The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and The Tree of Life (Lost /Reformed Thread)

Hi CS, Sorry about that, just my Hebrew sticking its head out, as well as my Greek knowledge of the LXX.In fact the LXX has, "the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil". I did say the only knowledge they received was the knowledge of good and evil. They gained the knowledge that being naked was evil as it was against God's will. I take the Word for what it says. Now if you believe I have misunderstood or misrepresented what the Bible says please start a thread and explain to me all the differences in the two creation accounts in the first 5 chapters of Genesis. I would love to get straightened out if I am wrong as you claim.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi jay, I understand that before God created the universe He counted the cost. Man would sin, that would require a sacrifice, Jesus, God in the flesh would pay the sin debt to restore man to fellowship with God. He declared all who would receive Jesus would be restored and have eternal life.God knew every person who would receive Jesus as their personal saviour before he formed the first man and placed him in the garden.God in the beginning viewed the end. He still has the same view as He is timeless.God did not make anyone even the first man make the choice he did. Then you quote Epehsians 1:5, But nowhere is the tree of life mentioned. Neither does it say the tree of life is for the creation of mankind.Paul writing to the Church at Ephesus said: Paul is talking to the born again scripturally baptized, faithful in Christ members of the Church at Ephesus.Paul said God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.That we should be without blame before Him.Having predetermined to adopt us as children by Jesus Christ.According to His will.Where we have been made acceptabled in Christ.Through the redemption of His Blood.Receiving forgiveness of sins.According to His grace. (grace = unmerited favor). The man in Genesis 2:7 was formed from the dust of the ground. Then God breathed into him the breath of life. Nowhere does it say this man was created in the image and likeness of God.I have no idea what this man posessed within himself nor can I find the information anywhere.I do know he had to be a very special being as he could be in the presence of Almighty God and have no after effects such as Moses did. I have no problem with what Luke said. As I said this was a very special being.Now the man created in Genesis 1:27 in the image and likeness of God is different. I know that man is sinful in his natural state.I also know that when a person receives Jesus Christ and his personal saviour and is born of the Holy Spirit he has received the seed of God that can not sin. The spirit of man is sealed by The Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. I will agree something got into man's being when the first man disobeyed a direct order from God.He became knowledgable about evil.From that moment on man could choose good or evil.Actually I think man just got full of himself.God Bless Brother,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

I agree with this. But I would like to draw your attention to one phrase you used - God in the flesh. "God in the flesh" is His eternal purpose.Yes, God incarnate did die for lost man. Yes, God in the flesh payed the debt of man's sins. But even apart from the problem of sin God intended to have God in the flesh. He created man as a vessel to contain Himself.You are right. And I am attempting to show that in addition to this there is more. But we should realize that God did not create man for the purpose of forgiving man. Yes, God does forgive the sinner because of justfication in Christ. But do you think apart from Him forgiving our sins there was no plan in His heart?When God rested on the seventh day it was not because of tiredness. This rest signifies satisfaction and having accomplished something. What do we have there? We have man made in the image of God according to the likeness of God. And this man is committed with dominion.We do not see only a Sabbath rest after salvation and forgiveness is accomplished. We see a Sabbath rest of God in satisfaction before the disobedience of man. This shows us that God has a with creation quite apart from redemption. Redemption brings man back to the original plan.God wanted a corporated man that looks like God and excercises dominion over His creation for God as a deputy authority. Especially God wanted man to have dominion over His enemies led by Satan. Image and dominion are two key words here.Image is to express God. Dominion is to reign for God. That is especially to reign over His enemy.This man was prepared by God and staged to receive the life of God within him. So He placed man before the tree of life. Man is ready then to receive the divine life of God within his human vessel and accomplish God's eternal purpose. All this is before the intrance of sin and death. And at this stage God rests in satisfaction having all things ready for the accomplishing of His eternal purpose.I do not believe that God created man simply for the purpose of forgiving man of his sins, though He certainly does accomplish that in Christ. The word adoption in the King James is not a good translation. Literally the word means "the place of a son". The RcV has there "sonship".Adoption, may be understood by many as simply a legal matter. Sonship is a matter of life. It is "organic". God intended not simply to adopt sons. He intended to beget sons with His life and nature for a corporate expression of the divine family.These sons were predestinated to have the life and nature of God as thier