How Christmas Challenges the SDA Teaching On The Soul

Well hey there it’s good to be back with you all in an especially warm merry Christmas if this is your first time with us Adventist or otherwise so Advent is my favorite time of year we are at a point in the year where we’re typically focusing on the Incarnation why Jesus did such and the major implications that has in both the life of the church and the world every year I try and reflect on a different aspect of the Incarnation this year it happened to be on Christ life as an infant now last year we looked at how SDA theology completely distorts why Jesus incarnated and what

He came to do if you missed that the link to this presentation is in the description box down below but this year I want to share with you how the downstream effects of the AVST Church’s teaching around the nature of man actually create christological heresy and proves that the AVST Jesus is not real but is a false Christ but to understand it we must have a sound understanding of the doctrine of the in Carnation which is much more than simply the belief that Jesus Took on a human nature in his fourth Century book on the Incarnation St aanus writes quote for he

Did not wish simply to be in a body nor did he wish merely to appear for if he had wished only to appear he could have made his Divine manifestation through some other better means but he takes that which is ours and that not simply but from a spotless and stainless virgin ignorant of man pure and unmixed from intercourse with men men although being himself powerful and the creator of the universe he prepared for himself in the Virgin the body as a temple and made it his own as an instrument making himself known and dwelling in it close quote now

Athanasius explains his purpose in writing this little book toward the close of it where he states that he sought to provide an elementary level instruction and outline of faith in Christ and his Divine manifestation to us in the Incarnation and within that he provides and defends the full full humanity and full Divinity of Jesus Christ which is what would later be dubbed as the hypothetic union and his fundamental Christian doctrine this Doctrine states that within the single person of Jesus Christ there exist two distinct Natures human and divine Jesus

Is not 50% man and 50% God but 100% man and 100% God these two Natures are never mixed they’re never divided and never confused this is derived from scripture where we see both human and divine attributes ascribed to the single person of Jesus Christ he gets hungry for example in Mark 11:12 this is a human attribute God does not get hungry but we also see the same Mark ascribe Divine attribution to the same Christ such as in Mark 2 where he documents that Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic that’s something only God can do as even the Pharisees recognized in Luke 5:21 which

Means it is a Divine attribute and it is one of the key ways that Jesus demonstrated that he is the almighty God now early on in the church’s history the Aryan controversy took place which was a battle over what scripture teaches regarding the Trinity and the athanasian Creed was formulated in response to this while athanasius did not write this Creed it’s rightly given its name after his staunch defense of the Trinity during the controversy the first half of it deals with what the Bible teaches about the Trinity the second deals with what the Bible teaches about the

Incarnation and the two Natures of Christ in that second half we read quote now this is the true faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ God’s son is both God and human equally he is God from the essence of the father begotten Before Time and he is human from the essence of his mother born in time completely God completely human with a rational soul and human flesh equal to the father as regards Divinity less than the father as regards Humanity ity although he is God and human yet Christ is not two but one he is one however not by his divinity being

Turned into flesh but by God’s taking Humanity to himself he is one certainly not by the blending of his Essence but by the unity of his person for just as one human is both rational soul and flesh so to the one Christ is both God and human close quote so we see something very important here about not only the nature of Christ but also about Humanity the Orthodox biblical Christian teaching is that Jesus is both God and human equally but also that the soul of a human is rational and since Jesus is truly and fully human in his Humanity he also has a rational soul and this is

Very very important here’s why what we believe about anthropology impacts what we believe about christology put another way what we believe about the nature of humanity also greatly impacts what we believe about Jesus since Jesus added unto himself human nature whatever we ascribe to the nature of humanity we are in turn also ascribing to Jesus and this is where we have to ask the question when does a human become a living being and at what point does that human possess a rational Soul what we answer about that we must also apply to the Lord Jesus thankfully we can arrive at

This answer from scripture through good and necessary deduction in Luke chapter 1 we’re told that the angel Gabriel visited the Blessed Virgin and foretold of her giving birth to the Messiah the Son of God he tells her that he will take the Throne of David his reign will know no ends Etc this is the gospel of the Kingdom being proclaimed the message that we see Jesus himself preaching later in Luke 81 and elsewhere the good news about the Messiah who would come save a people from their sins establish his kingdom to rule and Reign Over his people and all of creation forever

