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Study 1: What Is Man?

Biblical Anthropology and Human Nature

A Note on How to Study

Throughout this series, we will learn to distinguish between what the Bible explicitly says and what people infer from the Bible. These are not the same thing.

  • Explicit: You can point to a verse and quote it. The text directly says this.
  • Inference: Someone claims the Bible teaches something, but no single verse says it. They have drawn a conclusion — possibly a good one, possibly not — but the conclusion itself is not in the text.

This distinction matters more than you might think. Many beliefs people hold about the Bible are inferences, not explicit statements. Learning to tell the difference is one of the most important Bible study skills you can develop.

Section A: How Was Man Created?

  1. Read Genesis 2:7. What two things did God use to create man? What was the result?

  2. Did man receive a soul, or did man become a soul? What does the text say?

  3. Read Genesis 1:20-21, 24. What does God call the animals? (Hint: look at the phrase "living creature" in Hebrew — it is nephesh chayyah, the same phrase used for man in Genesis 2:7.)

  4. If animals and humans are both called nephesh chayyah ("living soul" / "living creature"), what makes humans different? Read Genesis 1:26-27.

Section B: What Happens at Death?

  1. Read Ecclesiastes 12:7. What happens to the body at death? What happens to the spirit?

  2. Compare Ecclesiastes 12:7 with Genesis 2:7. If creation was dust + breath = living soul, what is death?

  3. Read Psalm 146:4. When a person's breath leaves, what happens to their thoughts?

  4. Read Ecclesiastes 9:5. What do the dead know?

  5. Read Ecclesiastes 9:10. What work, knowledge, or wisdom exists in the grave?

  6. Read Psalm 115:17 and Psalm 6:5. Do the dead praise God? Is there remembrance of God in death?

Section C: Can a Soul Die?

  1. Read Ezekiel 18:4, 20. What happens to the soul that sins?

  2. Read Matthew 10:28. What is God able to do to "both soul and body"?

  3. Read Leviticus 21:11 and Numbers 6:6. The Hebrew here literally says nephesh meth — "dead soul." What does this tell you about whether a soul can die?

Section D: Who Has Immortality?

  1. Read 1 Timothy 6:16. Who has immortality? Does the text say "God and humans" or "God only"?

  2. Read Romans 2:7. Must immortality be sought, or do we already have it?

  3. Read 1 Corinthians 15:53-54. When do believers receive immortality — at death, or at the resurrection?

  4. Read Genesis 3:22-24. Why was Adam barred from the tree of life? What would it have given him?

Section E: What Does the Bible Call Death?

  1. Read John 11:11-14. What did Jesus call Lazarus' death? Then what did He clarify?

  2. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 and Acts 7:60. What term did Paul and Luke use for death?

  3. Read James 2:26. What is the body without the spirit?

Explicit or Inference?

For each statement below, decide: Does the Bible explicitly say this (you can point to a verse), or is it an inference (a conclusion someone draws that no verse directly states)?

A. "Man became a living soul." - [ ] Explicit — the Bible says this - [ ] Inference — someone concluded this

B. "The human soul is immortal and cannot die." - [ ] Explicit — the Bible says this - [ ] Inference — someone concluded this

C. "The dead know not any thing." - [ ] Explicit — the Bible says this - [ ] Inference — someone concluded this

D. "When a person dies, their spirit goes to heaven as a conscious being." - [ ] Explicit — the Bible says this - [ ] Inference — someone concluded this

E. "God only hath immortality." - [ ] Explicit — the Bible says this - [ ] Inference — someone concluded this