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Are we simply just another animal?

What exactly is it that separates

mankind from the animals

By
Dennis Murphy

3 September 2010

Copyright © 2010 Dennis Murphy

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Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 
Are we simply just another animal? ............................................................................. 4 
The Doctrine of Man ...................................................................................................... 8 
Man as a three part being ............................................................................................. 8 
The Biblical picture of the difference between mankind and the animals ................. 13 
The role of mankind in the Creation .......................................................................... 15 
The Big Picture of the Bible....................................................................................... 17 
The question of governance of the Kingdom of God ................................................. 18 
Choosing to be a Christian .......................................................................................... 20 
Free will ..................................................................................................................... 21 
Biblical view of free will............................................................................................ 23 
The sovereign will of God.......................................................................................... 24 
Who chooses – God or man ....................................................................................... 25 
The Genesis account of the creation of mankind ...................................................... 29 
Adam and Eve and the Doctrine of Man .................................................................... 29 
The appearance of Eve ............................................................................................... 30 
The Doctrine of Man and the question of Cain’s wife ............................................... 30 
The question of how Jesus can be both fully God and fully man .............................. 31 

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Introduction
All too often Christians are confronted with people who challenge them about the
Bible. These challenges often take the form of questioning on some of the “hard” topics
that many Christians do not have a satisfactory answer to.

Much of this uncertainty on the part of Christians comes from the fact that too many
churches only preach a ‘simple gospel” of “we are saved and that is all that matters”.
Unfortunately many churches today do not look at some of the deeper aspects of what
the Bible talks about. As a result many Christians are unprepared to face the challenges
of explaining the Bible to people in the world.

This inability to act effectively as God’s ambassadors to the world means that we are
unable to be the ‘salt of the earth’ or to be a “light unto the nations”. This is a great pity
as the world really needs to hear of God’s solutions to the problems of the world – and
never more so than today.

But unless we can give satisfactory answers to the world that accurately reflect what the
Bible really does say on all these difficult questions, then we are failing in our calling.
This short book attempts to give some clear cut answers to some of those questions that
I personally have been challenged by in the past. Hopefully my insights on these
questions will also help others as they face these same questions.

At times I will look at the underlying words in the Bible in order to more clearly bring
out the meaning. In order to credibly do this I need to use a recognized textual source.
Accordingly, all of the word definitions used in this book will be taken from Biblesoft's
New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew
Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.

In compiling the concordance each different individual word in the text in the original
documents used to translate the King James version (KJV) of the Bible were given a
number that identified it in the Strong’s Concordance. Both the Old Testament and the
New Testament have their own series of numbers that start from one in each case e.g.
OT:1 and also NT:1 Each entry has two main parts to it. The first section shows the
word itself and its associated Strong’s Number as well as the original meanings of that
word. The second section (Heading KJV) gives the list of words that the KJV uses as
the interpretation of the original word depending on the particular context where it is
used in the Biblical text.

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Are we simply just another animal?

Are we just a very smart animal, or are we something very different?

On the one hand we have the world of science pointing to a large body of evidence
showing that man evolved over a period of millions of years. On this basis, the
scientists say that mankind is simply another animal, albeit a very smart one. However
the problem they have is that there is no satisfactory answer as to why mankind alone
has risen to the prominent position that we have.

On the other hand we have a lot of sincere Christians who won’t have a bar of
evolution. They insist that the Biblical story of six days of creation must be taken
literally. The problem they have is that there is a large body of fossil evidence that
clearly traces the evolving body of man. The creationists simply try and ignore this.

Clearly they can’t both be right. But the question is how can we really determine which
is right or wrong.

More to the point, does it really matter which is right! The answer to this question is
very clearly yes because it goes to the very heart of what and who mankind really is.
The answer to this question in turn lies at the very heart of the meaning of life. If you
get this point wrong, then it is extremely difficult to find any sort of rational or
meaningful answer as to who we are, or whether there is any meaning or purpose to
life.

The Bible believes the answer to this question is important and puts it very clearly in a
number of places. One is quoted below:

Psalm 8:3-8 (New International Version)

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of
man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honour. 6 You made him ruler over the works of
your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the
beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the
paths of the seas.

By simply looking at what the Bible says about man, and checking those statements
with the facts of history it is pretty easy to discover what separates man from the
animals.

As I said at the beginning of this chapter, both the scientists and those Christians who
say that the entire creation took place in seven days can’t both be right. The reality is
that both sides have a part of the truth, but due to their own prejudices neither side is
willing to examine the “Big Picture” and see how the facts agree with what the Bible
says and how this in turn agrees with the reality of history.

The following summary shows how everything is related, but does not get bogged
down in technicalities. It simply looks at the overall picture in order to bring some
clarity to the question of whether man is simply another animal, or whether he is

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something more. A deeper exploration of the subject of what Genesis actually says
about the creation of the universe can be found in the free book in the link below.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/30830593/Creationism-Versus-Genesis

The Bible puts the creation of Adam and Eve at about 4000 BC. History agrees with
this date, inasmuch as it also records the rise of civilization at roughly the same
period. There is no evidence of animals that act in the manner which we would regard
as conscious intelligent human life much earlier than this.

It must be clearly understood that by conscious, intelligent human life we are talking
about those activities that clearly separate mankind from the animal world. These
activities include such things as complex language, music, literature, advanced
mathematics, science, architecture and large scale political and organizational activities.
The other principal trait that defines man is that he alone has a spiritual dimension that
leads him to “worship” a higher order of being.

These activities are restricted to the last few thousand years of the history of the world.

It is certainly true that there is abundant evidence of primitive groups prior to this
period. However the question is whether they were intelligent conscious human
beings. The answer is almost certainly that they were not. Various groups of humanoid
animals had been around for millions of years but had never been able to advance
beyond a certain level of intellect. They were simply limited in the same way as other
modern primates, by the “Computational Complexity” that the biological computer,
known as the brain was capable of.

By “Computational Complexity”, I mean the limit of computationally based

intelligence that can be achieved by simply adding more and more connections in the
brain (or a computer).

This limit of “Computational Complexity” is clearly seen today in the animal world
where some animals, mainly monkeys, are capable of being taught to count and
understand a limited vocabulary. Present evidence seems to indicate that some animals
can attain the intellectual abilities of a young child. But there is no evidence that either
computers or animals can ever attain the higher attributes of consciousness and
intelligence that human beings possess. This is all the more striking because in the case
of animals, anatomically and structurally their brains are not much different to ours.
Clearly there is some other major difference between animals and us as far as their
intellectual capacity is concerned.

Lots of people will tell you “that they are sure” that in time true computer intelligence
will emerge. However when pressed as to when and how, they admit that there is no
evidence to support their claim and that they just simply “believe” that somehow this
will happen. The reality is that this is just wishful thinking, and has no basis in science
at this time.

Clearly there is a huge, apparently unbridgeable gulf between the intellectual capacities
of man and the animals; and that this gulf appeared and opened up at about the time the
Bible records that God created mankind.

How then to reconcile the evolution theory with the Biblical creation account!

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We only have to look up at the night sky and see the vast universe and listen to how
science tells us that it all started some 12 to15 billion years ago with the “Big Bang”,
and listen to how the universe developed from there, to see that God uses the process of
evolution to create the universe and everything in it.(There are much deeper mysteries
here – such as where did the laws come from that governed the “vacuum” from which
the universe burst into existence from, at the time of the “Big Bang”. However, this is
not the time to explore those questions – however interesting they may be)

The primordial soup of subatomic particles that came into existence during the “Big
Bang” formed hydrogen gas. This gas then coalesced into huge balls which then ignited
by nuclear reactions to form the stars (suns) that we see in the night sky. The nuclear
reactions in the stars produced all the chemical elements that exist today, such as
oxygen, carbon, iron sulphur etc. As most stars age, they explode, spewing out all the
chemical elements that were formed in them during their life. The stars are in fact
gigantic factories that manufacture all the chemical elements that make up the matter in
the universe.

