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likeness.” We shall see what this implies, when we discuss the original condition of man, and
merely call attention to it here, in order to bring out the fact that in the narrative of creation
the creation of man stands out as something distinctive.
4. THE TWO DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF HUMAN NATURE ARE CLEARLY DISTINGUISHED.
In Gen.
2:7 a clear distinction is made between the origin of the body and that of the soul. The body
was formed out of the dust of the ground; in the production of it God made use of pre-existing
material. In the creation of the soul, however, there was no fashioning of pre-existing materials,
but the production of a new substance. The soul of man was a new production of God in the
strict sense of the word. Jehovah “breathed into his (man’s) nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul.” In these simple words the twofold nature of man is clearly asserted, and
their teaching is corroborated by other passages of Scripture, such as, Eccl. 12:7; Matt. 10:28;
Luke 8:55; II Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:22-24; Heb. 12:9. The two elements are the body and the breath
or spirit of life breathed into it by God, and by the combination of the two man became “a living
soul,” which means in this connection simply “a living being.”
5. MAN IS AT ONCE PLACED IN AN EXALTED POSITION.
Man is represented as standing at the
apex of all the created orders. He is crowned as king of the lower creation, and is given
dominion over all the inferior creatures. As such it was his duty and privilege to make all nature
and all the created beings that were placed under his rule, subservient to his will and purpose,
in order that he and his whole glorious dominion might magnify the almighty Creator and Lord
of the universe, Gen. 1:28; Ps. 8:4-9.
C. THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN.
Among the various theories that have been broached to explain the origin of man, the theory of
evolution at present holds the field, and therefore deserves brief consideration.
1. STATEMENT OF THE THEORY.
The theory of evolution is not always stated in the same form.
It is sometimes represented as if man is a direct descendant of one of the species of anthropoid
apes now in existence, and then again, as if man and the higher apes have a common ancestry.
But whatever difference of opinion there may be on this point, it is certain that, according to
thorough-going naturalistic evolution, man descended from the lower animals, body and soul,
by a perfectly natural process, controlled entirely by inherent forces. One of the leading
principles of the theory is that of strict continuity between the animal world and man. It cannot
allow for discontinuity anywhere along the line, for every break is fatal to the theory. Nothing
that is absolutely new and unpredictable can appear in the process. What is now found in man
must have been potentially present in the original germ out of which all things developed. And
the whole process must be controlled from start to finish by inherent forces. Theistic evolution,