Sunday, May 8, 2016

RENEWING THE MIND – XXIII (What is Man? - 3)

WBS.160
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP

RENEWING THE MIND – XXIII

WHAT IS MAN? - 3

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.

Man is NOT a spirit.  Man is an image (body) with a likeness (soul) that is sustained by a spirit that is given by IAUE.  

After creating His man, IAUE gave specific instructions regarding his use of the garden of Eden. 

Genesis 2:15 And IAUE Elohim took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And IAUE Elohim commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

After giving Adam His duty (dress the garden and keep it), his privilege (you may eat freely of every tree) and his limitation (you may not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), IAUE brought a deep sleep upon Adam, removed a rib from his side and fashioned from it his mate. It is both interesting and important to note that the one thing IAUE said about his man and woman after they were created was:

Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Then in Genesis 3, we are told that the serpent beguiled the woman; and she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; then she gave to Adam who was beside her, and he ate as well.  The next thing we are told about them was:

Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

They had become “self-aware.” For the first time in their lives, they became aware of their appearance in a way that mattered to them. Why is this?  How did this happen?  Until this moment, they had only cared about their fellowship with IAUE and mutually enjoying the garden He had entrusted to them; but now they were concerned about “their” image; not the image of IAUE.

IAUE had said that in the day Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die.  Adam lived more than 800 years beyond that day, dying at the age of 930; so what died that day?  Most theologians would tell you that his spirit died; but a spirit cannot die in the sense of being terminated.  The Scripture says that when a man dies, whether he is a believer or an unbeliever, the spirit returns to IAUE who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). 

“Spiritual death” is often defined as “separation from IAUE.”  Let’s examine this concept from the perspective of an event that occurred in the ministry of Yahushua (Mark 11:12-21).  Yahushua approached a fig tree with leaves hoping to find some fig to eat; but there were no figs, so he spoke to the fig tree and said no man would ever eat figs from it again.  The following day, Peter observed the same fig tree having withered because it had died from the roots.  The roots, immediately upon the words of Yahushua, had ceased taking in nourishment and water from the soil.  The part of the fig tree that was responsible for receiving and transmitting what the tree needed both to sustain life and to grow and bear fruit was no longer capable of performing that function; and, in time, the body of the tree withered and died.  In like manner, when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the spirit within him was cut off from the provision of the life and light of IAUE.  In a very real sense, the light was turned off because the spirit no longer had access to the light of IAUE.  The “nature” of Adam, his life force, had been light, providing access to and fellowship with IAUE; but now, he was cut off from the source; and all that remained within his spirit was darkness.

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true Elohim, and Yahushua Messiah, whom thou hast sent.

The fig tree took 24 hours to die physically once it was severed from the source of its nourishment.  Adam’s body took over 800 years to die after being cut off from its source. The different between the two was Adam’s soul had only known life all of the years prior to his act of disobedience.  His mind was trained by IAUE to think like IAUE.  “Life” was still the manner in which he thought.  It took centuries of darkness within Adam for the idea of “death” to find root enough in him to force the aging and withering of his body.  Even though cut off from the light of IAUE, there was enough in the memories of Adam of the ways of IAUE, and enough desire to continue to walk in His ways, that physical death was abated for a very long time.

Solomon tells us that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25); but Solomon wrote that 3,000 years after the fall of Adam in the garden.  It took generations after Adam’s fall for man to forfeit completely the thoughts of IAUE in favor of the ways of the world, the ways of death; and the lifespans of man began to rapidly diminish as death worked in him to kill his body. 

Let’s consider in more detail this proverb of Solomon; because it unfolds an important truth in our current study.  There is a way that “seems right to a man.”  To what faculty of man does this refer?  Does the spirit contemplate ideas that are ways of death?  No.  The spirit is simply the breath of IAUE that animates man.  That breath is not characterized by having ideas, preferences or the ability to make choices or to evaluate options. Does the body of man contemplate ideas that are ways of death?  No. The body of man does not have ideas, preferences, or the ability to make choices or to evaluate options.  The body simply has needs which the soul of man recognizes and decides how to meet. It is the soul of man (his mind, will and emotions) that thinks, evaluates and makes choices. 

Death seized the reins of man’s soul.  How did this happen?  It happened as a consequence of the “nutrients and water” of IAUE no longer being able to be absorbed by the spirit within man.  If we compare this to our illustration of the fig tree, it really is the soul of man that was the object of death in the garden of Eden.  We have always focused on the spirit as that which died; but the spirit within man was not the only thing that was separated from IAUE in that very instant of disobedience. Man’s soul was instantly separated from IAUE; and that is why we see the very first comment regarding man after the fall was an expression of the fallen soul of man.  He knew he was naked; and he was ashamed.  This self-awareness was the first manifestation of the death of man.

Genesis 2:7  And IAUE Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The roots of the fig tree were cut off from the source of life.  The roots, like the spirit in man, were simply the avenue through which life flowed into the fig tree.  The flow of life being stopped resulted in the death of the tree.  It just took man much longer than the fig tree to die.  Without the flow of life from the spirit to man’s soul, the soul was lost, having no immediate or ongoing direction. It was alienated from IAUE.  The longer man was separated from IAUE, the more corrupt his thinking became, as the memories of IAUE and the stories of IAUE became more and more like myths or fairy tales to a humanity that had no personal input of the reality of such things.

Remember, when IAUE created man, He made man “in His image” and “after His likeness.”  We have already discussed the difference in these terms.  His image is IAUE’s appearance…what He looks like.  His “likeness” is his nature, His character.  Man was made to look like IAUE and to become like Him in His nature.  After the fall we see a different thing happening with regards to this nature in man’s creation.

Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that Elohim created man, in the likeness of Elohim made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:

After the fall, Adam was not able to pass to the succeeding generation the image and likeness of IAUE.  It had become corrupted, severed from the source.  He passed down his own image and likeness.  In the fall, Adam lost some aspect of the physical appearance of IAUE.  Most scholars speculate it was a cloud of glory that covered his body…hence impeding his awareness of his own nakedness.  The light of IAUE clothed their bodies. (There is no way of expressing with any certainty what was forfeited; but this is a reasonable speculation.) What can be declared with certainty is the reason for the forfeiture of the likeness of IAUE.  Having been cut off from the light of IAUE, it would have been impossible for man to continue to mature and grow in the character and nature of IAUE having no access to it to learn from it.  The soul of man had lost its way, and there was no avenue for restoration available.

Next week we will discuss the impact of redemption upon the spirit, soul and body of man.


Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance of the will of IAUE.



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