Daily Bible Nugget #764, Genesis 2:7

The Nugget:

Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

My Comment:

I have noticed that even contemporary scholarship, not to mention false cults and those who adopt a materialist theology, often get this verse and especially its terms wrong.

To properly understand terms of theological importance as they occur in the Bible it is necessary to do a careful, thorough, and complete examination of all the evidence in the Bible.

I have presented cross references and notes in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and its expansion in The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury for many of the critical Bible terms I encountered in my four year study with Jehovah’s Witnesses in my home. We met for several hours of study and discussion every Monday night.

Two of my Sunday school high school students, Sandy and Colleen, asked for my help after the Jehovah’s Witnesses made repeated visits to their homes. Colleen and Sandy said they had adequate answers for the Jehovah’s Witnesses based on what I had already taught them in Bible studies and our Sunday school class, but they felt the Jehovah’s Witnesses did not take their answers seriously because they were just girls.

One of my students asked me to meet with the Jehovah’s Witness in her home. Long story short, I met the Jehovah’s Witness, and he invited me to learn more about the Bible in my own home where he would conduct a Bible study with me. I agreed, saying “I believe the Bible, and will believe anything you can prove by the Bible.”

That is how I placed so many notes in my book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, about correcting the mistaken beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

At the time I participated in these studies, there was very little information available to me in published resources to refute the many Watchtower errors in Bible doctrine and interpretation.

Now you and any Bible reader can have access to the answer to the mistaken doctrinal positions taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and many others.

Should you say or think, “I have no need for such information,” you reveal a most important fact about your own spiritual life and outreach: you have not been engaged in personal witnessing to others about your own Bible-based faith! (Proverbs 11:30. 2 Timothy 2:2. Jude 1:3.)

Select references and notes for Genesis 2:7 from The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:

formed. Gen 2:19, 2Ki 19:25, Psa 94:9; Psa 95:5; Psa 100:3; Psa 139:14, 15, Isa 45:18; Isa 64:8. Note that man’s body was formed, but soul and spirit were created, Gen 1:26, 27, proving man is a compound being.

man. Gen 2:8; Gen 2:15, Note man is a compound being consisting of body and spirit, +*Job 14:22, +*Ecc 12:7, +*Mat 10:28, Luk 8:55, 1Co 5:3; >1Co 15:45, 2Co 5:6; 2Co 5:8, %1Th 5:23, %Heb 4:12, 3Jn 1:2.

breath. Heb. neshamah. *S# H5397. Gen 7:22, Deut 20:16, Jos 10:40; Jos 11:11; Jos 11:14, 2Sa 22:16, 1Ki 15:29; 1Ki 17:17, Job 4:9; Job 26:4; *Job 27:3; Job 32:8; Job 33:4; +*Job 34:14; Job 37:10, Psa 18:15; Psa 150:6, Pro 20:27, Isa 2:22; Isa 30:33; Isa 42:5; Isa 57:16, Dan 5:23; Dan 10:17.

Note that “spirit” or “soul” are not merely “breath.” “Breath” constitutes function, “spirit” and “soul” often designate “being,” or the immaterial part of man. “Breath” is distinct from “spirit” and “soul” as it cannot substitute for these terms in the following passages: Gen 34:3; Gen 41:8, Lev 20:27, Deut 2:30, 1Sa 1:15; 1Sa 28:7, 1Ki 21:5; 1Ki 22:21, 22, 23, 24, Job 34:14, Psa 16:10; Psa 19:7; Psa 34:18; Psa 106:15, Pro 16:18, 19; Pro 18:14, Ecc 1:14, Isa 29:24; Isa 58:5, +*Mat 10:28, Luk 12:19, Joh 4:23, Act 23:8, 9, Eph 4:23, 1Th 5:23, Heb 4:12, 1Jn 4:1, Rev 6:9, 10, 11; Rev 20:4.

