BREATH OF LIFE
Genesis 2:7 | Chapter two is where we are introduced to God’s name: Yahweh, printed as “the Lord” in our English Bibles. This is the moment when we learn His name, because it is when we also learn our name, the name of humanity: “Adam” which comes from “adamah”, the Hebrew word for “the ground”, specifically the dirt of the ground. We then learn that Yahweh breathed (Hebrew: “yippach” which means He “blew” as if to start a fire!) into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life. It was then that Adam became a “nephesh” which is the Hebrew word for soul. It is important to note that in Scripture, you don’t have a soul, you are a soul. The idea that we have a soul (where body is physical and soul is not) came from Greek philosophers like Plato, not from Scripture. God’s design, all along, was for the Breath of Life to be ETERNAL.
Dig Deeper: Genesis 35:18; Ezekiel 18; Romans 3, 8:1-11; Matthew 10:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
ETERNAL LIFE
1 Corinthians 15:42b / 15:44a | The Biblical distinction between “physical” and “spiritual” is NOT the platonic (meaning from Plato) idea of “material” and “immaterial”. Rather, in Scripture physical is “incomplete” and spiritual is “complete”. Put another way, physical is “without the Spirit” and spiritual is “with the Spirit”. Finally, physical is perishable. Spiritual is imperishable.
Dig Deeper: John 3:3-21, 4:23-24; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
1 Corinthians 15:45 / 47; 49 | In Creation, Adam was born without brokenness, fully alive in the right way. But then on Page Three (see Genesis 3) Adam and Eve plunged the universe into darkness, as they chose to define good and evil for themselves. All humans since then have been doing the same. This is why the Second Adam was born: not only a living being, but a life-giving Spirit! As such, those who believe in Jesus are set free from the brokenness which bounds sons of Adam and daughters of Eve to become sons and daughters of God Himself! See Romans 8:1-27.
THE END OF DEATH
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 | The power of God is the Gospel (see Romans 1:16-17!). The power of sin is the Law. But through Jesus we are utterly victorious! Just as Jesus rose from the dead, so shall we rise. Not as immaterial-float-away-beings but as physically spiritual, that is, IMPERISHABLE humans, the ones we were supposed to be! All along! And we will reign with Jesus, together, forever. See Romans 8:37-39.