Humanity's Design

 Deep down, at the core of our being, we all have a longing for wholeness. The way we experience this basic desire in our day-to-day lives may be different.

 Maybe it’s a sense of belonging when we experience resonance with someone or are accepted. Maybe it’s a hollow feeling of disconnection or loneliness, or perhaps it’s a compulsion to soothe pain in an unhealthy way. 

Whatever the case, the desire for wholeness is basic to the human experience.

Both of these avenues affirm that humanity is designed for connection and that it is connection––with God and others––that is at the heart of wholeness.

The Heart of Wholeness

I understand if you just tuned out. Some of us probably assume that we know what there is to know about connection. Or maybe connection feels too difficult, too risky, too painful, or simply too time consuming. 

Perhaps connection feels like one more thing to do in order to be a “good person,” rather than something that is life-giving.

A different perspective on connection, one that is first and foremost rooted in the identity of God. So who is God, and how does this relate to our deep-rooted desire for connection?

Connected

It’s easy to view God primarily as ruler, creator, or judge, but each of these roles is contingent upon creation, as if God needed something other than himself to be who he is. Rather, our clearest definition of who God is comes from 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” But even this can seem a bit hazy. Does this verse mean that God is loving? Or that He feels feelings of love toward us?

Actually, the phrase “God is love” refers to something so much more than God’s character or disposition; it describes His Very Essence. In other words, God is love because God is Father of all first creations . God created out of/by His Love. His creations are for, in and with His Love. 

At the essence of his being, God is an others-oriented, self-giving being. For all of eternity, he has existed in perfect love as Father. He does not just have love; He Is Love.

An Others-Oriented and Self-Giving Being

So God, by essence, is relational, and this directly impacts our own relational identity and our need for connection.

 God is not a solitary deity who created out of need for another or to be served. He had perfect love in himself; He needed no other. It is a profound experience to look around at creation and others with this lens. Creation of the world and humanity was an expression of His Desire to share His Love with others ( creatures ). 

Like God, humans are relational beings. The first pages of the Bible illuminate that humans are designed for connection with God and others and also portray the tragic and familiar experience of disconnection. The most repeated phrase in Genesis 1, “God saw that it was good,” depicts a generous God who creates a delightful world in which humanity can flourish. On day six, at the pinnacle of his creative work, the tightly structured literary rhythm breaks, which is the author’s way of signaling to the reader that what is about to be said is really important (Gen. 1:26-27). [Genesis 1:26-27 ; ²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.]

These are the first two verses in the Bible that speak of humans, and in them we see subtle indications that humanity was designed for connection with God and others.

God creates a good world and commissions humans to rule it, but they choose rebellion again and again.

When God looks at the world he made, he declares it good. He installs humans as his partners in ruling creation, but the humans choose to do what is good in their own eyes, leading ultimately to death. The first eleven chapters of the Bible record God's goodness and humanity's repeated rebellions, which introduce violence, disorder, and the founding of Babylon. It's these first chapters that set the plot in motion for God to respond to human evil with his redemptive plan.

In the Beginning

Translated as "origin" from Greek, the book of Genesis sets the stage for the redemptive storyline of the Bible.

The story opens with God confronting chaos and disorder to bring order and beauty in creation. Humans are formed and appointed to participate in God's divine rule of the universe. As his representatives, humanity can choose to trust God for wisdom to rule, resulting in blessing for the entire world.

However, the humans choose to define good and evil on their own, which begins a destructive cycle that reintroduces chaos and disorder back into God's good world. The first eleven chapters of Genesis show a repeated theme of rebellion, from the garden to Cain and Abel, the "sons of God," the flood, and finally Babylon.

God continues to give humanity the chance to bring blessing into the world, and they continually choose their own way. Yet God promises, even in our rebellion, that a wounded victor will come to defeat evil at its source. It's this plan that God sets into motion beginning in Genesis 12.

Puppet-Servants or Willing Partners?

