Genesis
Lesson 8Genesis 2:7
In this lesson, we will study only one verse: Genesis 2:7, which addresses the creation of man. This is an important verse, but don’t let the singular scripture reference fool you! You will need to look up more scripture in this lesson than perhaps any Genesis lesson that we’ve tackled so far. This is necessary to adequately study a very important aspect of God’s creation of man, specifically, that man was created as three parts: body, soul and spirit.
This concept has proven to be a very difficult subject, even for Bible scholars; but it is one that we should all at least be aware of, even if it may prove difficult to understand. We are unique creatures in all of God’s creation, and these three parts make us so. Acknowledging them, and trying to understand them, will help us to better understand one another. Even more importantly, it will help us to better understand the lost person that God may be trying to reach through us.
Read Genesis 2:7; then consider the following and all of the associated verses:
- From our study verse, Genesis 2:7, what can we tell about the elements that God used to create man?
- As also found in Gen. 2:7, what did God do once he had created man from the dust of the earth?
- What does 1 Thessalonians 5:23 tell us about the various parts of a human being?
- Again, our reference verse, Gen. 2:7, told us that God breathed "the breath of life" into man, and furthermore, that man became a living soul (or "living being", depending on the translation that you are reading). As part of its discussion regarding the Word of God, what does Hebrews 4:12 suggest regarding this subject?
- Regarding the "parts" of man, what can we learn from reading Matthew 10:28, Matthew 12:18, Matthew 16:26, John 3:5, John 4:24, Luke 12:19-20, and Romans 12:1?
- From the above verses and numerous other verses in both the Old and New Testament, we know that there are many references to both soul (the Hebrew word is nephesh) and spirit (the Greek word is pneuma). We also know from our studies that the "person", i.e., the human being as God created him or her, is a unity of body, soul, and spirit; each supplements the other and describes the various aspects of each of us. We would not be a whole person without any one of these three pieces. So let’s further examine how soul and spirit are defined in God’s word. Look up the following scriptures related to the soul and note what each group of verses tells us.
- Psalm 107:5-9, Proverbs 27:7, Jeremiah 31:12, Jeremiah 31:25, and Matthew 6:25
- Psalm 42:2-3, Psalm 33:20, Proverbs 21:10, 1 Samuel 1:10, Acts 14:2, and Acts 15:24
- Does a person have a soul? (see Genesis 2:7) Be careful how you answer.
- What do the following scriptures tell us about "spirit": Acts 7:59, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 1 Corinthians 7:34, Hebrews 12:23, Matthew 9:32-33, Matthew 12:18, Matthew 26:41, and Matthew 27:50?
So, while difficult to understand conceptually, we can see that our unique combination of body, soul and spirit is what makes us special within God’s creation. Did you note the various verses which told us God is a soul and a spirit? When He also took on the bodily form of man, He became Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. For us, He gave up His life, His spirit; and He was sacrificed so that we could have eternal life with Him. And, the most marvelous blessing of all is that we will experience that eternal life in a new, resurrected, body with a restored and renewed soul, full of God’s Holy Sprit.
Celebrate God’s great gift to us this week with someone who doesn’t know Christ as their savior. Thanks for studying with us.
In Christ,
Wes
[2010]