Moses, in Genesis 2:7 gives the following account of the creation of man:

"Then Yehovah Elohim formed Adam of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the spirit of lives; and Adam became a living soul."¹⁷⁴

In this verse Moses tells us how God created Man: First, He formed man’s body from the dust of the earth. Second, God breathed into man not just life but the spirit of lives. The noun is plural lives⁷² not life.⁷³ When man’s living spirit combined with the body, the body came to life and a self-conscious living soul was created. Thus, man has three kinds of life: a living spirit, a living soul and a living physical body.

Man’s Spirit ^{75, 76} is the means by which he has God-consciousness and is able to communicate with and have relationship with God. It is also the means by which man receives God’s will and plan for his life. Finally, it is the vehicle through which spiritual gifts are given and manifested. (1 Cor 2:10-15)

Man’s Soul ^{74, 77} is the means by which he has self-consciousness and is what man becomes and manifests through his physical body in personality, vocation, and life style as a result of heart response to, one, what he has learned through his mind, body, conscience, and emotions; two, through what he has received from God through his human spirit; and three, as a result of those abilities and talents God has chosen to give him individually.¹⁵⁹ This is the reason for the resurrection: so man can continue to give expression of his soul-life through his body. In hell one continues to have self-consciousness, but opportunity to give expression of that soul-life is forever ceased which is what is meant by the destruction of the soul: no means to develop or give expression of the soul-life.

Man’s Body ^{78, 79} is the means by which he has world-consciousness and is the means by which he relates to and communicates with the physical world through his five senses. Second, it is the means through which his soul carries out Jesus’ love and plan for his life outlined in the Bible and revealed by the Holy Spirit through his human spirit.

Jesse Penn-Lewis, in her book Soul & Spirit, says the following about the constitution of man:

"Tertullian, one of the Church Fathers who wrote in the early centuries of the Christian era, calls the ‘flesh’—or physical being—‘the body of the soul’, and the soul ‘the vessel of the spirit.’ The soul stands between the spirit and the body, for ‘direct communication between spirit and flesh is impossible; their intercourse can be carried on only by means of a medium’—the soul being that medium."^80/138

Man’s Soul is the medium between the spiritual and the physical world. Man receives information in his soul from both the spiritual and the physical world, but it is the soul that decides how it is going to use that information. Neither the spiritual realm nor the physical realm can make man do anything. It is man’s soul which chooses his destiny.

This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 16:24-25 when he said:

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his soul shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Jesus tells us in this passage that if we insist on hanging onto our soul-life: our purpose, vocation and destiny in life, we will lose our souls. This means that we will never know the purpose, vocation and destiny in life Jesus created us to have. The person who rejects Jesus as Lord of his life and destiny, when he dies, will go into eternity never knowing who he really was. He will lose the soul-life Jesus intended for him to have and will forever lose any means of expressing and carrying out the soul-life he wanted to have. This is because Jesus is our source of life, existence and this world and all we enjoy in this world.

Jesus gives us 70 years to decide whether we want to have relationship with Him or not. Because He gives us the freedom of choice as to whether to have relationship with Him or not, if we reject Him until we die, He then honors our choice of rejection of Him and separates Himself and all He would have given to us if we chose relationship with Him. The problem, though, is that He is our source of life and all that is. Therefore to be separated from Him is to be separated from everything that is. All that is left is our self-conscious awareness of existence in a fiery black darkness forever with no possible means of ever being able to develop, express or fulfill our soul desires again because without Jesus there is no means because He is the means.

Jesus created man dependent on three kinds of life that are recorded in the First Epistle of John 3:14-17.

"We know that we have passed out of spiritual-death into spiritual-life⁴⁸, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in spiritual-death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal spiritual-life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His soul⁷⁷ for us; and we ought to lay down our souls for the brethren. But whoever has the biological-means-of-life,⁸¹ and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?"