Starting in verse 34 though we can begin to glean some details to help us answer the question that’s in Focus we read and Mary said to the angel how will this be since I am a virgin and the angel answered her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be called holy the Son of God and behold your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son and this is the sixth month with her who was called baren for nothing will be impossible with God and Mary said behold I am a servant of the

Lord let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her so Gabriel lets Mary know that despite being a virgin the holy spirit of God will come upon her to conceive the child who will be the holy Son of God but around the same time Mary’s relative Elizabeth will also bear a child John the Baptist now it’s important to note that what Gabriel proclaimed to Mary was the Gospel the good news about the person and work of Jesus if you reference Matthew 1:21 you’ll read how the angel also said the Virgin will be with child and he will save his people

From their sins in essence Gabriel was sharing with Mary who Jesus is which is his person as well as his work what he would come and do he shared with her the good news about the person and work of Jesus which is the gospel and the gospel is what the Incarnation and Christmas are all about but then in verses 39-45 we read where Mary then visits Elizabeth after Gabriel departs and we’re given more info to help answer our question we read in those days Mary arose and went with haste Into the Hill Country to a town in Judah and she entered the house

Of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb and why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord so Mary visits Elizabeth to let her know the

Good news that was heralded to her by the angel and when she shared this good news with Elizabeth she was overjoyed and said Mary is blessed amongst all women because she would uniquely carry the Messiah within her Elizabeth was so Overjoyed that she even asked why she was so blessed to have the mother of the Lord come and share this good news with her it’s then reiterated again in verse 44 that when the sound of the good news came Little John the Baptist in her womb leaped for Joy which tells us that humans become a living being at the point of conception what was in

Elizabeth’s womb was a baby and babies are obviously living beings modern scien has even confirm that life begins at conception which is completely in accordance with scripture we’re told that John the Baptist leapt for Joy when he heard the good news of the Gospel from the Blessed Mother well joy is something that is experienced by a rational being it also clearly demonstrates that God is capable of granting Faith to infants allowing even them to respond to the gospel even in the womb that is something a rational living being does so why does this

Create serious problems for Adventist teaching in the explanation of the SDA Church’s fundamental beliefs we read the following regarding what they teach about the nature of humanity they write quote when God formed from the elements of earth a body he breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam’s lifeless body and there resulted man the living being Genesis 2:7 this Breath of Life is the breath of the almighty that gives a life job 33:4 close quote then they continue in the next page where they write quote as we have already mentioned in the Old Testament soul is a

Translation of the Hebrew nephesh in Genesis 2:7 it denotes human as a living being after the Breath of Life entered into a physical body formed from the elements of the earth similarly a New Soul comes into existence whenever a child is born each Soul being a new unit of life uniquely different and separate from other similar units this quality of individuality in each living being which constitutes it a unique entity seem seems to be the idea emphasized by the Hebrew term nephesh when used in this sense nephesh is not a part of the person it is the person and in many

Instances is translated person close quote now we will get to the Hebrew word neesh in a moment and what it means in Genesis 2:7 specifically but notice based on how they apply that text they reason that all human beings are not truly living beings until the Breath of Life conjoins with their life body and they become a uniquely different and separate unit from the mother both of those things happen upon exiting the birth canal which would mean that until birth a human is not actually a living Soul or living being they are a lifeless physical body which also means that

Until the Adventist Jesus was born and took his first breath outside of the womb he wasn’t a living being supposedly it would mean that the hypothetic union between the human and divine Natures did not occur into until after Jesus’s birth and the Blessed Mother did not actually carry the Messiah because what she carried was not a living being it was only his lifeless lump clay body that she would have birthed and then that lifeless lump of clay became a living Soul or living being outside of the womb but John the Baptist in the womb was not a lifeless physical body we were told

That he jumped for Joy at the proclamation of the Gospel about the Messiah that clearly evidences that even as a fetus he was a rational living being from his very conception not after being born taking his first breath as a separate unit from Elizabeth and this is the case for all of God’s image bearers which has to mean that the SDA handling of Genesis 2:7 is incorrect because it creates problems with other texts of scripture including the affirmation of christological heresy but before we can look at the Hebrew word neesh there’s something else that has to be understood

As the athanasian Creed States and Christians believe that Jesus is both truly human and truly Divine possessing both a rational soul and flesh the late RC SPL does an excellent job of explaining what the Creed means by this where he said quote when we say that Jesus has a reasonable Soul we simply mean that touching his human nature he is a duality he is body and soul as all human beings are and that soul is rational in that sense the term soul is virtually interchangeable with the word mind and God has created us in His image God himself is a rational being and God

