In an article dated September 21, 2018, titled “The Human League: What Separates Us from Other Animals?” the British Newspaper The Guardian states the following:
“What a piece of work is a man! marvels Hamlet. How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! … In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! … The paragon of animals! Hamlet then ponders the paradox at the heart of humankind: what is this quintessence of dust? We are special, but we are also merely matter. We are animals, yet we behave like gods.
“Darwin riffed on Hamlet in 1871 in his second masterpiece, The Descent of Man, declaring that we have “god-like intellect”, yet we cannot deny that man – and woman – carries the “indelible stamp of his lowly origin”. This is the central question in understanding our place in the scheme of evolution.”
The article continues to discuss the similarities as well as the vast differences between man and other mammals. When man and animal are compared on the DNA and physical trait levels, the similarities are astounding. However, when behavior is considered – such as speech, language, consciousness, tool use, art, music, material culture, commerce, agriculture, non-reproduction sex, and many more – the differences between man and animals are massive.
Today evolution is commonly accepted as the true explanation of how man came into existence. What Evolution does not explain is why man came into existence. The answer to why God created man relates to God’s defining role as a Creator and His ultimate destiny for mankind (Proverbs 16:4 GNT).
The briefest of all creation outlines is in the first two verses of Genesis 1. The word “was” in verse 2 is the Hebrew word “hayah”. It means “to come to pass” or better translated in this verse as “became”. Time passed between when this earth was first created and when it became without form and void. Considering that the earth is estimated to be billions of years old, it could have been a very long time. But God does not create anything in chaos, without form and void, but rather in a state of order and purpose (Genesis 1:1-2, Isaiah 45:18).
At some time, God returned to His earthly creation and began to restore the earth to serve the purpose for which He originally intended. The next few verses reveal God restoring the first things necessary for the earth to support life (Genesis 1: 3-10). Then God introduces the concept of “kind” in Genesis 1:11.
The Hebrew word for “kind” basically means “classification by similarities”. According to The Workbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) this word strongly suggests each form of life has its own generic group to which it belongs as defined by order of its Creator.
“Some have argued that when God created “kind”, he thereby fixed the “species.” This is an [invalid] assumption because a link between the word [kind] with the biologist’s descriptive term “species” cannot be substantiated, and because there are as many definitions of species as there are biologists … This gives no support to the classical evolutionist view which requires developments across kingdom, phyla, and classes” (TWOT).
Man’s evolutionary classifications are in no way based on how God classifies life. Man’s classifications cloud what is important to God. God classifies according to the purpose for which they are created – a subtle but huge difference.
Another important aspect of “kind” is that each “kind” was modeled according to its own “kind”. This means that wheat produces seeds that grow into more wheat. Apple seeds produce apples. Potatoes produce more potatoes. Each perfectly perform the purpose for which He created them, and they never change unlike the genetically modified foods (GMO) we find today. God’s scripture distinguishes the “kind” by what appears to be His purpose for grass, grains, and fruits (Genesis1:11-12,29).
Genesis 1:20-25 use “kind” in the same way as verses 11 and 12, except it applies to the many different types of animal life. Each animal “kind” has it specific purpose. Though each purpose is not described as the plant life is, we can by observation deduce the unique purpose each fulfills. Each animal kind produces the same kind. They fulfill their purpose continually.
Now we arrive to when God speaks regarding the “man-kind.” When God made the plants and animals, He made them after the “kind” He designed. He created them from His imagination and for His purpose. But He created man by applying a model or kind that previously existed: “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;” . . . 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28).
God created man “kind” after the God “kind.” Man was created with God “kind” attributes of both glory and honor that enable him to rule based on the similar intellectual, and moral likeness and capabilities. God gave man “kind” these qualities in order to fulfill his purpose and responsibilities of ruling over God’s earthly creation and thus endowed man with a likeness to God Himself, so he was able to perform them.
The plant and animal “kinds” reproduced their kind. In reproducing their kind, they continually fulfill their purpose. They were created with no other purpose in mind. They have no other potential. They will never become anything else. However, man, who is made after the God “kind”, does not reach his full potential through merely reproducing. So, why does Man-Kind exist?
When God made man in His image, it was not only to have a creature that had similar abilities as He, but also so they could reach their full potential as the literal children of God. However, from the time of man’s rejection of his Creator in the Garden of Eden until now, that potential has been short-circuited. Nevertheless, the Creator still desired to see mankind fulfill his ultimate purpose of becoming His children. And He set in place a process to that end.
“Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath (life) to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:” (Isaiah 42:5 (NKJV).
