Human Beings Were Made to Relate
By Michael Kelley
Around 350 BC, the philosopher Aristotle wrote Nicomachean Ethics, in which he, among other things, discussed what it meant to be human. And one of the primary things he said marked human beings, separating them from all other kinds of beings, was the exercise of reason.
What makes human beings human beings, according to Aristotle, is that human beings are capable of rational thought.
Recently, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, an organization called Boston Dynamics debuted the next-generation Atlas humanoid robot. The new Atlas features a radical, fully electric design with 360-degree joint rotation capabilities, allowing for movement that is more advanced and efficient than human motion, rather than simply mimicking it. The robot is built for industrial environments, is fully water- and dust-resistant, and can operate in a wide range of temperatures. It has human-scale hands with tactile sensing and can lift payloads up to 110 pounds. Importantly, Atlas can operate autonomously and uses AI models to learn new tasks, sharing that knowledge instantly with other Atlas units.
So based on Aristotle’s understanding, is this new robot a human being? Is it not a kind of being that can learn? Make decisions autonomously? And then adjust behavior based on rational conclusions? And if not this latest iteration of AI, then how about the next one?
The question of what it means to be human might have been self-evident at one point, but today the lines in society are blurring. It’s never been more important, then, to understand the true answer to this question.
Not only does understanding the answer help us navigate the issues that are no doubt coming our way; it also provides the key to actual and real fulfillment in life. If we are not able to understand who we are as human beings, then we will not be able to live with meaning and purpose. Genesis 1 tells us:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28).
Though these verses teach us many things about who we are and where we come from, among them is that human beings were made to relate. This is at least part of what it means to be created “in the image of God.”
We were created out of relationship. The verses represent perhaps a bit of a conversation among the persons of the Trinity: “Let us make man in our image…”
Man was not created because of some kind of deficit in the Trinity. That is to say, God did not make man because He was lonely. Or because He was bored. Or because He needed someone to depend on Him. Rather, man was created out of the abundance of the relationship within Himself.
God existed from all eternity in perfect relationship within Himself. He needed nothing. It was from the perfect relational satisfaction that human beings were created - an overflow of love and glory from within Himself. And because God related perfectly within Himself, and because we are made in God’s image, we are made to be relational creatures because we were created in a relationship.
When man is put in the garden, we see the first time that the pattern of Genesis 1 is broken. That pattern went like this: God said… it was so… it was good. But here, in Genesis 2:18, we find that “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.” When something was “good,” it was functioning as God intended it to function. So the statement that “it was not good for the man to be alone” is one of nonfunctionality.
Put another way, human beings cannot function in the way they are meant to function apart from other human beings. You were made to relate to other people. And for the Christian, you were made specifically to relate to other people to help each other walk with Jesus.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.