Fundamental Belief #7. Nature of Man—Man and woman were made in the image of God with individuality, the power and freedom to think and to do. Though created free beings, each is an indivisible unity of body, mind, and spirit, dependent upon God for life and breath and all else. When our first parents disobeyed God, they denied their dependence upon Him and fell from their high position under God. The image of God in them was marred and they became subject to death. Their descendants share this fallen nature and its consequences. They are born with weaknesses and tendencies to evil. But God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself and by His Spirit restores in penitent mortals the image of their Maker. Created for the glory of God, they are called to love Him and one another, and to care for their environment.
How one understands the nature of man interacts with a number of important doctrines including:
- What happened when Adam and Eve sinned
- How the sin of Adam impacts the human race
- How the incarnation and sacrifice of Jesus impacts the human race
- What it means to be “born again”
- The meaning and role of sanctification
- What happens when believers die
Before we dive into the troublesome aspects of this doctrinal statement, I would first like to address the aspects of this belief that are shared in common with mainstream Christianity.
Orthodox Christians would all agree that man and woman are created in the image of God, created for the glory of God, and are called to love Him and to love one another. Orthodox Christians would also agree that God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself.
There will be some difference of opinion within Christianity, however, regarding the emphasis on free will in the first two statements of this passage. Nevertheless, these statements are not outside of the range of beliefs found within orthodox Christianity.
This fundamental belief, however, claims that each person is an indivisible unity of body, mind and spirit. The idea that these aspects of a person are indivisible is hard to reconcile with the Biblical claim that “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.(Heb 4:12 ESV). If the spirit can be separated from the soul as distinctly as joints from marrow, it is very hard to maintain that the body, mind, and spirit are indivisible. Adventist doctrine clearly departs from Scripture alone in this aspect of their belief statement.
This claim that body, mind and spirit are indivisible is also strongly countered in Scripture in passages stating that the spirit returns to God or is being commended to God.
“You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire and return to their dust” (Psalm 104:29).
“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
“He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Child, arise!’ And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat” (Luke 8:54-55).
Adventists claim the spirit is one’s “breath” or “life force”, but Scripture denies this interpretation as well: “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’” (Jn. 11:33b-34).
Let’s dig deeper into the Adventist claim that soul (a living person) = spirit (breath) plus a physical body.
Generally, Adventism will draw this interpretation from Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Adventists correctly point out that the word for breath and spirit are the same. As a result, they conclude that spirit only refers to breath and that the Bible does not “speak of the spirit as an entity which can exist independent of our physical nature. We are not made of independent parts temporarily connected, but of body, soul, and spirit in one indivisible whole…Neither in the Old Testament nor the New Testament does ruach or pneuma refer to an intelligent entity capable of existence apart from the body”. (http://ssnet.org/lessons/99b/less04.html)
Let’s compare the Adventist claims with the Bible.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt 20:28).
According to Jesus, the body and the soul can be separated, since it is possible to kill the body but not the soul. The Adventist claim that body, soul, and spirit are indivisible is a direct contradiction to the teaching of Scripture.
A thorough examination of the New Testament passages regarding our spirit reveals just how inadequate the Adventist explanation of spirit=breath truly is.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).
Does it make any sense that the Holy Spirit testifies to our breath? The implication of this verse is clearly that our spirit is just as real and living as the Holy Spirit is.
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).
Is the spirit of man really breath? How can breath know anything? Why is man’s spirit compared to God’s Spirit if man’s spirit is only a breath?
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).
Once again there is a clear divisible distinction made between flesh (body) and spirit. Would calling man’s spirit his “breath” make any sense here?
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).
If our spirit is just breath, how can it be defiled? Was Paul just being redundant with his statement here?
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water (I Peter 3:18-20).
What and where are these imprisoned breaths?
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen (Galatians 6:18).
Does it make sense for God’s grace to be with our breath?
The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband (1 Corinthians 7:34).
