Offspring of God: Man in Motion

The Horse In Motion. "1878: one of the first "moving" pictures. Several cameras were set up with trip lines spaced apart to study the leg movements of a race horse. When the horse reaches each line the respective camera "shot" its respective "picture.& When the pictures were put in consecutive order, the race horse "moved" at its gallop. Thequot; Horse in Motion is a series of cabinet cards by Eadweard Muybridge, including six cards that each show a sequential series of "automatic electro-photographs" depicting the movement of a horse. Muybridge shot the photographs in June 1878."ⁱⁱ This demonstration is basically how the illusion of "animation" and "motion" in film works.

"Soul" was the choice word translation from both the Hebrew nephesh and Greek psyche in the KJV of 1611 when the word "animal" was historically still rare in English. "Source of our word animal (n.)::: early 14c., 'any sentient living creature' (including humans), from Latin animale 'living being, being which breathes,' noun use of neuter of animalis (adj.) 'animate, living; of the air,' from anima 'breath, soul; a current of air.' A rare word in English before c. 1600, and not in KJV (1611)."ⁱⁱⁱ "The same Latin word anima meaning 'breath, soul' that gave us animal has given us other words such as animate meaning 'alive' comes from the Latin verb animare meaning 'to give life to.' A characteristic of animals is their ability to move about. When a cartoon is drawn and filmed in such a way that lifelike movement is produced, we say it is animated. An animated film seems to have a life of its own."^iv "Commonly only of non-human creatures. It drove out the older beast in common usage. 'Animal' is interchangeable with 'soul': from Latin animal 'living being that can move,' derived from animalis 'animate,' from anima 'soul, breath'"^v "'animal': Middle English animate 'alive,' came from Latin animatus (alive), derived from anima: 'soul, breath'" ^vi

For more definition information please see my article on "soul/psyche" on this site: Click or tap--> SOUL

The apostle Paul is the master of communication. An important factor in communicating is the so-called "magic threes."^vii The Holy Spirit uses Paul's literary ability in both his speaking and writing in multiples of threes. That doesn't mean that he is making up things to guarantee threes but that by the Spirit he has power to analyze truth and convey it in threes.^viii Today's lesson continues with the revelation of the three parts of the constitution of man.

Man's constitution^x has three functions. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 refers to a spirit, a soul, and a body of man. In the beginning the makeup of man is described also as these three functions (Genesis 2:7). First, there is a "tent", the fashioned body (2 Corinthians 5:1). Second, God blows^G1720^{^xi}into man "the breath of life", which is his spirit. Yet, the whole person still is lacking. This union of body and spirit has yet to become (H1961) something. The apostle Paul labels this third aspect^xii of a person as his "soul" in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV).

The man then becomes a "living soul." It does not say man "is a living soul" but he becomes. Is this not a "third part" of living man? The first is the fashioning of the body; the second is the "breath of life" which I have correlated to the spirit of man in a previous article^xiii; the third is the becoming something called a "animal (soul)" that's alive. It is definitely distinct from the body and the "breath of life" [one's spirit].

Two observations for the third part of man. First, the word "becomes"^xiv in Genesis 2:7 indicates a continuing process directed by an outside force^xv; in this case, the force is from God the Creator.^xvi Second, the Greek version emphasizes this by using the preposition "towards" in the Greek (preposition eis; "unto"). This is the same word that is used for the steps "unto" salvation in Acts 2:38^xvii; i.e., "repent and be baptized unto the remission of sins". This confirms a continuing process "towards" something else. Therefore we can understand a separate aspect of man being identified as the "soul." &nbps; But what is this soul?

To the academic idolaters in Athens on Mars Hill, Paul declared, "God that made the world and all things therein... seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; ... For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:24-28). Paul divides the making of man first into two sections of threes. The truth promoted is that God is the Giver and not Receiver like idols; He gives (1) life^G2222^xviii, (2) breath (spirit^G4157), and (3) all things. Specifically, it is in Him (or properly "by"^xix Him) we (1) "live"^G2198, (2) "move" (Kinoumetha^G2795^{^xx}), and (3) are (^G2070; i.e., exist).

God has given man the "breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). Paul uses good grammar in expanding this creative action into its three nouns for the "magic three": life, spirit, and everything (this last is added as gift since Paul is concerned with ongoing continuing Presence of our God). God has not abandoned man. He is as close to us as the furnishing of our needs.

