8.2 Forming Man
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I willingly use the phrase “him or her” out of respect for the sisters who are equal to men in all things of Christ, but such wording does become cumbersome. Thus I use the term “man” in its original sense, not “male,” but fully “male and female.”
In fact, the original words of Genesis 1-2 could be taken to mean that the original Adam was both male and female in one physical body. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27). Only later did God take the female out from Adam.
Two Bodies, Not One
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 (Genesis 2:7).
Although we will use the account of Genesis 2 as a structure for this lesson, our purpose is not to know Adam, but to know ourselves. Knowing ourselves is an immediate result of knowing God; we cannot know God without also knowing ourselves.
The first reality of ourselves we must know is that we humans possess two bodies, not one. Our first body is physical, formed from the atoms of the earth; our second body is spirit, formed from the life of the heavens.
Sandwiched Between
These two bodies are equal. Although our spirit is larger and the continuous source of life for our physical body, yet the physical body is visible, thus we wrongly put more stock in it. But we are wrong to think that we don’t know our spirit bodies; we know them more than we imagine, for they are half what we are. Our spirits constantly communicate with the heavens in just the same way that our bodies communicate with the earth.
And sandwiched between, existing only at the juncture of spirit and body, is our soul – our mind, our will, and our emotions.
The Human Form
| Passion | Consciousness | Faith | ||||
| Earth | < Body > | Emotions | < Mind > | Will | < Spirit > | Heaven |
| ^ Heart |
^ Heart |
^ Heart |
||||
Study this chart of our human construction. Notice that today’s “science” allows only for body and brain.
Passion is found at the junction of body and emotions; consciousness is related to mind; and faith is found at the junction of will and Spirit. Heart is the center of body, soul, and spirit, all three at the same time.
Emotions, mind, and will exist, actually, at the conjunction of spirit and body; without our spirit, they cannot be. In other words, there cannot be a living soul except as the vital and constant junction, the continuous working together of spirit and flesh, that is, of heaven and earth. More than that, this same conjunction of heaven and earth exists all through what is called a “living planet.”
Normal Humans
The strong implication of Genesis 3:1 is that Adam and Eve were naturally and fully aware of heaven and earth, all intermingled, both realms or levels of frequency as one. It is normal for humans to see the heavens all around. You and I are not normal; we are blind.
And Elisha prayed … “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:17). Very simple, all God has to do is open our eyes and in that moment we will see heaven all around us as it always IS anyway.
We Walk by Faith
There is no greater honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, the All-Speaking of God, than to SEE what IS because He says – before our eyes are opened. We walk by faith and not by sight. The apocalypse of Jesus Christ is nothing other than taking the cover off of our spirit eyes that we might see what is already true.
Adam and Eve were whole humans; they could see all things.
Inside of Genesis 2 are so many foundational truths; things that Paul and I draw from all the time to position Christ in us. Genesis 2 defines human for us: our construction, our purpose, our labor, our family, and our union with Christ.
The Source of Nourishment
God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8-9).
For much of my life, the food I ate came out of a garden. A garden is the source of nourishment for both body and soul.
Note the clear wording of this passage – God formed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil out of the earth. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good (Genesis 1:31). – Sin did not exist.
The Source of Life or Death
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads (Genesis 2:10). It is pointless to position Eden on our present globe because the earth surface changed utterly during the flood. More than that, along with the original experience, this setting conveys a profound metaphor to us, implying the first and greatest of God’s intentions for man.
It is clear from Paul’s gospel that Adam was not choosing for himself, but for all creation. Adam’s eating of knowledge was the source of the water flowing out to the “four corners of the earth,” filling all of heaven/earth with death, rivers of death.
Rivers of Life or Death
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the cosmos, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).
We no longer imagine speculations about “what would have happened if Adam had eaten of life.” God knows nothing about Adam having eaten of life; He knows everything about you and me eating of life.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). We understand what God intends for these rivers of life flowing out of us by His original metaphor – the source of all that is of the new creation.
Channels of Life
Through one man, Christ, righteousness entered the world, and life through righteousness, and thus life spread to all men, because all are made righteous. This is, actually, the gist of Paul’s argument in Romans 5. Yet the channel of that life is the firstfruits of Christ, you and me and all those with us who love His appearing now as us.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it (Genesis 2:15). This is the second of three metaphors in this single chapter by which God confirms His purpose for man – to be the designer and shaper with Him of all things. You have put all things in subjection under his feet (Heb. 2:8).
