Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #8 of Genesis, chapter 2 and we are continuing to look at Genesis 2:7:

And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

In creating Adam, the first man, God was also picturing the creation of the “new man” made anew in the image of Christ. As Adam was made of the dust of the ground and without sin, when God saves His elect He makes them all as one body in the Lord Jesus Christ, as it says in Ephesians 1:22-23:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

We have to read other places in the Bible to know that this is not referring to a corporate church like the Lutherans, Catholics, Baptists or Presbyterians, but it is the eternal church consisting only of all those God has ever saved. They have come together and God uses various images to picture this as a house, a temple or a wall that is formed. He also pictures it as His own body, the body of Christ, made up of various members but one body. This is what God tells us in 1Corinthians, chapter 12, after speaking of the human body and all of its parts. We realize that the human body has various parts like the hands and feet and the nose, ears and eyes and, yet, all the different parts form one body. Likewise, there are members in particular of Christ’s body, as it says in 1Corinthians 12:27-28:

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

The Lord indicates that there is one spiritual body of the elect that He has formed and made.

We also read in Romans 6:3-5:

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

This is true of everyone that Jesus saved. Each one has been baptized into His death as Christ bore the sins of everyone that had been predestinated to obtain salvation before the foundation of the world. Jesus died for those people and made payment for their sins and as Christ experienced death or “hell,” the sins He bore for the elect were purged by the fires of death or “hell” and He was baptized in that sense, as baptism means to “wash away” sin and we were baptized with the baptism He was baptized with and we were baptized unto Moses, as Moses is a picture of Christ in that verse in 1Corinthians, chapter 10. We were baptized by having our sins washed away and when God brought the Gospel into the lives of one of His elect, the Gospel was applied to our souls and our sins were washed away as we became born again. We were baptized into the body of Christ.

There is an interesting statement that God makes about baptism in 1Corinthians 15:20-22:

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

In this same chapter, it speaks of the resurrection of the dead in 1Corinthians 15:44-47:

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Here, God is discussing the resurrection of the dead and He brings Adam into the discussion because Adam was God’s creation at the beginning. His body was perfect and now there is a “second Adam” or “last Adam,” the Lord Jesus Christ. As we are reading of Adam being formed of the dust of the ground, we have already looked at how the Bible tells us that God made them male and female and called their name “Adam,” He had the woman in mind (as well as the man) at the point of man’s creation. He counted Eve to have been “in” Adam. So, too, as God looks at the Lord Jesus Christ, He counts the bride of Christ, the entire company of the elect, as having been “in” Christ at the foundation of the world.

The interesting statement that I wanted to look at is in 1Corinthians 15:29:

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

Twice God speaks of being “baptized for the dead.” Yes, we know there is water baptism that the Bible speaks of and there is baptism of the Holy Spirit, which means to be baptized in Christ from the foundation of the world as He made payment for our sins and washed them away. This is what the Bible calls “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Let us say that in the day of salvation there was a man who was a sinner. He was an elect person, but he was still in his sins because he had not yet experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God had not been applied to him. Then the next day God brought him His Word and applied the salvation that Christ wrought for him at the point of the world’s foundation. Now God creates a new heart and a new spirit within him and purges or washes away his sin, so he has now experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God enters into him, indwelling him and he has God “breathing” upon him and he becomes a living soul. He had been dead in trespasses and sins, but now he is born again and he has life in his soul. The spirit of life has entered into him. All of this is related to baptism, but here it is called being “baptized for the dead.” That is interesting and, perhaps, related to Genesis 2:7 because it says in Genesis 2:7:

And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

As I mentioned earlier, it is a plural word that should have been translated breath of “lives.” The word “living” is correct. The word “soul” is something for us to look at because it is the Hebrew word, Strong’s #5315, which is “neh-fesh.” That is how you would pronounce it and it is used many times and it is usually translated as “soul” or “life,” or something along those lines. However, this particular word has a prefix attached to it. In this particular case, it has the Lamad prefix and a “Lamad” is like the word “to” or “for,” so it could be translated as “to the soul” or “for the soul.” I am going to give credit where credit is due because Mr. Camping went in depth into this verse in his book, “Time Has an End,” around page 127 or 128, and you can check it out. According to Mr. Camping, this word has this prefix 13 times, but unless you have the right software, it may be a little difficult to check that statistic out. Mr. Camping pointed out that when this word “neh-fesh” has the Lamad prefix, here is how it is translated with the Lamad prefix. For example, it says in Leviticus 19:28:

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead…

The three words “for the dead” are a translation of the word translated as “soul” with the Lamad prefix. The word “for” would be the “Lamad,” but here it is translated as “for the dead,” and not “for the soul” or “for the life.”

