In Genesis we are given further details concerning the original creation of man.
“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 being [soul].” (2:7)
Here we see that the total personality of man has its origin in two absolutely distinct and separate sources. The physical, material part of man – his body – is formed out of the dust of the earth. The invisible, immaterial part of man has its origin in the breath of almighty God. This invisible, immaterial part of man is here called “the soul.” However, as we have already said, in other passages of Scripture it is more fully defined as the combination of spirit and soul together.
The Bible indicates that spirit and soul are not identical but are two distinct elements together making up the immaterial part of man. It is outside the scope of our present study, however, to attempt to draw a precise line of demarcation between man’s spirit and his soul.
For our present purposes it is sufficient to say that the total personality of man has two different original sources:
- The physical, material part of man (his body) is from below – from the earth.
- The invisible, immaterial part of man (his spirit and soul) is from above – from God Himself.
At death, the invisible, immaterial element of man (his spirit and soul) is released from its earthly vessel. Thereafter, by the process of burial, man’s material part (his body) is restored again to the earth from which it came and through decomposition returns again to its original elements. Even where there is no actual burial, man’s body, after death, is always subjected to some process of disintegration or decomposition, which ultimately restores it to its original material elements. Consequently, it will be man’s body also which, by resurrection, will be raised up again from the same material elements.
Lord, thank You for Your Word, showing us the overall process of what happens to us, even after death. And thank You that for Christians this is a message of hope and eternal life ... Please help me to be a testimony to that truth to many more people around me. Amen.
