Hi
@KelbyofGod . Great question.
I have to go to work so I can expand on this later, but basically the man was originally created spirit and soul only:
| Genesis 2:7 - And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. |
We are tripartite beings. Most Christians have yet to understand that the Bible teaches that a soul is synonymous with what we now call a genome. That is where the word 'flesh' has a special meaning.
Because the context teaches that man was spirit and soul only, i.e., he had no body yet, we must defer to the rarely used meaning of flesh:
| 2 Corinthians 3:3 - Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. |
| Ezekiel 11:19 - And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: |
| Ezekiel 36:26 - A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. |
The phrase 'tables of the heart' is referring to our genome, our soul (word was made flesh).
Thus, what you see in Genesis 2 is describing, in crude language, the process of gene alteration. The 'rib' is symbolic of a unique genetic type, kind of like a race. Think of the ribs in Daniel. They represent different ethnic genetic types. Scripture interprets Scripture.
Anyhow, the phrase 'bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh' is an idiom referring to sharing the same genetics. It's all about DNA at this point. It's super profound what we are being taught.
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Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the friendly / helpful tone, and the fact that you don't overlook the different aspects of a man, (flesh and soul, plus the spiritual aspect) but think you underestimate what's going on in (especially the first part of) Genesis 2:7
Hold with me on this because it's a bit of a paradigm shift for when/where the different parts occur.
(It's not an argument against what you suggest... just a rearranging of the pieces)
Also I might get some of this wrong as I extrapolate on what God's showed me so far (I've been praying on some of these things for years)
Ok... Here we go:
"
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,"
Once God mentions "dust of the ground", He's already talking about the physical creation, (man's physical body for example).
All living things are made of dust.
(I'm talking about PHYSICAL "living things" like plants, animals, humans... Not SPIRITUAL "living things" like angels.)
Creating DNA is simply rearranging the dust.
God was able to create all the living physical entities by rearranging the dust. (Plants, animals, and the human physical body.)
Ponder that as long as necessary because every physical genome is covered in/by this rearranging of dust.
Ok, next section:
"...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;..."
At this point he's (at least) sharing the portion of life that animates every creature that breathes.
(Think about that one a bit, because this step even includes things like personality, because even dogs and apes have individual personalities)
Ok, last section:
"...and man became a living soul."
This is the part that separates us (humans, Mankind) from every other physical creation.
All other living entities (that have an individual personality), have an individual personality that is TEMPORARY. It is tied to the breath of PHYSICAL life. Once their physical body collapses back to the ground and returns to dust, their "spirit" (the breath of life that animated their genome) also falls apart and is no more as an entity.
When man became a "living" soul, that means his "individual personality" (his soul or 'spirit') was made eternal. (It doesn't cease to exist as an entity once the physical form returns to dust.) THAT phrase sets us apart from other creatures, no matter how close our DNA is to theirs. (I.E. neanderthals and other almost-human hominids)
And in terms of "breath of life" and my referring to "individual personality" as being the "soul" or even "SPIRIT", consider this passage:
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 KJV -
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Thanks for reading.
Love in Jesus,
Kelby