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 the LORD God
caused a deep sleep
To fall on Adam, and
he slept; and He took
One of his ribs, and
closed up the flesh in its place.
Then the rib which
the LORD God had taken
From man He made into
a woman, and He
Brought to the man.
Genesis 2:7,21–22
Preexistence
makes cause for many questions; i.e., when was the soul created, or is the soul
a god and is an eternal being, or does the soul have as one of its attributes
that the soul is to be of the same essence as the Father God, and if God, as
the Mormons teach is anthropomorphic, is the soul anthropomorphic, etc.? The
Platonic and Realistic theories do not allow for God to have in His mind, as
does an artist when about to paint a picture, a conception of that which He is
about to make. These are two different theories. It is only a figure of speech
to say that a picture exists as a conception in the artist’s mind. If the
beginning foundation of a doctrine is built on falsehood, then even when it is
seen as though it had validity, it does not, for nothing good can come from
that which is bad; that is unless God changes it, and God never says anything
about conceptions that are to be changed, rather God will change the soul by
giving to man, a living soul, the gift of faith by means of the free gift of
faith. Now man can think and act differently, and can by the guidance of the
Holy Spirit do those things which God by His Providence gives to man to do.
Even when the word “Christian” is attached to a doctrine it does mean that the
doctrine is valid in the eyes of God. To seek the origin of the soul is to
attempt to find answers and the Platonic, and Realist look outside of the
reveal God in His Word, the Holy Bible to find answers by reason and rationale.
Many Christian Theologians were influenced by Neoplatonism and this philosophy
can be found in their theologies, and in their writings.
I spoke in
earlier blogs in regards to Neoplatonism a system developed in Alexandria in
the third century by Plotinus and others who attempted to syncretize Christian
concepts, some Judaism concepts with elements of mysticism and posited that
there was a single source from which all existence emanates and by which an
individual soul can be mystically united with that single source. This
philosophical system greatly influenced one of the first theologians, Origen
(184/185 A.D.–253/254 A.D.) who lived in Alexandria and heard Ammonius Saccus possibly
and knew Plotinus possibly, however, Origen did not teach true Platonic
philosophy of an ideal world, a dualism which was enhanced and even refuted in
some ways by Neoplatonists for Origen he supposed that the souls of men had a
separate, conscious, personal existence in a previous state ( as do Mormons),
furthermore these preexistent souls sinned or at least in a state of sin and
then are condemned to a physical body. Origen taught a theology of an eternal
creation. That is, this present state of being is only one epoch, an era in the
existence of the human soul. The soul has passed through several, of not many,
other epochs and even were in other forms of existence, and will go through
other epochs and forms in the future. This is what the Orientals, Buddhists,
Hinduism teaches, and has taught for many centuries. This is to teach a
doctrine of metempsychosis, a transmigration of the soul. This doctrine of an
endless transmutation of the soul has never been adopted in the Christian
Church, it can be said that it began with Origen and ended with the death of
Origen as it was rejected by both Greeks and Latins, yet there are those who
have attempted in some form of this theory to resurrect it and teach it to
their parishioners. This doctrine does not pretend to have Scriptural support,
or to be Scriptural for the Bible never speaks of a creation of men before
Adam, or that the soul was anterior to the creation of Adam. That man, or the
soul that according to the above theory that says that the soul was in some
sort of state to be in sin and was placed due to that sin in a physical body.
Scripture only states as the opening Scripture testifies to, that our soul was
placed in man by God and that the soul was not in sinfulness prior to Adam’s
fall in sin. It is by our first parents that sin came into the world. It is
presumption to say that all souls were created before the creation of man, that
the soul was in some sort of unconscious state and then were awaken and placed
into the physical body of man.
This then
leads us back to the original subject of the doctrine of Original Sin. Further
questions are such as; how is it that the soul is in sin, and was our sin
generated and passed on to their progeny by their sinful act? Before we
continue on the subject of Original Sin we must attend to the other doctrines
or theories in regards to the soul. The next blog will begin a discussion of
the theory of Tradcianism and whether or not it is a Scriptural theory and how
the Church approach this doctrine or theory. Important are these questions as
to whether or not the soul was created, or whether it is simply generated by
the parents. How the soul came to be in man is so important. Stay with me as
the answer is one of more than the generation of the soul, it has to do with
salvation and the regeneration of man as God created, a perfect man, a man that
sinned, and how we by repentance can come to be a child of God.
When I was a child,
I spoke as
a child,
I understand as a child,
I thought
as a child;
But when I became a man,
I put away
childish things.
1Corinthians 13:11
Do not rejoice in iniquity: shun the world’s promotion of
sin
Richard L. Crumb
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