These elements then spread throughout the universe and finally formed the planets.

Many experiments have shown how the various chemicals combine naturally to form
much more complex molecules that in turn form the basis of the bodies of animals and
man. Indeed, one of the pithy little sayings of science is that we are made from “Star
Dust”

As billions of years went by, this process of the universe slowly turning from a very
simple place consisting only of hydrogen gas just after the “Big Bang”, to the present
highly evolved and complex world progressed. We see the world slowly evolving from
simple beginnings, to a much more organised and complex place. This is evolution in
action. God has used the natural laws to create the physical world that we see around
us.

It is clearly seen that he also used this same process of natural evolution to bring into
existence all the life forms that have existed in the world. The hard evidence of this is
the fossil record of humanoid and other animal life forms stretching back hundreds of
millions of years. This evidence cannot simply be dismissed, but rather it must be
accounted for.

The Bible itself gives the answer to the apparent contradiction of when human beings,
as opposed to the animal bodies of our ancestors, actually arose.

Genesis 2:4-7 (NIV)

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the
LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet
appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD
God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but
streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- 7
the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground -------- and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The above quotation says that the creation of man was a two-part process. First God
formed man from the elements of the earth by the process we know as evolution. At

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some point in time AFTER the body of man was created, God “breathed into his
nostrils the breath (Strong’s No. OT 5397) of life, and the man became a living being”.

Below is an excerpt taken Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and

Concordance, showing the original Hebrew word that the translators have rendered as
“breath”.

OT:5397--- breath
neshamah (nesh-aw-maw'); from OT:5395; a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath,
divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal:

Other renderings of this word in the KJV-blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration,
soul,

This is consistent with the observed facts. Namely, that the universe and the evolved
body of man are very old; but that man as an intellectual and spiritual being only
came into existence about six thousand years ago in accordance with the timing
and description of the Genesis account.

The Bible is clear that what separates mankind from the animals is that we have a spirit
(soul) and they do not. In other words, we are spirit beings that God has somehow
fused into our animal bodies that had been formed by the natural process of evolution.
This fusing of the spirit of man into the body of man was what is described in Genesis
2:7. All the evidence is that this occurred only in the last few thousand years, just as the
Genesis account says.

It is this spiritual nature that sets us apart from the animals, and enables us to
acknowledge God. It is also responsible for those aspects of our nature that have raised
man up to the head of creation as we see it today.

It is important to understand that the Bible is not a scientific textbook and nowhere
does it make this claim. It simply reveals God’s plan for mankind, and we are left to fill
in the scientific details of how He accomplished what we see around us.

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The Doctrine of Man

Or
What is the difference between people and animals
and why were we created?

The question of who mankind really is and why we were created is one of the principal
matters that lie at the root of the argument between Creationists, Evolutionists and the
view of mankind laid out in this book. In this chapter we will look at what the Bible
says about these questions. We won’t be exploring the process by which God made
mankind. Rather, for this chapter we are only concerned with the Biblical view of the
overall design of a human. The question of how the design was put into practice will be
addressed later

Most Christians believe that the Bible is the true and accurate record of God’s words on
the history of mankind. All of this group would – or at least should – then agree that the
Bible should be able to give a clear and unambiguous account of these matters. I
believe that it does. However, like so many of the doctrines in the Bible the
information is scattered across both the Old and New Testaments. As in all
interpretation you need to gather ALL the references and then find the one – and only
one – interpretation that is consistent with all of the references.

Because this matter of the Doctrine of Man is such a critical issue in the argument of
how the world and man arose it is essential that we start off with a clear idea of what
the Bible actually says on this doctrine. It consists of several threads and we need to
follow each one to see the whole picture.

Man as a three part being

This is the design aspect of the nature of man. If we look at the world we see that there
are three basic levels of life forms. This seems to somehow reflect the nature of God.
Consider the following Scripture reference.

Romans 1:20 (NIV)

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and
divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,
so that men are without excuse.

Now this reference covers all of God’s attributes – not just life forms. However we are
only exploring life forms at this time. Christians, as opposed to cults, all agree on the
Doctrine of the Trinity where we recognise three individuals, Farther, Son and Holy
Spirit who are simultaneously one Tri-une person.

We see this Tri-une nature of God reflected in the 3D nature of the natural (visible)
world around us (i.e. width, depth and height as the 3 dimensions). We cannot imagine
a single dimensional chair for instance that has width only with no depth or height.
There is no such thing as a two dimensional house that only had width and height – but
no depth. There are many other examples as well. But the point is simple. We live in a
3D world which is a reflection of the Tri-une nature of the Godhead.

So it is not surprising that we find three levels of life around us. These are:-

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Body only – This level includes all microscopic life such as bacteria, viruses etc. as
well as insects and plants. All these forms of life certainly have a clearly defined body
of various types. But they show no evidence that any of them have a personality and
they have no central nervous system that allows them to think and plan as the higher
animals do. Their responses to any outside stimuli are simply governed by pre-
programmed internal responses (i.e. a flower opens its petals to the appearance of the
sun) or inbuilt instincts such as ants that follow chemical trails to food that have been
laid down by other ants who just happened to come across it by accident.

Body and soul – This level includes all the higher animals such as all mammals and
birds, reptiles and fish and other forms of higher creatures that live in water. A Biblical
definition of “soul” is needed at this point. There are two words used in the Bible which
are translated as “soul” and which has two distinct meanings in the Bible:

1. The force which makes a human or animal body alive. It refers to life in the
physical body. The clearest examples of this usage of the word are found in the
New Testament in which the Greek word for soul (psuche) is translated as both life
and soul.

John 13:37(NIV)
Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life (psuche
NT 5590) for you."

Matthew 10:28-29 (NIV)

8 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (NT 5590).
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul (NT 5590) and body in
hell.

The same idea is also presented in the Old Testament where we have the soul of a
dying person departing from the body at death.

Genesis 35:18
And so it was, as her soul (nephesh OT 5315) was departing (for she died), that she
called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

2. The word soul also refers to the inner life of the living creature. It is described as
the seat of emotions and desires, and personality. Examples of this usage of
nephesh (OT 5315) are found in the desire for food (Deuteronomy 12:20-21, love
(Solomon 1:7), longing for God (Psalm 63:1), joy (Psalm 86:4), knowing (Psalm
139:14), and memory (Lamentations 3:20). You find a similar usage in the NT with
the word psuche (NT 5590) used for “mind” in Acts 14:2, 15:24, “heart” (e.g.,
desires) Colossians 3:23.

Strong’s Concordance definitions for Soul

NT:5590 psuche (psoo-khay'); from NT:5594; breath, i.e. (by implication) spirit,
abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on
the one hand from NT:4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the
other from NT:2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly
correspond respectively to the Hebrew OT:5315, OT:7307 and OT:2416):
KJV-heart (+-ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

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OT:5315 nephesh (neh'-fesh); from OT:5314; properly, a breathing creature, i.e.
animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or
figurative sense (bodily or mental):
KJV-any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-]
contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in
jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-,
my-, thyself-), them (your)- selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will

In the case of the animal world “soul” refers to the life force that infuses their bodies
and the emotions and individual personalities (and every pet owner knows that pets
have personalities) and the rather limited reasoning abilities that they have.