In the first verse, we learn that God’s design is for humans to rule on his behalf, to partner with him in creatively bringing about flourishing and beauty on the earth and for others (see also Genesis 2:15).(¹⁵Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. ) This is significant because it shows that God did not just want humans to relate to him as his puppet-servants, but as His partners, connected to Him and ruling on His behalf. In fact, in Genesis 3, we read that God dwells in the garden with the humans, walks among them, and converses with them! To the ancient Hebrew mind, this would have been shocking because God dwells only in specific places.

The second verse (v. 27) shows that in addition to connection with God, humanity was also designed for connection with one another. This verse consists of three parallel lines, the first two of which emphasize through repetition that God created humanity in His own image. The last line defines what this means: there are distinct and diverse individuals, male and female, who are unified as one, as humanity. Although they are different and distinct, humans are connected to one another.

Humanity’s design for connection is further elaborated in the next chapter, Genesis 2, which zooms in to retell the creation of humanity from another perspective (see vv. 18-25). Here, we encounter God’s perspective on human aloneness––it is “not good” ( in Hebrew writing, reading from right to left, לא טוב le tov ;  ל A, א L; לא =le= not )—–and we learn that the solution is relationship. But it’s not just any kind of relationship; rather, it’s a relationship characterized by incredible unity and vulnerability. The intended connection between humans is indicated in a variety of ways: the woman is created from the man’s side, as if one person is split into two, they are the same “bone” and “flesh,” and their Hebrew names ish (איש, man) and ishah (אישה , woman) correspond to one another. Like Genesis 1:27, the picture is diversity within perfect, loving community. The concluding verse of this section (v. 25) exposes the depth of human connection: “Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.” In other words, the ideal picture is one of relational safety, vulnerability, trust, and acceptance of the other.

We know how the story goes from here, but it may seem different when viewed through the lens of our identity as relational beings. When the humans listen to the serpent of Genesis 3 and eat of the 'tree', they seize autonomy from God and choose to define good and evil on their own. Their trust in God and one another is lost. Humans do what is good in their own eyes rather than trusting God, and so they disconnect themselves from partnership with God. They injure one another through blame. They lose trust with each other, depicted by covering their nakedness. And they no longer have the safety of vulnerability in this new culture where they now do what seems best in their own eyes. Their disconnection begins a vicious cycle that begets more disconnection, violence, and death told in the many chapters that follow.

This story of humanity’s design in Genesis 1-2 does not only define the identity and purpose of the first humans. It also has a deep resonance with our own core longings and intends to describe humanity’s design as a whole. And the tragic rebellion against God and the disconnection that results also describes the entire human situation.

Even in the midst of the initial rebellion and its consequences of pain and disconnection, God promises to work through the human situation to destroy the source of disconnection and restore connection to himself and to one another (Genesis 3:15). If God were a solitary deity who had created humans for the purpose of serving him, they would have failed and the story would be over. But the True God, who is at His core self-giving and others-oriented, acts in alignment with who He Is. So the rest of the story develops God’s plan to include humanity in his perfect community of love. Ultimately, this self-giving and others-oriented God gives His very Self for others (1 John 4:10) and includes humanity in Christ to join the eternal community of perfect love (John 17:20-26; Ephesians 1:3-5; Ephesians 5:21-22; Romans. 8:15-17). It is this God who has created humans for connection with Himself and each other, and He will stop at nothing until that perfect connection is restored.

Notes :

1 John 4:10; ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

John 17:20-26; ²⁰“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

²²The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ²⁴Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; ²⁶and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Connection is What We Are Made For

And yet, we live in a time and place where there is still tension between our true identity as connected beings and the reality of disconnection, pain, and suffering. It’s a time when trust may not be natural and relationships are not always safe. The biblical story reminds us that connection is what we are made for. We will be our truest selves as we meditate on God’s essence as a perfect community of love and find creative and intentional ways to connect with God and others. The biblical story offers hope that despite the inevitable pain of disconnection, living into our true identity as connected beings brings wholeness .)