Father, before the they or the universe was created. Participation in His life is a matter of God dispension Himself into them.When we see prior to man's sinning, Adam before the tree of life, we see the created man placed in the position ready to receive the divine life of God to be a son of God. This is not being a son merely by a legal adoption but by an organic begetting.Man before the tree of life reveals man ready to receive into him the life of God to be regenerated a son of God to occupy the place of a son. It is true that on this side of the fall of man we can achieve this sonship only through Christ's redemption. Following His redemption God implants the divine seed of His life into the man -"Everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God." (1 John 3:9)Do not misunderstand my intention here. I am not proposing a teaching of "sinless perfection" upon the moment one is born again. There the matter of the growth and maturing of the seed of life which is a process.My purpose in quoting 1 John 3:9 is to show that after judicial redemption there is the organic matter of God dispensing His seed of life into man. You should regard this as the same as Adam eating of the tree of life. The tree of life signifies God imparting His own life into man making man organically a son of God, born of a uncreated and divine Father. This is more than being created by God.There are millions of angelic beings created by God. The man He made in His image and according to His likeness was a vessel created to contain God as life.God had a eternal purpose to dwell in man as His living vessel. He created the universe for this. The world there you read as "blame" is better translated in the Recovery Version (RcV) as blemish. A blemish is like a foreign particle in a precious gem. God's chosen ones should be saturated with only God Himself, having no foreign particles. This again underlines that man is created as a vessel to contain.No blemish is no foriegn particle in the container of man's vessel. The foreign particles that did enter into man's vessel were the fallen natural human element, the flesh, the self, and worldly things. To be without blemish is to be without any foreign element in the human vessel as a mixture.God created this human vessel to contain God Himself as the indwelling element.Holy and without blemish speaks of God dispensing His life and nature into man. God alone is holy - "You alone are holy" (Rev.15:4). There are only two ways in which anything else can become holy. Either it is consecrated and set apart by God for Himself, such as the holy angels, or it is living and has God dispense His holy nature into that living one. In Ephesians we are made holy by God dispensing His life into us.The holy nature of God is a nature distinct from all other things in existence. Man was created to receive this nature dispensed into him. No foreign element was to take its place. So the sons of God were predestinated to receive the dispensing of God's holy life and nature as their element. This destiny was marked out for them before the foundation of the world. I have tried to show that sonship is a better translation. And sonship emphasizes not just the legality of the Father but the organic begetting of the Father - a matter of life.Now remember man before the tree of life in the garden. This may help you to see that before sin entered, God already had an eternal purpose to dispense His life into man for sonship and to constitute man with the element of God's life, having God's seed of life. Yes we have, who are members of His Body, the church. All these matters are quite true. But you should also include regeneration. That is the impartation of the seed of life into man. There is the judicial side to place the saved in a right legal position before a righteous God. But this is followed by an organic matter. God's life is dispensed into man that man may be saturated and filled up with the life of God.Man before the tree of life and before the sin of Adam, demonstrates that this was God's eternal plan even apart from solving the sin problem.Redemption, Reconcilation, Justification bring man back to the organic matter of God dispensing His life and nature into man's vessel. In Genesis 1:26,27 it says so: Genesis 2:7 about God breathing the breath of life into the nostrils of the man formed of the dust does not make Genesis 1:26,27 not true. We should receive both passages about the creation of man.You may think of man being made in the image of God like a glove being in the image of a human hand. God created man in a certain "God shaped" way so that God could fit into man comfortably. As the hand fits into the glove made in its image so God fits right into the man made in His image.He made man in the image of God in order that man would be a vessel to contain God:The Apostle Paul underscores that man is created a vessel to contain God."But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Cor. 4:7)The saved is the vessel. The life of God in Christ is the treasure put into the earthen vessel."In order that He [God] might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory." (Rom. 9:23)God here prepared the chosen ones before hand to be vessels of glory. We are indeed created in His image to be a living vessel from within which He manifests His expression - His glory."If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work." (2 Tim. 2:21)As useful vessel to the Lord is a vessel filled up with the life of the Lord. Even to receive the seed of divine life man must be made a container, a vessel. Genesis 1:26,27 and Genesis 2:7) are just two different passages on the creation of man. You should not thing that they cancel out each other in any way. One does