These three kinds of life are the following:

1. Zoe: zwh;⁴⁸ which is spiritual life. This is the life of our Spirit. Jesus is spiritual-life⁸² and the source of nourishment for our spirit. To cut off Jesus is to cut off the means of feeding and keeping our spirits alive spiritually. Jesus said,
   
   "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal spiritual-life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him God the Father has set His seal." (John 6:27)
   
   

2. Psyche: yuchv ⁷⁷ which is the life of the soul. Our soul is alive when it has the means to express and carry out the talents, abilities, desires and gifts God gave us. If a person is not provided with what is necessary to develop and express the soul life God has called him to, he will go into complete frustration and anger and break down. Now You understand the plight of the ghettos. A person must have the means to develop and express the soul-life God has called him to, to be happy and healthy. When a person is killed physically, the potential for what his soul life might have been in this world is brought to a halt, destroyed. Jesus gave up his soul, his earthly life, as well as his physical life for us on the cross to save us and so we could have the means eternally to express and carry out the soul-life He has for us.

3. Bio: bivo⁸¹ which is the means to sustain biological, physical life. This is the life of our physical body. If you stop feeding your body biological food, your body will die.

Moses gives us further insight into the creation of man in Genesis 1:26-27

"Then Elohim said, Let Us make man in Our image⁸³, according to Our likeness⁸⁴; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And Elohim created man in His own image, in the image of Elohim He created him; male⁸⁵ and female⁸⁶ He created them."

In this passage, Moses tells us many things about man:

1. First, man was created in God’s image and according to His likeness.

2. Second, God created man to rule over the created creatures of the earth and to subdue the earth.

3. Third, God created Man male and female.

4. Fourth, God created man to have children and fill the earth.

First, in this passage, Moses tells us that not only did God create man a spirit, soul and body, but that He created man in His own image and according to His likeness. This means many things. First, the Bible teaches us that God is Spirit. Jesus said in John 4:24, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." God created us a spirit, soul and body, we have a spirit like God.

Second the Bible teaches us that God’s spirit is invisible to us. The Apostle John wrote in John 1:18, "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has revealed Him." God’s true self is invisible to us. What we know about God we know through the incarnation of His Son Jesus Christ and through His Word the Bible. Our true self, our spirit, is also invisible to us. Only in the spiritual realm can we see our true self. In this physical life our true self is hidden from us and from others.

Finally, Paul teaches us in 1 Timothy 1:17 that God is immortal: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen." Our spirit and soul are also immortal. In this sense we are created in God’s image with one difference: While we had a beginning, God had no beginning but is eternal as well as immortal. When God created us, He created us to live forever.

Second, being created in God’s image means that man’s inner constitution operates the same way God’s does with two differences: God’s is infinite and man’s is finite, and God’s is independent but man is dependent on God. This is why we are able to communicate with and have a relationship with God because our inward workings are the same as His. Just as God has intellect, emotion and will, so we have intellect, emotion and will.

Third, being created in God’s image means man was created with the moral righteousness of God ruling over him through his human spirit. Watchman Nee in His book, The Latent Power of the Soul, explains what this means:

"The words ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ may seem to be alike in meaning and may therefore appear repetitious. But in Hebrew the word ‘image’ does not point to physical likeness, rather it denotes moral or spiritual similarity. Someone has put it as: ‘change into likeness’; that is, ‘to be conformed to a likeness’ The purpose in God creating man is for man to be transformed according to His image, God wanted Adam to be like Him." ^87/18

The Apostle Paul confirms this in Ephesians 4:24 when talking about what takes place in the born again experience of a Christian. He writes, "and put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." To be created in God’s Image means to be created in the image of His moral righteousness. The reason why Adam and Eve were able to have perfect unhindered fellowship with God was because they were ruled by the moral righteousness of God through their spirits; but it also means that God created man with a free will which meant if he so chose he could rebel against God and sever his relationship with God.

To be ruled by the moral righteousness of God means to be motivated and controlled by the Holy Spirit through one’s spirit⁸⁸ rather than by one’s soul,⁸⁹ through one’s intellect and feelings; or flesh,⁹⁰ through one’s physical lusts and desires. The Apostle Paul describes this clearly in 1 Corinthians 2:9-15 and 3:1-3,

"But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a man who is motivated-and-controlled-through-his-soul⁸⁹ does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are discerned¹⁶⁰ through the spirit. But he who is motivated-and-controlled-through-his-spirit⁸⁸ discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no man."