Note also that the human soul or spirit is distinguished from the divine Spirit from whom it proceeded, thus refuting pantheism, 1Co 2:11. Soul or spirit is distinguished from the body it inhabits, refuting materialism, Gen 35:18. *1Ki 17:21, +*Job 14:22, +*Ecc 12:7, +*Zec 12:1 note. +**Mat 10:28 note. Jas 2:26.

living. Gen 1:21; Gen 1:24; Gen 2:19, Job 27:3; Job 32:8; Job 33:4. Note man’s body is vitalized by a single principle, the living soul. See notes on Dichotomy at Gen 41:8; Num 27:16; Romans 8:10. See notes on Trichotomy at 1 Th 5:23 and Heb 4:12.

soul. Heb. +S# H5315, nephesh. +Gen 1:20; +**Gen 12:5; Gen 35:18, Num 16:22; Num 27:16, *1Ki 17:21, 2Ki 4:27, +*Job 14:22; Job 34:14, Psa 63:1, Pro 20:27, +*Ecc 12:7, *Isa 10:18, *Dan 7:15, Zec 12:1, +*Mat 10:28 note. *Mar 12:26; *Mar 12:27, 1Co 15:45, 1Th 5:23, +*Heb 12:9, Jas 2:26, +*1Pe 3:4.

Note that Scripture uses the terms “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably in such passages as Gen 41:8 with Psa 42:6:

Both depart the body at death: Gen 35:18 with Psa 146:4, 1Sa 30:12 with Lam 1:11 mg.

Both are affirmed to be within man: Job 14:22 with Zec 12:1, Mat 10:28 with Mat 27:50, Joh 12:27 with Joh 13:21, Heb 12:23 with Rev 6:9.

Both ’soul’ (nephesh, +Gen 23:8) and ’spirit’ (ruach, +Gen 26:35) are rendered mind: Eze 23:18; Eze 23:28 with Eze 20:32.

Both are used of the departed: 1Pe 3:19 with Rev 20:4.

Both are used of sadness or sorrow: 1Ki 21:5 with Psa 62:11, Mat 26:28 with Joh 13:21, Isa 26:9 a with Isa 26:9 b. Luk 1:46 with Luk 1:47, Php 1:27 a with Php 1:27 b.

An examination of its lexical uses shows immediately that nephesh is used with a broader range of meaning than the more theological English term “soul.” The 754 occurrences of the Hebrew word nephesh (most often rendered “soul”) may be classified as to its lexical uses as follows:

(1) +Gen 2:19, used of lower creatures;

(2) +Gen 9:15, used alike of lower creatures and man, rendered “creature,” “life” (Lev 17:11), “soul” (Num 31:28);

(3) +Gen 12:5, used of man as an individual person;

(4) +Gen 12:13, used of mortal man, as though the soul could die or be destroyed; also rendered “life” (+Gen 44:30), “ghost,” etc. (+Num 23:10);

(5) +Gen 17:14, used of man as being “cut off” by God;

(6) +Gen 27:31, used of man, exercising certain powers, or performing certain acts, often rendered by emphatic pronouns;

(7) +Gen 34:3, used of man, exercising mental faculties, rendered “soul,” “mind” (+Gen 23:8), “heart” (+Exo 23:9), “lust,” etc. (+Exo 15:9); also used of God Himself, +Lev 26:11;

(8) +Lev 19:28, used of man actually dead;

(9) +Num 11:6, used of man as possessing animal appetites and desires;

(10) +Jos 10:28, used of man being slain or killed by man.

(11) +Psa 30:3, used of man as going to a place described by the word “grave,” etc.

Compare the classification of the corresponding New Testament term psychē at Mat 2:20 note. For “spirit,” Heb. ruach, see Gen 6:3 note.

Several faith groups, and some individuals, are most mistaken in their understanding of “soul” and “spirit” as used in the Bible, for they have failed to make a complete induction from all the evidence. All the evidence, a complete induction, is given immediately above under eleven lexical categories for the term “soul.”