The Soul is the Image of God, not the Body

[robert derrick]

God created the soul of man in His image, not the body of man.

The image of the invisible God is the soul, and neither God nor the soul of man, can be seen with the naked eye.

The image of God is Spirit, and so is the soul of man. The soul of man is not natural flesh and blood, that cannot inherit the invisible kingdom of God.

All paganism of man begins with the lie, that the body of man is God's image: Anthropomorphism, which the Greeks and Romans worshipped in style.

It makes the image of the invisible God into the idolatry of the physical body:

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

This also produces the natural theology, that the soul of man is only natural flesh and blood: Mortal soul theology.

It's worse than the natural man, that simply rejects the truth of God the Creator, because it is the pseudo-wisdom of theology, that turns the truth of the eternal Word, into a lie of mortal creatures.

 

[robert derrick]

Even worse than normal naturalized theology, is saying the world itself is created in the image of God.

This is pagan spiritism and Christian mysticism, where the world is the image of God, and so God's image is seen in His creation;

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

It's one thing to see the handiwork of God in His creation, but entirely another to say God and His face is seen in the stars, sky, trees, rivers, hills, man and other moving creatures: Astrology worship of the heavens, and pagan worship of natural things.

When we understand this natural pagan theology of man's body, and the world itself, being made in God's image, we then can see how man could ever make their gods, as the Egyptians, into birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. It's the naturalized theology, that says God's image is seen in them too. God is them too.

Beginning with the lie of man's body being created in God's image, comes the paganism of God is His own creation.

 

[robert derrick]

And finally the most delusional of all, is to then to leap off the cliff of reality, and say the world created in the image of God, is therefore image only, and not real, as though all things in heaven and earth are just temporary figments of the imagination.

So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

It all begins with declaring the body of any man, or beast, is created in the image of God, and so is the image and face of God, that can be seen with the naked eye.

Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?

These ancient reprobates of the house of Israel, had gone on to also believe all natural things are but imagery only, and not real. Life is not real, and so the present troubles of life are just figments of the imagination.

For they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

And so, judgement of God also is only imagery and not real.

What is the conclusion? There is a Christian theology, that begins with man's body is the image of God, and ends with certain Christians are no more judged for the deeds of their bodies. Why not? Because the body is only an image, and their deeds are just imagined, so that they cannot be condemned as real, or really sinful.

 

[Robert Gwin]

God created the soul of man in His image, not the body of man.

The image of the invisible God is the soul, and neither God nor the soul of man, can be seen with the naked eye.

The image of God is Spirit, and so is the soul of man. The soul of man is not natural flesh and blood, that cannot inherit the invisible kingdom of God.

All paganism of man begins with the lie, that the body of man is God's image: Anthropomorphism, which the Greeks and Romans worshipped in style.

It makes the image of the invisible God into the idolatry of the physical body:

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

This also produces the natural theology, that the soul of man is only natural flesh and blood: Mortal soul theology.

It's worse than the natural man, that simply rejects the truth of God the Creator, because it is the pseudo-wisdom of theology, that turns the truth of the eternal Word, into a lie of mortal creatures.

Soul is the English word that equates to the Hebrew word Nephesh, and the Greek word Psykhe Robert. They literally mean breathing creature, and the term applies to all fleshly beings.

 

[robert derrick]

Soul is the English word that equates to the Hebrew word Nephesh, and the Greek word Psykhe Robert. They literally mean breathing creature, and the term applies to all fleshly beings.

The soul being the mortal body is the source of JW's, who simply want to do away with everlasting tormenting punishment.

They don't even care about their made up created christ, except as a prop for souls being mortal bodies.

 

[Tommy Cool]

God created the soul of man in His image, not the body of man.

Sorry …but there is not verse that states God created the soul of man.

It say Gen 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.

Soul was created in Gen 1:21 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.

The word creature is (nephesh) = soul

And soul life is in the blood Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

The word life is (nephesh) = soul …..and God states soul life is in the blood.

 

[QuantumBit]

Interesting thread @robert derrick . Your interpretation of Soul is similar to what I believe.

Here is how I interpret Soul according to Scripture...

Soul is a Lifeform's Genome. In other words, Soul is the 'invisible information' necessary to create the Body...

John 1:14
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

The Word of God is often synonymous with DNA in the Bible. When combined with Spirit, the Soul becomes alive.

Therefore, Man is taking God's original DNA blueprints and making those corruptible creatures you referenced...

Romans 1:22-23
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."