In the case of human life it describes both the living body and the person who lives in
that body as seen by the departure of the soul at death. This is a significant statement.
What it is saying is that your “soul” attributes (consciousness, memory, likes/dislikes
and desires etc.) leave your body. In other words, the real conscious “you” goes to your
eternal destiny. This says that “you” as the person leaving your body would not notice
any real immediate change in your mental makeup and consciousness immediately after
the moment of death. What may happen later is a different matter. But the point is that
you leave your body with the same consciousness and ideas as you had moments before
death. The transition from “life” to “death” is very rapid and at least in my case
apparently seamless, because as you lose consciousness in this world you are
immediately conscious in a realm that appears to be outside of space and time as we
understand it. Because I had no idea that angiograms can (and do) kill some people, I
was confused as to where I was, and how or why I had gotten there. I experienced the
emotion of “surprise” – but not “fear” because I had no idea that I could die – so I did
not, at least initially, consider that I had died and left my body. So how could I be
“standing” in this dark space looking out of a “porthole” back at me on the angiography
table?

It is conspicuous that there are no Biblical descriptions of a soul leaving the body of an
animal at death. Indeed it says that while animals have a soul (e.g. they live and have a
personality) they do not have a spirit in the sense of immortality.

Isaiah 31:3 (NIV)

3 But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped
will fall; both will perish together.

Body, soul and spirit – This level of life clearly separates mankind from the animal
world.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your
whole spirit (pneuma NT:4151), soul (psuche NT:5590) and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV)

2 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul (psuche NT:5590) and spirit (pneuma NT:4151),
joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

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There are in fact three different words that are used in the Bible to refer to “spirit”. The
Strong’s Concordance entries for these words are shown below. These are:-

• The OT word ruwach (Strong’s number OT:7307) There are 378 instances of this
word in the KJV. As the Strong’s’ Concordance entry below shows the
interpretation varies according to the context.

It includes literal blowing of air. This word is also used to refer to the “breath of
life” in the context of animals and the flood in Gen 6:17, 7:15 & 7:22. The reference
to animals having a “spirit” in this sense is that they are alive and are aware of things
around them (e.g. they can he happy, sad or angry)

It also talks about attitudes of the spirit in a person (e.g. moods.) as seen in Gen
26:35, 41:8, Num 5:14 & Judges 8:3.

Frequently it refers directly to the Spirit of God (Genesis 1:2) as well as to other
spirit beings from the unseen world.

It is also translated as the sides (OT 7307) of the temple that Ezekiel saw in his
vision (Ezekiel 42:16-20). Here we are talking about a “spirit” side of the temple in
the sense that it was a vision of a structure – not a real physical building

The overall sense of this word is that of “unseen” actions, things and forces such as
actual spirit beings, thoughts and emotions and forces exerted by the “unseen” wind.
It is also used to refer to structures as in the sides of Ezekiel’s temple. In this sense
of structure, “spirit” can be seen as the vehicle of the soul in the same way that the
“body” is the vehicle that carries the soul in the physical world. It also includes
“unseen” thought processes such as the ability to make sound judgments (Isaiah
11:2).

• The NT word pneuma (Strong’s number NT:4151) There are 388 instances of this
word in the KJV. Here again, the exact interpretation varies according to the context
in which it is found.

Overwhelmingly, this word is used to describe an actual spirit being such as The
Holy Spirit, The Spirit of God and The Spirit of Jesus as in, “When he had received
the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his
spirit (NT 4151).” (John 19:30)

It is also used to describe the spirit leaving a person at death as in, “While they were
stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (NT 4151)" (Acts 7:59)

It is also used to describe evil spirits.

There are a few other translations such as “poor in spirit” (Mat 5:3) – “the spirit is
willing but the body is weak” (Mat 26:41) – “the wind blows” (John 3:8) –“true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23) – “The words I
have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63) – “may give to you a
spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” (Ephesians 1:17)

The major sense of this word is very strongly that of the “spirit” being the
counterpart in the unseen non-material world of the body that we inhabit in the

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material everyday world that we live in. This usage of the word “spirit” is best seen
in the two scriptures below where a direct comparison is made between the living
body and the spirit.

James 2:26 (NIV)

As the body without the spirit (NT 4151) is dead, so faith without deeds is dead

Galatians 5:17 (NASBU)

7 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit (NT 4151), and the Spirit against
the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the
things that you please.

This idea of the spirit being the actual vehicle through which we serve God is also
reinforced by the scriptures below.

Romans 1:9 (NKJV)

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit (NT 4151) in the gospel of
His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,

1 Corinthians 14:1-2 (NIV)

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of
prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to
God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit (NT
4151).

• The OT word neshamah (Strong’s number OT:5397) There are 23 instances of this
word in the KJV.

The minority usage of this word refers to man as an intellectual being created by
God as in the two scriptures below.

Genesis 2:4-7 (NIV)

7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of (OT 5397) life (OT 2416), and the man became a
living being (OT:5315).

Job 26:4 (NIV)

4 Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit (OT 5397) spoke
from your mouth?

However the majority use refers to the life in animals in general. In this sense it also
includes mankind. This is seen in the references

Genesis 7:22 (NIV)

Everything on dry land that had the breath (OT 5397) of life in its nostrils died.

Deuteronomy 20:16 (NIV)

However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an
inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes (OT 5397).

The OT word neshamah (OT:5397) describes the signs of “life” in the living body of
man and animals. While it can do, it does not necessarily include the meaning of “soul”

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For example an ant is alive – but it seems to stretch the imagination to say that an
individual ant has a personality.

Strong’s Concordance definitions for soul and spirit

OT:5315 nephesh (neh'-fesh); from OT:5314; properly, a breathing creature, i.e.

animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or
figurative sense (bodily or mental):
KJV-any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-]
contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in
jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-,
thyself-), them (your)- selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will

NT:5590 psuche (psoo-khay'); from NT:5594; breath, i.e. (by implication) spirit,
abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the
one hand from NT:4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other
from NT:2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly
correspond respectively to the Hebrew OT:5315, OT:7307 and OT:2416):
KJV-heart (+-ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

OT:7307 ruwach (roo'-akh); from OT:7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a

sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by
extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being
(including its expression and functions):
KJV-air, anger, blast, breath, X cool, courage, mind, X quarter, X side, spirit ([-ual]),
tempest, X vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

NT:4151 pneuma (pnyoo'-mah); from NT:4154; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or
a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by
implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, demon,
or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit:
KJV-ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Compare NT:5590.

OT:5397 neshamah (nesh-aw-maw'); from OT:5395; a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital
breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal:
KJV-blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

OT:2416 chay (khah'-ee); from OT:2421; alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water,
year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural)
life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively:
KJV-+ age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life (-time), live (-ly),
living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw,
running, springing, troop.

The Biblical picture of the difference between mankind and the animals

The Bible presents animals as living creatures that do have a life force within their
bodies and they also have a soul as defined by each animal’s individual personality.
However, according to the Bible, they live for a while then die and cease to exist.

Mankind on the other hand is described in the Bible as having a body, soul and spirit.
The spirit is a somewhat mysterious entity and many people use the words “spirit” and

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“soul” interchangeably. However a careful examination of the way in which the word
spirit has been translated, taking into account the context in each instance, shows that
the actual meaning is that of the spirit (unseen at this time) counterpart of our current
bodies.

