Re: The breath of life and the Spirit of God

Bill Hamilton (hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com)
Tue, 20 Jun 1995 09:08:20 -0500

Steve Jones writes, quoting me:
>BH>I believe context is significant. The opening chapters of Genesis
>>explicltly [mention] breathing the breath of life into man when man was
>>created. No such mention is made with animals. Not until much later, in
>>the flood account, is it even mentioned that animals have the breath of
>>life. I think that's significant.
>
>Sorry. But in Gen 1:30 (ie. before 2:7) it says:
>
>Gn 1:30 "And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the
>air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has
>the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>was so."

I looked up Gen 1:30 in NASB and it essentialy uses "life" where your
version (what version are you using BTW?) uses "breath of life". Thanks
for pointing that out. Still, it does not say that _God_ _breathed_ the
breath of life into the creatures, and the subject isn't even the creation
of any creature. It's simply a statement that all the plant life is
available to them for food. Thus the "life" or "breath of life" is
incidental and I'm not convinced it has any significance beyond the simple
assertion that the creatures are living. The crucial difference as I see
it is that right where it discusses creating man in Gen 2:7 it says _God_
_breathed_ the breath(or Spirit) of life into him. Now look at all the
other _actual_ _creation_ passages: 1:11,12, 1:20-22, 1:24,25. Not once
does it mention breathing the breath of life into them. 1:26-28 covers the
creation of man and the cultural mandate, but does not yet mention the
breath of life. However it makes clear that only man of all the creatures
is made in the image of God. In chapter 2 more detail is given about the
creation of man: that God breathed the breath(spirit) of life into his
nostrils and the man became a living being. _That elaboration is not given
for any other crature_. 1:26-28 has already told us that man is unique in
being made in the image of God, and it seems to me 2:7 should be read as an
elaboration on what that uniqueness implies -- that he has a spiritual
dimension not shared by the animals.
Bill Hamilton | Vehicle Systems Research
GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX)