God Creates Persons

KEY VERSE: “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

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Genesis 2:4-9, 18-25

THE first human being whom God created was Adam. The Hebrew word translated Adam means ‘ruddy’. The same Hebrew word is also translated ‘man’ and it first appears in the Scriptures in Genesis 1:26, which reads in part, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The Hebrew word translated ‘Adam’ and ‘man’ also is properly used to designate the entire human species. The Bible also applies this same word to both Adam and Eve.

The text states that God created Adam in his own likeness and image. This, of course, does not mean that this was literally so, because God is a great spirit being and man is flesh. The thought is that man was created in the mental and moral image of God; that is, for example, having the same capacity for such mental processes as the ability to reason, and on the basis of reasoning, come to a conclusion. Man is able to reason concerning right and wrong and, in fact, God has invited man to reason with him.—Isa. 1:17,18

It is only because of the superiority of the brain that man is elevated above the lower animals. In Ecclesiastes 3:19,20 we read: “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as one dieth, so dieth the other; yea they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast—all go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” In describing the process of creating Adam, the scripture states, “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.” He was not given an immortal soul which supposedly escapes from the body when it dies and continues to live in heaven, hell, or purgatory. Man is a soul, composed of a physical body which has been animated by what the Bible calls the breath of life.

The word ‘soul’ in the Genesis account is a translation of the Hebrew word nephesh, which simply means ‘a living creature’. The same Hebrew word is translated with the same meaning even when the reference is to the lower animals. The earth was especially prepared for man, and man was peculiarly adapted to the conditions here on earth. Everything on the earth was created for man to use and enjoy.—Gen. 1:29-31

God knew it was not good that man should be alone, and so he created a helpmate for him. In Genesis 2:21-23 we read: “And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.”

After Eve was created, Satan was successful in tempting her to disobey God’s instructions and, in the process, he accused God of being a liar, stating, “Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4,5) God had said, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (Gen. 3:3) This is why Jesus said that Satan was “a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44) We know that Adam also entered into the transgression and that because of this the sentence of death was passed upon them and, therefore, on all of their progeny—the human race. (Gen. 3:19; Rom. 5:18,19) But our first parents and their progeny were not left without hope, for God promised them a seed who would be a deliverer and, by the resurrection, would, in due time, give all an opportunity for life in the kingdom.—Gen. 3:15; 22:16-18; John 5:28,29; Gal. 3:16,29; Rev. 22:17

God in his foreknowledge had planned a way of escape from the consequences of man’s transgression, for the Scriptures tell us that it was foreordained before the foundation of the earth that Jesus, as the antitypical lamb of God, would die and provide the ransom price for Adam and his race. (I Pet. 1:18-20; I Cor. 15:20-23) The opportunity to regain life through Jesus, the Redeemer, is a provision of divine grace, a manifestation of God’s great love for mankind and his desire to fulfill the original purpose for which man was created.

| Home Page | Table of Contents |