The spirit appears to be that entity that every person has as part of their makeup and can
be considered as the “vehicle” of the “soul” in the eternal world (e.g. it will live
forever) in the same way that the physical body is the “vehicle” of the “soul” in the
current physical world.

If you ask many people to describe a particular person they will give a detailed account
of the body of that person such as sex, eye, hair and skin colour, height, weight and
maybe any distinguishing characteristics such as balding or maybe only one leg. Very
rarely will people describe the person’s soul such as, kind, interested in music etc. The
reason for this is simple. For the most part we cannot see inside someone else’s soul,
and even if we could, then such a description would not help another person hearing
this description to recognise the described person at a first meeting. As a result we tend
to view a person as the “body” of that person. In reality we all know that the outward
body is a very poor description of the real person (the soul) who lives in that body.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta the Roman Catholic nun who worked for so many years in
the slums of India is a perfect example. By the world’s beauty standards she did not
rank highly. But inside she was a shining example to many people.

It seems natural that in the eternal world there is a similar set of circumstances. We
certainly have an immortal soul (e.g., our innermost thoughts and desires) However it
would not be much of a world if everybody could see your innermost and private being
any time they wished. In the eternal world then you have these twin requirements of
“being your own person” with your own private life, but at the same time you have to
have a “shop front” with which to interact with other people. A close examination of
the Biblical accounts shows that almost certainly the “spirit” has this function of the
“vehicle” to move around with and to interact with other people.

Without this spirit “body” you would have no way of interacting with the eternal world
or anything in it. It is conspicuous that in the scripture below it does not record that
Jesus yielded up his soul on the cross. Rather it was his spirit. He then went and
preached to the spirits of people (not their souls) who were held in the prison of death
from the days of Noah

Matthew 27:50 (NIV)

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit (NT 4
151)

1 Peter 3:18-20 (NIV)

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you
to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through
whom also he went and preached to the spirits (NT 4151) in prison 20 who
disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark
was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water

1 Corinthians 15:42-44(NIV)
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it
is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in

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weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body.

The picture as presented by the Bible is very much that mankind in the natural world is
seen by everybody around us as a “body” which has a particular appearance and which
has a “personality” that we associate with the “body”. Because we appear to simply be
a “body” that is not different in principle to the “body” of an animal, then many people
think that a person is just the “body” that they see before them. They don’t appear to
have a view of mankind as being a “spirit being” that lives in the physical body. In the
case of atheists this naturally leads them to believe that mankind is just another species
of animal, albeit a fairly smart one. However, the Bible pictures man as having a spirit
as well and the picture of soul and spirit appears to be very much the non-physical
world counterpart of body and soul that we see in the natural world around us.

The soul-spirit combination then leaves the body at death and travels onto its final
destiny. Whereas for animals that are simply body and soul, the soul dies with the body
as it has no “vehicle” in which to survive the destruction of the body.

The role of mankind in the Creation

Most people if asked about the role of mankind will point to the scripture below where
it clearly states that mankind is to rule over the “earth”

Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them.

In Genesis 1:1 it says that “In the beginning God created the heavens (OT:8064) and
the earth (OT:776) The Strong’s Concordance entries for the words “heavens” and
“earth” are shown in the later chapter The Genesis account of creation where we
compare both the Biblical accounts in Genesis chapters 1 & 2 with the scientific view
of the world. It will be clearly seen that the “heavens and earth” encompasses the entire
created universe and not simply planet earth.

No study of the purpose of man in the creation is complete without looking at exactly
what the Bible says is God’s plan for mankind to rule over the creation under God and
what it says on the subjects of ruling and governance. The reason for looking at this in
some detail is not simply that it is interesting. Rather the Biblical concepts of man’s
place in the governance of the “world” (eventually the entire creation) lies at the heart
of what, in my experience, many people in the Church believe is the central issue that
leads them to oppose the world of science.

From my own earlier experience where I did not critically examine many things in the
Bible, and my observations over many years of other Christians, many of us have felt
distinctly uncomfortable with the ideas of science that the world is very old and that
“evolution” is the way that life came into existence. Many Christians believe that
science and the ideas of scientists are “atheistic”. From this they believe that science
contradicts what the Bible says. It then follows that they believe that they must
challenge the view of science.

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This view of “atheistic” scientists is a misunderstanding of how science works. For an
informed debate we need to look at just what the “scientific method” is and why it is
necessary to follow this path in making new discoveries. This is done in later chapters.

From my observations, what disturbs Christians most with the “atheistic science” world
view is that many Christians believe that this “atheistic” account from science is
preventing people from being saved. They believe that this is a competing view that
keeps people from hearing and believing the gospel of forgiveness of sins through
Christ’s death on the cross.

The central idea that many Christians have is that:-

• Preaching the gospel is the principal activity that Christians should engage in

• That if they, “Can just get rid of these “atheistic” competing views, and if they try
just that “little bit harder” we can convert everybody in the world”

To provide scriptural evidence for the first view above numerous Christians will point
to many scriptures in the New Testament such as Matthew 24:14, Mark 6:12, Mark
16:15-16 and others. Now the Bible certainly does command that the message of
salvation is preached. But it also requires many other things that we will look at such as
preaching the “kingdom of God”, healing the sick, casting out demons and caring for
the sick and poor. Too often these other aspects of the “great commission” are
overlooked.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age."

Luke 4:18 (NIV)

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,

The second idea above is that God wants to “save” all people. They point to the two
scriptures shown below as evidence of this being God’s will. Accordingly, they then
see part of their response as being antagonistic towards anything they believe is not
what the Bible teaches and which will prevent people from believing in Christ’s
atoning death and resurrection. However this response is often not based on what the
Bible actually says.

Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV)

12 What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders
away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that
wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one
sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your
Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

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In the scripture above Christians often quote verse 14 without putting this verse into its
context as described in verse 12 where he is talking about losing one of His sheep. We
will look at what the Bible has to say on this matter of who belongs to God in the next
chapter. At this stage we should simply note that he is not talking about all sheep –
only those in His flock. This is a significant point that we will look at in more detail
below as we look at God’s plan for mankind as revealed in the Bible.

In the scripture below we have a classic example of having to look at all the references
regarding a given scripture before we can decide just what the context is that should be
used in the interpretation. Many Christians only quote verse 4. The Strong’s
Concordance entry for this scripture shows that the word that is translated as “save” has
a variety of possible meanings. The appropriate one is then selected from the context. It
certainly states that God want all mankind to be saved. The question is what does the
word “saved” mean in this context? The same word is used in the sense of personal
salvation as in the forgiveness of sins. It is also used in the sense of salvation of
people being saved from the consequences of sin – this is not necessarily the same as
personal salvation. “Salvation” for all mankind is the whole message of the Bible.
However, this idea of saving the world involves the establishment of the Kingdom of
God and it is in this sense that verse 4 should be interpreted. The reasons for this will
be explored in the rest of this chapter.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NIV)

1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be
made for everyone- 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful
and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our
Saviour, 4 who wants all men to be saved (NT 4982) and to come to a knowledge
of the truth.

NT:4982 sozo (sode'-zo); from a primary sos (contraction for obsolete saoz, "safe");
to save, i.e. deliver or protect (literally or figuratively):
KJV-heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.

The Big Picture of the Bible

In order to see the difference between the idea of personal salvation and the idea of
salvation for all of mankind, it is necessary to very quickly look at the overall picture
that the Bible presents.

The Biblical story is God’s account of His own nature, and how he established the
universe and created man to rule over it under the sovereignty of God. It tells how
mankind fell into sin and the consequences of this, along with God’s plan to redeem
man and the universe to himself.

