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Origin of Life
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This is probably one of the more difficult subjects to tackle in the study of the Bible. Besides salvation through faith in Christ, which has more rejection in this world than anything else, the subject of life, birth, abortion and such, generate a great deal of emotional reaction in folks than almost any other subject.
It is interesting that folks will not view their own spiritual life with much passion, but they will take any given subject, isolate it from all of the other subjects, and express extreme passion regarding it.
That of course should teach us all something. And that is, that folks who lack spiritual knowledge, are the folks who get all upset over subjects over which they know virtually nothing about.
Life is a good subject to help the student of the scriptures to learn about many of the terms and original language meanings. Because without that knowledge, then you are left with emotion and popular thought, and that is a product of worldliness and evil. Or something to get you caught up in controversy rather than knowledge, speculation rather than certainty, opinion rather than truth.
There are two fundamental views on the origin of life – Creationism and Traducianism.
Creationism is the view that all life originates from God. This is of course the view of Christianity.
Traducianism is the view that all life originates from the physical universe. This view was originated by Tertullian who lived from 155-200 A.D., and really did not come into world view until 1836 through the work of Charles Darwin.
In short, Traducianism states that all life originated from the beginnings of the universe, and evolved through many various processes into its current state. That all life, whether human, plant, or animal, originates totally from the physical and material universe. This follows that the human soul is material and mortal, just as the human body is material and mortal, and both are subject to permanent termination. Thus the view that human life is perpetuated from conception.
In the political arena of today’s world, the political left, the liberal side of politics, has adopted the right to choose, or pro-abortion view, which view is completely contrary to the general views of the liberal left which generally pursues big government and the elimination of ones personal right to choose.
The political right has adopted the right to life and the anti-abortion position, which again is contrary to the general views of the political right, which pursues the concept of less government and the right of a person to make their own choices.
So, odd as it may seem, both sides have adopted contradictory views with respect to abortion, verses their overall general views concerning society and government and so forth.
But, getting back to our subject on the origin of life.
There are a few questions that need to be addressed.
First, is life all from one source and or from one type, or second, does life come in various components and not from one same source. In other words, is human life all from a material inseparable source, or is it from a material and an immaterial source and therefore separable.
So here is where we go to the Bible.
The first stop is the terminology used in the Bible.
There are several fundamental terms used for creation in the Bible – bara, asah, yatsar, banah.
There are a couple of terms used for life – ruwach, naphach, nashamah, chayyah.
The meanings of these terms are as follows:
bara, to create something out of nothing.
asah, to create something based on a pattern.
yatsar, to create something out of a material.
banah, to create something by building it out of something that already exists.
ruwach, the immaterial spirit (could refer to God or to man).
naphach, to breathe (either inhale or exhale).
nashamah, the spark of life.
chayyah nephesh , the living human soul.
As to the nature of life, the Bible clearly states that the life of the material and the immaterial are two and separate and distinct things, with two and separate and distinct origins.
Upon death, we are separated from the body – ‘absent from the body and face to face with the Lord,’ 2 Cor. 5:8.
This verse addresses the separation of two components of life, one from the other. Just as you live within your home in the city or country, but you are separate from that structure, so too, the soul is a separate structure residing in the body of flesh and bone.
Eccl. 12:7
7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. NASB
And this verse indicates the origin of both life components. The life in the physical body comes for the earth, or from the dust or chemicals of the ground. We call this life, biological life. And to the dust it returns when the person dies.
The life which is in the soul comes from God, is immaterial, and to God it returns.
God is the origin of all life. In the creation chapters of Genesis, it is clear that God created each category of life on different occasions. In Gen. 1:11, God created vegetation. In Gen. 1:20, God created the fish and birds. In Gen. 1:24, God created the cattle and snakes and such. All of these things were created on different days. None of them arose out of each other, but came into existence as original components of creation.
Gen. 1:11
11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so. NASB
Gen. 1:20
20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." NASB
Gen. 1:24
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so. NASB
Then in Gen. 1:26, God created man. And that is really where our study begins.
Gen. 1:26
And God ['elohiym] said, ['amar] Let us make [`asah] man ['adam] in our image,
27 So God ['elohiym] created [bara'] man ['adam] in his own image, [tselem] in the image [tselem] of God ['elohiym] created [bara'] he him; male [zakar] and female [naqebah] created [bara'] he them.
The key words for creation here are ‘asah’ and ‘bara.’
The word for make is ‘asah,’ which means to create after a pattern. The pattern is that of Gods image. Since God is spirit, then this means to create man in the form of a spirit, or an immaterial life form.
The word for created is ‘bara,’ which means to create out of nothing. Therefore, God created out of nothing, mans spirit, which we call human life.
This concept applies to both male and female, Adam and Eve, with respect to their human lives. So God created Eve as well, after the same method as that of Adam, even though Eve did not come along until later.
But the pattern for all of human life is established here. There will be other verses later in this study to support that.
