ON the sixth day the earth was commanded to bring forth the living creature; the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and the reptiles.
Last of all, man is created on the same sixth day; but how different the language! “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and every living thing that creepeth on the earth.” Notice the striking change. It is no longer, Let there be this or that; no longer, Let the waters, or Let the earth, bring forth: so had it been for all other things earthly. God marks the introduction of man with words of unparalleled solemnity. He, as has been often remarked, holds counsel with Himself about it. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Man, therefore, clearly stands, not only at the head of creation here below, with title to rule it, which no angel is said to possess, but with a place of peculiar nearness, and, in some respect, resemblance to God. “And let them have dominion, &c.” “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them (Gen. 1:26, 2726And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26‑27)).” Of no other creature does God so speak. They were not only to replenish but to subdue the earth, and have dominion over fish, fowl, beast, and every living thing that creeps on the earth (ver. 28). Who can wonder? It is a superiority, not in degree only, but in kind: both a moral nature and a mind capable of indefinite progression, as compared with the mere instincts of the lower creation.
But this, and more than this, in chap 1. only comprises the general ordering. In chap. 2. we have what is much more specific. Accordingly, not “God” only, but “The LORD God” is introduced: not the originating Creator only, Elohim in contrast with the creature, but the moral governor, Jehovah Elohim, with man in special relationship to Himself, as well as to his sphere, his companion, and his subjects. Jehovah God is from Gen. 2:44These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, (Genesis 2:4), the first three verses being the true sequel of chap. 1. Here, therefore, we are told, ver. 7, that “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [as a potter might mold his vessel], Who breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.". All animals were living souls; but they lived when made. Not so man: the outer vessel was formed for man of God, Who breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Man alone had the wondrous privilege of God's inbreathing. It was thus only that man, and man alone, became a living soul; therefore is man's soul immortal. He derived his living soul from the divine inbreathing. This is the ground of his special relationship with God: man now responsible to do his will, as by-and-by he gives account to God.
In accordance with this presentation of relationships we hear of Eden in the next verse; not merely the earth in general, but that garden of delight which the LORD God had planted eastward, where He put the man He had formed. Here also, in the same connection, we are told, not merely of every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food that the LORD God made to grow, but of the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus we see the test of responsibility, and (entirely distinct from it) the means of life. To eat of the forbidden tree was disobedience and death: life depended on eating of the other tree, which was expressly distinct. Further, we find all the other creatures brought by the LORD God to man, who gave names to them as he would; and, last of all, the special building up of woman by the LORD God from a part of man's own body.
These, in short, were the relationships of man, not only to God, but to the sphere he enjoys, to the beings that were put under him, as well as to her who was made a help-meet for him. In every respect man has a place altogether peculiar and above all other mammalia on the earth; yet more, in virtue of God's breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, the inner man was derived directly from God. He was thus God's son (Luke 3:3838Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. (Luke 3:38)), God's offspring (Acts 17:2929Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. (Acts 17:29)); and this naturally, quite apart from becoming by grace a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. He could not shirk the responsibility of his high estate and relationship to God, ht him debase himself as he might, as they had done to whom the apostle then preached at Athens, as elsewhere.
Is it not, then, pitiable to find some who bear the Christian name laboring to reduce man as much as they can to the level of a brute? A living soul, or animal, they argue, is a phrase distinctly applied to the brutes as to the human race, for which they cite not only Gen. 2:77And 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. (Genesis 2:7) but 9:10, Psa. 104:3030Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. (Psalm 104:30). and Rev. 16:33And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. (Revelation 16:3), as well as 1 Cor. 15:44-4744It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:44‑47). In its measure and way, the argument is like that of Unitarians, who flatter themselves that they exclude the Deity of Christ when they prove Him to be a man. So those who deny the soul's immortality assume that they have gained the end into which the enemy has seduced them, when they point out that Scripture speaks, as does everyone of common sense, of man as an animal. But the fact remains that, from the very first Scripture which so speaks, man alone of all creatures on earth is carefully shown to have got his inner being from the inbreathing of the LORD God. No intelligent Christian holds that the phrase “living soul” is chosen to distinguish him from the rest of the creation. But the statement of an immediately divine source in the sole instance of his natural life, as distinguished from all other animals set under his rule, was assuredly meant to convey, what no one ought to have doubted, that man, as man, apart from eternal life in the Son of God, essentially differs inwardly from all other animals. Psa. 104:3030Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. (Psalm 104:30) is no more identical with Gen. 2:77And 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. (Genesis 2:7) than God's hiding His face from the creatures in the preceding verse has the same import as His hiding it from Christ in Psa. 22 The ingenuity of error is deplorably pernicious. Outwardly, be is shown in the same passage to be of the meanest origin, “the dust of the ground;” inwardly, he is of the highest, and this constitutionally. God is the Father of spirits, speaking of man. It is not of Him, but of the enemy, to degrade man's distinctive nature.
