Man in Life and Death

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 3, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 43.

Man in Life and Death

1. In whose image was man created?

“God created man in His own image, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD created He him; male and female created He them.” Gen. 1: 27.

2. Of what was man formed?

“And the Lord God formed MAN of the DUST OF THE GROUND.” Gen. 2: 7; 3:19. “The first man is of the earth, earthy.” 1 Cor. 15: 47.

3. What caused man to live?

“And the Lord God . . . breathed into his nostrils the BREATH OF LIFE.” Gen. 2: 7.

4. What did this organism then become?

“And man [formed of the dust of the ground] became a LIVING SOUL.” Gen. 2: 7.

NOTE.—This is the simple, clear account of the creation of man, bringing into existence that which had not before existed. He was formed of the dust, a perfect being in all his organs and functions, but still lifeless. God breathed into that form the breath of life, and that which He had formed from the dust became a living soul. Before that it was a soul, a person, but a lifeless soul. There is nothing said in either of these scriptures about a dual man, or of man’s possessing a separate entity, an immortal soul or spirit. Yet it is argued that God is immortal; man is made in God’s image; therefore man is immortal. But this reasoning is a non sequitur. It proves too much; for if to be made in the image of God invests man with one attribute of Deity, immortality, it logically would clothe him with all His attributes, such as omnipotence and omnipresence. An argument which proves too much proves nothing. “Breath of life” does not mean an entity, a spirit capable of existing consciously and intelligently without the body; for if such were the case, the beasts possess the same “breath of life.” Gen. 7: 15, 22. The “breath of life” is simply the vital energy by which the man is caused to live, given to man in harmony with the law of his being. Neither does “living soul” convey any idea of immortality in man. Its meaning is simply “living creature.” See Gen. 1:30, margin, and Rev. 16:3.

5. What test was placed upon man?

“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. 2:17.

NOTE.—The responsible man was the “thou,” the one that reasoned, chose, decided, moved the hand to take, the mouth to taste. It was the whole man, the responsible whole, that was addressed and that, if disobedient, would die.

6. What contradiction was made to God’s word?

“And the serpent said, . . . Ye shall NOT surely die.” Gen. 3:4.

Dissolution of Man

7. What did God do that man might not live a sinner forever?

“Now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and EAT, and LIVE FOREVER; therefore the Lord God . . . DROVE OUT THE MAN; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to KEEP THE WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE.” Gen. 3:22-24.

8. What sentence did He visit upon man?

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART, AND UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN.” Gen. 3:19.

9. What takes place at death?

“Then shall the DUST RETURN TO THE EARTH as it was; and the SPIRIT shall RETURN UNTO GOD who gave it.” Eccl. 12:7. “His BREATH GOETH FORTH, he returneth to his earth; in that very day HIS THOUGHTS PERISH.” Ps. 146:4.

NOTE.—Strange, isn’t it, that men should still take the word of the serpent in preference to the word of God? God said that when man sinned, he should “surely die;” the old serpent declared, “Ye shall not surely die; . . . ye shall be as God.” Gen. 3:4, 5, A.R.V. To every human sense God’s words have been true; but to deceive men, the theory of an immortal soul, a conscious spirit surviving the death of the body, has been invented. Men love to believe the invention because it exalts sinful man. Yet how simple is the truth of God. The spirit was given to man as “the breath of life,” and it made the man, formed out of dust, a living soul. Man dies; the spirit goes back to God as the breath of life, even as God gave it. The dissolution of man is the opposite of his formation. When he dies, the thinking man, the thoughts, perish.

10. What is always the result of sin?

“Sin, when it is finished, BRINGETH FORTH DEATH.” James 1:15. “Wherefore, as by ONE MAN SIN entered into the world, and DEATH BY SIN; and so DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12.

NOTE.—The stream can rise no higher than its fountainhead. The children of men can not in themselves rise higher than their first father. They die. All men are subject to death; and death is extinction of life, cessation of being. The whole man dies. How reasonable it is that sin should at last, sooner or later, destroy itself; that the universe should not, could not, know immortal sinners; that God’s law and plan for man should indicate His wisdom and love; and that man should have his own choice, to live or to die. How the simple plan wipes from the pages of the past every charge against God of cruelty and injustice, and reveals beauty instead of ugliness.