not render the other wrong. We should accept them both.I have emphasized that Genesis 1:26,27 shows that man is made in God's image as a vessel to contain God. Actually this can be seen in Genesis 2:7 with Proverbs 20:27."Jeovah formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." (Gen. 2:7)The Hebrew word neshamah (as in "breath of life", translated spirit in Proverbs 20:27.The breath of life breathed into man's body became the spirit of man within him, that is the human spirit.Proverbs 20:27 says "The spirit of man is the lamp of the Jehovah, searching all the innermost parts of the inner being"The spirit of man acting as the lamp of Jehovah to search all of man's innermost parts, proves that man is a vessel. His innermost parts can be ulluminated by the lamp of Jehovah which is the human spirit breathed into him at creation. The innermost parts and the inner being is the inward components of man's psychological being. Probabably the spiritual being is indicated as well.Man in God's image set before the tree of life shows man as a vessel to contain the life of God. And man with a spirit in him searching all his innermost parts also shows man as a living vessel, a container.Man's spirit is his inward organ for him to contact God, receive God, contain God, and assimilate God into his entire being as his life and everything.God‘s Economy: recovered by Witness Lee, enjoyed by local churches is a great website speaking to this.So is Tripartite Man: refs. include Watchman Nee and Witness Lee In his fallen natural state he is sinful.But remember before Adam sinned he was in a natural state. He was not sinful. He was innocent. He was neutral. And he was placed before the tree of life in the middle of the garden of Eden.Adam was natural but was not sinful. And the tree of life was there not to deal with sins which he had not done. But it was there to fill him with the life of God for the purpose of God. Amen. The Holy Spirit seals us and is also a forestaste of a fuller taste to come. He is filled with the self - the independent soul life.But when you get a chance read carefully through Romans chapter 7. Tell me then in that chapter what is "the body of this death?"I think you will do a thorough job if you study the chapter carefully.Agape,Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Jaywill writes:Post 183, is a very nice Christmas day post, impressive.
While I enjoy as always reading your and ICANTs posts and I almost always NEVER disagree with anything you have to say, every now and then I find a small thing that may or may not need addressing. Anywho, Why do we always assume that angelic beings are not created in Gods image? I could be wrong but I dont think I have ever seen anything in scripture to indicate this assumption.It is in my view an asumption that has arisen over the fact that much is not known about them, however, the scriptures do seem to indicate that they like we have intelligence and a decision making process, which is a part of being created in the image of God.Are we correct in assuming that they do not share in the blessings of God, including the infusion of Gods spirit to thiers? Since it was an angelic being that set al of this in motion, that is the fall, would it no be reasonable to assume they are in the same condition as are we?Just some thoughts.D BertotEdited by Bertot, : No reason given.Edited by Bertot, : No reason given.Edited by Bertot, : No reason given.

Hi jay, God created man and gave him the ability to choose good or evil.Because God wanted a being to love Him, and worship Him by choice.The angels were created to serve God's purpose and they do that without question. They are like robots they do as programed.Man on the other hand choses to do what ever he wishes. We had our regular services last evening at church. No announcment was made concerning having services. Everyone chose to come to worship service except two who were out of town . We choose to do whatever we want to do.God does not and will not make any person accept Him. All of my Greek books are rather old but in none of them do I find the word ‘ with a definition other than.1) adoption, adoption as sonsa) that relationship which God was pleased to establish between himself and the Israelites in preference to all other nationsb) the nature and condition of the true disciples in Christ, who by receiving the Spirit of God into their souls become sons of Godc) the blessed state looked for in the future life after the visible return of Christ from heavenBut the status of sonship is mute with me.I am a born again child of the King. So however He produces that result is OK by me. Why not preach it. It is a fact, that which is born of God does not commit sin. I John 3:9That does not say my body and mind does not commit sin. Only my spirit.But the Spirit is what is born again. John 3:6.The body must wait until the ressurection. I John 3:2.The mind must wait until God wipes all tears away. Revelation 21:4. God created this human vessel. Flesh body for a spirit and a mind to be temporarly housed in until we receive an eternal body.The first man was created an eternal being. Had that man not disobeyed God he would still be alive today.By the disobedience of one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death. Romans 5:12.The physical body we now have is the only thing that will ever die.
Just like the physical body Jesus had died.The mind and the Spirit will never die. This says a man and woman was created at the same time in the image and likeness of God.They were told to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.This man and woman was created after all other creatures and plants. This says a man was formed from the dust of the earth.