Both ‘asah’ and ‘bara’ are connected in Gen. 1:26-27, in reference to the immaterial part of human life, and were created after the pattern of Gods spirit.
Gen 2:7
And the LORD [Yahovah] God ['elohiym] formed [yatsar] man ['adam] of the dust [`aphar] of [min] the ground, ['adamah] and breathed [naphach] into his nostrils ['aph] the breath [nashamah] of life; [chay] and man ['adam] became a living [chay] soul. [nephesh]
Gen 2:22
And the rib, [tsela`] which the LORD [Yahovah] God ['elohiym] had taken [laqach] from man, ['adam] made [banah] he a woman, ['ishshah] and brought [bow'] her unto the man. ['adam]
In Genesis 2, we learn of the composition of mans material part, the dust of the earth. This is the biological part of humanity.
The word for formed is ‘yatsar,’ to make, fashion, or create something out of a material. In this case the dust or chemicals of the ground are used to fashion man. This is the basis for what we have come to discover as the genetics, DNA, and such things as our physical makeup.
The word for Eve’s creation is ‘banah,’ which means to be built. Have you ever wondered why women are referred to as built? Well, Eve was built from a preexisting thing, Adam’s rib. But since Adam’s rib came from the dust, then Eve also came from the dust, only through Adam.
Both physical bodies were fashioned out of the dust of the earth. And thus from the dust they came, therefore to the dust they will return upon their physical death.
But the verse has one more component which is needed in order to make man alive, and that is the breath of life mentioned in Gen. 2:7.
God has created mans body out of dust (biological), and then He breathed, ‘naphach,’ Gods exhale, into mans nostrils (which must exist before they can be breathed into - mans inhale), the spark of life, ‘nashamah,’ human life, separately created, into mans soul, ‘chay nephesh.’
Thus the concept of Creationism means God creates life, not the material universe around us. That God imputes life after the body is formed, that life does not come into existence at conception as promoted by Darwinism. And more importantly, that the physical body and the immaterial soul are two separate and distinct entities.
Isa 2:22
Cease [chadal] ye from man, ['adam] whose breath [nashamah] is in his nostrils: ['aph] for wherein is he to be accounted of [chashab]?
Soul life comes from God and not from man. Man does not perpetuate himself through physical propagation.
‘Chashab,’ is a living soul.
Isa 57:16
For I will not contend [riyb] for ever, [`owlam] neither will I be always [netsach] wroth: [qatsaph] for the spirit [ruwach] should fail [`ataph] before [paniym] me, and the souls [nashamah] which I have made. [`asah]
Ruwach is the spirit of man and is the human life immaterial part. God is the continuing creator of human life after Adam and Eve, and every person thereafter.
Isa 42:5
Thus saith ['amar] God ['el] the LORD, [Yahovah] he that created [bara'] the heavens, [shamayim] and stretched them out; [natah] he that spread forth [raqa`] the earth, ['erets] and that which cometh out [tse'etsa'] of it; he that giveth [nathan] breath [nashamah] unto the people [`am] upon it, and spirit [ruwach] to them that walk [halak] therein:
God created the universe out of nothing and continues to create human life at birth (after the formation of the physical body), in all of history, after the same pattern of Adam and Eve’s creation, by breathing the spark of life, ‘nashamah,’ into mans immaterial spirit or soul.
Job 33:4
The Spirit [ruwach] of God ['el] hath made [`asah] me, and the breath [nashamah] of the Almighty [Shadday] hath given me life. [chayah]
The spirit of God is the pattern, ‘asah,’ of mans spirit, into which the breath of life (spark of life) was breathed to make a living soul, ‘chayah.’
Zec. 12:1
The burden [massa'] of the word [dabar] of the LORD [Yahovah] for Israel, [Yisra'el] saith [na'um] the LORD, [Yahovah] which stretcheth [natah] forth the heavens, [shamayim] and layeth the foundation [yacad] of the earth, ['erets] and formeth [yatsar] the spirit [ruwach] of man ['adam] within [qereb] him.
God perpetuates life not man. It is impossible for man to generate human life or a soul.
Here are several verses that indicate that mans life begins at birth (born of woman), not at conception.
Ecc. 3:2
A time [`eth] to be born, [yalad] and a time [`eth] to die; [muwth]
Mans life span is from birth to death – not conception to death.
Isa. 9:6
For unto us a child [yeled] is born,
Matt. 11:11
Verily [amen] I say [lego] unto you, [humin] Among [en] them that are born [gennetos] of women [gune] there hath [egeiro] not [ou] risen [egeiro] a greater than [meizon] John [Ioannes] the Baptist: [Baptistes]
Luke 2:11
For [hoti] unto you [humin] is born [tikto] this day [semeron] in [en] the city [polis] of David [Dabid] a Saviour, [soter] which [hos] is [esti] Christ [Christos] the Lord. [kurios]
Job 14:1
Man ['adam] that is born [yalad] of a woman ['ishshah] is of few [qatser] days, [yowm] and full [sabea] of trouble. [rogez]
Job 15:14
What is man, ['enowsh] that he should be clean [zakah]? and he which is born [yalad] of a woman, ['ishshah] that he should be righteous [tsadaq]?
