ANSWER by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 10, 1871

ANSWER

By Dudley Marvin Canright

I understand the writer to hold that it is man's spirit which was created in the image of God, and renewed at conversion, which he thinks is proved by Col. 3:10, and John 4:24. But in Eph. 4:23, 24, Paul says this new man is not simply renewed at conversion, but is “created.” Did man lose his spirit at the fall; then remain without one till conversion? Then does God create one for him for the first time? The manifest truth is, that when Paul says, “Ye have put off the old man,” “and have put on the new man,” &c., Col. 3:9, 10, he is using an illustration—figurative language. They had not actually put off nor on any old or new man. The terms old and new man are both figurative. So is the image. Just as the physical man resembles God, so should our deeds, thoughts, &c., be like the Lord’s.

Because God is a spirit, it is asserted that he can have no body, parts, &c. This is all assumption. Angels are spirits, and yet have bodies. The same will be true of the saints. 1 Cor. 15:44. D. M. CARRINGHT.