Q. 17. How did God create man?
A. After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of the man, endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall.
Before we turn to understanding with the Bible says about man, go back and review all the Bible passages reference supporting our understanding of angels, I was impressed it’s really quite a bit and these are by no mean all of them.
From the OPC Larger Catechism website….
Col. 1:16; Ps. 104:4; Matt. 22:30; Luke 20:36; Matt. 25:31; 2 Sam. 14:17; Matt. 24:36; 2 Thess. 1:7; Ps. 91:11–12; Ps. 103:20–21; 2 Pet. 2:4…
This section speaks of man, as both male and female, we really don’t have to make this politically correct as some do always rewriting God’s word to explicitly state man and woman. Nor do we have to be ridiculous, like the pastor/congressman who ended his prayer with Amen and Awomen. Btw such changes can go on to infinity…Awomen, Awowomen, Awowowomen, Awowowowomen, etc. Interestingly, as the Bible says even the first woman was made from man, so it’s impossible to get the “men” out of wo”men”.
From the beginning the definition of man is both, male and female. If you argue too hard for the exclusive language you loos site of the accuracy of God’s word, and begin to see other things to disagree with change, leave out or add to it. Dangerous path to the Dark Side that is.
Man has both a body and soul. This is very important. Vos wrote…
What important difference is there between the angels and human beings? The angels are spirits without any bodies: man on the other hand is a composite being consisting of two elements, body and soul, mysteriously united in a single personality.
Why is it important to believe that mankind were indued (or endowed) with immortal souls at the creation? Because some present day sects teach that no person has an immortal soul by nature, but only by believing in Christ for salvation. These sects teach this false doctrine as a convenient sway of getting rid of the idea of hell. If unbelievers and wicked people do not have immortal souls, then of course they cannot suffer eternal punishment in hell, for if they do not have immortal souls, then death most be the end of their existence. A correct understanding of the Scripture doctrine of the creation of the htunan race will counteract this dangerous heresy.
Study the other words above I highlighted, we rarely thing at this level today. And don’t forget how important it is to take care of the soul not just the body.
Matthew 10:28 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.
Rainbow Trout 