Anthropology
I. Origin
A. Man came into being, not through spontaneous generation or natural development, but "de novo" through a special creative work of God (Gen 1:27;2:7). It is not entirely clear whether man is essentially a dichotomist (consisting of two parts -- "dust" and "breath", Gen 2:7; "body" and "spirit", I Thess. 5:23, Heb. 4:12).
B. Man was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27 cf. Is. 43:7), indicating a spiritual and moral nature with the ability to relate to God through his personality. The original relationship of the first man with God was perfectly harmonious and man owned an inherent disposition to do right (Ecc. 7:29).
II. Fall
A. Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden on a kind of moral probation. It was a testing perhaps intended to transform his inherent disposition to do right into a disposition to do good which is only acquired through moral experience (Gen. 2:8-17). Whatever the purpose, Adam failed, sinned against God, and through him sin spread all men (Rom. 5:12)
B. Man is now, because of sin, morally depraved and wholly unable to save himself from the inevitable consequences of sin. The image of God in man, while not entirely destroyed, has been rendered incapable of relating to God (Calvin, lnstitutes, Vol. 1, p. 507).
Bibliography:
On the Creation of Man. John CalvinThe Natural Condition of the Natural Man. John Wesley
The Origin of Man. J. Oliver Buswell
Man a Creation and Child of God. A.H. Strong
Made to the Image of God. T. Aquinas
Man and Creation. Emil Brunner Nature of Man. Charles Hodge