Self

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...." On the sixth day, "God created man in his own image" (Gen:1:1-27 [1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. [3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. [4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. [5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. [6] And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. [7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. [8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. [9] And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. [10] And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. [11] And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. [12] And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. [13] And the evening and the morning were the third day. [14] And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: [15] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. [16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. [17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, [18] And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. [19] And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. [20] And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. [21] And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. [22] And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. [23] And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. [24] And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. [25] And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. [26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. [27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
See All...). That statement has nothing to do with man's physical body, male or female, for "God is a Spirit" (Jn:4:24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
See All...). We can only conclude that man was made in the spiritual image of God to manifest to the universe the beauties of God's holy character: His selfless love, compassion, grace, gentleness, patience, holiness, and moral purity—as well as the power of choice. The latter, of course, was essential if man was to love God and his fellows—but that power, necessarily, opened the door for man to choose for himself rather than for his Creator!

In Adam's irrational and unthinkable rebellion against the God to whom he owed his very existence, Self (the autonomous self as "god") had its awful birth and, in partnership with Satan, has been trying to take over mankind's destiny ever since. Battles rage within and without as each individual Self competes not only with God but with every other Self for supremacy: conflict between husbands and wives, children and their siblings, parents and children, in a cacophony of "I, My, Me, Mine."

The moment man rebelled, the Spirit of God departed from man's spirit, and the image of God in which man had been created was shattered. Self was left to the unhappy loneliness of its insane pride. Imagine worms boasting of their power and glory and one gets a picture of the pitiful creature called man, mired deeply in sin, parading his positive self-image and self-esteem before the throne of God!

Jesus declared that the only hope for any man was to "deny himself [that wicked Self born in Eden], and take up his [individual] cross, and follow me" (Mat:16:24-26 [24] Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. [25] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. [26] For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
See All...; Mar:8:31-34 [31] And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. [33] But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. [34] And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
See All...; Luke:9:23And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
See All...). In defiance of our Lord's command, Christian psychology (which is trustingly looked to for guidance by almost the entire evangelical church) declares that man's great need is, instead, to nourish and cherish the Self. Rejecting Christ's command, the evangelical church now follows Christian psychologists, who have become the new infallible priesthood. They have brought into the evangelical church the foolish wisdom of the world (1 Cor:1:20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
See All...) with the excuse that "all truth is God's truth." That mantra confuses mere facts of logic or science with "the truth" found only in "the word of truth" (Ps:119:43And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.
See All...; 2 Cor:6:7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
See All...; Eph:1:13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
See All...; Col:1:5For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
See All...; 2 Tim:2:15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
See All...; Jam:1:18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
See All...), which alone "shall make you free" (Jn:8:32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
See All...).   Dave Hunt, TBC "Toward the Prize," October 2007

Key Scripture verses related to "Self"

Old Testament:

• 2 Kings:22:10And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
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• 2 Chronicles:1:11And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king:
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• Proverbs:15:33The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
  See All...; Pro:16:19Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
  See All...; Pro:18:12Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
  See All...; Pro:22:4By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.
  See All...; Pro:29:23A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
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• Isaiah:57:15For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
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• Jeremiah:45:5And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
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New Testament:

• Matthew:18:45
  See All...; Mat:23:12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
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• Luke:6:42Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
  See All...; Luke:16:15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
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• Romans:2:1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
  See All...; Rom:12:3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
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• James:4:6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
  See All...; Jam:4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
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• 1 Peter:5:5-6 [5] Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. [6] Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
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