Scott,
Looks like I am falling behind. Here is the response to the second half of your second email. Hopefully I can get to the last one before the weekend is out.
I suspect I am not going to be able to provide for you the proof you are seeking. It is quite correct in seeing that the word soul in Genesis 2:7 is the same as the word creature in 2:20 & 24. And in all three cases you will find the word ‘living’ preceding soul or creature.
But let me take another stab at this. The Hebrew word ‘bara’ is translated as create in the Genesis account. It is a word that is used only in relation with God’s activity. According to Vines this word carries the idea of creation out of nothing.
This word is used three times in the 1st chapter of Genesis. This first is in verse 1 where “God created the heavens and the earth”. In verse 21 “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” And in verse 27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Nowhere else is this passage does God create from nothing. In the first instance he created all of the matter in the universe. Then he called things into being and the vegetation was produced from the land. Then he creates again, and this time it is animal life. He seems to have added to the sea creatures something that was not yet in creation. And then the land brought forth the land animals, more soulish creatures. Finally, in the final act, he created again and produced us. He seems to have given to us something that did not yet exist even in the living creatures. He gave to us what I called an eternal spirit in the original post. Man was ‘made in the image of God’ in 1:26-27 and ‘filled with the breath of God’ in 2:7.
From what I understand you are quite correct in seeing the ancient Hebrews with a very limited understanding of the body, soul & spirit composition of humans. That is a concept that develops very slowly and is developed most completely by Paul and others of his generation. But I do not believe that is an argument for the spiritual aspect of man being a late development.
Even the Old Testament Hebrews had a concept of existence after death. In 2 Samuel 12:22-23 you find David no longer mourning for a dead child. He knows the child will not come to him but he will go to the dead child. This seems to mean more than just death. It is a reference to an undeveloped concept of the abode of the dead. An indication that they expected something after life is finished on the earth.
The kingdom of heaven is indeed within us. Luke 17:20-21 says ‘Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”’ Many other times Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom was near or at hand. I would see the Kingdom of God has being the rule of God in the lives of his people. That kingdom is established now for sure. But it will also endure forever.
In passages like John 14: 1-3 it is clear that Jesus was telling his disciples that there was life beyond the tomb. In 1 Corinthians 15:16-18; 42-54 Paul makes it clear that he held fast to a belief in a resurrection and new life that was immortal. The concept of eternal life is very clear and very well developed in the New Testament. If we limit our existence, our purpose, to this life we have to gut a lot of the teaching of the New Testament. The whole teaching of the New Testament is centered around the life and work of Jesus, who came to redeem us from our sin and to provide for us eternal life.
This seems somewhat disjointed and incomplete but I want to get it out for you tonight and it is getting late. Please fell free to continue with any of these points or anything else that I have missed.
Oldman