Jeopardy
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). This is the first of two “not-goods” in this chapter, two questions God placed into His original design.
Jeopardy is part of God; but evil is not. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is pure and holy, that is, the law of God, word on the outside of us. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).
One Day in the Garden
The entire story of the choice placed before Adam and the reasons for the choice he made you studied in Symmorphy I: Purpose, chapter 12, “One Day in the Garden.” Read back through that chapter to refresh your memory. Here we want to know what man is apart from Adam’s choice.
And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue” (Genesis 1:28a). The Hebrew does not put the word “it” after subdue; it means subdue all. The tension of jeopardy is written all through who and what we are as humans as is the command to subdue all things. You and I are created to overcome.
The Tension of Jeopardy
This tension of jeopardy, this need to defeat our enemies, is the reason behind the human fascination for the idea of war and the great popularity of detective shows. And yet humans, including Christians, turn this in-built aspect of our nature in all the wrong directions, against other humans and against the flesh. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:7).
You see, it is from this same chapter, Genesis 2, that Paul draws the great truth of our union with Christ, that we are one flesh with Him – that we are filled with all the fullness of God.
Two Rivers
You and I do remain in the same jeopardy as Adam, for two rivers are available to our mouth: Christ or accusation, towards ourselves first and then towards all others. The word of faith is in your mouth (Romans 10:8).
Accusation flows through the same human faculty of faith as does Christ, out from the heart and through the tongue. We have the power of life unto life or of death unto death, as both Paul and Jesus said.
And they overcame him … by the word of their testimony. At the center of our jeopardy, the source of our overcoming, is the word of our testimony, the story that we speak, our very human consciousness.
Calling Forth
Tension is part of God, but evil is not. Tension is expressed by the negative-positive nature of electricity, the source of light, as the negative electrons are compelled to discharge themselves on a positive anode.
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name (Genesis 2:19). This is the third metaphor of God’s purpose for man. Name means “nature.” It was Adam who called forth the nature of every living creature. We are looking at the pro-thesis of God.
God’s Pro-Thesis
Here is God’s pro-thesis. I KNOW that God and I are working together in perfect synergy, penetrating ALL, everything that happens and every circumstance and person in our lives, with utter goodness (Romans 8:28 paraphrase from the Greek). Man’s purpose is to be God’s body, that God might work together with us and we with Him to call all things forth as they really are.
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18). This is the most telling line in all of Scripture.
It Is NOT Good
And God saw that it was good, it was good, it was good, it was good – And the Lord God said, “It is NOT good.” This is the greatest contradiction in all of Scripture, let it sink fully into your heart.
It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a companion of his same kind. Over and over, the animals had come before Adam in pairs, male and female. And all the while Adam worked together with God to call forth the nature of each species, a growing realization gnawed at Adam’s heart. “I am alone; there is no female of my same species.” Why did God do this?
Pro-Determination
Man is the image and likeness of God; man is God-revealed. If it is NOT GOOD for man to be alone, then we know, first, that it is NOT GOOD for God to be alone.
Sacrifice and offerings You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me (Hebrews 10). – This is a great mystery, but I am speaking of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5).
There is nothing God wants more than to work together with us in perfect symmorphy, God and us together, to make all things good, to call forth a creation of life. PRO-DETERMINED – to symmorphose us together with Jesus as the revelation of Father (Romans 8:29).
Drawn from His Side
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man (Genesis 2:21-22). Eve was the culmination of all of God’s creation, His greatest work of art, the most beautiful thing He ever dreamed up.
When they came to Jesus … one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out (John 19:33-34). Same thing. God drew Jesus’ bride, you and me, out from His side in the same way that He drew Eve from Adam’s side.
The Greatest of All Mysteries
This is a great mystery, but I am speaking of Christ and the Church. – And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe (John 19:35). – And they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
Here we are looking at the greatest mystery, the greatest riddle of all, the riddle of devotion: God manifest in the flesh. How on earth – HOW!!! – can God and man, beings that are so vastly different in so many ways, be one flesh. How can man share the same body with God?