This plan is centred on the creation of the nation of Israel, which was designed to
accomplish three things. First, Israel was to bring forth the Messiah, who would then
give his life to atone for the sin of all those who would accept Him as saviour. Israel
was also to be a role model for the surrounding nations. Finally, Israel is to be the
national instrument through which God will ultimately rule all the nations of the
world, and later the universe, in peace, justice and prosperity.

The end of this redemptive plan will see Jesus return as Lord of lords and King of kings
of the earth, ruling from the nation of Israel, with those people who have accepted Jesus

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as their saviour co-ruling with him as priests. Jesus will reign for a thousand years at
which time all creation will have been brought under his control. This period of Jesus
reigning over the earth is necessary in order to absolutely prove that by administering
the world according to God’s laws, peace and justice for all are assured. He (Jesus as
God) will then be seen to have the undisputed and proven right to judge mankind.

After this period, Jesus will hand the kingdom over to God the Father and the final
judgement will take place.

Once this is complete God declares that He will create new heavens and a new earth.
He will then make His home with mankind in the New Jerusalem, with mankind ruling
over the creation under His sovereignty. This then completes His redemptive plan and
man is back where he started in the Garden of Eden.

The question of governance of the Kingdom of God

If we search through the Bible using a computerised concordance then we find that the
expression the “Kingdom of God” appears sixty six (66) times and the expression the
“Kingdom of Heaven” appears thirty two (32) times in both the New International
Version (NIV) and the New King James Version (NKJV).

The Bible itself has sixty six (66) books in it that are split up into thirty nine (39) books
that make up the Old Testament and twenty seven (27) books that make up the New
Testament. Now thirty nine books expressed as a percentage of the total of sixty six
books is fifty nine percent (59%) of the total Bible. Surely the subject matter of
something that takes up fifty nine percent of the Bible must be important

The Old Testament is virtually exclusively concerned with the account of the creation
of the nation of Israel, its purpose for creation and its laws and customs. It is a book
about national Israel and is not directly concerned with individual salvation. Kingdoms
are political entities that are concerned with governing and all that is entailed in running
a peaceful, just and prosperous environment for its citizens.

The New Testament is virtually exclusively concerned with individual salvation and
personal relationships with God through the mediatorial role of Jesus and the believer’s
role in the “Kingdom of God” where the believers will reign with Jesus

A detailed study of the Bible shows very clearly that the Jesus died to save all people.
However, the meaning of the expression “save all people” is that all people are saved
from the consequences of sin and the subsequent rule of Satan over this world. The
Bible makes it crystal clear that this “salvation of mankind” is brought about by Jesus
ruling over the Kingdom of God – along with His people e.g. the Christians and saints
of all ages co-reigning and ruling with him – and with Satan having been banished
forever from this world. With Jesus ruling as “Lord of lords and King of kings” it will
be a very different world to that which we currently experience with Satan ruling over
it. Mankind will then live in a world of peace, prosperity, truth, justice, love and
beauty; instead of the current world of lawlessness, misery, corruption, violence,
poverty, suffering, ugliness and incompetence. Truly all mankind will then have
been saved!

But this redeemed world is described as the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom describes a
political entity. This in turn describes a system of hierarchical organisation and power.

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This hierarchy has Jesus as “Lord of lords and King of kings” with a ruling body under
him comprised of the saints of all the ages.

In any governing structure there are those who rule – and those who are ruled over.
There never has been – nor does the Bible describe – a system where everybody
belongs to the ruling class. In many societies even today, the right to belong to the
ruling class is hereditary. As an example, consider any royal family – you either have
the birthright to ascend to the throne, or you don’t. You cannot earn this right to the
throne. This is the picture that the Bible paints of Christians and the saints of all the
ages. The next chapter will examine the Biblical statements on this subject.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Choosing to be a Christian
Or
Can anybody choose to be a part of God’s government in His Kingdom
or is it based on birthright?

Most people are aware of the idea of predestination where you are either born to be
“saved” or you are born to be “lost” Many people who are aware of this concept reject
it out of hand for one – or maybe both – of two reasons.

The first of these reasons is that the idea of predestination is most commonly associated
with what has become known as Calvinism. This doctrine was originally developed by
a number of theologians. However it is commonly known by the name of the 16th
century French theologian John Calvin because of his influence on the development of
its main ideas. Since then it has had many other influences and streams of thought
added to it. It is best summarized by its historical acronym TULIP

Total inherited All people inherit the sin of Adam – hence are totally
T
depravity depraved and do not naturally respond to God.
Unconditional Predestination – God has foreordained those limited number
U
election of people who will be “saved”.
Limited
L Christ died only for those who were predestined to be saved
atonement
God reveals Himself only to those whom He predestined to
save. These people alone from all mankind will respond to
I Irresistible grace
the Holy Spirit and accept Christ as their Savour – and their
response is essentially beyond their control.
Because people are predestined, then once saved, they
cannot be lost. It says that those who apparently turn away
Perseverance of
P either never really believed to start with or will return later
the saints
e.g. the “lost sheep” in the parable. (Matt 18:12-14, Luke
15:3-7)

A lot of interpretations have been applied along the path of Calvinism – many of them
quite un-Christian. Some of the early Calvinists had no hesitation in castigating anyone
who dissented from their ideas, particularly if you were perceived to be in the “lost”
category. Calvin himself had Michael Servetus who was a Spanish physician and
philosopher who questioned the Trinity idea in the Nicene Creed arrested. He was tried
for heresy and burnt at the stake. Unfortunately this sort of intolerance is still evident in
many people who classify themselves as Christian even today and not only among
modern day Calvinists. This sort of un-Christian behaviour has turned many people
away from the idea of predestination as expressed by the ideas of Calvinism.

The second reason that many people reject predestination is that in their world-view the
idea is based on a paradox. God has predestined some to be “saved” but He still blames
every human being for their sins. On that basis, those who are not predestined to be
saved are unjustly thrown out of “heaven”. How can a just God do that? People
instinctively reject this idea and stress that everyone has a free will and can individually
decide to accept or reject Christ’s atoning death on the cross.

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To get a clearer idea on these matters we need to see what the Bible says about a
number of things as well as events in the real world around us.

Free will

Do we have an absolute unfettered free will so that we can choose whatever we like?

Well, clearly we don’t! A few examples will hopefully show the truth of this statement.

At its basic level the argument on free will comes down to whether the universe is
deterministic or not. The idea of determinism is simply that the “universe runs on
rails”. In a case like this the reasoning goes – event A causes event B, which in turn
causes event C, which in turn causes event D. You can extend this out to as many
events as you like. But the essential idea is that the last event in the chain is a direct
result of all the preceding events in that chain. The idea can be extended further to
include multiple intersecting chains of events that share a “common event” (say event
C in our example above) so that the outcome of the “common event” is determined by
the preceding events in each of the two chains that it forms a part of. The idea can be
extended out to infinity with more chains interesting each other – and themselves. The
end result is that any resulting event anywhere along any of the chains is strictly
determined by all the events that preceded them. Once the initial events (and
conditions) are set – the outcome is already determined for as far down the line as you
care to travel. However complex the train of events that we are considering, the system
truly does “run on rails”

In the example of a deterministic system talked about in the previous paragraph the
critical parameter that determines the outcome of the chain of events is the exact initial
conditions that existed at the start of the chain of events. Given that it is normally not
possible to be able to determine the exact values (e.g. to an infinite level of precision)
of all the factors and parameters then it becomes impossible to determine exactly how
any given system will evolve over time because of the phenomenon of what is known
as “deterministic chaos”. The way in which chaotic systems evolve over time is
critically dependent on the initial value of its parameters. Under the right
circumstances, minute changes, such as a difference of say 0.00000000001 in the initial
value of one of its parameters, can lead the system to evolve into a very different state
to that compared to where the initial conditions had not varied by that minute amount.
These changes can appear very rapidly. The reasons and details for this “chaotic”
behaviour can be looked up on the internet for those who are interested (e.g. chaos
theory). But for now all that is needed is to realize that this sort of phenomenon exists
and that it has a very large bearing on whether something is truly random – and hence
an act of “free will” – or whether it has been determined by things that you are not
aware of.