Has planted within the soul or mind of every creature that he has made in His image the capacity for reasonable discourse and thinking I know we live in a time that is one of the most anti-rational and anti-intellectual periods of the history of the church people love academic Pursuits investigation and scientific inquiry but it’s the anti-m mind and anti-rational people who think that Aristotle for example invented logic Aristotle didn’t invent logic God did Aristotle no more invented logic than Columbus invented America he simply discovered and found

It close quote so when the Creed uses the term rational Soul we could equally use the phrase rational mind this is one of the ways in which human beings are distinct and separate from the rest of creation we are made in God’s image since God is a rational being we too as His Image bearers possess the unique ability to engage in things like logic and reasonable discourse something we do not see amongst cats giraffes and whales it’s what has allowed for human civilizations to uniquely subdue the Earth by building skyscrapers airplanes and rocket ships to the glory of God God

Did not give commands to any other creature other than Adam Adam received something uniquely from God that none of the other creatures did and God expected Adam to use that special ability to do what God wanted like naming the animals and subduing the Earth Adam received a rational Soul which is what made his different than the rest of the creation but this is not what the SDA church affirms about human beings they don’t believe or teach that the soul of humans is in any way rational or that it is a part of what makes us distinct and separate from the rest of the created

Order as they plainly state in the same chapter of their fundamental beliefs Book quote when God formed the human being from the elements of the Earth all of the organs were present the heart lungs kidneys liver spleen brain Etc all perfect but lifeless then God breathed into this lifeless matter the breath of life and Man became a living being the scriptural equation is straightforward the dust of the ground Earth’s elements plus the Breath of Life equal a living being or living Soul the union of Earth elements with the Breath of Life resulted in a living being or Soul this

Breath of Life is not limited to people every living creature possesses it the Bible for example attributes the Breath of Life to both those animals that went into Noah’s Ark and those that did not close quote so here we see them assert their formula for what they think the human soul is just like we saw earlier the combination of the Breath of Life or Spirit and the body until the combination takes place a creature is not a living soul and this isn’t just with Humanity they claim that all living creatures possess this according to Genesis 7:15 and 22 which means they are

Claiming that the human soul is no different than that of an iguana or a leopard it’s simply the electrical force that is produced when the shell or body of a creature begins breathing oxygen as a separate unit of life but they don’t believe that the soul is rational in any way as SDA psychology professors Carl Bailey and Dwayne McBride note in this paper titled The Curious Case of the intuitive Soul AKA The Curious Case of the rational Soul they cite the fundamental beliefs book and state that Adventists in no way believe that the soul is rational man is only a living

Human being when the unity of Body Mind and Spirit are together by Spirit they mean the Breath of Life by mind they mean the soul which is a result of that breath being conjoined with the human body so adventism is one of the groups that fit the bill for what Dr Sproul mentioned they associate the belief that the soul is rational with Aristotle’s School of philosophy which has to mean that it’s not biblical in any way but ironically by that same logic Adventists should reject logic altogether because Aristotle is largely credited with the discovery of much surrounding logic does

That now mean that adventism is based in Aristotelian philosophy and not the Bible because they try to engage in logic and sound reasoning for their own beliefs of course not because Aristotle did not invent Logic the same is true with the belief in a rational soul and I will use Genesis 2:7 to prove as much but as a quick note the belief in life a conception and the Soul being rational is a big reason why we see abortion condemned in sources like the diday for those that do not know the deday or the teaching of the TW Apostles is a first century document that contains a number

Of beliefs that were normative amongst Christians of the day in deday 2 1-2 we read quote the second commandment of the teaching you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not seduce boys you shall not commit fornication you shall not steal you shall not practice magic you shall not use potions you shall not procure an abortion nor destroy a newborn child close quote the first century Church understood that what was in the mother’s womb is a living rational image bearer of God and to seek to terminate its life was to violate the Commandment to not murder it

Is the SDA belief about the nature of man that has given justification for Adventist being pro death what our Wicked culture falsely calls pro-choice and for their Affiliated hospitals to engage in the murder of The Unborn now with regards to the Hebrew term nefesh which means Soul this is the central pillar that the SDA position rests upon like we saw in the fundamental beliefs book appealing to Genesis 2:7 they say that Adam became a living Soul at the point of the Breath of Life or Spirit entering his nostrils this is supposed to prove that man’s soul is not