"And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to men motivated-and-controlled-through-his-spirit, but as to men motivated-and- controlled-through-his-flesh,⁹⁰ as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still motivated-and-controlled-through-the-flesh. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not motivated-and-controlled-through-the-flesh, and are you not walking like mere men?"

Jude also talks about this in Jude 1:19, "These are the ones who cause divisions, motivated-and-controlled-through-their-soul, devoid of Spirit." When a congregation of believers is allowing themselves to be motivated and controlled by the Holy Spirit through their spirits there is unity. This is because Jesus does not work against Himself. "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor. 3:17).

This is why the secular humanistic Freudian approach to psychology is dangerous and in error; it only focuses on man’s soul and body and completely ignores the spiritual aspect of man. It is in error because it focuses on Man period. All of man’s problems center in what he allows to be the motivating factor in His life: God through his human spirit, or man’s soul or his flesh. God never intended for man to be motivated and controlled through his soul or flesh but by the Holy Spirit through his human spirit. He also intended for his ministers to only lead and teach by His counsel through His Holy Spirit.

"‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ declares Yehovah,⁹¹ ‘Who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin.’" (Isaiah 30:1)

"But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds." (Jer 23:22)

"‘Has a nation changed elohims [gods], when they were not elohims? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very desolate,’ declares Yehovah. ‘For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. . . . Your own wickedness will correct you, and your apostasies will reprove you; know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake Yehovah your Elohim, and the dread of Me is not in you,’ declares Adonai [Lord]-Yehovah-of-hosts.¹⁷⁰" (Jer 2:11-13, 19)

Second, God created man to rule over the created creatures of the earth and to subdue the earth. The Bible plainly tells us that man is superior and in authority over all other creatures on the earth. The Bible also states that God has given man rule over the elements of the earth. But note what God’s intention is in this rule in Genesis 2:15, "Then Yehovah Elohim⁹² took the man and put him into the garden of Eden⁹³ to cultivate⁹⁴ it and keep it." God’s intended rule for man over the earth was not to exploit and pollute it, but to cultivate and keep it.

Third, God created man male⁸⁵ and female.⁸⁶ Note that the term Man⁷⁰ in the Bible is a neutral term. The term Man is neither male nor female but both. The term Man in the Bible is the name given to the human race of males and females. So when a Christian talks about man in the Biblical sense, he means both male and female, the whole human race.

Fourth, God created man to have children and fill the earth. God so created us that we are able to take part in his creating us: the conceiving and bearing of children. But did God create sex for the bearing of children? What does the Bible say? We read in Genesis 2:18, 21-25,

"And Yehovah Elohim said, ‘It is not good, Adam being alone; I will make a helper corresponding to him.’ . . . And Yehovah Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs⁹⁵ and closed up the flesh underneath. And Yehovah Elohim constructed the rib which He had taken from Adam into a woman, and brought her into Adam. And Adam said, ‘This now at last is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh! For this shall be called woman⁹⁶, because this has been taken out of man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed."

God first created man and woman for their enjoyment together. God is not against sex, He created it, but only between a man and a woman and then only as husband and wife. Children, the result of sex, are a secondary intention in the act of sex. Sex is God giving husband and wife a means of oneness in the greatest physical way for a man and woman to meet, ... and they shall become one flesh. The bible teaches us that the act of sexual intercourse makes the man and the woman one flesh, no longer two. This is why the Apostle Paul admonishes us in 1 Corinthians 6:15-16,

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, ‘The two will become one flesh.’"

Sex in any other context except between a husband and wife, meaning between a man and a woman in marriage, is clearly condemned in the Bible.⁹⁷

"If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. If there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their bloodguiltiness is upon them. If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed incest, their bloodguiltiness is upon them." (Lev 20:10-12)

"If there is a man who lies with his uncle’s wife he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin. They shall die childless. If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is abhorrent; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless." (Lev 20:20-21)

"If there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them." (Lev 20:15-16)

"You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." (Lev 18:22)

"If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them." (Lev 20:13)