An everyday example of deterministic chaos that is presented as a random number

generator is the barrel of marbles with numbers on them that are used to generate the
winning number in lotteries. The barrel is filled with thousands of marbles with
numbers on them – the barrel is rotated for a period of time – it stops and some method
is used to select a given marble. It seems “random enough” – after all, nobody can
predict what number will be drawn next can they? Well in practice it is what is known
as pseudo-random. By this is meant that it appears to be random – but in fact it ”runs on
rails” The easiest way of looking at this is to run the tape backwards from the point
that the final marble is selected from the barrel – back to the start of rotation of the

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barrel. We have all seen this sort of thing done in pictures and it illustrates the principle
involved in deterministic chaos. If you could physically “rewind” the barrel and
marbles and could set up the exact same initial conditions in the barrel – to an
infinite level of precision for all the parameters involved (coefficients of friction of
balls and barrel, exact shapes of the balls and barrel and exact positions of the balls
relative to each other, rotational speeds, time etc.) – then running the process again
would produce the exact same ball being picked out. In principle – given a powerful
enough computer – you could calculate exactly which ball would be drawn out. In
practice it can’t be done – but only because our technology (at this time) is not capable
of the required precision in the measurement of the exact initial conditions

While the above short explanation of deterministic chaos does not prove that humans –
as opposed to physical objects – do not have unfettered “free will”, it does show that
much (if not all) of the world around us is not quite as random as many people suppose.

The question of whether we have an unfettered personal free will is not straight
forward. There are two aspects to this – the evidence of the world around us as well as
the Biblical statements on the matter.

When we look at our own lives we see that we don’t have a totally free will. What we
often have is only the “free will” to select from a menu of choices that is presented to
each one of us. Ours choices demonstrate who and what we really are. Some
examples are:-

• Somebody walking ahead of you drops a fifty dollar note. Only you see it. Your free
will choices are, pick it up and give it to the person who dropped it – keep it for
yourself – ignore it and walk on

• A “need” of someone else is brought to your attention. You have the time, resources
and ability to do something to help. Your free will choices are either to assist – or to
ignore that “need” in someone else

• You are offered a job with a company that sells dreams to people – such as the lure
of “investing for very high returns” in fraudulent or illegal schemes. You need
money. Your free will choices are either to accept that employment and knowingly
defraud or otherwise exploit the victims of that company – or to say no and look for
honest work.

In the three examples above you can only select from the limited choices on the
“menu” presented to you at that time. This “menu” of choices is set by the
circumstances present at that time and which are usually beyond your control. You
usually don’t have the free will choice to prevent yourself having to confront any of the
unpleasant decisions that meet you face-on along the pathway of life. The critical point
in the choices that you make is that you are demonstrating what and who you are
by the choices that you make.

You can also consider the fact that none of us can make a “free will” choice to do many
things, such as ring up the Prime Minister and suggest that “we have dinner together
sometime” (well I certainly can’t) – operate someone else’s bank account – have great
physical beauty or brains – or have good health when we have just been diagnosed with
a terminal illness. Many things like these are determined by our social standing,
education and inherited characteristics. Often these things are beyond our direct

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control. Although we would often like to change some of these things, the simple fact is
that we usually can’t. This demonstrates limits on our “free will”.

Biblical view of free will

On the Biblical side of this question of free will we should just briefly mention the
story of Jonah when God sent him to Nineveh – but he boarded a boat and ran in the
opposite direction. God sent a strong wind that threatened to sink the boat. Jonah asked
to be thrown overboard as he knew he was the cause of the storm. God sent a large fish
to swallow him. After being cast up out of the whale, God told Jonah again to go to
Nineveh. This time he obeyed God – albeit rather unwillingly. But just how free was
Jonah to decide if he would go to Nineveh or not? The Biblical evidence is pretty clear
that when God decides that “something should be done” it looks pretty much as if you
are going to do God’s will whether you like it or not.

Personal salvation is dependent entirely on recognizing our sin, repenting and putting
our faith in the atoning (e.g. covering or cancelling of sin) death of Jesus on the cross.
However this requires faith in the promises of God revealed in the Bible. A look at a
few of the scriptures on saving faith is necessary in order to decide whether we have
free will to choose God.

Galatians 2:16(NIV)
16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus
Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by
faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one
will be justified.

John 3:16-18 (NIV)

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV)

3 This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4 who wants all men to be saved and
to come to a knowledge of the truth.

John 3:16 (above) is almost certainly the best known verse in the Bible. It is often
quoted in conjunction with Timothy 2:3-4 as proof that everybody has the free will to
choose God if they so desire. As in any interpretation we need to look at all the
references and find the one (and usually only one) interpretation that fits all the
references. In this case we need to look at the three scriptures below, plus the next
section on the “sovereign will of God” as well as the section on “Who chooses – God
or man” and the chapter on “The critical issue of who has the right to be a Priest” in
order to see the full context of this.

As Mathew 11:27 & 16:15-17 and Ephesians 2:8-10 (below) makes crystal clear, Jesus
decides who He will reveal the Father to and that the saving faith that the individual
experiences is a direct gift from God. This saving faith does not originate in the person.
It comes only from God himself as an act of grace (unmerited favour). And it has a
purpose – to equip God’s priests (all believers) for their role in His Kingdom that saves
all mankind from the consequences of the fall in Eden (see next chapter).

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The interpretation of John 3:16 and 1 Timothy 2:3-4 – taking all the relevant scriptures
into account – is that God is in the process of saving mankind from the consequences of
sin that entered into the world with Adam and Eve. However this salvation is the
coming Kingdom of God where all mankind will truly come to a knowledge of the
truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4) of the words, concepts and ways that God has laid out in the
Bible. As will be seen in later chapters, God’s Kingdom will be administered by Jesus
Himself with the saints of all the ages co-ruling with Him. It is these Christians who are
being called to personal salvation.

Matthew 11:27 (NIV) and also Luke 10:22

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except
the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the
Son chooses to reveal him.

Matthew 16:15-17 (NIV)

But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you,
Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in
heaven.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we
are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.

Many people will then point to Romans 10:16-17 (below) and say that faith comes
from hearing the word of God – so if we preach the word of God everybody has the
choice of accepting it or not. Yes it does say that “faith comes from hearing” – but only
to those who God is calling. Because we don’t know who God is calling, then the
message of salvation must be preached from the churches. However we must also
understand that God is not calling everyone to personal salvation. This can be plainly
seen in Mark 4:10-12 (below) where Jesus directly says that He often spoke in parables
specifically to hide the message of salvation from those outside God’s Kingdom..