By the way, the above verse describes Baphomet.

Anyhow, here are some interesting verses about Soul being separate from the Body...

1 Kings 17:21
"And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again."

1 Kings 17:22
"And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."

Obviously the Soul cannot be synonymous with the Body if the Soul can leave the Body and return.

 

[Robert Gwin]

The soul being the mortal body is the source of JW's, who simply want to do away with everlasting tormenting punishment.

They don't even care about their made up created christ, except as a prop for souls being mortal bodies.

Of course it is either true or false Robert. What does the Bible teach sir?

 

[Bob Estey]

God created the soul of man in His image, not the body of man.

The image of the invisible God is the soul, and neither God nor the soul of man, can be seen with the naked eye.

The image of God is Spirit, and so is the soul of man. The soul of man is not natural flesh and blood, that cannot inherit the invisible kingdom of God.

All paganism of man begins with the lie, that the body of man is God's image: Anthropomorphism, which the Greeks and Romans worshipped in style.

It makes the image of the invisible God into the idolatry of the physical body:

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

This also produces the natural theology, that the soul of man is only natural flesh and blood: Mortal soul theology.

It's worse than the natural man, that simply rejects the truth of God the Creator, because it is the pseudo-wisdom of theology, that turns the truth of the eternal Word, into a lie of mortal creatures.

Interesting concept.

 

[robert derrick]

Sorry …but there is not verse that states God created the soul of man.

Since there is no objection to the argument made, then it's conclusion still stands.

However, It's also a fair point to say no Scripture specifically says the soul is the image of God. In such cases God provides plenty of Scriptures proving it must be so. Other doctrines are proven the same way, such as man having free will, and the Son is God.

So, let's look at what Scripture does say about the body, the soul, the image of God, and the image of man.

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.

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air;

The bodies of all creatures are the same upon the earth, in being formed by God, but with different shapes.

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Man's bodily shape is the image of man, that God formed differently from that of all other creatures on earth.

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 living soul of man is personally breathed into our body, which God does not do with any other creature. Man becoming a living soul is the only difference spoken of in creation between man and beast. It is only the body formed of the earth, that is common to all creatures on earth

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The body and soul are not the same. Neither in life nor in creation. The body is shaped flesh, like all creatures, and the soul is breathed Spirit: the special uniqueness between man and beast, is the soul independent of the body, which beasts are not created with by God.

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Only with man on earth, is our soul not the body, nor dependent upon the body for life. When all creatures die, their spirits return to God, but only man has a soul being absent from the body.

Beasts of the field do not put off their bodily tabernacles, to be present with the Lord.

Conclusion: The body and soul of man are not the same. The body is formed as the image of man one earth, and so it is the soul, that is created in the image of God, and breathed by the Spirit into a body of flesh.

 

[robert derrick]

Sorry …but there is not verse that states God created the soul of man.

It say Gen 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.

Soul was created in Gen 1:21 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.

The word creature is (nephesh) = soul

And soul life is in the blood Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

The word life is (nephesh) = soul …..and God states soul life is in the blood.

Scripture declares that man is the only living soul on earth, and that only man is created in the image of God.

Trying to make all creatures to be 'souls' by definition of words, is grammar only, not doctrine of God.

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Scripture of God is the revelation and doctrine of truth of God. It is not as book of man, that can be defined by scientific analyses. It's not the used words of man by God, that makes the truth of God, but it's how God uses them, that reveals the eternal truth and doctrine of God.

God never calls any other creature on earth, a living soul, nor that He creates any other creature on earth in His image.

So, pseudo-scientists can talk all they wish about nephesh appearing in the Bible, but they will never acknowledge and know the truth of God and man, without observing properly how that word is used in Scripture.

Appealing to man's definition of nephesh alone, has as much relevance to the doctrine of God and man's soul, as that of Gilgamesh.

One is scientific, and the other is fable, and both are man's own imagination inserted into the Bible as being doctrine of God.

 

[robert derrick]

And once again, there is always one or two Scriptures, that end every argument, and we either believe the word as written, or we show we are wanting to believe and teach something of our own.

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

Man's body is not formed nor shaped in the image of God; otherwise, we would see God's image and shape everytime we look at ourselves in the mirror.

The beginning of all idolatry of man, is thinking to see the image of God, when they look at the shape of their own faces and bodies.

It's the anthropomorphism of Greek and Roman idolatry of the body of man.

It least to the even more insane idolatry of four-footed beasts and creeping things of the earth, also said to be shaped in the image of God, whose creation is His image and shape.