The only things that existed when this man was formed was the heaven and the earth. No creatures and no plants and no woman.After God had created the garden, all the animals which this man named, and plant life God took a rib from this man and made a woman.This man and woman was never told to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.There is no logical way to present these facts and be talking about the same man and woman.There is no way to twist the scripture to make it to be talkiing about the same man and woman.The only way I could come to that conclusion would be because that is what I was always taught.I refuse to believe something just because someone says this is the way it is.Just because I or anyone else believe something does not make it true.Maybe you can shed some light on my warped view that Catholic Scientist and others say I have concerning this matter.Although in the final analysis it really makes no difference.Man is here today separated from God by sin.God provided a way man can be reunited with Him.Those who have not accepted Jesus as personal saviour are eternally doomed to reside in the lake of fire forever unless they are born again.It is great to be a Child of The King.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi Bertot, No where do I find that angels ever had a physical body as man, and God had.They have mind and spirit.They have been known to take on the form of man, but that is not the same as being a man.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi jay, Verse 22 tells of the inner man. That is the Spirit that has been sealed by the Holy Spirit who is there to lead us and guide us in all truth.Verse 23 tells of the mind where a war is going on between the inner man and the fleshly man. (my membersYes we are still trapped in this old sinful dead body.This old sinful body which is separated from God must go back to mother earth.So one day the death angel will come and my soul and mind will be delivered to the presence of Jesus who has already delivered me from the penalty of sin.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Greetings Bertot,We know in part and prophesy in part, so I'm sure I could easily make a mistake. Tell me when you don't agree.In my enthusiasm to speak of the uniqueness of man it may appear that I am under appreciating the angels. I don't think there is too much danger in under appreciating angel nature.But you point out something which I would like to spend more time to consider. I'll try to get back with an answer after some study. I need to review what I wrote about angels in relation to "the image of God".Probably the place I would start to study is the phrase "in the image of God". Perhaps, all I will be able to do is highlight some of the differences between human destiny in God's plan from angel destiny. And your insight into the matter will help us to get a more rounded and balanced picture.Praise the Lord for the study of His revelation, the Bible.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Jaywill writes:Sounds like a plan, as always I truely enjoy yours and ICANTs posts. Thanks for your study and wisdom and giving the credit to the Lord.D BertotPS. I hope you fellas had a good ChristmasEdited by Bertot, : No reason given.

ICANT writes:I see your point here ICANT, as in connection with Jaywills illustrations about Gods wishes to infuse himself with humankind. My question was strictly concerning whether he had created angels in his image and in this connection whether they shared in the Gods essence as it were.Jaywill has agreed to research the topic and in connection with your and his imput we can move from what the scriptures DOES say about mans destiny to the destiny of the angels, if that is possible, because we do not know that much about thier salvation process, once they sin. I have heard all my life that they have no redemption process, but quickly learned that this was based on assumption more that scripture.Thanks for your study and insight as well.D Bertot Edited by Bertot, : No reason given.

I think that the very first choice that God enabled man to have was between LIFE and DEATH. That was the primary choice of man. " ... the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (1:9)
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was acgually the tree of death and to eat of it was to choose DEATH.Or let me say it another way. The first choice that God enabled His creature man to have was God's way or another way. There was God's way and then there was the OTHER way.Adam made his first choice, death. Adam made his first choice - not God's way but the other way.Now, man has made his first choice - not life but death. Not God as life but the knowledge of good and evil. Now that man has made this first choice of DEATH the conscience of man is activated. Now, made has activated within him the ability to choose right from wrong, good as opposed to evil, or evil as opposed to good.I would put it this way. His fall from God's way caused the abiloty to choose good or evil to awaken. This seems to me to be like a internal brake system designed in man just in case something goes wrong.It is like the airbag in a car. You hope you never have to use it. But just in case, the wise designers have built it into the vehicle. Man's ability to choose right or wrong was activated and awakened as an emergence brake system to prevent man from even further self destruction. I agree. I think that that is part of the first level. To choose God's way or to choose the other way is probably a matter of loving God. We get in trouble when we love something more than God. That becomes a replacement, an idol.It seems that Adam was enticed to place something else as more important to love than God. Okay. It seems that we discussed something about this before. I think to someone I felt to point out that angels also could make a choice between God's way and another way.But I don't want to make a big deal about that because I think destraction to angel nature is not something I want to be too much overly occupied with.Suffice it to say, on my part, that the good angels are good servants to God. Of course the bad angels went off to do their own thing under the leadership of Satan. Praise the Lord. That was more than a service. That was a meeting in His name He doesn't seem to want to usurp the