Hi Mike,

I have been thinking about the verse that tells us God made man in his image, and how this really refers to the end result of mankind, and is not representative of Adam in the flesh and us in the flesh. With this verse, it appears to me this could also be seen that way.
Gen 2:7 So then Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life- and man became a living soul.
Man of the dust (flesh- all of us before regenerated) is not a living soul until the life of Christ is formed in us, until created into his image?
Could it be that the living soul is not referring to man now, but the end result?
Thanks

L____

Hi L____,
It is always good to hear from you.
No, a living soul is what we are now.

1Co 2:14 Now the soulish man is not receiving those things which are of the spirit of God, for they are stupidity to him, and he is not able to know them, seeing that they are spiritually examined.”
1Co 15:44 It is sown a soulish body; it is roused a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 If there is a soulish body, there is a spiritual also. Thus it is written also, The first man, Adam, “became a living soul: the last Adam a vivifying Spirit.”
1Co 15:46 But not first the spiritual, but the soulish, thereupon the spiritual.
Jas 3:15 This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but terrestrial, soulish, demoniacal.
Jdg 1:19 These are those who isolate themselves, soulish, not having the spirit.”

Your question reveals that you still think that the ‘soul’ has something to do with the life of the spirit. It does not except that a ‘soul’ has spirit breathed into it at the birth of that soul. Christ tells us that God can destroy the soul in Gehenna fire:

Mat 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.
Luk 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
Luk 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

The fact that Christ says that man can destroy the body but not the soul, is not proof of the immortality of the soul. We are plainly told that the soul does indeed die:

Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

So what are we to make of the fact that we are told that the soul that sins shall die and at the same time we are told that man “cannot destroy the soul?” Well, the last thing we should do is to deduce that the scriptures are contradicting themselves and just because all churches say so, the soul is therefore immortal, and we will just ignore Ezekiel 18:4 and 20.
No, that is not how we handle God’s infallible Word. What we do with these verses is believe them both. The soul that sins will die in Gehenna fire when, after it is resurrected and given a spiritual body, it will be transformed by that fire of God’s Word in the exact same way that the souls of God’s elect were changed by that very same fire of God’s Word while they were yet in their bodies of clay. In other words our “soulish man” dies now while the vast majority of mankind will still be soulish at the time of their resurrection. ‘Soulish’ is a synonym for ‘carnal.’ Both are associated with rebellion against the laws of God. Satan has never had a body of flesh yet he is so carnal that we are told that the carnal man is very similar to the great red dragon:

Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

And how many ‘heads’ and ‘horns’ does the carnal minded beast called ‘the first Adam’ have?

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Notice where the beast in us gets his “power and seat [ Greek – throne] and great authority”:

Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

The beast is empowered by the dragon. And who is it that has the power over death?:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Both the devil and the beast will be destroyed in ‘Gehenna fire’ a synonym for the lake of fire. This is what Christ referred to when he warned us not to fear men who can destroy the body but not the soul, but rather fear God who can “destroy both soul and body in Gehenna fire.”:

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Why is Gehenna fire prepared for the devil and his angels? It is for the purpose of destroying their rebellious, carnal minds and molding them into the mind of Christ. At that time death is destroyed and God becomes all in all:
And what is the outcome of destroying the devil?

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man [ came] also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

The destruction of the devil brings about the destruction of death. And then what happens:

1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under [ him, it is] manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

This is the goal of the universe and of the plan of God. God will be all in all.
I hope this helps you to see that God is making man in His image and that this was not done in Eden. Salvation, being made in God’s image, is a life long process and for the masses of mankind it also involves the lake of fire.
I hope that it is now clear that the ‘soul’ has nothing at all in common with a spiritual body and is instead the exact opposite of what God is looking to accomplish as His “end result:”

1Co 15:44 It is sown a soulish body; it is roused a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 If there is a soulish body, there is a spiritual also. Thus it is written also, The first man, Adam, “became a living soul: the last Adam a vivifying Spirit.”
1Co 15:46 But not first the spiritual, but the soulish, thereupon the spiritual.

Mike