LESSON 14

The Mortality of Man

"On the one hand, we have that which is divine, immortal, indestructible, of a simple form, accessible to thought, ever constant and abiding true to itself; and the soul is very like it. On the other hand, we have that which is human, mortal, destructible, of many forms, inaccessible to thought, never constant nor aiding true to itself and the body is very like that."   From "Phaedo" by Plato.

"For to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more portion forever in anything that is done under the sun."  From "Ecclesiastes," by The Preacher, the Son of David.

"If a man die, shall he live again?"  From the Book of Job.

Yahweh Holds Class

   From the moment man first gained consciousness, he must have wondered: "Who or what am I? Will I continue to exist, and will I continue to perceive the world around me forever?" Surely the great Creator Elohim (a Hebrew title for the Supreme Being who created and sustains all things), who formed man out of the dust of the ground, must have, from the beginning, given the first man, Adam, answers to these most fundamental questions.

   The Scriptures tell of Elohim playing a kind of teaching game with Adam, bringing before him creatures He had created, and having Adam name them (Genesis 2:19). In Hebrew, as in many ancient languages and cultures, a name is not just a term used to identify an object or person; names are often given to express the known (or  hoped for) intrinsic nature of the person or object so named. Thus, the name of the self-existent creator being, Yahweh, means in Hebrew, "I exist [continuously]" (see Strong's Concordance Hebrew/Chaldee dictionary definition for the word 3068, misinterpreted there as "Jehovah"). The name of the redeemer He sent into the world to rescue His creation from sin--Yahshua--means "the salvation of Yahweh." (See Strong's Greek definition for 3091, misinterpreted there as "Jesus," and Strong's Hebrew/Chaldee dictionary definition for the words 3068 and 3467, there translated with the pronunciation "Yehowshua.")

   By saying that Adam named the creatures that Yahweh paraded before him, the Scriptures are implying that Yahweh had also taught Adam about these creatures; that He had given Adam lessons in what we now call the science of zoology. Additionally, Adam and the first woman, Hawah (Hebrew for "Eve"), were told by Yahweh, "Of the tree in the midst of the garden you shall not eat" (Genesis 2:16-17). In order to differentiate one plant from another in the garden, Yahweh must have also taught the first man and his wife about the various characteristics that identify one plant from another.  He must have given Adam and “Hawah” some sort of lesson in biology and botany. Reasonably then, we may assume that the great, loving creator, Elohim, must have also given the man and his wife some knowledge of His and their own nature--who and what He was, and who and what they were. As the name “Yahweh” expresses His intrinsic, eternal nature, so the name of the first man, Adam, expresses his intrinsic earthly nature. In Hebrew, the name Adam means "red" or "ruddy," a description of his complexion, as well as the rust-red clay from which he had been formed. (See Strong's Hebrew/Chaldee dictionary definition for 120 and 127, both from 119, "Adam"). Similarly, the name of Adam's wife, “Hawah,” defines her future role as the "mother of all living." (See Strong's Hebrew/Chaldee dictionary definition for 2332, "Eve").  

   So then, as it was necessary for Yahweh to personally teach the first couple about the world around them, so it was even more necessary for Him to teach them and us about our nature, about who and what we are, and what we may become.

   Adam, with the guidance of Elohim, was able to discover the world around him, naming all the living creatures brought before him.  But when it came to his own spiritual nature, that knowledge is entirely spiritually perceived (only understood by the inspiration of the creator, Yahweh), as the Apostle Paul made clear in 1 Corinthians 2:7-16 when he wrote:

   But we speak wisdom among the perfect, but not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, those being brought to nothing ... For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of a man within him? So also no one has known the things of Yahweh except the Spirit of Yahweh. But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from Yahweh, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by Yahweh, which things we also speak, not in words taught in human wisdom, but in [words] taught of the set-apart Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual [things]. But a natural man does not receive the things of [the] Spirit of Yahweh, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual one discerns all things, but he is discerned by no one. For "who has known [the] mind of Yahweh?" "Who will teach Him?" [Isaiah40:13] But we have [the] mind of the Messiah.

