Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition - Mentor's Guide

M E N T O R N O T E S / 1 9 3

The Contact sections in this lesson were designed to enable your students prepare for the hard intellectual work of considering the vision and theology underlying God’s mandate to demonstrate justice and mercy in our lives and through our churches. To investigate the theological data dealing with this, you will need to help your students reflect intentionally on ideas that they normally either take for granted or do not consciously meditate upon very often. Use these questions and ideas to prompt your students to bring to the front of their attention and passions their central questions as they relate to loving others, being loved, and loving God, and how these loves relate to one another, and what the issues and consequences are for failing to demonstrate this justice and mercy to others. The Concept of the Imago Dei As you explore the meanings of the imago Dei with your students, it may be helpful for you to read a nice and concise summary of its major meanings in Scripture from professor Ryken on this critical point: Psalm 8 is a classic statement of comparison between God and people. In verse 4 the psalmist’s question to God, “What are human beings” (RSV) was generated by his contemplation of the three realities of the inanimate creation, humanness and the divine. The reason the psalmist could even pose this question is that humans are image-bearers of God (Gen. 1.26-27) and are self-aware. Because of the imago Dei (“image of God”), the following comparisons can be discerned in Scripture. At the heart of the imago Dei is personality. God and humans can communicate intelligently together (Ps. 8; Isa. 6.8-13). Both can receive information (Gen. 1.28-30; Heb. 1.1-2), conceive thoughts (Gen. 2.19; 2.23) and process information (Isa. 1.18-20). Although God’s knowledge is limitless in accuracy and content (Rom. 11.33-34; Matt. 11.21-24), human knowledge is incomplete (1 Cor. 2.9; 13.12) at its best and twisted at its worst (Eph. 4.17-18). The affective dimension of God (Gen 6.6; Mt 25.21; 2 Cor 7.6) is always perfectly balanced and not dependent

& 4 page 445 Contact

& 5 page 446 Summary

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