 

[Enoch111]

God created the soul of man in His image, not the body of man.

Then why did Christ take a human body and why does God say that He will glorify the bodies of His children? You are promoting Gnosticism. Christians consist of spirits, souls, and bodies, and those bodies will be perfected, immortalized, and glorified to resemble the glorious body of Christ, who is now in Heaven in that same body.

The "Son of Man" is seen as a Man in Daniel 7. So God always planned to have the Son of God also be the Son of Man at the same time. That was the only way to bring salvation to the human race.

 

[robert derrick]

Anyhow, here are some interesting verses about Soul being separate from the Body...

1 Kings 17:21
"And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again."

1 Kings 17:22
"And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."

Excellent. Once the truth is made known in Scripture, then other Scriptures will confirm it.

Obviously the Soul cannot be synonymous with the Body if the Soul can leave the Body and return.

It's as simple as that.

Actually, the whole natural theology of the soul being the mortal body, is only a front for doing away with everlasting torment and punishment of souls.

They teach oblivion, where the soul dies with the body and ceases to exist. Of course, bones never really cease to exist, but can only degrade into their atomic parts, even when consumed with fire: dust returns to dust.

Showing that the body is not the image of God, only further disproves the natural theology heresy of idolatrous man.

 

[robert derrick]

Soul is the English word that equates to the Hebrew word Nephesh, and the Greek word Psykhe Robert. They literally mean breathing creature, and the term applies to all fleshly beings.

Scientific analyses of words applied to Scripture of God, only teaches man's natural thinking, rather than inspired doctrine of God.

It's how God uses man's words for doctrine, that He reveals all truth of God and man and angels.

Man can call any creature on earth a soul, all he wants, but only God says man is created by His breathed Spirit, and so becomes a living soul. God is the eternal Person, and so is man an immortal personal soul created in His image.

All Scripture is prophecy and doctrine of God, and so all Scripture must be translated as such, and not just reduced to impersonal scientific inquiry.

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

Prophets, apostles, and teachers of Scripture are not just impersonal professors, because Scripture is not about scholarship of words only.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

That's why God's believers teach Scripture and it's proper sense, while unbelieving men strip Scripture of inspiration of God, and reduce the Bible to just another book of man's scholarship.

 

[robert derrick]

Of course it is either true or false Robert. What does the Bible teach sir?

The truth is that natural mortal soul theology is made up, only to be used to teach oblivion, that does away with everlasting torment for the wicked.

It is used to say Jesus was dead and nonexistent for three days in the tomb, and so all souls cease to exist with the dead body.

The fact of the soul being the image of God, and not the body, is to further debunk natural mortal soul theology.

All created christs are, of course, falsely made by idolatrous man.

 

[robert derrick]

Once again, here is how idolatrous men use the natural mortal soul theology, to teach a created christ.

If the body of man is also the image of God, then the soul alone is cannot be the image of God. And since man is created in the image of God, then the soul can never be separate from the body: There is no soul without the body, nor body without the soul, which is mortal soul theology.

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Therefore, the Word was not the express image of God's Person in the beginning, but rather needed to be created like all men, in order to become a soul and body made in the image of God.

The Word was not the soul of the Son, but only after the Word was made flesh, did the Son become a man with soul and body created by God.

Therefore, they say Heb 1:2-3 is not an eternal expression of the Word, but a mortal one like all men, only after being made flesh.

 

[robert derrick]

Then why did Christ take a human body

Why man is made with flesh and blood bodies, is not the question here.

The truth is, that the soul of man is made in the image of the eternal and invisible God: man's soul is immortal and invisible, and cannot be seen with naked eyes of flesh and blood.

The proof is that man's body is only a temporary earthen vessel shaped in the image of man, not immortally created in the image of God.

The Word is the eternal express image of God, and became a man with mortal body, that He may suffer righteously and die bodily for man.

and why does God say that He will glorify the bodies of His children?

He resurrects our dead bodies to become immortal as our souls. He glorifies the souls of His obedient sons, that walk as Jesus walked on earth.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

You are promoting Gnosticism.

Gnosticism is the body with a temporary soul and spirit only. The body and spirit departs the body, before the death of the body.

Scripture is the body is a temporary vessel for the soul, that dies when the soul departs the body.

Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Peter was not a gnostic.

Christians consist of spirits, souls, and bodies, and those bodies will be perfected, immortalized, and glorified to resemble the glorious body of Christ, who is now in Heaven in that same body.

