Whole Persons, Whole Salvation

Introduction – Breathing In the First Morning

Picture the very first morning on Earth.

The sun has just risen over a brand-new world.

The air is clean and full of promise.

Then comes a breathtaking moment:

“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.”

Slow down and let that scene play in your mind.

God stoops down, shapes a body from the dust, leans close, and breathes His own life into that form.

And with that breath—heart beating, lungs filling, eyes opening—a living person stands up.

Notice what the text does not say.

It does not say God made a body and then tucked a soul inside like a note in a bottle.

It says the man became a living soul.

From the first heartbeat, human life is a single, seamless gift—body and breath together, animated by the Creator’s own presence.

Now think about our everyday speech.

At funerals we hear, “Her soul has gone to a better place.”

When someone is very ill we may say, “He’s just a body in a chair.”

Those phrases carry a different story—a Greek idea that the “real you” is an invisible spirit and the body is just a shell to escape.

That idea crept in over centuries, but it isn’t the Bible’s story.

And it matters.

How you see yourself shapes everything: how you treat your body, how you love your neighbor, how you grieve, and how you understand what Jesus came to save.

So this morning we’ll simply walk through the Bible’s story of us.

We’ll start where life began, watch what went wrong, rejoice in what Christ has already done to make it right, and look forward to the day He brings His work to completion.

Think of it as one sweeping journey—from the first breath in Eden to the final trumpet of resurrection.

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Creation – God’s Beautiful Design of Wholeness

Genesis tells us not just that God made us, but how and why—and those details carry profound meaning.

Formed from Dust

Our bodies are woven from the same elements as mountains and rivers.

God calls that matter “very good” (Gen 1:31).

Your body is not a throw-away container; it is part of God’s masterpiece.

Breathed Into Life

The breath in your lungs is more than oxygen; it is the sign that every heartbeat is a gift.

“As long as I live,” sang the psalmist, “I will praise the Lord” (Ps 146:2).

Life is sustained moment by moment by God Himself.

Became a Living Soul

The Hebrew phrase nephesh chayyah means a living being, a whole person.

The Old Testament uses nephesh for human beings, for animals (Gen 1:20), even for a lifeless body (Lev 21:11).

It never means a ghost-like essence that can float free.

This is good news.

It means the physical and the spiritual are never enemies.

Everyday acts—working, eating, resting, laughing—are not “less holy” than praying or singing hymns.

God cares for the entire person He made.

Correcting Today’s Extremes

Some people practically ignore their bodies, as if health doesn’t matter because “the real me” is spiritual.

Others idolize the body, chasing beauty or fitness as though youth can last forever.

Genesis cuts through both mistakes: you are a living soul—body and breath together, precious and beloved.

And for anyone who struggles with illness, aging, or disability, this is deeply hopeful.

God’s plan is not to discard your body and start from scratch.

It is to raise and transform the very self you are: “this mortal shall put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:53).

Life Is Always Holy

Because we are whole, all of life is holy ground.

Worship involves bodies (singing, kneeling, embracing).

Relationships involve bodies (meals, hospitality, presence).

Service involves bodies (hands that build, feet that go, tears that weep).

There isn’t a “merely physical” act for a child of God.

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The Fracture – Sin and the Death of the Whole Person

If creation reveals God’s beautiful design, Genesis 3 explains why the world we know is filled with pain and funerals.Something went terribly wrong.

The serpent’s whisper—“You will not surely die” (Gen 3:4)—was more than an invitation to snack on forbidden fruit.It was the first false teaching about human nature.

It implied: You have life in yourself. You will go on anyway. You don’t need the Giver to keep the gift.

But God’s verdict is clear and devastating:

“Dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19).

Death is not a friend or a graduation; it is the undoing of the whole person.

How the Cracks Spread

• Toward God: Adam and Eve hide in fear.

• Toward each other: blame and mistrust spring up.

• Toward creation: pain, thorns, sweat, and finally death.