LivingBodyEternalSoulPerson

Common Sense Commentary: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...." Gen.1:26.

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground (body) and breathed (spirit) into his nostrils (body) the breath of life (spirit); and man became a living soul."  (Soul is Heb. wd. nephesh). Gen.2:7.

Humanity began as a lifeless, clay, man doll created in the "image" (physical man) of his Creator. This word, "image" is the Heb. word "Tselem" and means "formed image".  It speaks of a physical image of a yet higher reality's "appearance"... (God).

Then the Creator "breathed" into the physical doll-like image's nostrils "the breath of life". The Heb. word "breath", here, is "neshamah" and means to "inspire" (breathe in a spirit). It speaks of the spiritual ... spirit, mind, breath of God, or LIFE. This breath of life, then, is in the "likeness" of God. The brain is a fleshly part of the body, not the mind; it contains the mind as the body contains the spirit and life. When the body dies, it is the spirit life which departs and leaves the body in it's original state ... dust to dust.

At the moment God breathed life into man, at that instant, the clay, man doll-like image "became a living soul" (Heb. Nephesh). This Heb. word translated "soul", here, is translated 33 different, but all related, English words.  I won't list them all, but if they could all be programed into a divine, heavenly  computer and homogenized into a single word, it would surely be something like, "Livingbodyeternalsoulperson". 

The limitations of physical, human understanding and language, spoken by fleshly tongues, make it humanly impossible to speak God's divine thoughts and words, or hear them, in an exact human counterpart or translation, except in a kindergarten level, version which is truly inspired, nevertheless: And, is perfect in it's divine origin and eternal in it's truths, but geared to human understanding, only as empowered by the Holy Spirit. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God...." 2 Tim.3:16.  The Scriptures are not Christ, who is the "Living Word" of God (Jn.1) but, they are, as a portrait of Christ, the written word or God. The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential in understanding God's written word, the Bible. "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth...." Jn.16:13.

The mind of man can neither capture nor fully comprehend the eternal glory (power, knowledge, presence and holiness) of our God. He empowers us to understand all we need to know to be saved, to worship Him, to lead others to him and to function as a human being. RB