ADAM
The conventional interpretation of the creation story is that Adam is the first human. It is hard for people who read the Bible literally to avoid this interpretation. Nevertheless, consistent with our arguments in Literal or Symbolic Interpretation: Part 1,we choose to see the story very differently. For example, we do not see Adam as the first physical man. Rather, we see him as the symbol of the first spiritual man: Jesus
As evidence for this opinion, we offer Genesis 1:26 in which God says:
And God said , Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
What God really meant differs greatly from traditional, literal interpretations.
First we see that man does not refer to a single man but to all mankind — both male and female. Therefore, the Hebrew word ‘adam should be interpreted as inclusive mankind until the point that God blew spiritual life into his nostrils. From then on, ‘adam is appropriately interpreted as Adam, a unique, spiritual man.
Next we must consider the nature of God and man. God is spirit, but man consists of spirit, soul and body, where the body is formed out of the dust of the earth.
AUTHORS’ NOTE: Readers who bother to click on Adam and earth will notice that the Hebrew words ‘adam and ‘adamah are very similar even though the technical definitions are different. Since we are always looking for the spiritual meaning of scripture, however, we make the connection here to the symbolism that equates man to earth. This may not seem important in the Genesis story, but it does become very important in Exodus 20:24-25 and following scriptures where altars are mentioned. What we learn from this association is that the kinds of altars God recognizes and commands people to build are not physical altars but are spiritual altars (i.e. hearts). We have discussed altars in more detail in Altars.
This great contrast between spirit and body makes it obvious that the physical likeness of God was not created when natural man was created in Genesis 1:26. Therefore, Genesis 1:26 cannot apply to the creation of a singular, natural man. What it does refer to, however, is the creation of the first spiritual man, the one to whom Jesus is likened in 1 Corinthians 15:45 KJV:
And so it is written , The first man Adam was made * a livingsoul; the last Adam was made a quickeningspirit.
We conclude, therefore, that God did not make physical man in this phase of creation. Instead, Genesis 1:26 is a separate phase of creation in which he created man as a spiritual being in God’s image. In other words, mankind, including the one named Adam already existed as a physical being when God transformed him into a spiritual being in the image of God. This was the beginning of God’s plan to populate the world not just with physical people but spiritual people in his likeness.
Faced with this alternative interpretation, readers will naturally ask about the creation of the first physical man. Our answer to that is found earlier in Genesis 1:24-25:
And God said , Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Clicks on the links in this scripture reveal the definitions of the original words from which the English words are translated. This investigation leads us to the conclusion that living creature , thing, beast, cattle and creepeth all have definitions that apply to man. They are not definitions that are exclusive to animals. The words ” living creature ,” definitely apply to man because they include the concept of soul. And “creepeth” and “thing” can also be interpreted to apply to man without stretching the definitions unreasonably. Therefore, we conclude that physical man was created along with all the other animals.
The creation of man in both his physical and spiritual form is commonly interpreted to have happened in Genesis 1:26-27:
And God said , Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The way we see it, the creation of man was a two-step process. First God created the physical man in Genesis 1:24-25, and the spiritual part (i.e. in God’s image) in Genesis 1:26-27. The completion of the spiritual part is accomplished in Genesis 2:7:
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.
The breath of life is the same as being filled with the Holy Spirit — the same Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:45 KJV that applies to both Adam and Jesus. Adam already had physical life, but he needed spiritual life in order to fulfill God’s plan for him.
The way we see it, this interpretation of the creation of the physical and then the spiritual man is entirely consistent with what God says in 1 Corinthians 15:41-49:
The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
The way we see it, when God said the natural came first and the spiritual followed, he was not talking only about the examples cited in the passage, He was also making a point about how He works in general. If that is correct, then He would be faithful to follow that pattern in how He reveals Himself in His word. It is important, therefore, to always apply this principle when studying the Bible. And the way we do that is by reading the natural (i.e. literal) word and then asking God to reveal the spiritual understanding to us.
So what is the pattern? We think it is found most clearly in these two statements in verses 44 and 46:
“… if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ””The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.”
Since this is what God said, we do well to apply that pattern in our interpretation of the creation of man as well as other parts of the Bible . In other words, God first created the natural Adam, and then he created the spiritual Adam. Looking at it that way has several applications.
