Re:  Lisa Taylor (25 Apr 2008)  Clarifications

 

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2008/lisat425.htm

 

Thanks for the many kind words.  Glad to have at least someone reading and enjoying my posts, (smile). 

 

My mom had several of Wachman Nee's books on the Spirit, Soul & Body which as a teenager I found interesting.

 

Don't know if I can clarify everything but will try.  Of course, one can contemplate what would have happened if Adam and Eve had eaten of the Tree of Life and then eaten of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.  If they had a spirit, would it have still died?  If they then ate of the Tree of Life, would their spirit then have come back to life?  Lots of sticky wickets when I can find no support in the Bible for Adam having a spirit.  In fact, Adam appears to be purposely contrasted to Jesus without being made with a spirit.

 

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  I Corinthians 15:45

 

I realize we can use the word "spirit" to mean "enthusiasm" and not a tangible being as in the Holy Spirit.  I had not been using the word in this manner but as a tangible being.  And I would love to do a study of the Bible verses having to do with spirits dieing or being dead to see if I've reached a wrong conclusion, whether devils, demons, familiar spirits, or the Spirit within all Christians, but have not been able to find a single verse. 

 

Some of the points you made as to why you thought Adam must have a spirit:

 

 

Breath of Life

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

 

When Adam was created he was created with God's breath of life.  The question would be, did this "breath of life" contain both spirit and soul.  God did breathe into his nostrils the breath of life.  However, we know that Adam was at that point not immortal because he had not yet eaten of the "tree of life".  Had he eaten of the "tree of life", even though he had sinned and was separated from God and now would have to be punished by God, he would have still been immortal.  God did not want him to become immortal so Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden.  Adam's body died after 930 year and returned to the dust. 

 

From an earlier study it was shown that there are people whose names were not in the Book of Life to begin with from the foundation of the world.  And there are people whose names were in the Book of Life but then at a later time are blotted out.  If the Tree of Life is the Holy Spirit, and both Adam and Eve were prevented from partaking of the Holy Spirit, then they would fall into the group whose names were not in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.

 

But back to the original question.  Was Adam created a triune being, body, soul, and spirit, because scripture records God breathed in Adam the "breath of life" ?  Well, if he was, we must also acknowledge that all animals loaded onto Noah's ark two by two, also had from God the same "breath of life" and would also therefore have to be triune beings. 

 

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.  Genesis 7:15

 

Don't think we want to go there.

 

 

The Image of God

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  Genesis 1:26

 

Does Adam and Eve being made in the image of God, after "their" likeness, mean more than they looked like God?  Does it also mean that they had a three parts, Body, Soul, and Spirit? 

 

As a side note, Hank Hanegraaf, although many people may not consider him the best person to use to make a point, but regardless, he likes to emphasize that God is three persons, not parts.  The three persons are all distinct beings, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Christians are not three distinct beings but have three parts.  So Hank contends that the analogy of the body, soul, and spirit to the Trinity is not a good analogy.  I think he makes a good point here.

 

But back to the image of God.  If we read "body, soul, and spirit" into Genesis 1:26 where it says "image" and "likeness", then we must take note when the exact same words are used in Genesis 5:3:

 

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:  Genesis 5:3 

 

If the usually superficial descriptors "image" and "likeness" also include "spirit", then all of Adam and Eve's other sons and daughters that were not in the likeness and image of Adam, who was in the likeness and image of God, did not have spirits but only Adam, Eve, and Seth.

 

Don't think we want to go there.

 

 

Well, the point of the last post was mainly to put forth that God had told Adam and Eve that the consequences on the day they disobeyed him was death.  Consequently Adam and Eve could not have been created immortal or this would not have been a threat.  God could not and did not use this threat on the third of the angels that disobeyed him and followed lucifer because they were created immortal.  The Bible uses the word "Spirit" to describe the angels so we can conclude that "Spirits" are immortal.  The threat to them was that they would be thrown into the lake of fire to spend eternity in agony.

 

I believe the correct interpretation of what happened when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge was that their eyes were indeed opened and they did know good and evil.  And the correct interpretation of what God did was not that he killed their bodies in one God day of 1,000 years, nor that he killed their spirits.  Remember, after they hid from God, God still talked to them face to face.  The correct interpretation would be that God had compassion on Adam and Eve and took out the consequence of their sins on two animals that DAY that were physically killed instead of Adam and Eve.  God, then made it impossible for them to gain Eternal Life by driving them out of the Garden.  God, though gave hope to Adam and Eve that at their OFFSPRING would have a chance at Eternal Life through the LAST ADAM, Jesus Christ.