George H. Warnock — Anthropology
b3 — Feed My Sheep
Sonship as God’s Sole Purpose for Man
Warnock argues in chapter 4 that God’s deepest purpose for man is not office or ministry but sonship — the bearing of divine character:
“God’s whole purpose in man is SONSHIP not ministry… DIVINE CHARACTER not Divine Government. The Lord Jesus, therefore, came to show us the Way, and to become the Way.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 4
“For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the SONS OF GOD (Romans 8:19). These SONS may at this present time be fathers, and mothers, and sons, and daughters… or they may be apostles, or prophets, or elders, or deacons… But it is in their ultimate training and disciplining as SONS that they shall become the LIBERATORS that God has in mind.” — ch. 4; cf. Rom. 8:19
Interpretation: Warnock consistently distinguishes between office (ministry/government) and being (character/sonship). Both creation history and redemption history are subordinated to this one goal: sons who effect the liberation of creation (cf. Rom. 8:19-22).
Sonship Implies Absolute Dependence
Warnock connects sonship to the principle “the Son can do nothing of Himself” (John 5:19, 30):
“THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things so ever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise… the Son is helpless in Himself; for being a Son implies absolute and total dependence upon the Father for everything.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 4; cf. John 5:19
“‘I can of mine own self do NOTHING’ (John 5:30)… but it was rather because of the covenant relationship which He had with the Father. ‘I can do nothing of Myself, because I have purposed to do everything and to say everything… IN UNION WITH MY FATHER.‘” — ch. 3; cf. John 5:30
Interpretation: Human helplessness in Warnock is not an anthropological defect but the structural precondition of sonship. True humanity consists in a relationship of total dependence on God, patterned on Christ’s relationship to the Father.
Sheep Character as Fundamental Human Identity
One of the most extensively developed anthropological categories in this work is sheep character as the essential trait that precedes and determines all other roles:
“There is no difference between a sheep and a shepherd, as far as their character is concerned. For God’s true shepherds are sheep before they become shepherds; and they continue to be sheep AFTER they have become shepherds. Once we recognize this principle, the barriers that have been erected to segregate the sheep from the shepherds are torn down.” — Feed My Sheep, Preface
“The true shepherds over God’s heritage are sheep before they become shepherds, and after they become shepherds they are still sheep… But let us remember that our Lord does not sit enthroned in the heavens… because He was Divine in His birth, and Messianic in His office… but because He was a LAMB IN CHARACTER.” — ch. 7
“The overcomers that we find coming forth in the Book of Revelation are those who ‘follow the Lamb’… not those who follow the Lion. A bleeding Lamb became the conquering, triumphant Lion of the tribe of Judah. But even as He assumed that character, He was still the Lamb that was slain.” — ch. 7; cf. Rev. 5:5-6
Interpretation: Warnock describes lamb character as the deepest dimension of true humanity. It is not a temporary phase prior to attaining authority but the permanent ground of identity — even for Christ as enthroned Lord.
Imago Dei: Conscience as Divine Impartation
Warnock connects human conscience directly to creation in God’s image:
“A man’s conscience is his own private inheritance from the hands of the Creator… it was an impartation of Himself that would make fellowship and communion with Him possible; and it was for true fellowship and communion that He created you.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 5
Interpretation: Conscience in Warnock is not a moral mechanism but a creational impartation of God Himself — the point of contact through which communion with the Creator becomes possible.
Imago Dei: The Spirit of Man as the Lord’s Lamp
Warnock quotes Prov. 20:27 in the context of the restoration of man to God’s image:
“The Spirit of man is the candle of the LORD’… It may flicker many times… it may even go out. But God put the candle there, and as the light of His Truth shines upon him and the flame is rekindled, at that very moment the man is brought face to face with a new awareness of God.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 5; cf. Prov. 20:27
“Now as God leads us back to the image of God, that image will be of a much higher order than what Adam knew before he fell… The knowledge of evil becomes an inherent part of his conscience; and in the midst of all the evil and darkness that surrounds us God will have a people who have come to full maturity in Christ, whose senses are ‘exercised to discern both good and evil.‘” — ch. 5
Interpretation: The restoration of the imago Dei in Warnock surpasses Adam’s original state: the completed image has known both good and evil and is thereby matured to the full stature of Christ (cf. Heb. 5:14).
