PPt by Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD, DMin

Systematic Theology IIChapter 53

“The Origin of Human Beings”

The Original Created ConditionsCreated Guiltless and Innocent became Sinful

According to Genesis 1-2, Adam and Eve were created with complete innocence. They were not only guiltless of any sin, but also innocent of sin.

According to the NT, by disobedience Adam and Eve became sinful (Rom. 5:12; 1 Tim. 2:14) and brought condemnation on themselves and their posterity (Rom. 5:18).

The Original Created ConditionsCreated Virtuous and Upright

Not only were Adam and Eve innocent (without evil), they were morally virtuous , created with moral perfection, or righteous.

The Supernatural View: A view held by Catholics that original righteousness was not natural but supernatural.

The Natural View: A position promoted by Shedd, it held that man’s righteousness was that natural state for man and that sin introduced an unnatural state in the human condition.

The Original Created ConditionsA State of Moral Responsibility

Adam was free in that his actions were self-determined; God specifically said, “You are free” (Gen. 2:16). When Adam chose to disobey, God blamed Adam, asking, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” (3:11, AMP). God’s words point to a self-determined act.

Theological Basis for the Original State of Innocence and Perfection

1. God is an absolute perfect Being.

2. An absolutely perfect Being cannot produce an imperfect creation.

3. Therefore, the original creation God made was perfect.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human Soul

1. The Preexistence View

2. The Created View

3. The Traducian View

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulThe Preexistence View

Two Forms of the Preexistence View

1. The Uncreated-Preexistence View

2. The Created-Preexistence View

These views contradict the clear teaching of Scripture about the creation of human beings.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulThe Creation View

The essence is that God directly creates a new individual soul for everyone born into this world. The body is generated by his or her parents through a natural process, the soul is supernaturally created by God.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulCreation of the Soul at Conception

There are various view as to the exact moment of the creation of the soul.

Most evangelicals who hold the creationist view maintain that the creation of the souls by God occurs at the moment of conception.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulCreation of the Soul at ImplantationSome believe that the soul is created at the moment the fertilized egg implants into the uterus. The argument is that until implantation the egg can still divide into identical twins, if the soul is created at conception, then two people would share the same soul. Geisler dismisses this argument.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulCreation of the Soul after Implantation

Thomas Aquinas placed the creation of the human soul well after conception—40 days after for boys, and 90 days after for girls.

However, with new scientific studies, this argument has been abandoned.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulCreation of the Soul at Animation

Some theologians have speculated that God does not create a human soul until just before the baby stars moving in the mother’s womb. Another theory based on outdated science.

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulCreation of the Soul at Birth

Some Christians argue that the soul is created at birth. Their two main points:

1. Human life is biblically designated from the point of birth (Gen. 5:1ff.)

2. Adam was not human until be began to breathe (Gen. 2:7)

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulCreation of the Soul at Birth -- Geisler refutes this view on these points:

1. Adam wasn’t conceived and born like other humans; he was directly created.

2. His first breath is no more an evidence of being human, than his being created adult is a sign of being human.

3. Breath, in the Heb. ruach, denotes the origin of “life.” It indicates when God have life to Adam, not simply because Adam began breathing.

4. Other animals breathe, but they aren’t humans—breath does not determine “humaness.”

5. Some people stop breathing, but then are revived and sustained with aid of a machine.

6. One does not stop being human when they stop breathing. God’s Word teaches that human being continue to exist after they stop breathing (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:5-6; Rev. 6:9).

7. The Scriptures speak of human life in the womb long before breathing begins, namely, from the point of conception (Ps. 51:5; Matt. 1:20).

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulThe Traducian View

The word “traducian” come from the Latin tradux, meaning “branch of a vine.” As applied to the soul, it means that each new human being is a branch off of his or her parents; that is to say, in the traducian model both soul and body are generated by father and mother. ~Geisler

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulThe Traducian View: Arguments in Favor of

1. Creation was completed on the sixth day (Gen. 2:2; Deut. 4:32; Matt. 13:35).

2.Science shows that human life begins at conception, humans have souls.

3.This view accounts for original sin.

~Geisler

Three Views: The Origin of the Human SoulThe Traducian View: Arguments in Favor of

Geisler appears to favor the traducian view and provides biblical “evidence” in support of the traducian view.

