. All of his good deeds are of no more value than filthy rags⁵Isaiah 64:6 for obtaining the righteousness of God, which can only be imputed to a man on the basis of faith, which comes from hearing the word of Messiah from someone who has obeyed the gospel⁶Luke 14:26-33 and is sent to preach the Good News.⁷Romans 10:13-17