Romans 10:16-17 (NIV)

But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed our message?" 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message,
and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Mark 4:10-12 (NIV) – also Matthew 13:10-13 & Luke 8:9-10

0 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the
parables. 11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to
you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, "`they
may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never
understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"

The sovereign will of God

The Bible clearly states that nothing is impossible for God (Mathew 19:26, Mark 10:27,
Luke 1:37, Luke 18:27). If God was truly out to save all people in the world – then
there is nothing – nothing at all – that could prevent this from happening.

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The facts around us today, plus the facts of history clearly and conclusively
demonstrate that God never intended to “save” everybody in the sense of personal
salvation. This is specifically stated in Romans and Acts (below)

Romans 9:10-24 (NIV)

Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order
that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls-
she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I
loved, but Esau I hated." 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15
For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 It does not, therefore, depend on
man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh:
"I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and
that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18 Therefore God has mercy
on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his
will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say
to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?'" 21 Does not the potter
have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes
and some for common use?22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make
his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for
destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the
objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory- 24 even us, whom
he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Acts 13:47-48 (NIV)

47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "I have made you a light for the
Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." 48 When the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who
were appointed for eternal life believed.

Just looking around us today in the countries of the world, many millions of people
have never even heard of the God of the Bible – let alone read the Bible. Throughout
history probably billions of people have lived and died and never heard the message of
the Bible. Now it is quite possible, and even probable, that God has revealed himself to
individuals across history without these people having access to the Bible. However
this is not a wholesale revealing of Himself to the people in those areas and at those
times.

In my own personal experience in Africa and the Middle East I know that millions of
people today live in societies where the Bible is not permitted – literally on pain of
death. Babies are born and raised in a society that never hears the words of the Bible.
Even if they were exposed to the Bible, their religious and cultural background would
lead them to automatically reject the message of the Bible. Virtually all these people
die without ever hearing the message of the Bible. This is consistent with the words of
Romans 9:10-24 (above).

Who chooses – God or man

If we do a computer search through the Bible searching for the words “elect”, “chose”,
“choose” and “chosen” we find some interesting things.

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All the selected word definitions below are taken from the New King James Version
(NKJV) using Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with
Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International
Bible Translators, Inc.

Elect

OT:972 – Thirteen (13)matches for this word in the O.T. All of God referring to
those He selected or chose
bachiyr (baw-kheer'); from OT:977; select:
KJV-choose, chosen one, elect.

NT:1588 – Twenty three (23) matches for this word in the N.T. Twenty one
references are to the chosen Christians, one is to elect angels and one
refers to Jesus
klektos (ek-lek-tos'); from NT:1586; select; by implication, favorite:
KJV-chosen, elect

Chose (also translated as “chosen” & “choose”)

OT:977 – One hundred and fifty one (151) matches for this word in the O.T.. In
Some cases the word is used in the ordinary sense of people choosing
various things. However well over half of the cases involve God
choosing people, or less frequently, places e.g. Jerusalem
bachar (baw-khar'); a primitive root; properly, to try, i.e. (by implication) select:
KJV-acceptable, appoint, choose (choice), excellent, join, be rather, require.

NT:1586 – Twenty one (21) matches for this word in the N.T. In some cases people
are choosing things. However in quite a number of cases Jesus
specifically states that people don’t choose him – He chooses them.
These cases are shown and discussed below.
eklegomai (ek-leg'-om-ahee); middle voice from NT:1537 and NT:3004 (in its
primary sense); to select:
KJV-make choice, choose (out), chosen.

In the verse below Joshua is telling the people what God had done (Joshua 24:1-15) and
he ended by affirming that he and his house would serve the Lord. However this is just
an affirmation after God had already chosen him to lead the people of Israel into the
Promised Land after Moses died. (Deuteronomy 34:9 - Joshua 1:1-2)

Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)

15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the
other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as
for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Although King David’s name does not appear in Psalm 119, most scholars agree that he
wrote it. When David says that he has chosen God and his precepts it is only as an
affirmation after the fact that David had already been chosen by God. ( 1 Samuel 16:12-
13)

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Psalm 119:173-174 (NKJV)
173 Let Your hand become my help, For I have chosen Your precepts. 174 I long
for Your salvation, O LORD, And Your law is my delight.

Jesus goes much further and specifically states that people do not choose Him – rather
He chooses those who follow Him (5 scriptures below)

He goes even further in the last of the scriptures below (John 15:18-19) and He says
that “because you are not of the world” we are hated in the same way that He is hated
by the world (ref John 8:22-24 below and also John 18:36). The full implications of this
statement by Jesus are not clear. However it does seem to imply that the ones that God
calls, and Jesus chooses, appear to somehow have their citizenship in the Kingdom that
Jesus refers to in John 18:36 where “Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world.”
The implication appears to be that Christians are only travellers in this world and are
not citizens of this world as are most people as spoken by Jesus in John 15:19 below “If
you were of the world, the world would love its own.”

Mark 13:20 (NKJV)

And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the
elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

Luke 6:13 (NKJV)

And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose
twelve whom He also named apostles:

John 15:16-17 (NKJV)

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and
bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in
My name He may give you.

John 15:18-19 (NIV)

18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to
the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but
I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

John 8:22-24 (NIV)

This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, `Where I go, you
cannot come'?" 23 But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You
are of this world; I am not of this world.

The world around us and our own experiences show that none of us have an unfettered
free will. What we have is the “free will” to make a choice from the individual “menu”
of options that are presented to us at each decision point along the path of our lives.
The choices that we make then show who and what each person is.

The Biblical basis for this statement is in the book of Job. In the scripture passage
below we have God saying to Satan that Job is an example of a person who does the
right thing because that is his nature – and we have Satan saying that he only does the
right thing because God protects him. In the following forty two chapters we see that
through all the trials and tribulations that Job suffered as a result of this discussion
between God and Satan, Job never really lost sight of his faith in God. He showed what
he was by nature in the choices that he made in his replies to his counsellors.

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It must be noted that Job had the free will to only select his answers from the “menu
choices” of saying “God is bad” – or “God is trustworthy” – and he chose “God is
trustworthy” However it must be emphasised that he did not have the free will to
avoid the situations that God allowed Satan to bring on him for the purpose of
demonstrating that God’s description of Job was correct.

Job 1:6-12 (NIV)

One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also
came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan
answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in
it." 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There
is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God
and shuns evil." 9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you
not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have
blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout
the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will
surely curse you to your face." 12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then,
everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

This is the Biblical image of the concept of free will. We demonstrate who and what we
are by the choices that we make. These choices are a natural part of our nature – either
“good” or “bad.” They are not the result of someone else’s words or actions that
“convert us” to a new way of thinking.

Nowhere is this more decisively shown than in what the Bible says about who can be a
priest – which is what all Christians are described as. This question will be explored in
a later chapter.

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The Genesis account of the creation of mankind

Or
Just what does the Bible say about Adam and Eve and how does
this change our perceptions of some of the great questions
in the Bible

Many Christians that I have spoken with over many years have difficulty in answering
non-believers questions on a large number of the more difficult questions that the Bible
poses. This chapter explores some of those topics and hopefully will give others more
confidence in answering the Bible’s critics.

Adam and Eve and the Doctrine of Man

When God implanted the “spirit of man” into the naturally formed body of man in
Genesis 1:26-27 you had a transformation from the “human animal” body of “Adam”
that had a limited animal type of intelligence into the creative human being of
mankind. This has its counterpart concept in the NT where the Spirit of God comes to
live in the bodies of believers (Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16) as an act of
regeneration. In Genesis we first see the “spirit of man” take up its abode in the body
of man – then in the NT we see God regenerate Christian mankind by joining him in
the body of humans.

