The Deep Mystery (Pt. 2)   --   "Ignition Point"

Last time we met, we discussed Genesis 2:7’s detailed break-down of how (and of what) human beings are actually composed.  We have a body (made from the dust), and we are energised by the “breath of life” (spirit of life) that God gives to us.  If either of these things is missing, so is the person in question.  Only when they are working in conjunction is there a “person.”  The parts themselves do not constitute a “soul” / “person” / “being”.

Consider it this way.   Imagine a car (or any type of vehicle you might prefer: boat, airplane, 18-wheeler, etc).  That vehicle is composed of various bits (wheels, an engine, doors, steering wheels, etc), all contributing to the functioning of that very vehicle.   However, if you have no way to start that vehicle (say, with a “key”?) then that convoluted assembly of various parts is really just a pile of plastic and metal, for the most part.   The “key” is needed to start the engine.  A key is what gets everything working together.   In other words, without the key, you got a great paperweight (if you can move it onto the paper, that is).

The same can be said for the “breath of life” that God gives to us.  It’s not the vehicle itself.  It’s what puts the vehicle in motion.  It's the "ignition point." But if you don’t have the key, you have a big problem.  You've got no "ignition" happening.

Similiarly, if we don’t have God’s breath in our bodies, we are “toast.”  Dead as a door nail.  About as energised as one, too.

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Interestingly, the Scriptures back up this idea.  Psalm 104:24-30 (NLT) says it this way:

    “O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all.
    
    The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind,             both large and small. See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

    They all depend on you to give them food as they need it. When you supply it, they gather it. You open     your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied. But if you turn away from them, they panic. When     you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust.  When you give them your breath, life is            created, and you renew the face of the earth.”     (Emboldening added for emphasis)

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Notice that this gift of “breath” is given to all creatures, and here it is focused especially on the animal kingdom being the ones needing this blessing.  Both humans and animals rely on the breath that God gives to animate them, to give them “life”, enabling them to be who or what they are.  Without His Gift of breath, back to dust they return.

This is worth noting.  All of creation, human kind animal kind, are made from the dust, and are dependent on this breath (animating life force) from God.  But once again, please don’t mistake this gift of the breath for something that lives on after death.  It is merely that which enables being to move about and think and be what they are.  But once it is “taken away”, once this mortal life ends, then the whole being ceases to be entirely. 

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Or lets think of it another way:  how many people actually believe that animals have souls?  (There may be more than you think, actually! See an ancient argument leaning toward this in Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)  Many people these days have started to wonder why animals shouldn’t be though to have “souls” that live on (I think in an attempt to be “fair”).  Others (such as Hinduism) believe in the transmigration of souls, and so being who are people today and who die, may indeed become a cow or dog later on today.  Thus, this worldview / religious viewpoint makes room for the notion of animals having souls, as well.  

But is that what the Bible actually teaches?

Interestingly, the same text cited above (Ps. 104:24-30) differs in some key ways in other translations.   Check out the last couple of verses of that same section in the New American Standard Bible (NASB1995):

    “You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good. You     hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to             their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the             ground.”  (Ps. 104:28-30)

This translation freely uses the word “spirit” (instead of “breath”, as the NLT) does.  But why?  Aren’t these two different words?  If so, why the difference?

Well, interestingly, the word translated here as both “breath” and “spirit” are derived from the same Hebrew word:  “ruach”, which can be translated a number of ways, but most often will be translated as “breath”, “wind”, or “spirit.”

Yes.  That’s right.  

ONE Hebrew word can translated into THREE separate English words!

(See why translators have a bit of a challenge figuring things out sometimes?)

Now that we realize that the Bible translators aren’t trying to fool us, it becomes our job to try and figure out which of these translations is the better.  Is one of them more consistent with what we’ve seen so far?

Well, we looked at Genesis 2:7 before.  And today we looked as Psalm 104 (especially verses 28-30).  Both of them speak of God being the source of life.  Both speak of men and animals as having come from the dust.  But one of them speaks of God giving “spirit” and one argues in favour of “breath.”  Which one is more consistent with Gen. 2:7?

Obviously, in this case, the “breath”.  In fact, as far as I could search on Biblegateway.com, there isn’t a single English translation on there that renders “ruach” anything but “breath” in that verse.

So for the sake of consistency, why not just keep it as such?  It also helps us to avoid misunderstandings that arise when we use the word “spirit” (or “soul”), which is something we’ll be looking at next time we share.

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But before we finish up here today, let’s also consider one other verse:  Ecclesiastes 12:7.  I’ll borrow the KJV in sharing it:

      ““Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who     gave it.”

This verse happens in a context where the writer of the book (whom many think may have been Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived) argues in favour of putting God as the top priority in your life, especially at an early age, before you start to age and things go all pear-shaped.   The writer uses a number of intriguing metaphors, all seemingly chosen to indicate the onset of “death” in way or another (e.g., vv. 2-6)   And thus he ends his list with verse seven.

Notice the parallels it has to Genesis 2:7.

    — Dust returning to the earth
    — God having given something

Note the KJV (along with most Bibles, as far as I am aware), uses the word “spirit” here though.  

Notice how that differs from the Gen. 2 context?  Gen. 2 used “breath”, but the translators here chose “spirit”, even though if you look carefully at Eccl. 12:7, you’ll see it’s an exact reversal of Gen. 2:7!  

Once again, for the sake of consistency, we can see that the route that would cause the least challenge would be to maintain the usage of the same word used in Gen. 2:7 here.  This would also alleviate any temptation for people to think that Eccl. 12:7 is indicating that people somehow “float off up into Heaven” or something when you die, rather than it merely being the reverse of the transaction made in Gen. 2:7.  
In other words, the breath given us at birth leaves us at death.  There is nothing of “us” in this.  It is simply the energising force that has enlivened us.  But once that “key” is out of the “ignition”, the engine shuts off, and all we have going for us is a deteriorating pile of carbon.  End of story.  

I know it may not sound like a ‘happy” ending at this point in time.  But please trust me.  There’s more to this story than we’ve seen so far.  Don’t worry.