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. (Genesis 2.7, RV)
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof. (Genesis 2:19, RV).
Genesis 2:7 sets out the creation of mankind. Many preachers, Word of Faith and denominational alike, usually preach that Adam’s was a lifeless body before God blew the breath of life into his nostrils. That may be a leap of faith. Verse 7 states that “God formed man of the dust of the ground.” We also see that verse 19 states that the animals were also “out of the ground formed.” We know that animals possess consciousness and personalities (souls) though God did not breathe the breath of life into them. Consequently, the possibility exists that Adam was alive and conscious when God blew the breath of life into him.
While Darwinists may find similarities between the animals and mankind because both were made “out of the ground,” Genesis 2:7b shears off the rest of scientific inquiry (inquiry by the five senses) by establishing man a “living soul” by the breath of God. Many cult apologists have jumped up and down about men being thought of as “gods,” but Genesis 2:7b demonstrably shows that man was imbued with the same quality of spiritual materiality as God Himself. This thinking is also consistent with John 1:1-3 and John 10:10 where the New Testament establishes that Jesus possessed the zoe-life of God prior to the incarnation and his mission was to return that zoe-life back to man. Thus, while man is in no sense God, in Adam he shares the same quality of spiritual materiality that God possesses.
In Genesis 2:16, 17, we see God’s command about the tree:
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, though shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
From the Genesis account, we understand that Adam did sin and ate the fruit of the tree. We also understand that he did not physically die the day that he ate from the tree. Consequently, we know that when God said, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” He was speaking of spiritual death - a corrupted nature and separation from God Himself. By Genesis, in germ form, we understand that Adam’s corrupted spiritual nature worked its way through to his flesh. In Genesis 3:17-19, we read:
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
In these verses, God informs Adam of the impact of his sin. First, the entire creation is subjected to a curse. It has become death-doomed. (In Romans, Paul speaks of the creation groaning for redemption.) Second, God pronounces that Adam’s own flesh has also become subject to death or death-doomed. Eventually Adam’s spiritual death will work its decay in his body where it will return to the ground. In future posts, we’ll see that the Christian, though born-again, must continually deal with the death-doomed body.
Footnote: In Genesis 2:7, the Word says that God “blew into Adam’s nostrils” the breath of life. The Greek word in the Septuagint is enefusesen. Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament mentions an ancient medical prescription that helps to understand enefusesen - “pound some fresh white hellebore and blow it into the nostrils.” This also brings out a different understanding of John 20:22 where most translations read, “Jesus blew on them.” It should read, “Jesus blew into them.”
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