In the time that remains I want to draw from the account of the creation of man the Bible's most fundamental perspective on human beings, the Bible's own definition of a human being. So much begins here, so much depends upon getting this right. And it will not surprise you, perhaps, that in this also the Bible's teaching is dialectical, or polar, requiring us to believe, at the same time, two things about man that are not easy to reconcile with one another, however true they both are. Indeed, the errors of thought about man, his nature, his salvation, I would say, are almost always the result of permitting one pole of this truth about man to throw the other pole into the shadow, to permit one of the Bible's messages about man to silence the other. Now, you see both poles of the truth about man plainly set out at the very beginning, in the account of man's creation.
Man is a creature.
He owes his existence to God. In this he is like all the rest of the creatures. He is utterly dependent upon God. Notice the ways in which man is linked with, joined with the other creatures in these verses. He shares the sixth day with the rest of the sentient creatures.