Lesson 5
Back to A Self Study Course for your Bible
GENESIS 2
Verse Seven [Gen. 2:7]. "God formed." The word "formed" occurs nowhere else in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). This verse teaches the true constitution of man. Man has a body which was formed from the dust of the ground, and man has a soul which God gave to him. Thus, man's soul is a substance distinct from his body. There are, therefore, TWO essential elements in the constitution of man. Let the student examine Ecclesiastes 12:7 where he will see that the word "spirit" is used as a synonym for the word "soul." Examine also Daniel 7:15, Isaiah 10:18, Matthew 6:25, and Matthew 10:28. It is incorrect to say that man has a soul, spirit, and body, and that for the following reasons:
Genesis 2:7 mentions only the creation of the body and soul.
The words "spirit" and "soul" are used -throughout the Bible to designate different aspects of the immaterial portion of man's personality, and they are used both of men and of animals.
I Thessalonians 5:23 appears to be an exception. However, this verse does not teach that man has a soul, spirit, and body. It is used merely to describe the whole of man, Paul might have said "your being and soul and body." Luke 10:27 is similar in that it also refers to the whole being of man. The same is true of Hebrews 4:12 where the different words used are merely to present different aspects of the soul and body. The uniform teaching and assumption of the Scripture is that man has only a SOUL and a BODY.
Verses Eight to Fourteen [Gen. 2:8-14]. These verses describe the garden which God prepared for man. The tree of life represents or symbolizes life in its very highest and greatest power. We have no means of knowing what kind of tree it was. As Ezekiel 28:13 says, Eden is the garden of God. It belongs to God, and in it God receives man into fellowship with Himself. Primarily, then, the Garden was God's. Secondarily, it was a dwelling or abode for man which God had permitted man to enjoy and' in which God received man into fellowship with Himself.
The tree of the knowing of good and evil was also in the midst of the garden. The name of this tree is not evil, nor is the tree in itself able to give the knowledge of good and evil (i.e., of good as opposed to evil or of evil as opposed to good). As man was created by God, he probably did not know good as distinguished from evil nor evil as distinguished from good, but only God's will. It was the act of disobeying God which gave to Adam a knowledge of good and evil that he did not possess before.
Verses Fifteen to Twenty-five [Gen. 2:15-25]. Man is put into the garden to dress it and to keep it. This implies that man is to work the garden to the utmost, to develop it in every way that it might redound to the glory of the Creator. We are not to think of Eden as a modern garden, nor as a fenced-in enclosure. Doubtless it was merely open country, and all its resources and possibilities were for the benefit of man. Thus, we see that genuine labor is a part of God's will for man.
Man is responsible for the condition of the garden,
God's Command. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was appointed by God as an instrument to lead man by means of probation into a state of religious and moral maturity wherein he would be most highly and completely blessed. If man abstains from partaking of the tree, his period of testing will cause him to grow, just as periods of testing cause us to grow in our Christian life. And as we grow by testing, we receive higher and higher blessing. So it was with Adam. God put this tree in the garden for a testing, and this testing was designed by God for man's benefit and growth.
Note the phrase "in the day that thou eatest thereof." This does not necessarily mean a day of twenty-four hours. Perhaps this phrase is merely equivalent to "when." "When thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die." The result of disobedience then is death. It is not the fruit of the tree that imparts the knowledge of good as distinguished from evil or of evil as distinguished from good, but it is the act of disobeying God that imparts this knowledge.
EXERCISES
1.What two essential elements constitute man? Give reasons for your answer and corroborate it with Scripture proof.
2.Are there three different elements to man's nature? What does I Thessalonians 5:23 mean? Study the notes carefully before answering this question.
3.What does the tree of life symbolize?
4.To Whom does the garden of Eden belong?
5.As man was created, did he know good in distinction from evil?
6.Was the tree (of the knowledge of good and evil) evil in itself, or able in itself to give the knowledge of good and evil? What was able to give this knowledge?
7.Why was man put into the garden?
8.What are the names of the four heads of the rivers in the garden?
9.According to Genesis 2:18 why did God make a helpmeet for man?
10.Who named the living creatures which God created?
11.How did God create woman?
12.Does the New Testament corroborate the account of the creation of woman? Cf. Matthew 19:4, 5; I Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31.
13.What was the original state of man and woman? Cf. Genesis 2:35 [??? Gen. 2:25].
OPTIONAL EXERCISES
Commit to memory Genesis 2:15-25.
HYMNS FOR STUDY
No. 1: "Praise To The Lord, The Almighty."
No. 19: "Thee We Adore, Eternal Lord."