Something that is rational but rather man’s soul is simply the result of the breath of life and the body coming together the soul is the resultant life force that all living creatures have when the body breath combination occurs but here’s what’s interesting about this claim that they miss while the Genesis account does indeed use the term Breath of Life regarding more than just human beings what the fundamental beliefs book does not point out is that only humans received the Breath of Life by God himself breathing it into man so despite the phrase Breath of Life being used of

Both humans and other living creatures what’s being said about humans in this regard is unique different and distinct John Gil actually points this out in his Genesis commentary he’s not the only one but he points out something important regarding the Hebrew grammar on the phrase and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life he writes quote which in that way entered into his body and quickened it which before four was a lifeless lump of clay though beautifully shapen it is in the plural number the breath of lives including the vegetative sensitive and rational life of man and

This was produced not with his body as The Souls of brutes were and was produced by the Breath of God as theirs were not nor theirs out of the earth as his body was and these two different Productions show the different nature of the Soul and body of man the one is material and Mortal the other immaterial and Immortal and Man became a living Soul or a living man not only capable of Performing the functions of the animal life of eating drinking walking Etc but of thinking reasoning and discoursing as a rational creature close quote so Gil points out how the SDA fundamental

Beliefs book is correct when it says that the phrase Breath of Life is used for more than just human beings but the book completely misses the fact that the Breath of Life for humans is in the plural number which includes the rational life of humanity John 4:24 says that God by nature is Spirit the Breath of Life or spirit that mankind received was delivered directly from God who is Spirit the other living creatures that had the Breath of Life received such in a different way than God blowing it into their nostrils this Breath of Life in Genesis 2:7 is the the rational Soul

It’s why human beings including infants in the womb are God’s image Bears distinct and separate from the rest of the living creatures we possess a rational soul that is able to mirror God who is a rational being like I mentioned earlier God uniquely gave Adam and Eve commands with these specific commands came a rational expectation where God expected them to do what he said that there was a level of understanding on their part being made in God image and likeness refers to the rational soul that we possess which God uniquely placed within Humanity it does not mean

That God physically looks like we do which is another mishandling of the text that the SDA Church arrives at in Genesis this is of course at the behest of Ellen White who very plainly stated in the great controversy that Humanity being made in God’s image meant that man reflected God not just in character but in physical features and form except like I said John 4:24 says that God is Spirit the Son of God is unique in that he added unto himself a human body in the Incarnation at a certain point but even then that happens after the creation of humanity in Eden while it is

True that man’s character was one way Humanity mired God as His Image Bearer this is what became tainted in the fall but the aspect that remains intact is our rational Soul not our physical appearance our possession of a rational soul is why it’s still proper to say that human beings beings are God’s image bearers including a fetus in the womb this is one of those areas in SDA theology where they have to have their understanding be correct in order for numerous other beliefs to be true in this case 1844 and the investigative judgment but it’s also an area like the

Sabbath where they miss key details in the text of Genesis their interpretation and application of the text can be falsified by testing it against other parts of scripture John the Baptist as a fetus jumping with joy disproved proves that a human is only a lifeless lump of clay that isn’t a rational living being possessing the Breath of Life as a separate unit from his mother a lifeless body cannot leap and experience joy in response to hearing something proclaimed it would mean that Jesus as a man was not a living rational human within Mary she simply carried around a lifeless

Lump of clay in her womb and it’s this erant teaching with an adventism that has led to a large number of Adventists justifying abortion in including their Affiliated hospitals where they violate the sixth commandment and murder The Unborn which shows us that theology does indeed matter and what we believe in our anthropology directly affects what we believe in our christology Christmas is about celebrating the Incarnation and eternal life which is ultimately a celebration about the gospel God coming to Tabernacle amongst us establishing his kingdom to rule and Reign forever as

He gradually ushers the kingdom into its fullness it was through the Incarnation that that the Divide between God and man was bridged and sinners can be reconciled to a holy God this began in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Jesus was a living rational image bearing human being from conception not simply upon exiting the birth canal and taking his first breath make sure you spend some time this Christmas reflecting on the Incarnation and what that means for Our Lives May Christ richly bless you in the grace and peace won by him and his vicarious death on the cross for Sinners

Merry Christmas