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God Creates Man
“This is the account of the
heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day
that the LORD God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the
field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had
yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the
earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.” (Gen.
2:4-5)
The word “field” in the Hebrew
could mean a restricted land area. It may refer to a section of
the earth that would later be called “Eden” (delight). Moses
was not speaking of the origin of plants but of the growth of
plants. The plants had not yet really “sprouted” out because
they needed plenty of water for that and it had not rained.
“But a mist used to rise from
the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.” (Gen.
2:6)
Though there was no rain, God
mysteriously watered the ground. The moisture needed for plants
came from the ground. But what else was needed to grow the
plants beside the rain? Someone to till the soil! Tilling the
ground is necessary for the maturity of plants.
“Then the LORD God formed man
of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen. 2:7)
The name of God used here is “Jehovah
Elohim,” which identifies Him as the self-existent God who
is also the powerful Creator. The Bible teaches us that Jesus
Christ was the actual Creator.
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“All things were made by Him”
(John 1:3)
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“For by Him were all things
created” (Col. 1:16)
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“By whom he made the worlds”
(Heb. 1:2)
God “formed” man. The Hebrew word
formed is “yatzar.” It means to form or to shape from
something, in contrast to “bara,” to create from nothing
(Gen. 1:1).
The prophet Jeremiah also used
the word “yatzar.”
“The word which came to
Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: ‘Arise and go down to the
potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My
words.’ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he
was, making (yatzar) something at the wheel. And the
vessel that he made (yatzar) of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter; so he made (yatzar) it again
into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to
make.” (Jer. 18:1-4)
Dust of the Ground
God made man (“adamah,” or
red earth) of the dust of the ground, from the chemical
components of dirt. The chemical ingredients found in the human
body correspond exactly with those in dirt (lest we think too
highly of our bodies)!
God breathed into man the breath
of lives - Hebrew, “nephesh chayim.” The English Bible
translates “life” in the singular. However, the word lives is
plural “nephesh chayim.” When God made the animals, he
created them, “nephesh chayah” (singular). But, in
contrast, God breathed into man, “nephesh chayim”
(lives).
This is extremely important! God
had breathed into animals a soul, a life principle, or a
conscious existence. This life principle included the ability to
relate to the earth, have conscious existence, the appetites,
the necessity to persevere, to survive, to mate, etc. But God
breathed into man a spiritual aspect of the soul not found in
animals, a God likeness. The Bible calls this spiritual aspect
“a spirit.” This word in the Greek is “pneuma.” In the
Hebrew it is “ruach,” literally translated “breath” or
“wind.”
“What man knows the things of
a man except the spirit (pneuma) of the man which is
in him?” (1 Cor. 2:11)
“But there is a spirit (ruach),
in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him
understanding (Hebrew: bin, the ability to
perceive).” (Job 32:8)
It is as though God exhaled His
breath into Adam, and Adam inhaled the breath of God. Adam
awoke to consciousness of life and a relationship with God. This
consciousness of life contains both a soul and a spiritual
capacity.
The soul of man contains man’s
ability to think (to rationalize), to feel, and to choose in the
earthy arena.
The human spirit (pneuma)
is the part of the soul that links man to God. It is this part
of man that makes fellowship with God possible. The soul (suke)
is the part of man’s “nephesh chayim” that is earthy; the
spirit is that which is heavenly.
“So also it is written, ‘the
first man Adam became a living soul, (“psuke,”
breath), The last Adam became a life-giving spirit (“pneuma”).”
(1 Cor. 15:45)
Before the fall, man had a
living spirit that was made in the image of God. With the
spirit, man had the capacity to know God and to appreciate and
value God. With the will, he had the capacity to choose to
fellowship with God. We are going to see that something
happened to man as a result of the fall that destroyed this
capacity.
The Bible seems to link the
spirit and the soul together. In fact, they are so closely
linked that it is humanly impossible to distinguish between
them. Only the word of God has the power to penetrate into their
realm and discern between them.
“For the word of God is
living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)
Man being created in God’s image
means that the invisible parts of man, the soul and spirit, are
fashioned after God. It will be this part of the person that
will be tested in the Garden of Eden.
Sources
New American Standard Bible
Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew
Definitions
Robert B. Thieme, Jr.
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