The difference between man and beast

[rogerg]

What is the fundamental difference between man and beast according to the Scripture?
When we read Genesis, it's clear that God created both out of the exact same physical earth, but the difference between them was established before the foundation of the world. My basic contention is that Scripture speaks of man in two completely separate ways: either as an earthly, fleshly man, or as a saved, spiritual man.
In this equation, the word "beast" represents the natural, unsaved man. It is exactly like the scriptural distinction between an earthly Jew and a spiritual Jew. One is an issue of physical anatomy and national existence on the earth, while the other is an issue of eternal grace and the Holy Spirit. Once you see this distinction, it completely resolves many of the apparent conflicts found in Scripture regarding which men are in view that God wants saved and will save. While beasts and carnal men operate under the general laws of nature and earthly existence, the spiritual man was uniquely designed to display God's eternal purpose of pouring His unconditional love into His elect family.
God has a settled plan that leaves human performance completely out of the equation.

 

[Seeker47]

I believe the difference occurred when God breathed his spirit into man. In this view, all men are spiritual (made in God's image) weather they have accepted salvation or not.

For us humans to identify a carnal man from a spiritual man is very questionable. I don't believe your post intentionally did that. I do, however, question your last sentence.

YHWH calls whomever He chooses into his elect family. True enough we can do nothing on our own to influence that decision. We can, however, reject that call. The call requires us to exercise our free will. That is what He expects us to do.

I enjoyed your post!

 

[Researcher]

What is the fundamental difference between man and beast according to the Scripture?

For starters, their spirit is fundamentally different from each other.

Ecclesiastes 3:21 - Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

 

[ZuluKono]

Animals do not have free will and are not subject to the law.

 

[rogerg]

I believe the difference occurred when God breathed his spirit into man. In this view, all men are spiritual (made in God's image) weather they have accepted salvation or not.

For us humans to identify a carnal man from a spiritual man is very questionable. I don't believe your post intentionally did that. I do, however, question your last sentence.

YHWH calls whomever He chooses into his elect family. True enough we can do nothing on our own to influence that decision. We can, however, reject that call. The call requires us to exercise our free will. That is what He expects us to do.

I enjoyed your post!

I appreciate you reading the post and sharing your thoughts. However, your claim that "all men are spiritual" and that "the call requires us to exercise our free will to accept or reject it" flatly misses the entire difference between man and beast.
If human free will is the deciding factor in responding to a spiritual call, then you are making salvation an issue of natural, earthly creature performance. But 1 Corinthians 2:14 states flatly: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Scripture shows that a natural man lacks the Holy Spirit and has no more spiritual capacity to know God than a beast of the earth. A dead corpse cannot choose to accept or reject a call.
Further, turning salvation into a free-will contract completely ignores Romans 9. The Master Potter has absolute power over the clay, of the same lump, to make vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor (Romans 9:21). God's settled plan leaves human choices completely out of the equation. If the natural man cannot even know the things of God, how can human free will be what separates a saved man from a beast of the earth?

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[rogerg]

For starters, their spirit is fundamentally different from each other.

Ecclesiastes 3:21 - Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

I appreciate your input. However, your claim that the difference between man and beast is that "their individual spirit is fundamentally different from each other" misses the entire structural reality of Scripture.
The Bible explicitly states that the natural man has zero spiritual capacity on his own. 1 Corinthians 2:14 states flatly: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The difference between the earthly man and the saved man is not the quality or performance of the creature's individual natural spirit. The difference is the presence of the Holy Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Without the Holy Spirit, an unregenerate man remains a "natural man," operating entirely under the general laws of nature and earthly existence, possessing no more spiritual capacity to know God than a beast of the earth unto which he is likened. God's plan for salvation, leaves human quality and human performance completely out of the equation.

 

[rogerg]

Animals do not have free will and are not subject to the law.

I appreciate your input. However, your claim that the difference is that "animals do not have free will and are not subject to the law" completely overlooks what Scripture says about the unsaved man operating in the exact same manner as a beast.
In the language of Scripture, the word "beast" is explicitly used by the Holy Spirit to represent the natural, unsaved man. Ecclesiastes 3:18 states that God tests the sons of men "that they might see that they themselves are beasts." Asaph confesses the exact same natural state in Psalm 73:22: "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee." Furthermore, Paul uses this exact same legal definition in 1 Corinthians 15:32 when he states that "after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus"—referring directly to unregenerate, carnal men who were attacking the gospel.
The Bible explicitly states that the natural, unsaved man is in the exact same legal state as the beast regarding God's standard. Romans 8:7 states flatly: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Just like a beast, the natural man has zero ability or willpower to subject himself to God's law because he is spiritually dead.
The saved, spiritual man is not under the Mosaic law at all, because Christ completely delivered His family from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Instead, the spiritual man operates under an entirely different law: "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" which has made us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). The difference isn't that natural man has a free will to keep a law; the difference is that the spiritual man has been given the Holy Spirit, leaving human performance completely out of the equation.

 

[Researcher]

I appreciate your input. However, your claim that the difference between man and beast is that "their individual spirit is fundamentally different from each other" misses the entire structural reality of Scripture.

The Word of God does not "miss the entire structural reality of Scripture" as you claim. I will believe the Bible.