Kenosis as Pattern for Human Beings
Warnock describes Christ’s self-emptying (Phil. 2:7) not only as soteriological fact but as a formative pattern for human life:
“‘Lo I come to do Thy will, O God’… It was because He ‘made himself of no reputation’ (literally, ‘emptied Himself’). …It was because, coming as a man, He took the form of a servant (a ‘doulos’… a ‘bond-slave’). …It was because, as a bond-slave, He learned obedience.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 7; cf. Phil. 2:7-8; Heb. 5:8
“God’s priests do not ‘sweat it out’… they must serve God only in union with Him, clothed upon with the fine linen of His own righteousness… and of their own selves they can do nothing.” — ch. 1
Interpretation: Christ’s kenosis in Warnock is an anthropological formation principle: man reaches his destiny not through activity but through self-emptying — the laying aside of reputation, the taking of servant form, the learning of obedience.
Circumcision of the Heart: Cutting Away the Old Life
Warnock connects the circumcision of the heart (Col. 2:11-12) to the pattern of Joshua’s generation at the entry into Canaan:
“The old generation had been circumcised, but the new generation that was born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. Circumcision signified a cutting away of the flesh… and the new generation must enter the land completely cut away from the old life of Egypt.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 6
“‘In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead’ (Colossians 2:11, 12). But just as the REAL circumcision was an inward work, rather than an outward ordinance… so the REAL baptism goes far beyond the ordinance itself.” — ch. 6; cf. Col. 2:11-12
Interpretation: Circumcision of the heart in Warnock is the inward anthropological counterpart of the external rite. It entails radical vulnerability and surrender — symbolized by the image of an entire army temporarily left completely defenseless after circumcision — but precisely in that human weakness God’s power is revealed.
Restoration of the Soul and Bodily Resurrection
Warnock connects the anthropological distinction between the first and second Adam to the hope of bodily restoration:
“It is a place where we constantly ABIDE in the realm of the Spirit… flowing streams, brooks of water… fruitful vines and fig trees… For the first Adam came from the earth… dust of the ground… and God breathed into him a life, soul-life… But the last Adam came from Heaven… became a ‘Life-Giving’ SPIRIT.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 6; cf. 1Cor. 15:45-47
“Resurrection Life! Not just a future historical event, but the living Christ walking and living in the hearts of men! The early Church had a great measure of this life, as God moved mightily in glory and power… Jesus said, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life… And God would have us to walk in the glory and power of this life.” — ch. 4
Interpretation: The first Adam / second Adam contrast has a direct anthropological implication in Warnock: the soul-nature of the first Adam is not improved but replaced by the Spirit-nature of the Last Adam. Resurrection is not merely future but a present walk in Christ.
Man and Woman: Order and Character
Warnock treats the man-woman relationship in chapter 5 as a reflection of the Christ-church relationship, addressing both the ordering and the required character:
“‘Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands IN EVERYTHING’ (Ephesians 5:24). The virtuous woman submits to this, and she finds it to be her joy and freedom as she does so… she shall also know the strength of her Lord to resist her husband if he commands her to lie and cheat and steal and commit adultery.” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 5; cf. Eph. 5:24
“The husband, on the other hand, by virtue of his calling, is ruler and head of the wife, and of the home. But the domineering man is far, far from the Kingdom of God; and unless he submits to the will of Christ, and learns humility, meekness, lowliness of mind, he will never rule and reign with Christ in His Kingdom.” — ch. 5
Interpretation: The ordering of man and woman in Warnock is connected to character formation: the submitting wife exercises the same virtues of grace and meekness that are central throughout the work; the man who rules without Christ’s servant character disqualifies himself. [TENSION with earlier source b2, which emphasizes the brokenness of the human will as such — here the wife’s will appears morally functional.]
Moral Responsibility: Personal Discernment
Warnock emphasizes in chapter 5 the individual’s responsibility to know and discern God’s will:
“It is absolutely necessary for any man or woman who sincerely desires to go on with the LORD, to walk in obedience before Him, and in the light of His Word, in personal union with Christ… the true shepherd will seek to illumine the Urim and Thummim in your own spirit that you might be able to say for yourself: ‘This is the Way, I must walk in it.‘” — Feed My Sheep, ch. 5
“Freedom we need, and watchcare, and correction, and instruction, and chastisement. But we dare not alter the course of LIFE that God designed for each individual member of the Body of Christ… Every individual must be encouraged by the Word of the Lord to earnestly seek the Lord, until he finds his place in the Body as a ‘member in particular.‘” — ch. 5
Interpretation: Despite the strongly theocentric anthropology (human helplessness, dependence), Warnock also acknowledges a personal faculty of discernment that makes every believer responsible for knowing and walking their individual calling. This stands in tension with the radical unfreedom described in b2, but is not necessarily contradictory: the Spirit illumines the person so that they themselves can discern.