This shows that humans possess both the breath of life – physical life – and the spirit of man. It is important to understand that it is the whole physical and spiritual package that makes up the person—the soul. The whole man is a soul—he does not possess a soul. The word “soul” is translated from the Hebrew word “nephesh” which refers strictly to physical life, whether human or animal. When nephesh is used regarding man, it refers to the whole human being in which is both physical life and a spirit component, the mind.
However, the spirit in man does not impart physical life. It is not the source of a man’s life. Human life, like all animal life, comes from the physics of a man’s body. Life comes from the many systems that operate within it. Life comes from a beating heart circulating blood through the lungs carrying oxygen to each cell. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood . . .“ (Leviticus 17:11).
While God made man a temporal physio-chemical body, He made the spirit in man to comprehend eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). Although the spirit in man imparts in man a desire to live forever, no matter how hard he desires it, how hard he pursues it, the spirit in man cannot preserve his life. Death eventually befalls all men (Ecclesiastes 3:18-20). At death, the spirit in man departs, returning to God who gave it: “Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21 NKJV). The spirit and physical life work together to remind man that he is from the dust of the earth and will return to it in death.
Lastly, the spirit in man also gives man the ability to learn through the five physical senses. Man can learn tremendous things through the scientific method. He observes, deduces, theorizes, tests, and records. Through this process he achieves extraordinary things. The amount of knowledge that he has recorded and applied is immense. And in Genesis 11, God describes for us the ability and power of the spirit in man: “And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them’ ” (Genesis 11:6).
Many philosophers and humanists speak loftily of human worth as of supreme value. They speak of the “god” within you, of tapping the innate hidden resources within yourself. They teach self-reliance, self-glorification and that man can find the “way”. Yet when one looks at the state of the world that all man’s knowledge has helped form, we find man at his best unable to bring peace to this world. He knows all too well how to work with things but fails miserably in working with his fellowman. When we add this to the fact that man has a spirit with so much potential, but is unable to change his physical state which eventually results in death, we must conclude that something is dreadfully missing in man.
We need to ask whether the spirit in man is lacking something that it desperately needs in order to overcome its shortcomings. The answer is an emphatic yes. The knowledge God desires mankind to have, is something the five senses cannot perceive. The spirit in man cannot perceive it. It can only be perceived by another spirit:
“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11).
When man rejected God as Creator in the Garden of Eden, God separated man from the tree of life which represents free access to the God’s Holy Spirit. So how does man regain that access He needs? Just like God returned to renew the earth which had lost its purpose by becoming void and without form, He ordained a process whereby God’s relationship and purpose for man could be restored (John 1:1-5, 9-14).
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call’ ” (Acts 2:38–39 NKJV).
When we recognize that the human spirit we possess is not enough, when we repent and are baptized, we are given the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit enters us joining with our God-given human spirit and begins a process of transforming us into the complete likeness and image of Christ.
That uniting of man’s spirit with God’s Spirit is analogous to human conception. Just as a sperm unites with an egg creating an embryo which grows within its mother’s womb until it is mature enough to be physically born.
Human conception is a parallel, an analogy, of the way God is reproducing Himself. God’s purpose is to produce spiritual children like Himself out of you, me, and all of humanity. We are each an egg, or an ovum. The nucleus of this egg is in the human mind. It is the spirit in man. However, that spirit must be joined by another Spirit that must come from God the Father, and that is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes and enters us it imparts LIFE – not physical life which we already possess – but eternal Life.
The ultimate result of this process is that the Father will glorify man just as He glorified Christ by a resurrection from the dead. The growth experienced is caused by a change of priorities when the spirit of man within us is no longer the primary authority. The change happens over time by submitting to the lead of the Holy Spirit that now dwells in us. This process changes Man “Kind” into the children of God (Romans 8:11-17).
Man will no longer possess life in a physio-chemical state. But we will be changed to be like Christ (1 John 3.2), having developed His divine nature (2 Peter 1:2-11).
Man did not happen to exist through some cosmic dust and billions of years of evolution. He was purposely created by the Great Creator and given a spirit – a mind. That purpose cannot and will not be thwarted. Though man dwells in a mortal body, God has not abandoned man to live for only a moment in time and then cease to exist as if he never was. Man is not forgotten by His Creator:
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet 7 All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:3–9 NKJV).
All that the Father has created through Jesus Christ has been for the purpose of sustaining and training mankind in an environment where He can add His Holy Spirit to the spirit He has already given to man. Until one day mankind becomes like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and reaches the full potential for which he was created. God is always mindful of His purpose for all of humanity, all of man “kind”.
Bill Hutchison