I read that you say that Bro. Eby is in error teaching that man was first spirit and lowered to the earthy realm. I am finding that difficult to prove with the meaning of “breath” in Gen.2:7 H5397 “neshâmâh” only used when denoting God or Almighty. I have stood with 1Co 15:45. You have any suggestions?
Spirit does not die!
Thanks,

D____

Hi again D____,

So then if I understand what you are saying, the Truth is “that which is spiritual”, really is first, and in truth we are not dust, we are in reality spirit? Is that what you are saying, even in light of these verses?

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

If we are innately eternal immortal spirits, then how can Paul make this statement?

1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

Our salvation depends upon a resurrection from “the dead”. “If there is no resurrection then they that are asleep in Christ are perished”.
Where is King David? Is he an immortal spirit? If he is, then so are all animals and birds and insects.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [ Hebrew, ruach, spirit, Same Hebrew word translated ‘spirit’ in verse 21]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

All things that consist are made by God “were not made of things that do appear”, but of things that do not appear – of spirit.

Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear

They are all made of God’s spirit.

Psa 104:25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
Psa 104:26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
Psa 104:27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
Psa 104:28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
Psa 104:29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Psa 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

So yes, as you say, “spirit does not die”, but God has not given us a spiritual body simply because “He sends forth His spirit and they are created”. Bugs and beasts are not eternal spirits simply because they have God’s spirit sustaining that life. What they are is dust with God sustaining their physical life by His spirit, just as he sustains the stars and planets by His spirit. So when God “takes away their breath [ ruach – spirit, they no longer have their spirit and] they die, and return to their dust.”
So you are not spirit but dust. That is what God Himself tells us. ” Dust thou art”.
“You take away their breath [ ruach – spirit] they die and return to dust”, not ‘they live and return to spirit’.
The word ‘breath’ in verse 29 is the Hebrew word ‘ruach’, and again, it is the same word translated ‘spirit’ in the very next verse.

Psa 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit [ ruach], they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

“You send forth your spirit, they are created”. not ‘They are relocated’. So you and I are “created” when God “sends forth His spirit” not when He sends us forth. This is true for everything that draws breath. That was God’s point when He asked Job:

Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

According to Brother Eby, Job could easily have replied, ‘Why I certainly do have understanding, I was right there with you shouting for joy. So what is your point, God?’ The very scripture God uses to show us and Job that Job was not there is used by Mr. Eby to show God that Job was there before the foundation of the world.
I hope this gives you something to consider. We are not spirits having a physical experience. We are rather “marred” (Jer 18:4) physical beings having a spiritual experience which will, in the end, bring us to be “raised a spiritual body”.

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

We do indeed have the earnest of the spirit even now. But it will take “the redemption of the purchased possession” to gain that final spiritual body to which we hope to attain.

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

We do not innately possess “the earnest of the spirit”, yet that ‘earnest’, that down payment, is all we have after we are called and chosen “until the redemption of the purchased possession”, which is the spiritual body we receive only when “it is raised a spiritual body”, not when it was actually a physical body to begin with.

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

I have nothing against Mr. Eby. I have never met him. But everything he teaches on this subject is in direct contradiction to what the scriptures teach. Job was not there to declare where he was when God laid the foundations of the world, and you and I are not first a spiritual body, but a natural body and afterward that which is spiritual, via a resurrection from the dead. “If there is no resurrection from the dead then they that are asleep in Christ are perished”. Those words are a lie if we are originally immortal spirit bodies.
So again I ask, “Where is King David?” This is not what Mr. Eby teaches, but it is right here in the scriptures:

Act 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Act 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Brother Eby tells us this is not so at all. He tells us that David is alive and in heaven with God at this moment, because King David is not dust at all, but is an immortal spirit, thus rendering the resurrection slightly less than useless and redundant for an immortal spirit.
I hope this gives you more to consider.
Your brother who is hoping and “waiting” to endure to the end and be saved in this age.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike