Broadlands Bible Church
November 16, 2022
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Thesis: The thesis that God's words are for man as he is a creature of eternity with a body of dust, a functional capacity imparted by a "life giving spirit", and a new identity as "a living soul" is established by the multitude of contexts which follow the pattern of "body, spirit, soul" (not necessarily in that order) throughout God's progressive revelation in the recording of this extensive pattern over the 1600 years (+/-) through verbal and written words.
Introduction: In our studies to date we have dived into the details that give us a description of man as God created him, because our interpretation of His words absolutely depend upon our understanding of the "setting" into which the words fell.
Last week we briefly considered Paul's words in Galatians 3:11 where Paul gave us the inspired interpretation of the method of justification by God of men: by faith in the Promise. That method was perverted early in the history of Israel into another method: the keeping of the Law. That perversion was made the foundation of God's relationship with man and endured until the preaching of John the Baptizer.
I used that illustration for the purpose of establishing the need we have to properly understand the words of God for the purpose for which He gave them.
Therefore, I have been trying to make the case in these studies that God's words were given in view of the way He created us. This includes the "body", the "spirit" and the "soul". For man, this is the issue and the answers put forth govern how the individual words of God's Word are to be taken by him. What this means is this: if one's "perspective" of God's purpose for the existence of our Bible is governed by the concept "righteousness" by means of man's obedience to God's commands, all of the words will be bent to serve that thesis. Alternatively, if one's "perspective" of God's purpose for the existence of our Bible is governed by the concept of "righteousness" by means of God's promise to "impute" righteousness to those who "receive" and "believe" this promise, all of the words will be bent to serve that thesis.
My desire for our study this evening is for us to be able to see just how important it is for our right understanding of God's words to us to be believed within the context of "Promise"/"Faith". I began this effort last week by looking into the original temptation of Man by the devil, but we did not get very far. Thus, this evening I will attempt to further our understanding by attempting to unveil the issues in that record of the temptation.
- I. Genesis 3.
- A. This is the record of the devil's attack upon man in order to get man to abandon God's "words to be believed" in favor of "faith in the Great Lie".
- B. This record is given in terms of the way man was created.
- 1. He was created a physical being of dust that would need a constant supply of sustaining food and drink lest he die.
- 2. He was created a functional being of spirit that would provide him the supply of energy that would enable him to take action lest he be led astray.
- 3. He was created a living soul that was his crucial identity as a creation that "lived" by a regular participation in the "fellowship" that God provided by His presence with him.
- a. It is at this point that, from my perspective, understanding of man as a "living soul" went off the rails.
- 1) It is not difficult to understand Genesis 3:6 in terms of the "body" (all of the trees bore fruit that were designed to maintain the "body" in its needs as a created entity needing constant input).
- 2) It is not difficult to understand Genesis 3:6 in terms of the "spirit", given "faith in the lie" (it is the actions of the "spirit" that set all things in motion under the law of cause and effect so that IF God is not to be trusted, those actions must have a source of "wisdom" for self-protection).
- 3) The difficulty of understanding arose in Genesis 3:6 in the statement that the tree (and its fruit) was "a delight to the eyes".
- b. Since "the eyes" are a part of the "nephesh" of the body, the question arises as to what the "eyes" fed into the "nephesh" that generated the sense of "delight".
- 1) The word translated "delight" is used by Moses in only two texts [Genesis 3:6 and Numbers 11:4] and the second of these gives us a significant insight into the meaning: it signals a strong desire for something God had not intended because what God had intended was both "good" and "adequate".
- a) In the context of Numbers 11:4, the "problem" was the discontent of the people with God's provision and a strong indication from God of His anger with them.
- b) But the indication of God's anger did not dissuade them, but, rather, inflamed them (this indicates the people's attitude once God had become "disciplinary" and seemed to be as the devil had originally declared in Genesis 3).
- c) Thus, the data stream into Eve's "eyes" that fed into her as "nephesh" was not so much a "delight" as it was "a potent desire for something forbidden".
- 2) This word, "mistranslated" as "delight" is used in 19 verses of the Old Testament and was only translated "delight" one time; but sixteen of the uses are translated in terms of "desire".
- 3) Thus, we must answer the question: what created the "desire for the forbidden" in Eve?
- a) And, again, we must fall back upon the devil's approach in his temptation of Eve: to introduce the "God lied so He is not as good as you think He is" thesis.
- b) This Great Lie, thus, leads into the thought that God had forbidden the eating of the fruit of this tree because it would help Eve to see how and why He was being deceitful and evil.
- c) My conclusion is this: the "nephesh" is "at risk" if God is not good, so the "nephesh" must be concerned for damage that may come to it.
- d) Thus, the eyes are to be instruments for "seeing" what is coming and giving help in deciding whether what is seen is going to be "good", or "hurtful".
- 4) Thus, I conclude that the "nephesh" is most fundamentally concerned (in its fallen state) with issues of security.