human will. Praise the Lord for the sonship and for the wonderful new birth which brings us into the sonship. What a great miracle has occured in our beings who have been born of God!I hope more who come and read along these discussions would be born of God in regenaration - Witness Lee & Watchman Nee teach regeneration Rightly taught, it is very good to know. When I used the phrase "sinless perfection" I was using it the holiness theology teaches, which is not good.But a proper understanding of 1 John 3:9 is crucial. I agree with you that 1 John 3:9 should not be ignored. Above I only needed that passage to point out that God imparts His life into the saved ones. And to impart His life was His purpose from the creation of man and the placing him before the tree of life.Some people object to me saying man was placed before the tree of life. But I really mean that it was in the middle of the garden. It was central.I can hear someone object "Well, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was also in the middle of the garden. Why don't you say that God placed man before it?"My reply would be, "Yes, that tree of death was in the middle of the garden. BUT, man was told specifically not to partake of it. So I prefer to emphasize that man was placed before the tree of life in the middle of the garden." That is exactly right. You have something within you which is sinless. Even more, if you are born again, you have something within you which is God Himself. - "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17)The Recovery Version is very good with this matter of the capitalization or smaller case s (Spirit / spirit). It makes the New Testament clearer by far, in my experience.The Holy Bible Recovery VersionDeep within you are mingled with God, blended with God, and one spirit with the Lord. That spirit cannot sin. So that is the realm into which we need to be strengthened - with power into the inner man. We need to set our mind on the mingled spirit. We need to excercise our mingled spirit where Jesus is within us.My spirit cannot sin. My spirit overcomes the world. So I need to allow my spirit to be strengthened and have more and more enfluence over my mind, emotion, and will and body.Now to be thorough and fair, there is one verse which talks about the defilement of spirit. But this is still not the sinning of the spirit. This is something reauireing another discussion which I will not detail right now.I would only say, that as water can be made defiled as it passes through a dirty hose, so can our regenerated spirit pick up some defilement as it flows through our untransformed soul. That unclean soul can pollute the stream of spiritual flow and cause the defilement of spirit. That is not the sinning of the spirit where the seed of God is. That is a tainting and coloring of the spirit as it flows out of us through an unclean soul.This we need to correct by allowing the tranformation of the soul to be a clean vessel through which the spirit flows out to others. The human (small s) spirit is what is born again of the (captital S) Spirit which is God.The way I would write your above sentence is like this: Let me say that the glorifacation of the physical body must await the coming of the Lord.But the salvation of the mind must occur before the coming of the Lord. This transformation of the mind must start and progress in the church age.Our soul cannot be transformed unless we undergo the renewing of the mind: Please notice. This is not Paul saying we should wait for the new heaven and new earth before our mind is renewed. This is Paul teaching that now in the church age, before the second coming of Christ, we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.The mind is the leading organ of the soul. The mind, the emotion, and the will make up the soul. The soul must be transformed in the church age by the renewing of its leading part - the mind.If we postpone this process, it is second best. God has provision for our procrastination. But it is not too sweet to have to undergo that.It is best, and it is more normal that we do not put off the transformation because the Holy Spirit is spreading into our mind. In fact by the renewing of the mind we are putting on the new man. We are being tranformed from the old man to the new man by the metabolic change in the mind: As the mind is being renewed, in the church age before Jesus returns, the soul is putting on the new man. The transformation is our way out of the old man and into the new man dispositionally.This transformation should take place in the church age. We may put it off and we can put it off if we wish to be abnornal. But there will be unpleasant consequences for out foolish disregard of this process of transformation.If we wish to be normal we should give our minds over to the Lord for transformation in the church age. The exhortations of the New Testament refer to transformation of the soul before the Lord's return as an obligation. Those who participate in it will receive a reward.Here again we see transformation of the soul not after the second coming but before in the church age from the Lord's Spirit. The Lord Spirit who is one spirit with the born again believer is there for our transformationa from one degree of expression of Christ to the next degree, to the next degree .... from glory to glory to glory to glory into the image of Christ.This beholding and reflecting requires loging more and more time in the presence of the Lord. It means beholding Him in our spirit. Beholding Him in the living word. Beholding Him in all kinds of situations. Even instantly beholding Him. That is gazing at Him deep within us. Turning our heart to Him within and lingering in His presence. We log more and more time with Him.This causes us to behold and reflect Him. And that transforms our soul more and more to be like Him. That is my understanding. Though he did not eat of the tree of life, he had an everlasting life. God could maintain him.However the history is that he took into himself DEATH. And not only so he was exiled from the tree of life which he had not taken. Man was "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18)What could have been, we may not understand too well. But what can be we know better from the gospel. We can partake of Jesus Christ as the life. He is the life of God come to us in a man and