I was asked recently by one of my children what I thought he would be like if he had a different biological father or mother. Of course this seems like a sensible enough question except for one misconception. We don't exist as a person outside the body we have been given. The soul came into the man after the body was formed and not before. Adam became a living soul or nephesh after the Lord breathed into the body the breath of life. Before that, there was no "soul" of Adam. There is no scriptural evidence for baby souls or incubating souls waiting somewhere for God to distribute into bodies. Rather what we have is that the physical body initiates the birth of the soul. Thus when the body is formed, the soul comes into place, is breathed into it by God. The body is picked out and then the soul is created. When the egg is fertilized by the sperm, it is a mystical moment of conception, not just with the forming of the body but the initiation of the soul as God puts life into place. We don't exist before the body comes to be but when we are brought to life, we are from the outset God's life. He breathes into the body its being, its soul. David talked about the work God did knitting him together within his mother's womb and creating him stitch by stitch as it were. But moving down just a bit in Psalm 139 to verse 16, we come to the most interesting part of this . When God saw us in His mind before we were even formed, our days were already established; they were written in His book. It is as if out moments are a part of our DNA; the days we have written even within our body. But take this one step further. Ecclesiastes 3:11 indicates that our bodies also contain eternity in them; the heart is the receptacle of forever. The body is no mere addendum to the soul...and the soul is not as U2 implies stranded in "some skin and bones". The body and soul are intertwined as one, each a part of the whole God established when He decided to create good. The body is either the whipping post or idol of humanist thinking. It must be neither. It is created by the Creator to establish the person Christ died to save. You are peculiar in the best sense of the word. Made by God, particular to God, defined by God, known by God, loved by God.Saturday, June 1, 2013
Body and Soul
I was asked recently by one of my children what I thought he would be like if he had a different biological father or mother. Of course this seems like a sensible enough question except for one misconception. We don't exist as a person outside the body we have been given. The soul came into the man after the body was formed and not before. Adam became a living soul or nephesh after the Lord breathed into the body the breath of life. Before that, there was no "soul" of Adam. There is no scriptural evidence for baby souls or incubating souls waiting somewhere for God to distribute into bodies. Rather what we have is that the physical body initiates the birth of the soul. Thus when the body is formed, the soul comes into place, is breathed into it by God. The body is picked out and then the soul is created. When the egg is fertilized by the sperm, it is a mystical moment of conception, not just with the forming of the body but the initiation of the soul as God puts life into place. We don't exist before the body comes to be but when we are brought to life, we are from the outset God's life. He breathes into the body its being, its soul. David talked about the work God did knitting him together within his mother's womb and creating him stitch by stitch as it were. But moving down just a bit in Psalm 139 to verse 16, we come to the most interesting part of this . When God saw us in His mind before we were even formed, our days were already established; they were written in His book. It is as if out moments are a part of our DNA; the days we have written even within our body. But take this one step further. Ecclesiastes 3:11 indicates that our bodies also contain eternity in them; the heart is the receptacle of forever. The body is no mere addendum to the soul...and the soul is not as U2 implies stranded in "some skin and bones". The body and soul are intertwined as one, each a part of the whole God established when He decided to create good. The body is either the whipping post or idol of humanist thinking. It must be neither. It is created by the Creator to establish the person Christ died to save. You are peculiar in the best sense of the word. Made by God, particular to God, defined by God, known by God, loved by God.
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