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GENESIS 2:7

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 16.

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GENESIS 2:7.

By T. B. Snow

BY T. B. SNOW.
THE advocates of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul claim Gen. 2:7 for one of the pillars of their superstructure. They contend that God first created the body of the dust, and then breathed into it something that, when the body dies, still lives on, retaining its consciousness, and, in fact, being the real man, while the body was only a casket, or temporal dwelling place for that something which God breathed into man. This they call the soul. To ascertain whether this claim is well founded we have only to learn what is meant by the expression “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”
When God created the heavens and the earth, he simply “spake, and it was done.” Ps. 33:9. He said, “Let there be light, and there was light,” etc. The whole creation was made by the “word of the Lord,” “by the breath of his mouth.” Ps. 33:6. From these statements it is clear that the “word of the Lord” and “the breath of his mouth” are the same thing. The same idea is found by comparing Job 37:10, which reads, “By the breath of God frost is given,” with Ps. 147:15, 16: “He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth; his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.” His breath has the same power to create as his word. His word is life. John 6:63. It was the “breath of his mouth,” his “word,” by which all things were created; and it was by the same breath or word that man lived.
Paul was said to breathe “out threatenings.” Acts 9:1. This breathing out was simply speaking. From these considerations we conclude that the statement in Gen. 2:7 is to be understood as setting forth the idea that God spake the word and man lived. God said, “Let there be light.” This was the “word of the Lord, the breath of his mouth,” which had the power in it to bring light into existence.
So when God created man, he “spake, and it was.” His body, composed of the “dust of the ground,” assumed its form, but yet lacked the principle of life, so the next thing to be done was to give it life. God spake again, and this fact is recorded in the statement, “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” and man lived. Thus we find no foundation for the claim that Gen. 2:7 teaches the immortality of the soul.
Leon, Wisconsin.