Then it says in Leviticus 21:1:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:

Here, it is the same word with that prefix.

Then it says in Numbers 5:2:

Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:

“By the dead” is a translation of that same word with the same Lamad prefix.

It also says in Numbers 9:6:

And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man…

Then it says in the next verse in Numbers 9:7:

And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man…

The words “by the dead body” is a translation of the same word translated as “soul” and with the Lamad prefix attached.

Then it says in Numbers 9:10:

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or *be* in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto JEHOVAH.

In all three instances in these verses in Numbers the phrase “by the dead body” is a translation of our word translated as “soul.” We saw “for the dead” and “by the dead” and “by the dead body,” so we have six out of 13 instances where this word is used along with that prefix. That gives us allowance for translating it as “for the dead body” or “for the dead” or “by the dead.” Interestingly enough, that is what we have been discussing in regard to Adam. When God created the body of Adam, he was formed first and there was the body without the spirit and without the breath of life. A body without the breath of life is a dead body, so in Genesis 2, verse 7, we could read it this way if we made the substitution “for the dead” or “for the dead body.” It would read: “And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became for the dead body a living being.” For that empty shell of the dead body of the first man Adam, he became a living being when God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. That fits with what we read in Ezekiel when Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy to the dry bones and the dry bones “formed” and came bone to his bones and the sinews covered the bones and the flesh covered the sinews. In one way, they had been acted upon and created, had they not? They were no longer dead dry bones. They were men that were standing there. Let me read it again, in Ezekiel 37:5-8:

Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

Can you imagine that sight? Here are all these men that had been brought to life, but not quite. They are standing before Ezekiel and they look like they are alive. There are multitudes of them and they are no longer dead, dry bones, but there is still one thing lacking. God’s re-creation of these dead men was a process that utilized different steps. First, God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dead bones and they formed and came together. Now it is interesting that it is later said of the bones, in Ezekiel 37:11:

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel…

They are the “whole house of Israel” and, of course, the house of Israel is a reference to spiritual Israel and if you have the whole house, it is the completed house. It would be like saying it is the whole body of Christ; there are no members lacking. It is the complete body of Christ to whom Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy to the first time and they were “formed.” It was just like Adam having a body. He had been formed from the dust of the ground and for a short time he was standing there before God until the moment God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And, for a short period, the body of the whole house of Israel was standing before Ezekiel. Then it goes on to say in Ezekiel 37:9-10:

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Here, the breath or Spirit of God entered into the lifeless bodies. Until the Spirit entered in, we could not really say they were living. They were somewhere along in that process but not to the point of being made alive and experiencing spiritual life. Once the breath of life entered into the army they were alive physically and spiritually in this vision.

So God breathed the breath of “lives” into the dead body of Adam and he became a living being. It is the breath of “lives” because Adam’s body physically came to life and Adam’s soul spiritually came to life and, therefore, he possessed “lives.” We know he possessed “lives” (plural) because later on God told Adam that if he ate of a certain tree he would die in that very day. We know Adam did eat of that tree and he did not die physically on that day, but he died spiritually. In one area of the “lives” that had been granted to him he became dead, but he maintained life in his physical being similar to animals and man became as a “beast” before God. His soul existence or spiritual life that God had breathed into him perished and mankind died in that day when he rebelled against God. After this, it would not be until God saved a sinner and created a new life in him that he would have the breath of “lives” in him once again. The one that God has saved is now alive in his soul existence and also alive in his physical being while he lives on this earth and he possesses the breath of “lives.”