Had you asked "What is the fundamental difference between SAVED man and beast according to the Scripture" then I would have answered it differently.

As for the rest of your responses, they look like they were written with Chat GPT 1995 edition and thus make no sense. I will not even bother to waste any of my time responding to them.

Later OP.

 

[WayneNSO]

An animal lives by instinct, it has no conscience. When you train a dog for instance not to do something, it does think to itself it has done wrong, only that if it does it it gets punished. Man on the other hand is aware of right and wrong, and only by continually supressing his God given conscience does he continue to do wrong

 

[rogerg]

An animal lives by instinct, it has no conscience. When you train a dog for instance not to do something, it does think to itself it has done wrong, only that if it does it it gets punished. Man on the other hand is aware of right and wrong, and only by continually supressing his God given conscience does he continue to do wrong

That was exactly my whole point.
Spiritually speaking, in God's eyes, a natural, unsaved man does not have the ability to spiritually know or accept the things of God because he is spiritually dead. 1 Corinthians 2:14 states that the natural man "cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Your dog training analogy is not appropriate because an unsaved man doesn't avoid doing spiritual wrong: he does it all the time by using the works of his own hands to self-justify himself before God, by trying to build a righteousness of his own, instead of trusting for justification completely in the finished works of Jesus Christ, Savior. Titus 1:15–16 states that his mind and conscience are completely defiled, and that even though he professes to know God, he denies Him by his works. Even his supposed religious performance is spiritual wrong in God's eyes. By his nature, he is a "beast" in being oblivious to the true spiritual things of God
That is why the words "man", "men" etc., when used in conjunction with salvation, cannot mean mankind in general. It refers explicitly to the saved, spiritual man who has been given the Holy Spirit, but is not given to everyone. It is God's elect who actually are in view, and which is the point of the thread.

 

[WayneNSO]

That was exactly my whole point.
Spiritually speaking, in God's eyes, a natural, unsaved man does not have the ability to spiritually know or accept the things of God because he is spiritually dead. 1 Corinthians 2:14 states that the natural man "cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Your dog training analogy is not appropriate because an unsaved man doesn't avoid doing spiritual wrong: he does it all the time by using the works of his own hands to self-justify himself before God, by trying to build a righteousness of his own, instead of trusting for justification completely in the finished works of Jesus Christ, Savior. Titus 1:15–16 states that his mind and conscience are completely defiled, and that even though he professes to know God, he denies Him by his works. Even his supposed religious performance is spiritual wrong in God's eyes. By his nature, he is a "beast" in being oblivious to the true spiritual things of God
That is why the words "man", "men" etc., when used in conjunction with salvation, cannot mean mankind in general. It refers explicitly to the saved, spiritual man who has been given the Holy Spirit, but is not given to everyone. It is God's elect who actually are in view, and which is the point of the thread.

You are obviously a Calvinist. When we were made in the image of God, we were given a conscience and free will to choose between right and wrong. If that is not true then people sin by no fault of their own and people choose to do right by no merit of their own. The Calvinist view is that God makes people that are going to sin and be condemned without any choice on their part, and people are made that will be saved without any merit on their part. In other words God creates evil and then condemns those he forced to be evil. This is not how I read the bible.

 

[Drich]

What is the fundamental difference between man and beast according to the Scripture?
When we read Genesis, it's clear that God created both out of the exact same physical earth, but the difference between them was established before the foundation of the world. My basic contention is that Scripture speaks of man in two completely separate ways: either as an earthly, fleshly man, or as a saved, spiritual man.
In this equation, the word "beast" represents the natural, unsaved man. It is exactly like the scriptural distinction between an earthly Jew and a spiritual Jew. One is an issue of physical anatomy and national existence on the earth, while the other is an issue of eternal grace and the Holy Spirit. Once you see this distinction, it completely resolves many of the apparent conflicts found in Scripture regarding which men are in view that God wants saved and will save. While beasts and carnal men operate under the general laws of nature and earthly existence, the spiritual man was uniquely designed to display God's eternal purpose of pouring His unconditional love into His elect family.
God has a settled plan that leaves human performance completely out of the equation.

This also begs the question is a soul is what separates man from beast, Do all men have souls?

 

[rogerg]

You are obviously a Calvinist. When we were made in the image of God, we were given a conscience and free will to choose between right and wrong. If that is not true then people sin by no fault of their own and people choose to do right by no merit of their own. The Calvinist view is that God makes people that are going to sin and be condemned without any choice on their part, and people are made that will be saved without any merit on their part. In other words God creates evil and then condemns those he forced to be evil. This is not how I read the bible.

I am a biblist, not a Calvinist.
So, when you are ready to discuss actual biblical verses instead of human labels, post them, and we can continue then.

 

[rogerg]

This also begs the question is a soul is what separates man from beast, Do all men have souls?

Yes, all men and beasts have souls, but according to Scripture, having a soul is not what separates a natural man from a beast of the earth.
In the original language of Genesis, the exact same root word is used to describe both the living creature of the beast (Genesis 1:24) and the living soul of Adam (Genesis 2:7). Further, Ecclesiastes 3:19 states flatly that men have no preeminence above a beast because they all have one breath.
The only thing that separates a saved man from a beast of the earth is the sovereign gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when you see the word "man" in Scripture relative to salvation, assume it is the elect being spoken of.