Job 38:21
Knowest [yada`] thou it, because thou wast then born [yalad]? or because the number [micpar] of thy days [yowm] is great [rab]?
Job 3:11
Why died [muwth] I not from the womb [rechem]? why did I not give up the ghost [gava`] when I came out [yatsa'] of the belly [beten]?
Job 10:18
18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth [yatsa'] out of the womb [rechem]? Oh that I had given up the ghost, [gava`] and no eye [`ayin] had seen [ra'ah] me!
19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried [yabal] from the womb [beten] to the grave. [qeber]
Job 10:8
Thine hands [yad] have made [`atsab] me and fashioned [`asah] me together [yachad] round about; [cabiyb] yet thou dost destroy [bala`] me.
9 Remember, [zakar] I beseech thee, that thou hast made [`asah] me as the clay; [chomer] and wilt thou bring [shuwb] me into dust [`aphar] again [shuwb]?
Job 10:11
Thou hast clothed [labash] me with skin [`owr] and flesh, [basar] and hast fenced [suwk] me with bones [`etsem] and sinews. [giyd]
12 Thou hast granted [`asah] me life [chay] and favour, [checed] and thy visitation [p@quddah] hath preserved [shamar] my spirit. [ruwach]
Psa 22:9
But thou art he that took [giyach] me out of the womb: [beten] thou didst make me hope [batach] when I was upon my mother's ['em] breasts. [shad]
10 I was cast [shalak] upon thee from the womb: [rechem] thou art my God ['el] from my mother's ['em] belly. [beten]
Two typical terms used for birth ‘out from’ the womb are, min and beten, or mibeten which mean ‘out from the womb’ not from within the womb, Job 3:11, Job 10:19, Psa. 22:9-10. Life begins at the moment of birth, when God exhales the breath of life and the infant inhales the breath of life into his nostrils. That is the moment when human life springs into existence.
Probably the last concept regarding life is the penalty for taking life in murder.
Num. 35:31
31 'Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. NASB
When property is damaged, then the penalty for that damage is some form of restitution in payment for the value of the loss. However in the loss of life through murder, the penalty is capital punishment.
Ex 21:22
If men ['enowsh] strive, [natsah] and hurt [nagaph] a woman ['ishshah] with child, [hareh] so that her fruit [yeled] depart [yatsa'] from her, and yet no mischief follow: ['acown] he shall be surely [`anash] punished, [`anash] according as the woman's ['ishshah] husband [ba`al] will lay [shiyth] upon him; and he shall pay [nathan] as the judges [paliyl] determine.
In this passage, two men were fighting, the pregnant woman was somehow caught in the fight such that she aborted her pregnancy. The death of the fetus was not murder in that the fetus was not a living person. It had not breathed the breath of life. The penalty was for the loss of the value of the property (the pregnancy), the physical and emotional trauma which the woman was put through, and such.
Now, all that being said, you do not have to agree with abortion or disagree with it. In some societies dogs are the pets or dogs are the next meal. Neither side is wrong. They just have different views of mans best friend or meal as it were.
Personally I do not agree with abortion, because pregnancy is the mechanism of bringing new life into this world. And certainly, I disagree with many of the new procedures for aborting the fetus, especially when it is so near birth. But that being said, there are times when abortion is necessary or would be a better decision for the parents or parent. Such as in rape, or a girl who is simply too young to become a mom, or because of medical conditions, and so forth. Usually circumstances dictate the obvious course of choice.
And one more note here. Since pregnancy is a physical condition, and because this world is a material world, and ruled by Satan, many difficulties can arise from the conception of a child.
Genetics drive the formation of the fetus. Often times the fetus can have things go wrong in pregnancy or even after the child is born. Many a person is born with disabilities. Many more folks grow up and get cancers late in life. These things are all genetic or environmentally driven.
God is not the author of bad things, but this world is currently the devils world.
And whether you decide to abort because you know of a difficulty arising in the pregnancy, thus preventing a person from coming into a living world and dealing with a problem, or whether you decide to go along with the birth, and deal with the aftermath, is entirely up to you and your conscience.
Just remember one important thing. Jesus Christ controls history. And there is not one single person who He does not know. There is not one single person who He did not create. There is not one single person for whom he did not have a plan individually designed for their life.
A person not born does not exist and therefore nothing is missed.
God can impute life, into any person at His discretion. You were born into life at this time of history, because it was Gods pleasure, and for your best interest to do so now, rather than at some other time in history. Gods creation of life is not dependent on anything you do, or do not do.
Decisions based on sound doctrine are always good decisions. Never make decisions based on emotional uncertainty.
