What Are We?

Who are we? What are we? Why do we exist? The Greek word for a human being is ?????p?? (anthropos) and so this study of humanity deals with the topic of biblical anthropology.

Who are we?

First of all, we are the children of Adam. Adam was named for his origin, because his name refers to the ground from which he came.

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7 NASB)

In contrasting Adam and Christ, God reveals to us through Paul, the difference between our earthly inheritance and our heavenly hope.

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven… And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:47-49 KJV)

The Bible also describes the origin of humankind as created in the image and likeness of God.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness… So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 NIV)

Both male and female bear the image and likeness of God. So it obviously does not mean the bodily shape of one gender or the other. The phrase “in our image” (?????, TSEH-lem) also means a resemblance. The phrase “according to our likeness” (???????, de-MOOTH) also means similitude of external appearance.

Do these phrases about the image and likeness of God mean that our bodies are literally like God’s? Remember that descriptions of God reveal Him as everywhere at once and therefore not limited to a particular outward form.

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:24 KJV)

What the concepts of being created in the image and likeness of God do is set humanity apart from the animals, with a different purpose. Where Adam and Eve failed, we have the choice of fulfilling, putting on the new man, new self or new nature.

… and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24 NKJV)

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. (Colossians 3:10 NLT)

There are several possible explanations of this. The more common views are that being created in the image and likeness of God means that we have a similar but limited ability to reason, to rule over the earth and we were created to have a relationship with God. This is why Adam was also referred to in a genealogy as the son of God.

Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God. (Luke 3:38 NLT)

Apart from rare and unfortunate genetic abnormalities, we are also male (?????, ish) and female (???????, isha), designating a difference in physical stature and strength, but not a difference in intellectual capacity or status before God.

“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. (Genesis 2:23-24 NLT)

What are we?

The English word soul is a very fuzzy word, with too wide a variety of meanings to be exact. It is used in different ways throughout different translations of the Bible, for a variety of concepts. Sometimes it translates a word meaning a life or living being, sometimes a person’s body, and sometimes a person’s spirit. We say in English that someone IS a nice soul, meaning the person, and we say they HAVE a body and soul, meaning physical and spiritual parts. One biblical example shows how the English word soul can mean the whole person.

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. (Genesis 2:7 KJV)

Other translations use the word “being” (NIV, NASB, NKJV), “person” (NLT), and “creature” (ESV) instead of soul. So the word soul is not a very exact word in English. That is why many people prefer to be more precise and use the word spirit when referring to the non-material part of a human being.

Most Bible passages use the word soul to mean the spiritual side of a person. The majority of biblical descriptions refer to us as essentially two components. In simple terms we could call it a material part and a non-material part, a body (physical) and a soul (or spirit).