   Therefore spiritual knowledge, including the knowledge of any spirit element of our intrinsic human composition must even more surely be revealed to us by the great creator Elohim who formed our progenitor, Adam, "out of the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7), and gave him the breath of life.

 Yahweh's Facts vs. Satan's Opinions

   So what does Yahweh tell us about man's intrinsic nature after the sin of our first parents? (See Genesis, chapter 3) He told them that in the day they eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would "surely die" (Genesis 2:17). He told them that they were taken out of the dust, the mud, the dirt, and that because of their sin they were now destined to return to that very same dirt (Genesis 3:19). The contrary claim, however, was expressed by the serpent, Satan (See Revelation 12:9 and 20:2), who Scriptures describe as a "liar, and the father of it [lying]" (John 8:44). This spirit being, who is also described in Scriptures as the one who "deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9) told Hawah (Eve) that if she disobeyed Yahweh, if she sinned by disobeying her creator, she would "not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). Thus the two contradictory concepts about the nature of man were first expressed:

Adam and Eve Banned From the Garden

1. That they were a mortal part of the natural creation, as stated by the creator of man, the origin and source of all life, and
    

2. That they were not subject to death, that they were of the same spirit substance as their creator ("but you shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5), able to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. Since that time these two contradictory descriptions of man's intrinsic nature have battled each other in man's philosophy, theology, and religions. The first fact, man's natural mortality, points immediately to the creator Elohim who is greater than man, who is alone to be worshipped (Exodus 34:14; Matthew 4:10), and "who alone has immortality" (1 Timothy 6:16). It is a humbling fact that requires man to rely in faith on his creator for truth, and for the continuance of his existence. The opinion of the liar, however, appeals to man's pride--it suggests that man has no need of an external sustainer of his life, and by implication, has no need of a creator or a savior. What continues forever, what does not die, surely always was, as the great pagan Greek philosophers clearly rationalized.

   Read in Plato's dialogue, "Phaedo" (written before 347 BC!), where Plato records the discussions of his mentor, Socrates on the day of his execution. In it, Socrates is shown by Plato to express his belief in the continuance of life after death and in reincarnation, based on his philosophical arguments "proving" the pre-existence of human "souls". Socrates (S) is quoted as reasoning the following with his student, Cebes (C) while in his prison cell:

S: "Then suppose that you analyze life and death to me in the same manner. Is not death opposed to life?
C: Yes.

S: And they are generated one from the other?
C: Yes.

S: What is generated from the living?
C: The dead.

S: And what from the dead?
C: I can only say in answer--the living.

S: Then the living, whether things or persons, Cebes, are generated from the dead?
C: That is clear, he replied.

S: Then the inference is that our souls exist in the world below?
C: That is true.

S: And one of the two processes or generations is visible--for surely the act of dying is visible?
C: Surely, he said.

S: What then is to be the result? Shall we exclude the opposite process? And shall we suppose nature to walk on one leg only? Must we not rather assign to death some corresponding process of generation?
C: Certainly, he replied.

S: And what is that process?
C: Return to life.

S: And return to life, if there be such a thing, is the birth of the dead into the world of the living?
C: Quite true."

        -From Phaedo, The Dialogues of Plato, Washington Square Press edition.

   It was from these Greek philosophers that much of what is understood about the nature of man and the "immortal soul" has infused itself into our western culture and its religions. The Scriptures say that Satan, the "elohim of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), is filled with pride (Ezekiel 28:4, 17), and that his pride was his downfall (Proverbs 16:18; Luke 10:18). Man, the Scriptures tell us, follows after his mighty one, "the elohim of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), with "no good thing" (Psalms 14:3, Romans 3:10-12) in him, a follower in the pride of the counterfeit "father" he has chosen (John 8:44). Is it any wonder which of the two concepts about the intrinsic nature of man has been the most popular down through history?

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