This is the 4th part in a series of 7 written under the title:
See index for previous parts.
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The Breath of Life - What Did God Breathe into Adam?
By this point in our study, one thing has become increasingly clear. Genesis does not describe God placing a living soul into a lifeless body. Instead, it tells us that God formed the man from the dust of the ground and that the man became a living nephesh—a living being.
That raises another question. What exactly did God breathe into Adam?
The answer is more significant than it may first appear. Whatever God breathed into Adam transformed the body He had formed from the dust into a living person. If we hope to understand life, death, resurrection, and ultimately the hope of the gospel, we must first understand this extraordinary gift.
Genesis simply calls it "the breath
of life."But what does that expression mean?
More Than One Word
As with the word nephesh, the Hebrew Scriptures use more than one word when speaking about breath and spirit. Genesis 2:7 says that God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. The Hebrew word here is neshamah. Elsewhere the Old Testament frequently uses another word, ruach, which can be translated breath, wind, or spirit.
English works in much the same way. We use the word spirit in different senses depending on the context, and we likewise speak of breath, wind, and spirit in related ways. The Hebrew Scriptures use ruach with similar flexibility. The same word can carry different shades of meaning depending upon its context.
The Hebrew Scriptures use ruach in much the same way. Sometimes it refers to the wind. Sometimes to the breath of living creatures. Sometimes to the Spirit of God. At other times it describes a person's inner disposition or attitude.
Likewise, neshamah most often refers to the breath that gives life.
Although these words are not identical, they overlap. Both are connected with life itself, and both remind the reader that life is not self-generated. It is God's gift.
The important question, therefore, is not simply
what these words can mean in isolation, but what they mean in the
context of the biblical story.
Life Belongs to God
One theme appears again and again throughout the Old Testament. Life belongs to God. Job understood this well.
Later he declares,
These two statements beautifully echo Genesis 2. Human life exists because God continually gives it.
Job's friend Elihu makes the same observation from another perspective.
Notice the sequence. God gives life. He sustains that life from moment to moment. If He chooses to withdraw that gift, life comes to an end. Job is not describing God removing an immortal person from inside another person. He is describing the Creator withdrawing the life He Himself continually gives.
The psalmist expresses the same truth.
Once again the language intentionally recalls
Genesis. Life comes from God. Death occurs when that life is
withdrawn. Creation itself depends continually upon God's sustaining
power. Throughout the Old Testament, life is never presented as an
inherent possession of humanity. It is always God's gift. Every
breath depends upon Him, and every living creature remains alive only
because He continually sustains the life He has given.
The Breath Returns to God
Perhaps no passage has been quoted more often in discussions about life after death than Ecclesiastes 12:7. “The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
For many readers this verse appears to settle the discussion. The spirit returns to God; therefore, it is assumed to be the conscious self that survives death. Yet notice what the verse actually says. It does not mention the nephesh or that an immortal soul departs for heaven. Instead, Ecclesiastes deliberately echoes Genesis 2:7. It says that the dust came from the earth and the breath came from God. At death, each returns to its source. The verse is describing the reversal of creation. It is describing the undoing of what Genesis 2:7 first described. The language is wonderfully symmetrical.
Creation:
|
Death:
|
- Dust from the earth.
- Breath from God.
- A living
person.
|
- The body returns to the earth.
- The breath returns to God.
- The living
person dies.
|
Ecclesiastes is not attempting to explain the
intermediate state or the resurrection. It is simply describing what
happens to the elements from which humanity was originally formed.
The picture remains thoroughly consistent with Genesis.
The Valley of Dry Bones
The prophet Ezekiel provides perhaps the clearest illustration of this pattern. In his famous vision, Ezekiel sees a valley filled with dry bones. The bones are assembled. Flesh covers them. Yet they remain lifeless. Something is still missing.
God then commands the prophet:
Once again, the imagery returns to Genesis. Bodies alone do not constitute living people. Life comes only when God's breath enters them.
The vision primarily
concerns the restoration of Israel from exile, but the imagery
depends entirely upon the language of creation. Once again the
emphasis falls on God alone. He gives life, He restores life, and He
alone has authority over life. The same God who breathed life into
Adam can also breathe life into dry bones.
What Does the Breath Do?
At this point another important observation should be made. The pattern is remarkably consistent throughout the Old Testament. Throughout the passages we have examined, the breath of life is consistently associated with God's gift and sustaining of life. It animates. It gives vitality. It returns to God when life ends. Yet nowhere in these passages do the biblical writers describe the breath itself as an independent, conscious individual. Their emphasis lies elsewhere. The breath is God's life-giving gift, continually sustaining the creatures He has made.
Yet in the passages we have examined, the biblical writers do not describe this breath as an independent, conscious individual. Their emphasis lies elsewhere. The breath is consistently presented as God's life-giving gift rather than as a second living person residing within the human being. The breath is God's life-giving power at work within His creatures. Life belongs to Him. Human beings remain dependent upon Him from their first breath to their last. This understanding fits naturally with everything we have seen so far. The nephesh is the living person. The breath is the divine gift that makes life possible.
Seen together, the picture presented in Genesis is
remarkably simple. The body formed from the dust is not itself the
living person. The breath of life is not itself the living person.
Only when God joins the two does a living nephesh come into
existence. The living person exists because the Creator gives life.
Looking Ahead
Genesis has now given us a remarkably coherent picture of human life. Humanity is formed from the dust, animated by God's breath, and becomes a living nephesh. Death reverses that creative act as the breath returns to God and the body returns to the earth.
Yet one question still remains.
If death truly undoes creation, why does the Bible place such extraordinary emphasis upon resurrection?
The answer takes us to the heart of the gospel
itself.
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Watch for Part 5. What Was Undone? - Death as the Reversal of Creation. Coming very soon.
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