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PERSONAL
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erroneous teaching pictures Satan
as more powerful than God- he's
getting the best of the competition.
It
represents Satan as being able to
thwart God's purpose, to step in to
upset God's plan and then to use
his cunning and his deception and
his wi les to outwit God and to pre–
vent God from repairing the dam–
age in the case of more than a very
small fraction of the human race.
What the Blble Really Teaches
Now let's go back into the book of
Genesis and see just what the Bible
itself says about all this.
Jn Genesis 1:27, it certainly does
say that God created man in his
own image. But it does not say that
man's composition was the same as
God's- that God made man of
immortal spirit!
Notice what it says about what
God made man out of-Genesis 2:7:
"And the Lord God formed man"–
not the house that man was to enter,
not the garment or cloak he would
wear, but man- "of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nos–
trils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul."
Not that man has an immortal
soul, but man became a living soul.
That is, man is a living soul.
The word "soul" as it was origi–
nally inspired and written by Mases
in the Hebrew language was
nephesh;
and
nephesh
means the
life of animals-of animals who
receive their Ji fe from the breath of
air. It is the very antithesis of any–
thing immortal.
It
means material
life sustained by blood and the
breathing of air- that's what the
very word
nephesh,
translated here
"soul," means.
A number of times in the first
chapter of Genesis the various ani–
mals were called
nephesh
in the orig–
inal inspired Hebrew- only the
translators in our English version of
the Bible translated it "creature"
there, and "soul" when it carne to
man.
The word "breath"-the "breath
of life" here simply means "air" or
"wind." Isn 't this exactly what
every man breathes in and out of
his nostri ls? Why certainly!
It
was
this same "breath of life" that God
28
caused to be breathed in and out of
the nostrils of animals.
Notice the time of the Flood in
Genesis 7:21-22. I t is recorded that
"aJI flesh died that moved upon the
earth, both of fowl, and of catt1e,
and of beast, and of every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth,
and every man : all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life...." That
includes all of the animals, as well
as man, in whose nostri ls was tbe
breath of 1ife-"of all that was in
the dry land, died." There we see
the identical Hebrew word that is
used for man- and God breathed
into man's nostrils the breath of
life- used for breathing in and out
of the nostri1s of animals.
The New Testament Teachlng
We read in 1 Corinthians 15:53,
" ... this mort al must put on
immortality." The Bible says that
man is dust-that man is mortal,
but that man can receive immortal–
ity and tbat he must put on immor–
tal ity at the resurrection of the just.
Now turn to Ezekiel
J
8:4, " ... the
soul that sinneth, it shall die." It
isn't immortal! And that's repeated
again in the Bible-it's given tw ice.
Sinful man shall not live forever,
but die!
And, what did God say to Adam
in the garden of Eden? This was
befare the so-called fat i.
Beginning with verse 15 of Gen–
esis 2: "And the Lord God took the
man, and put him into the garden
of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat: but
of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen.
2: 15-1 7).
How could that be if Adam were
al ready immortal? If the man were
perfect in character- if here were
perfection, the masterpiece of all
God's creation, and God had com–
pleted the creation and was tbrough
with it- would he have said , ' ' In
the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die"?
It
wouldn't
have been possible if the man were
perfect-the man couldn 't have
fallen if he had been perfect, could
he? He said, " In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely
'
d ie"- not live forever. He didn't
say, "You'll live forever in sorne
other place or condition-in hell."
No, the penalty for sin is death!
What Actually Happened
Satan carne along to deceive this
human, mortal man, that had been
made from the dust of the ground.
First, Satan called God a liar when
God said that the man was mortal,
subject to death if he committed sin.
God said, " In the day that thou eat–
est thereof thou shalt surely die"–
in other words, man is mortal- sub–
ject to death. But, you read in Gene–
sis 3:4 that the serpent said, " Ye
shall not surely die." He questioned
the veracity of God's word! Salan
argued that the man was already
immortal - an immortal sou l that
would not die-that be would líve
forever anyway. But God had said,
justas you read in Romans 6:23, that
the "wages of sin ís death; but the
gift of God ís eternal Ji fe."
Satan argued that if we disobeyed
God-if we commit sin-that we
will be as God-like God. We'll be
like gods ourselves-tbat is, immor–
tal spí rit. And so, somehow, ever
since, most people have j ust assumed
and gotten ínto their mínds the idea
that when Adam was created "in the
image of God," he was created and
made of the same composition as
God- that is, composed of immortal
spiri t and of perfect character, and
that he was created in tbe same char–
acter and the same nature of God
originally, but that bis nature
changed and he fell to mortality and
utter sinfulness.
In John 4:24 in the New Testa–
mant, you read that "God is a Spir–
it." But nowhere does the Bible say
that man is a spirit, or that man is
spirit. Rather, the Bible says that
man is dust- " unto dust shalt thou
return," says God. In
T
Corinthians
15 of the New Testament, it says
that "manis of the eartb, earthy."
What ls the l!'lage of God?
How was Adam made in the image
of God? How could he have been in
the image of God if he was of differ–
ent composition? 1once saw a statue
or image of American President
Abraham Lincoln. That statue was
composed of iron. 1 have seen
images composed of wood, bronze
or stone. Abraham Lincoln was
The
PLAIN TRUTH