All Men Are Accountable To God

To understand the character of man and his relationship with the Creator, it must first be established how he is accountable to God for his actions. The majority of men reject any responsibility to God and serve their own designs with no fear of consequence. How is it that all men are amenable to the judgment of God? From what basis can we find justice in God ascribing guilt or innocence to the character of man? Why must all men come to the truth? What law does man find himself responsible for and answerable to the Creator? The answer lies within the context of man's beginning - the Creation.

Genesis 1:1 states: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." From this verse we have unfolded the power of creation in six days. As God spoke, the world took form and order began to rule. Day and night were established to reign in the firmament as dry land appeared and the gathering together of the waters became the seas. Grass and herbs appeared and trees to bask in the glory of the lights in the firmament of the heavens. The waters filled with the abundance of living creatures and the face of the firmament abounded with winged birds of every kind. The earth brought forth the living creatures to roam upon the face of the earth and to fill its borders with every kind of beast.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Genesis 1:27) In all of creation, these words had never been uttered. At each moment of God's creative power and the formation of all living things, no expression was given in the magnitude of creating something in the image of God. An intelligent being speaks and has design and purpose in His plan. He desires to make man but the creation of man is much different from the creation of the animals of the sea or birds of the air. The likeness of man is to be unlike the creation of the beasts of the field. This creation - the nature of man - would be in the likeness of the Creator.

The Creator made man like Himself. Though God is an uncreated spirit, man is a created spirit. Man is created to be a rational, thinking creature who is accountable for his actions. When God made man, He made him holy and without shame. (Genesis 2:25) Man is made in the image of God to be righteous as God created him to do right. Inherent in the creation of man is the recognition that all men are accountable to the Creator.

This accountability spans the millenniums of mans existence. Every man of every race and from all time, to all time, finds themselves accountable to God. Because of this relationship of God and man, a duty is enjoined for man to be responsible for his actions. Murder is wrong - not because Christ condemned it in His law - but rather this breaks the relationship of man being made in the image of God. (Genesis 9:5,6)

In the home, adultery and fornication is immoral because God ordained the relationship of man and woman in creation. (Genesis 2:24,25) All men are accountable to God in the marriage relationship, not because of the law of Christ but because man is made in the image of God. Jesus affirmed this in Matthew 19:3-6. All men are accountable to the bounds of marriage because all men are made in the image of God. All men have marred the image of God and that is why God sent His Son into the world. (John 3:16; Romans 5:18) All men are accountable to God and all men will stand before the Creator and be held accountable for the deeds done in the body. (Romans 14:10; Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10)

By Kent E. Heaton Sr.

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