Genesis 2:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Genesis 2:7

Comments

We are now up to Day 6 of creation in this recapitulation. ‘The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground’, from a clod of earth, ‘and breathed into his nostrils’ directly – the breath of life, animation and the soul – ‘and man became a living soul.’ So God breathed in something special to man that was not breathed into the animals. The critics foolishly say, ‘According to this, God did not breathe a soul into man until he was made and developed, because here he breathed it into his nostrils.’ How foolish! Nobody expects the narrative to be treated that literally. It is obviously a figure of speech: he breathed into Adam. God is a spirit and he does not breath literally. You don’t take every single word literally – ‘Oh, he was made, and then subsequently he was given a soul.’ People try to savage these accounts in a way that you would never do to any other literature! Man has physical life in common with the animals, which is often represented by breath, and the end of life by the cessation of breath, or by breathing one’s last breath. We are physically designed to draw breath moment by moment in order to continue to live, so that breath is a good symbol for the whole of physical life. But he is quite different from the animals. ‘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.’ Man also has a spirit or a soul, which is not physical, and which is conscious and rational and thinking. This is the gift of God which distinguishes him from the animals. Only man is aware of his Creator and can think his thoughts after him, and understand something of his Creator’s ways.But this remarkable creature made in the image of God was formed by God out of the dust of the earth. It is that which we set least value on, which we walk on without giving it a second thought, and which we make proverbially most worthless. As Paul says, ‘The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly’ (1 Corinthians 15:47-49). Adam even before the fall was reminded by his origin that he was of the earth. As was his origin, so was his nature, and so is the nature of all of us, his descendants. Man aspires to something greater than this, but that aspiration can only be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the man from heaven. What Paul says of the limitations of Adam’s nature is true before the fall as well as after it. Adam was from his creation earthy, a creature of earth who would need to be changed if he was to inherit heaven. But Adam, before the fall, had the potential for everlasting life if God exalted him, and he was at that time free from the bondage of corruption. Yet sadly, although God formed this wonderful being out of such lowly material and lifted him up, the entrance of sin into the world put this wonderful elevation into reverse.

Application

Questions

How many gifts man has which distinguish him from the animals:

{

only man is made in the image of God;

only man’s nature has been taken by God;

only man can be redeemed;

only man rules over creation;

only man worships God;

only man has the gift of reason;

only man has a deep sense of purpose and needs to have meaning and purpose to be fulfilled;

only man is commanded by God and only man is able to obey the commandments of God;

only man is sinful;

only man has a conscience, feels shame;

only man feels embarrassment;

only man cares about the pursuit of the truth;

only man can create and design;

only man makes use of art and appreciates beauty for its own sake;

only man appreciates humour;

only man makes and wears clothes;

only man cooks food;

only man marries and forms deep relationships;

only man buries his dead;

only man believes in an afterlife;

only man is not content with this life alone but aspires to eternity;

only man has complex verbal language and has multiple languages;

only man uses writing;

only man increases in knowledge and passes to next generation;

only man develops technology and tools;

only man has been given dominion over all other creatures and is able to subdue, tame and use other animals;

only man investigates nature of the world in which he lives ;

only man asks, where has the world come from;

only man consciously considers his own existence;

only man studies history;

only man plans for the future;

only man weeps;

}

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Genesis 2:7 Commentary and Bible Study