furthermore as the life giving Spirit - "the last Adam became a life giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45) It is important to realize that God's full salvation includes all three parts of our being - the spirit, the soul, and the body. Notice here all three parts of man are to be sanctified - the human spirit, the human soul, and the human body. That is to be sanctified "wholly".If we die our bodies will be resurrected. If we are alive when He comes our bodies will be raptured and transfigured. Either way our bodies with be transfigured.The mortal will be swallowed up in life. We will put on the immortal. The mortal body of the Christian is to be swallowed up in the divine life which is already in our spirit. It is in our spirit and seeking ever to migrate out into our soul. Eventually it has to spread into our soul and burst out into our physical body.This is no being found naked or unclothed as a naked spirit before God. This is to be clothed upon with a new glorified body.I was very excited when I realized that God's full salvation included every part of my being. Previously I envisioned heaven as us being like ethereal clouds floating around. But then I realize from the New Testament how exceedingly practical God's salvation was.It includes the regeneration of the human spirit, the transformation of the human soul, and finally the transfiguration of the human body.This is the redemption of the body in Romans 8:23 and the transfiguration of our body in Phil. 3:219.I must discontinue here. Praise God for you fellowship.

Refering to Genesis 1:26-28 you wrote: It is the same creation of human beings which we read about in Genesis 2:7You have a record of Jesus's birth in Matthew. You also have one in Luke. The details stressed are different. They are not two conflicting accounts. But they are two accounts.The passage of Genesis 2:7 speaks of man's creation from one angle. Genesis 1:26-28 speak of man's creation from another angle. This passage gives a detail which was not spoken in Genesis 1:26, that is that man's body was formed of the dust of the ground. The detail of the wife being taken from the rib of Adam is not spoken of in Genesis 1:26.Even Man in relation to the creating of animals is sequenced differently. The emphasis is different.These two sections should not be viewed as opposing each other. They hold some differences. But I do not regard them as opposed.It is two versions of the same matter. If that were true it would make Genesis 1:26 not true. But I prefer to believe that both passages have to be true for both are the word of God.They may be difficult in places to reconcile facts. But this is sometimes the case under God's sovereignty.Genesis 2:5 says "And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up - for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the ground ...The phrase "was yet in the earth" may be local to "the field". The seer of that vision may have had a more resticted vision.If Adam was created in the morning and the wife taken out of his side by the evening, it would be true by that evening that God created them male and female. Would it not?If for Adam's sake God decided to reserve the making of some aninals so the the newly created man could see what was done, He did them in the garden after Adam is there, that would make both passages true also."And Jehovah God formed from the ground every animal of the field and every bird of heaven, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called any living animals, that was its name. And tje an gave names to all cattle and to the birds of heaven and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper as his counterpart"The emphasis is different. The purpose of the account in chapter two may have a different focus. That is all.I have to come back to this latter. I am called away.So the creation of man and the woman must have occured on the sixth day. And on that day generally God had created them male and female and He had created man in His own image.Now the matter of some of the plant life may be hard to reconcile fully, given the information we have. I don't consider that my not being able to explain what happened to all plant life renders one of the passages as false.I trust God that His word is pure. I have no doubt that we are being told the truth in Genesis 1:26-28 and in Genesis 2:7. I think forcing one to mean that the other is not true will involve me in more theological problems and not less.I therefore think that God intentionally determined that there would seemingly be a difference in the two sections. We are on the test not God. It is a test to us. By the time the woman is brought to the man it is true that " ... God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)I see nothing in chapter 2 which makes Genesis 1:27 impossible to be a FACT.I will continue latter with response.Remember the sweetness of Jesus and above all His glorious resurrection.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Hi jay, Have you ever pondered the thought of why the first man ate the fruit his wife gave him?He didn't have to eat it and he was not deceived into eating it.Why would a man who had everything choose to die?Have you ever wondered why there are no ages mention in the linages in Genesis 2:4 through Genesis 4:26?Have you ever wondered why the first man's first born son is not mentioned in the Genesis 5 account of generations of the first man if they are the same?What about the descendants of the first born son of the first man? I think you can find the answer to that dilemma in this: The only Father the first man knew was God.Because the woman had eaten of the fruit and was going to die the man chose to eat the fruit and die with her rather than be alone with God and the animals. I have no idea what verse you are talking about as those two words do not appear in the same verse in the Bible.Spirit and defiled appears in one verse Numbers 5:14.Unless you are referring to Titus 1:15 where it says: "but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Which is talking about the unregenerated. You seem to be confusing soul and spirit. I know that many think they are one and the same. But then you make the mind and soul the same. We are a triune being, because we are made in the image of God.God the Father = ________please fill in the blank for me.