Here is yet another example of a distinction being made between flesh/body and spirit.
The Adventist teaching regarding man’s spirit is incomplete and ignores significant aspects of the New Testament. The Bible plainly teaches that the spirit can be separated and distinct from the soul and body. The language of Scripture is incompatible with the Adventist explanation that the spirit is merely breath.
Influence on Adventist Health Message
Adventist doctrine regarding the unity of body, mind, and spirit also impacts their understanding and teaching on health. Because Adventists believe that these are inseparable, anything that impacts the well-being of the body also impacts one’s spiritual life. This is a key reason for Adventist teaching and practices regarding diet; the foods one chooses to eat can inflame sinful urges or produce a more spiritual state of being for the person. Bad physical health inevitably impacts the person’s spiritual health. Despite claims to the contrary, diet is always a moral issue for those espousing this belief. Adapting one’s diet to more closely conform to the teachings of Ellen White is necessary if one seeks to improve their spiritual condition and ultimately achieve salvation.
Continuing further into this belief statement, Adventist doctrine distorts the result of the fall. Notice carefully what the section says and, even more importantly, what it doesn’t say. It says that we are born with weakness and tendency toward sin; it does not say that we are born in sin (Isa 51:5), that we are dead in our sin (Eph. 2:1), that we are fully condemned as a result of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:18).
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” (Is. 51:5).
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).
“So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men” (Rom. 5:18).
The denial of an immaterial human spirit and of original sin leads to a number of spurious and heretical doctrines. First is the idea that Jesus was born with a sinful (or fallen) nature but did not sin. The corollary to this teaching is that man can also learn to live without sinning.
This doctrine also denies any real change in us as a result of the new birth; if we were the same as Jesus before our new birth, there is no reason for a literal change in us as a result of that birth. There is no understanding that we are actually born dead spiritually before we are made alive through rebirth in Jesus. Being “born-again” becomes nothing more than a decision about today. Within SDA doctrine, that decision is primarily about committing to obeying the Law-particularly the 7th-day Sabbath.
Without any real change occurring from being born again, it is very hard to have any basis for salvational assurance.
This just as easily turns into a decision a short-time later to no longer obey the Law. In the most extreme interpretation, any willful disobedience undoes one’s status with God, requiring a new, or renewed, decision to obey again. Without any real change occurring from being born again, it is very hard to have any basis for salvational assurance. This links directly to the next concept, the meaning and role of sanctification. Justification and sanctification can be confused or confounded. This often happens within Adventist teaching on the doctrine. While we will explore this in far more detail in the discussions of Fundamental Beliefs 10 and 11, it is useful to see how this is also linked to an understanding of the nature of man and the meaning of being born again.
Justification is the gift from God whereby a believer’s standing with God is based solely on being counted as having the righteousness of Christ. Sanctification is the fruit of the Spirit operating in the life of a believer. Salvation is completely and only based on justification. Sanctification can be presented as the required evidence flowing from justification or as the next step in salvation after justification. Both of these are flawed concepts that make salvation about our lives rather than God’s gift. However, when being “born again” is incorrectly understood as a decision to obey, sanctification takes center stage as the source for one’s standing with God.
Impact on Doctrine of Death
Finally, we reach the impact that the doctrine of the nature of man has on our state after death. We will discuss this further in Fundamental Belief #26, but it is important to see how it is intertwined with the belief about body, mind, and spirit being inseparable and the related denial of any inner change occurring as part of being born again. Adventists are slightly misleading when they claim that they believe in “soul sleep” or an “unconscious” state between death and resurrection. In both sleep and unconsciousness the body and brain continue to operate, albeit with reduced awareness of our surroundings. For instance, people still experience pain and likely pleasure when asleep or unconscious. These are not accurate descriptions of what SDAs teach about what occurs after death. According to SDA doctrine on the nature of man, when death occurs the inseparable body, mind, and spirit all cease–the body, mind, and spirit are all equally dead. †
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