It is not denied that a beast has a soul, and even a spirit: only the soul and the spirit, in this case, being simply animal, have an incomparably lower character. In man, personality, self-consciousness, will, is in the soul; capacity is by the spirit. Each has his own soul, and so is personally responsible. The spirit is faculty or power; and so John the Baptist was to come in the spirit and power of Elias, not in any other's soul but his own. So all animals have a soul, and show it by a will of their own; as they have a spirit shown in the capacity of their species. Man only has a soul and a spirit immediately derived from God: these may be distinguished, but are inseparable. Hence, man's body only is treated in Scripture as mortal (Rom. 6:12; 8:1112Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. (Romans 6:12)
11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11))-never his soul or his spirit. So we read in 2 Cor. 4:1111For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11) of “our mortal flesh “: flesh, not spirit in man's case, is mortal, whatever may be true of a beast. Again, in 2 Cor. 5:44For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (2 Corinthians 5:4), “mortality,” or “what is mortal,” applies only to the body which will be swallowed up of life at Christ's coming.
Therefore, the Lord says “Be not afraid of them that kill the body. but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Gehenna). This destruction is not annihilation, which, indeed, is unheard of in Scripture, and as contrary to fact as it is to Scripture. For, as no creature can annihilate another, so God is never said to annihilate, but to judge and punish His enemies. Destruction here is their ruin judicially; not their ceasing to exist, but their continuance in wretchedness, suffering the due reward of their deeds at His hand Whom they despised, hated, and rebelled against. It is, therefore, called “everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might,” and “everlasting punishment,” the lot opposed to “eternal life.” Men could not possibly doubt the meaning of such language, save from the will to please themselves, and determination to doubt God's word when it opposes that will. The conscience of the sinner unforgiven might rightly tremble, but in no wise doubt. The meaning is as sure as it is plain; and it supposes the soul immortal, as well as the body to be raised. Both shared in the sin; both join in sharing the punishment, when God judges, as He will, by our Lord Jesus at the end.
Nor is it true that between death and the resurrection the soul sleeps. The Lord, in the Gospel of Luke, has made the truth no less certain for both the wicked and the righteous. In chapter 16., He shows us the beggar dying and carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom. This was certainly not the body but the soul; for the soul is the seat of personality. Whilst alive, soul and body are together. When death comes, the soul is the person till the resurrection, when they are together again for evermore. And therefore, it is that only man rises from the grave; for he alone possesses a God-inbreathed soul—an immortal principle from God. As death is but an intermediate and incomplete state, resurrection (whether for just or unjust) will restore the full being, and in a condition for eternity. But, meanwhile, the beggar was, according to parabolic language, with the blessed beyond death. He was blessed with faithful Abraham, and not asleep. The rich man also died, and was buried. His body was laid in the grave with no little pomp. But in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. His soul, thus, was not asleep; he was in torments. It is perfectly certain that this is a picture, not of resurrection, but of the intermediate state; for he is represented as entreating for his five brethren, that some startling testimony might reach them, “lest they also come into this place of torment.” When resurrection dawns, there will be no question of testimony to save. Besides, the Lord stands for the divine authority of Scripture. They had the inspired witnesses; and if these were not heard, neither would they be persuaded if one rose from the dead.
Again, in Luke 20, in answer to unbelieving Sadducees (who said there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit), the Lord lays down that the God of the fathers is God not of dead but of living; “for all live unto Him” (ver. 38). It is not only that the saints rise for the first, holy, and blessed resurrection, but that meanwhile also they live for Him, if not for man; and that “all” so live, not the saints alone. With eternal life in Christ the believer is mortal; without that life the unbeliever's soul lives, save spiritually, after he dies. And spiritually dead the natural man is while he is alive.
Most simple and instructive is the case of the converted robber in Luke 23:4343And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43). He asked to be remembered by the Lord when He comes in His kingdom, and receives the answer, “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” That very day, through faith in Jesus, by virtue of His precious blood, should his soul be with Him in Paradise. The paradise of man was lost and cannot be regained. The second man, the last Adam, opens a new and better Eden, the Paradise of God; and the first soul to enter there after Jesus was the converted robber. Oh! what a testimony to the grace of God, and to the blood of Christ. The Lord will come surely in His kingdom by-and-by; but this newly converted soul has not to wait for that day. On the day he died he enjoyed the heavenly Paradise with His Lord and Savior.
So Stephen when dying (Acts 7:59, 6059And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59‑60)) says “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The Lord Himself when dying had said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” This, after suffering as He did, was His perfection; and He alone could properly use these words. Stephen fittingly, in his place, calls on Him and says, “Receive my spirit.” To be with Christ, then, is what departing from the body means; not sleeping, certainly, which would be far worse than the portion we now while alive enjoy in His love. “To depart and be with Christ,” as the apostle says (Phil. 1:2323For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippians 1:23)), “is very far better.” It is to be absent from the body, no doubt; not sleeping, still less non-existent, but “at home with the Lord.” And, therefore, we are “willing” rather to be absent from the body, as compared with living here. But it is not what we are “longing for;” for verily in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation, which is from heaven. Therefore, now we groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed (that is, divested of our body), but that we would be clothed upon (that is, invested with our changed bodies), that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.
What is this but proof upon proof that the soul is immortal for man even though lost, and that the saint's soul, separate from the body, will have immensely increased enjoyment of and with Christ in heaven? The notion of sleep, still more of extinction, for the soul, is a baseless and wicked fable.
(To be concluded, D.V.).