Systematic Theology IIChapter 54

“The Nature of Human Beings”

Biblical Terms for the Immaterial Dimension of Human Beings

Soul

Hebrew, nephesh: Greek, psuche

Basically “soul” means “life.” It refers to the principle of life in a human being, or to that which animates the body.

Biblical Terms for the Immaterial Dimension of Human Beings

Spirit

Hebrew, ruach: Greek, pneuma

Almost always refers to the immaterial dimension of a human being. It is often used interchangeably with the word soul. Spirit is immaterial (Lk. 24:38-39; Jn. 4:24).

Biblical Terms for the Immaterial Dimension of Human BeingsHeart

Hebrew, leb: Greek, kardia

The heart (sometimes used to mean “mind”) is the instrument with which we are to worship God (Deut. 6:5). It is also the seat of evil (Matt. 12:34). For better of worse, it the heart reflects the whole inner being.

Biblical Terms for the Immaterial Dimension of Human Beings

Mind

Greek, nous

Refers to the immaterial dimension of a human being by which he or she thinks and imagines.

Biblical Terms for the Material Dimension of Human Beings

Body

Hebrew, basar: Greek, soma

Is normally used of the outer (material) aspect of human nature (Matt. 10:28; James 2:26)

Biblical Terms for the Material Dimension of Human Beings

Flesh

Hebrew, basar: Greek, sarx

Use of both the moral and resurrected body.

Biblical Terms for the Material Dimension of Human Beings

Earthen Vessel (2 Cor. 4:7)

Used as an illustration of the human body, since it is an outer structure containing something else (a soul) inside.

Biblical Terms for the Material Dimension of Human Beings

Earthly Tent (2 Cor. 5:1; John 1:14)

A figure of speech used to illustrate the mortal body as a material shell that in this world houses the presence of the immaterial soul.

Biblical Terms for the Material Dimension of Human Beings

Outward Man (2 Cor. 4:16, KJV)

If the soul is the “inner man” then the body is the “outer man.” The outward person is visible, material, and tangible. It is subject to decay and destruction since it can “perish.”

The Relationship Between Soul and BodyAnthropological Materialism

Affirms the material body, but denies the existence of an immaterial soul. Only the body exists.

Anthropological Epiphenomenalism

The soul is only a silhouette of the body; the body is the to the soul what a tree is to it’s shadow. The soul is reducible to the body.

The Relationship Between Soul and BodyAnthropological Idealism

A non-theistic view that materialism is idealism. Humans have a soul, but the body is merely an illusion that exists only in the mind.

Anthropological Monism (Double-Aspect View)

Soul and body are two sides (inner and outer) of the same thing. Body and soul are of one substance, two aspects of the same entity.

The Relationship Between Soul and BodyAnthropological Dualism/DichotomySoul and body are separate and parallel entities; like railroad tracks, they run side by side, but never intersect. However, this lack of contact is problematic in that they do appear to intersect.Anthropological InteractionismBody and soul are two different substances: The intellectual soul (mind) is a thinking, non-extended entity, and the physical body is a non-thinking, spatially extended entity.

The Relationship Between Soul and BodyAnthropological Pre-Established HarmonyA preestablished harmony exists between soul and body. Though not directly aware of each other, they are synchronized by God and thus connected.

Anthropological HylomorphismFrom two Greek words, the theory proposes that there is form/matter unity between the soul and the body, just as there is unity between shape and form of a statue and the rock out of which it is made. Asserts that the soul (mind) is to the body (matter) what ideas are to words: they form a unity, inner and outer dimensions fo their holistic oneness.

Dichotomists & TrichotomistsDichotomistsArgue that since soul and spirit are used interchangeably in many passages of Scripture, a human being has only two parts (body and soul/spirit). Verses where the two are used interchangeably include Luke 1:46-47.

TrichotomistsHold that a human being is tripartate (“having three parts”), namely, body, soul and spirit. The following passages appear to support the trichotomists’ view: Heb.4:12; 1 Thess. 5:23; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 15:44; Mark 10:5; 1 Cor. 6:19).

Elements of Human PersonhoodIntellect: Self-reflective mind that have the power of

syllogistic reasoning. Redemption of the mind is “renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:10).

Emotion: Feeling. Humans are capable of deep emotions and feelings such as joy and sorrow.

Will: Choice. Humans were created with the moral capacity to know right from wrong and to choose one over the other.

Conscience: Moral Capacity. A God-given moral capacity which enables us to recognize good and evil and provides the potential to make the right choices, if we exercise our will.