God the Son = flesh body.
God the Holy Spirit = spirit.So we are body, spirit and ____________.
I say we are body, spirit and mind. (mind = knowledge, thinking process, and decision making). The mind is the battlefield between the flesh and the spirit.It must be renewed daily or the evil one will get the victory.You ever notice when someone stops reading the Word of God how quickly they cease to do things God's way?Notice in Romans 12:1 Paul is speaking to born again children of God admonishing them to present their bodies a living sacrifice to God.Which is our reasonable service. For what He has done for us.Unless our mind is cleared of worldly thinking that would be impossible.Especially the thoughts of what I want is the most important thing that there is and that is all that matters.But the people Paul is addressing is already going to heaven.When Jesus return I will receive a perfect body. It will be just like His. (I envision being able to walk through solid walls, also just appearing in a room or vanishing).I see myself where ever He has assigned me my post of service during the 1000 year reign of His on earth and being able to appear before Him in Jerusalem instantly.But I have never found where my mind was complete at this time.In fact I would think it is still learning.I kinda get the impression we will learn a lot when we stand before Jesus at the judgment of the born again.I would think it would have been a learning experience at the judgment of the nations.I would think the time spent during the 1000 years will be a learning experience.I know the Great White Throne Judgment will be a learning experience.
When I see all those stand before Jesus that I met day by day and never mentioned Jesus to them.Those I worked with on secular jobs in my early years.Those of my family and friends that I did not convince to trust Christ as their personal savior because my life was not perfect enough.Those here at EvC that I do not have enough knowledge to spark them to seek Christ for their salvation.That is going to be an awful learning experience.That is why my mind will not be complete and perfect until God Himself wipes away all my tears that I will shed when I see all those cast into the lake of fire.Now if my mind was already perfect, why would God have to wipe away tears after the Great White Throne Judgment. Revelation 21:4Now if you know of a way I can forego that day and not have to have that learning experience I would love to read it from God's Word. Sorry about your earlier vision of heaven.From 9 years and 11 months I have envisioned walking down streets of Pure Gold holding hands with my dear grandmother who raised me. Going to visit Jesus giving Him a big hug and thanking Him for saving my soul.Just think about it, one day we will be able to walk along by the side of the river that flows from the throne of God with the tree of life bearing it's 12 manner of fruit and laugh and joke at how when we were conversing on EvC we were so ignorant of what God's Word really said.BTW I will know you when I meet you and you will know who I am.God Bless Brother,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi jay, Did you ever pay attention to Genesis 1:11 " Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."In 2:5 there was no plants, no thing.In 1:11 the seed is already in the ground. Where did they come from? I believe they are both fact.But I believe they are talking about two different men who lived a very, very, very, very, very, very long time apart.But as I have said before, in God's plans for us it is immaterial.
It just makes it easier to understand and explain what Moses was trying to convey to mankind that God had shown him.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Thank you for the exchange. Such an assertion seems partially valid and a more complete understanding appears readily available. The present opinion suggests the serpent's act of deception remains the primary cause, initially allowing the couple a comparative basis to the God's Words. The deception concerning the God's Words is indeed coupled with actual disobedience and disregard when Adam listens to another person, Eve, who encourages him to disregard the advice of the One who loves them the most. This second mechanism is not delivered as deception; as ICANT as shown, it involved being 'disobedient', or enacting a decision based upon destructive motivating impulses.Primarily, the seed of knowledge/awareness of evil gets planted within reality by the serpent's deception of (Eve, the mother of) all the living. Secondarily, the 'evil' seed is watered by Adam's decision to serve his companion's advice, instead of his Father the God's advice. The knowledge/awareness of evil was a seed planted by a lesser creature in mankind's reality; not to be confused with disobedience on mankind's behalf. The two appear quite distinct and seem consecutive of one another.Mercy trumps judgement.One Love