READING • GENESIS 2 AND 3
Where did the trouble begin?
The Bible presents the world as God’s creation, but human sin has brought suffering, disorder and death. Genesis 2 and 3 take us back to the beginning and explain how disobedience entered human experience.
God made the first man
The Bible says that God directly formed Adam from the dust of the ground and gave him life:
“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 • King James Version
God placed Adam in the garden of Eden and provided Eve as his wife. They were surrounded by God’s goodness, but they still had to choose whether they would trust and obey Him.
A clear command
God gave Adam a simple command. There was abundant food in the garden, but one tree was forbidden:
“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17 • King James Version
Adam and Eve were not created as puppets. God required willing obedience. They could listen to His command, or reject it.
The serpent’s lie and human disobedience
Genesis 3 records how the serpent contradicted God. It told Eve, “Ye shall not surely die”, and promised that eating the fruit would make them “as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). Eve ate, and Adam ate also.
What is sin?
Sin is disobedience to God. Adam and Eve chose their own judgement above God’s command. That choice brought consequences not only for them, but for the human family that followed.
The consequence was death
God had warned that disobedience would bring death. After Adam sinned, he was sentenced to return to the ground from which he had been formed:
“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Genesis 3:19 • King James Version
Adam and Eve did not die on that same calendar day, but from then onward they were mortal, dying creatures. Their lives would end, and their bodies would return to dust.
What is a “living soul”?
Genesis 2:7 does not describe Adam as receiving a separate immortal soul. It says that when God formed the body from dust and gave it the breath of life, the man became “a living soul”. In the language of the King James Version, “soul” can refer to the living person or creature.
ELEMENT
GENESIS DESCRIPTION
RESULT
Dust
God formed the body from the ground.
A body, but not yet a living man.
Breath of life
God breathed life into Adam.
Life came from God.
Living soul
The formed man became a living soul.
Adam was a living person.
Death
Breath departs and the body returns to dust.
The living person is no longer alive.
Adam’s sin and our mortality
The New Testament connects Adam’s sin with the entrance of death into the human family:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Romans 5:12 • King James Version
Christadelphians understand this to mean that we inherit mortality and a nature inclined toward sin from Adam. We are not personally guilty of Adam’s individual act, but every one of us adds our own sins to the human problem.
Sin is more than notorious crime
The Bible’s standard reaches our thoughts, motives and everyday behaviour. Pride, selfishness, anger, dishonesty and unclean desire are also part of the problem of sin.
How does the Bible use the word “soul”?
The original lesson lists a number of passages from the King James Version. They are useful because they show that “soul” does not automatically mean an immortal part of a person. In many passages it simply means a person or living creature.
REFERENCE
WHAT THE PASSAGE SHOWS
Genesis 46:26
“All the souls” refers to the people belonging to Jacob’s family.
Leviticus 5:17
A “soul” can sin — the word refers to the person who commits the offence.
Ezekiel 18:4, 20
Scripture says, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Acts 27:37
There were 276 “souls” aboard the ship — that is, 276 people.
The same underlying idea of living creature is also used in the creation account for animal life. The point is not that every occurrence of the word has exactly the same shade of meaning, but that the Bible does not use “soul” as a technical term for an inherently immortal entity.
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die”
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Ezekiel 18:4 • King James Version
This is especially clear: a “soul” can die. That is inconsistent with the idea that every human being possesses a naturally immortal soul which must continue consciously for ever.
Humans and animals both return to dust
Ecclesiastes compares the mortality of human beings with that of animals. In respect of death, both cease living and return to the dust:
“For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath ... All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”
Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 • King James Version
A Christadelphian conclusion
Christadelphians therefore reject the doctrine of an immortal soul that remains consciously alive after bodily death. Our hope of future life depends instead upon resurrection by God.
What happens when a person dies?
The Bible repeatedly describes death as a state in which ordinary human thought, activity and praise cease. The original lesson draws together several passages:
REFERENCE
KJV WORDS
POINT
Psalm 146:4
“In that very day his thoughts perish.”
Human thought ceases at death.
Ecclesiastes 9:5
“The dead know not any thing.”
The dead are not described as consciously observing life.
Psalm 6:5
“In death there is no remembrance of thee.”
Death is contrasted with conscious praise of God.
Psalm 115:17
“The dead praise not the LORD.”
Praise belongs to the living.
Hezekiah understood death this way
When King Hezekiah was seriously ill, he did not speak as though death would immediately take him to conscious life in heaven. He prayed because he wanted his life to continue, saying:
“For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.”
Isaiah 38:18 • King James Version
He then contrasted this with the living: “The living, the living, he shall praise thee” (Isaiah 38:19).
David did not ascend to heaven
David was a faithful servant of God, yet Peter said plainly after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus: “For David is not ascended into the heavens” (Acts 2:34). The Bible’s hope for David and other faithful people is resurrection, not an immortal soul leaving the body at death.
Why this matters
If human beings already possessed indestructible conscious life, resurrection would not be the Bible’s essential answer to death. Scripture instead presents everlasting life as God’s gift, made possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Death is not the end of God’s purpose
This lesson concentrates on the consequence of Adam’s sin: mortality and death. But the Bible does not leave us without hope. The Gospel centres on the resurrection of Jesus and the promise that those who belong to him can be raised from the dead when he returns.
Understanding death therefore helps us appreciate why the death and resurrection of Jesus are so important. Eternal life is not something we naturally possess. It is something God gives.
The Bible’s hope
Our hope is not that an immortal soul survives death, but that God remembers His servants and raises the dead. Part II will continue the subject of sin and its consequences and the way of salvation God has provided.
SUMMARY
1
God directly created Adam.
He formed him from the dust of the ground and gave him the breath of life.
2
Adam and Eve were given a real choice.
God commanded them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
3
They disobeyed God.
Their sin brought mortality and death into human experience.
4
All human beings are mortal and all sin.
Romans 5 connects death with Adam and also states that all have sinned.
5
“Soul” does not mean an immortal entity.
In many KJV passages it refers to a living person or creature, and Scripture can speak of a soul dying.
6
Death is an unconscious state.
The dead do not think, praise God or continue ordinary conscious activity.
7
Our hope is resurrection through Christ.
Everlasting life is God’s gift, not something naturally possessed by every person.
Chapter to read
Ecclesiastes 9; review Genesis 2-3 and Romans 5:12-21
LEARN BY HEART • PSALM 146:4
“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”
Psalm 146:4 • King James Version
Christadelphian Bible Mission • Box CBM, 404 Shaftmoor Lane, Birmingham B28 8SZ, England
CHRISTADELPHIAN BIBLE MISSION • 5
CHRISTADELPHIAN BIBLE MISSION • 1