True. In the resurrection of the dead bodies of the just, the souls of the righteous now in the presence of the Lord, will be in the likeness of His resurrection.

Bodies are not glorified, but personal souls are glorified with the glory of God. Men's bodies are along for the ride, both temporally on earth, and eternally after their resurrection from the graves.

Man drives the car, and the care is nothing without the man. Man is not the body nor the care alone.

The "Son of Man" is seen as a Man in Daniel 7.

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

You corrupt Scripture for your own creative purposes.

The Word was seen in shape like a man, to be seen of Daniel. The same as the Word took on the form of a man to be seen of Abraham and Jacob.

The Word was not a man, until He was made flesh in the image of man.

So God always planned to have the Son of God also be the Son of Man at the same time. That was the only way to bring salvation to the human race.

True. The Father commanded the Spirit to fashion a body of flesh from the virgin's womb, for the Word to come down from heaven, likewise commanded by the Father, and enter that body, and be the only-begotten Son of God, and a man of natural flesh and blood on earth.

The Word became flesh, that the Son might suffer righteously and die for sins of man.

 

[Tommy Cool]

Scripture of God is the revelation and doctrine of truth of God.

That we both agree on.... But then you deny the scripture on soul life

Trying to make all creatures to be 'souls' by definition of words, is grammar only, not doctrine of God.

God actually uses grammar to communicate and if God says that the soul of the flesh is in the blood ...that settles it for me ...what you believe is up to you.
And if God says that soul life was created in mammals first that is what God means.


To Create = “bara” in Hebrew - according to biblical use is to bring something into existence that did not exist before, or to make something out of nothing.
Only God can create …. man can fabricate, build, construct, design, make, assemble, etc.… but man cannot create.

Once God creates something He does not need to create it again, because it now exists…. He can just speak it into being,….as He did with the reestablishment of the earth from verse 3 through 14 ..He just spoke it into existence, because it had already been created, when He created the heavens and the earth in verse 1……It is not until Genesis 1:21 that God again creates in great whales and every living creature that moveth…………….. soul life.

Soul life is our breath life ....

In Leviticus God tells us…..where the soul is....

Lev 17:11 For the life [nephesh] of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls [nephesh]: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul [nephesh]

The word life in this verse is the same word for soul (nephesh)

Going back to basic Biology: Oxygen is delivered throughout the body by means of the red blood cells ….actually it is the hemoglobin molecules from the red cells that deliver the oxygen to the individual cells in the body tissue. The bloodstream also picks up CO2 from the body and returns it to the lunges to be exhaled…

What happens when we die? The heart, which pumps the blood, which delivers the oxygen to the brain …… stops….. soul life ceases in that particular person…. but is carried on through progeny. But if there is no offspring, the soul is gone when that person dies; there is nothing immortal about the soul. The immortality of the soul came from Plato and was adopted into religion... it does not come from the Bible.

In Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (chay nephesh) God did not create soul again He (using the figure of speech) breathed into his nostrils the breath of life...

The words breathed into his nostrils is the figure of speech anthropopatheia or condescension. This figure is used of the ascription of human passions, actions, or attributes, to God….because God is spirit and has no form.
(Of the 219 known figures of speech God uses over 214 in the Bible.)

The same soul life that God created in Genesis 1:21, is the same soul life that God breathed into Adam, which made Adam a living soul….It is also the same soul life that continues in mankind today.

God never calls any other creature on earth, a living soul, nor that He creates any other creature on earth in His image.

The Bible is not about Zoology.... it's about man and his redeemer. God has already stated that mammals have soul (which is in the blood)

 

[Robert Gwin]

Scientific analyses of words applied to Scripture of God, only teaches man's natural thinking, rather than inspired doctrine of God.

It's how God uses man's words for doctrine, that He reveals all truth of God and man and angels.

Man can call any creature on earth a soul, all he wants, but only God says man is created by His breathed Spirit, and so becomes a living soul. God is the eternal Person, and so is man an immortal personal soul created in His image.

All Scripture is prophecy and doctrine of God, and so all Scripture must be translated as such, and not just reduced to impersonal scientific inquiry.

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

Prophets, apostles, and teachers of Scripture are not just impersonal professors, because Scripture is not about scholarship of words only.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

That's why God's believers teach Scripture and it's proper sense, while unbelieving men strip Scripture of inspiration of God, and reduce the Bible to just another book of man's scholarship.

Actually it stated only man was created in God's image Robert. If the Bible calls animals souls, I do not disagree with it sir.