The wording of Genesis 2:7 clearly states that the original creation of man was a
two-part process. First came the forming of the body from the naturally occurring
chemical elements that make up any living body – then the special act of human
creation, namely the fusing of the “spirit of man” into the body of man occurred at
Genesis 1,:26-27

Genesis 2:7 (NIV)

(Genesis 1:1- 25) the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground (i.e.
the chemical elements) and (Genesis 1:26-27) breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and the man became a living being.

In the NT we then see a third phase in the life of mankind where The Spirit of God
joins the spirit of man in the natural body of believing mankind. In some sense this
mirrors the Triune nature of God in the natural world which is spoken about in Romans
1:19-20. This is the concept that is covered in the earlier chapter called the Doctrine of
Man.

It’s not our bodies that separate us from the animals. We have a natural body just like
any other animal and that comes into existence the same as say, a horse, or a
chimpanzee does. It has the same organs, nutritional needs and excretory functions as
any other animal body does. It has much the same DNA genetic makeup as any other
animal body. It suffers the same sorts of diseases and it dies just like any other animal
body. Where we differ is that mankind is a spirit being that is fused into a natural –
but mortal – body. This is the definition of a human being according to the Bible

The difference between humans and animals becomes very clear at the moment of
death. The Bible states, and the experience of those who die and return, makes very
clear, that at death the soul and spirit of the person leaves the body. Or as Paul
describes it, the person leaves the “tent” (2 Corinthians 5:1-4 and 2 Peter 1:13-14) and

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takes on their eternal form in the presence of God. With animals, they die and are no
more!

The appearance of Eve

In the Genesis 1:26-27 description of the creation of man, the Biblical account clearly
appears to speak of only a single literal Adam and Eve. This would come about
because God appears to have only implanted the “spirit of man” into one only (Adam)
of the humanoids that apparently were on the on the earth at that time. It would appear
that Eve was made later as shown below

Genesis 2:20-22 (NIV)

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to
fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs
(OT:6763) and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a
woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The word that is translated as ”rib”

(OT:6763 – “tsela”) literally means
“curved” (see Strong’s Numbers below).
Bear in mind that when the original text
was written and later when the translations
were done into English the idea of DNA
had not even been conceived in the mind
of man. If you were the translator, “a rib”
may have been the natural choice for an
internal part of the body that was “curved”
Today of course we know that the genetic
material that controls the formation and
shape of all life is DNA and that the
characteristic of DNA that sticks in
everybody’s mind is that it is shaped as a
double helix – e.g. it is curved as shown
in the schematic picture of DNA on the
right hand side

It would appear that Genesis 2:20-22 actually describes God using some of the DNA
from Adam’s body to create Eve’s body by a process that we can speculate about, but
not prove at this time.

OT:6763 tsela` (tsay-law'); or (feminine) tsal` ah (tsal-aw'); from OT:6760; a rib

(as curved), literally (of the body) or figuratively (of a door, i.e. leaf); hence, a side,
literally (of a person) or figuratively (of an object or the sky, i.e. quarter);
architecturally, a (especially floor or ceiling) timber or plank (single or collective,
i.e. a flooring):

KJV-beam, board, chamber, corner, leaf, plank, rib, side (chamber).

The Doctrine of Man and the question of Cain’s wife

Consider the appearance of Adam’s “human animal” body just prior to Genesis
1:26-27 and then again immediately after God’s special act of creation where he fused

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the “spirit of man” into Adam’s body and Adam became a human being. It was – in
Paul’s words ((2 Corinthians 5:1-4 and 2 Peter 1:13-14) – simply the “spirit of man”
entering the “tent” (e.g. the natural body). You would not notice any outward
difference in the body (“tent”). But what you would immediately notice is that the
“body” now has a very considerably greater intellectual capacity than immediately
prior to the person “entering the tent’. This has come about because of the nature of the
“spirit being” (e.g. the person) who now lives in the body (the tent)

Even though Adam – and later Eve – had a much greater intellectual capacity than the
humanoid animals that lived in the Stone Age, they did not have much in the way of
actual knowledge at that time. The end result of that would be that although they would
have been clearly intellectually superior to the humanoid animals around them when
you spoke to them – they would not, at least in the early stages, have been that much
more knowledgeable than those around them. The difference between a real human
and a humanoid animal at that time would be similar to the difference between an
intelligent, but totally uneducated and illiterate person and a chimpanzee. The person is
obviously much smarter and can reason and rapidly learn – but really does not know
too much more than the chimpanzee at that point in time.

Now take Cain, as he was cast out after he killed Able and went to the Land of Nod to
the east of Eden. There he took a wife. Where did the woman come from? Well clearly,
she was part of the very large population of “humanoid animals” on the earth at that
time. While intellectually she would no doubt not have been Cain’s first choice, at the
physical appearance level she was no doubt “acceptable” given his circumstances.

Now we return to the account of when God made Eve. God took a part of Adam to
create Eve. This was almost certainly some of his genetic material. Using that
“material” from Cain, God made an equal intellectual partner for Adam – namely,
Eve.

Given that the account in Genesis appears to indicate that God only imbued those
people with a human “spirit” who carried the genetic makeup directly from Adam
himself, then it seems likely that the same conditions applied with Cain as well. In this
situation, Enoch, who was Cain and his wife’s first child, would have likewise inherited
Cain’s true human attributes as a result of Cain’s genetic seed.

Over time as more true humans – as opposed to humanoid animals increased on the
earth there would have been a natural selection process that would have favoured the
real humans. They were more intelligent, hence they would be better adapted to the
environment. The other real selection pressure would have been sexual. Given a choice,
people will always select those who are closest to them. Higher intelligence would very
rapidly lead to differences in knowledge, physical grooming and appearance, hygiene
and lifestyle. Very few people would willingly choose a partner that had the IQ and
habits of a chimpanzee if there was an alternative. This alone would ensure that the old
humanoid animal section of Homo sapiens would rapidly die out.

The question of how Jesus can be both fully God and fully man

Many people have great difficulty in understanding how Jesus was (and is) both fully
God – but at the same time, fully man.

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The answer lies in the question of what it means to be a member of mankind. In other
words, we are talking about the definition of a human being. (The Doctrine of Man)
This definition is simply that a human being is a compound being that is composed of
a “spirit being” (the actual person who will leave the body at death and then live on
eternally) that God has somehow fused into the natural human body.

This is what it means that Jesus is fully man. Jesus the man is composed of the Spirit
Being of Jesus that was fused into a natural body that was exactly the same as every
other human body. By Jesus living in that body he experienced exactly the same things
that every other human that ever lived has. His body showed that it was a natural body
when he was crucified. He bled, He thirsted – then He died. He rose again three days
later – but in a different transformed eternal body that could appear in closed rooms and
with many other attributes of which we as yet don’t understand.

He was also fully God as the Spirit that inhabited the natural body of the “man
Jesus” was none other than the WORD – God himself (Mathew 1:23 and John 1:1).
This is exactly the same as saying that we are fully human because we are a spirit
being that lives in a “natural body”. But we are human spirits – not the Spirit of God
as was Jesus. Although we are “made in God’s image” and have certain attributes of
God, (consciousness, creativity etc.) we are not the same as God.

There are great mysteries about how God fuses a human spirit into a natural body, and
there are huge unfathomable mysteries about who God is. However there is no mystery
about how the man Jesus was – and now is – both fully God and fully human. The man
Jesus was simply the Spirit – the WORD of God Himself – who was fused into the
natural body of the man Jesus.

Matthew 1:22-23 (NIV)

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him
Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."

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END
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