Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 1:24–27; Gen. 2:7, 19;
Matt. 10:28; Eccles. 12:1–7; 1 Kings 2:10; 1 Kings 22:40.
Memory Text: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
The tension between God’s word, “ ‘You shall die’ ” (Gen. 2:16,
17, NRSV) and Satan’s counterfeit promise, “ ‘You certainly will
not die!’ ” (Gen. 3:4, NASB) was not restricted to the Garden of
Eden. It has echoed throughout history.
Many people try to harmonize the words of Satan with the words
of God. For them, the warning, “ ‘You shall die,’ ” refers only to the
perishable physical body, while the promise, “ ‘You certainly will not
die!’ ” is an allusion to an immortal soul or spirit.
But this approach doesn’t work. For example, can contradictory
words of God and of Satan be harmonized? Is there an immaterial
soul or spirit that consciously survives physical death? There are
many philosophical
and even scientific attempts to answer these questions.
But, as Bible-based Christians, we must recognize that only the
Almighty God, the One who created us, knows us perfectly (see Psalm
139). Thus, only in His Word to us, the Scriptures, can we find answers
to these crucial questions.
This week we will consider how the Old Testament defines human
nature and the condition of human beings at death.