Again Paul uses the magic threes of verbs this time for the third aspect of God-made man: living, moving, while adding a complementary truth "our existing." What does living motion have to do with the "soul"?

I used the quaint phrase "moving pictures" a while back and my grandson corrected me. "Granddad, they are videos." The expression "motion picture, meaning moving pictures on a screen, has existed since 1896."^xxi Since I worked in a booth as a movie projectionist for seven years to help finance my college education, anything that even alludes to movies and/or animation catches my attention. Hence one can understand my interest being piqued when a Bible version uses something like "l'anima" for translating psuche, "soul".

As a young man I was invited to dinner with Italian family. I had become interested in the Italian language while my ship was in Naples, Italy. To impress my Italian dinner hosts I memorized the 23rd Psalm in what I thought was Italian. I recited. "L'Eterno è il mio pastore ...Egli mi ristora l'anima ...";etc. Blank faces. Uh. Oh. Not the reaction I had expected. I asked if that wasn't Italian. The elder one said, "No. It sounds like Sicilian to me." I'm sure it was my pronunciation and they were just being kind.

I noticed, however, while memorizing the third verse that "soul" was "l'anima" in the text. Now that looked like my English word "animal." I was acquainted with the word "animation." Would the mysterious word "soul" in the Bible actually mean something like being animal or having animation in English? Was man identified by the Bible as an animal? Or did soul indicate that man had animated mobility?

Animal (adj.) Genesis 2:7 "est homo in animam viventem" - Vulgate. -- "pertaining to the animal spirit of man," that is, "pertaining to the merely sentient (as distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or spiritual) qualities of a human being," from Latin animalis, from animale. The Latin word animam is translated into the Latin Vulgate (including its apocrypha books) at least 310 times.

Our text for the whole man in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 in the Latin Bible is, "ipse autem Deus pacis sanctificet vos per omnia et integer spiritus (spirit) vester et anima (soul) et corpus (body) sine querella in adventu Domini nostri Iesu Christi servetur" (Latin Vulgate).

The Latin is animal for the Greek psyche (KJV's "soul") and hence are interchangeable.^xxii So "soul" is the same as "animal." It is just from two different language origins but referring to the same thing

(Weymouth New Testament) "In the same way also it is written, 'THE FIRST MAN" ADAM BECAME A LIVING ANIMAL'; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. (WNT 1912 Weymouth New Testament) "In the same way also it is written, 'THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING ANIMAL'; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit."

John Wesley: The " body would be a worthless, useless carcase, if the soul did not animate it."^xxiii Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers: "Really the word refers to the natural life of animals and men, maintained by breathing, or in some way extracting oxygen from the atmospheric air." Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: "a living man, not only capable of performing the functions of the animal life, of eating, drinking, walking, &c. ..." Pulpit Commentary: - "Describing a being animated by a ψυχή psuche or life principle. ... The distinction between the two [man and inferior animals] appears from the difference in the mode of their creations."

Both the Hebrew word nephesh^H5315 and the Greek word psuchē^G5590 is "properly a breathing creature." The Greek specifies "the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from pneuma^G4151 [spirit], which is the rational and immortal 'soul'..."

CONCLUSION: Man's third function is a living, moving animal. The Bible uses "breath" or "breeze" or "wind" to identify the invisible "spirit" (John 3:1-5). Therefore, the translated expression "breath of life" of Genesis 2:7 has to refer to "spirit of life." It cannot be the breathing of air since Thayer's definition of psyche (soul) is "the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing" and this happened finally when MAN "BECAME." Man breathes by moving autonomically his diaphragm. Hence, he is a living, moving animal. As Paul told the Athenians, "by God" we move which includes our breathing air. Man's third function then is being a living moving animal. Soul is distinct from spirit but by metonomy can represent the whole of man.

i"preamble." an introductory statement . Merriam-Webster.com

iihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Gardner_at_a_Gallop.

ivhttp://wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=animate

vihttp://wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=animate

vii"the Latin phrase omne trium perfectum: everything that comes in threes is perfect, or, every set of three is complete." https://www.alivewithideas.com/blog/three-is-the-magic-number/

viii'It's no coincidence that these three part quotes are well known: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; “sex, drugs, & rock n' roll”;“truth, justice, and the American way.' - https://www.gingerpublicspeaking.com/article/three-is-a-magic-number-how-to-use-the- power-of-three-in- public-speaking

ix"function." Merriam Webster: "2: the action for which a person or thing is specially fitted or used or for which a thing exists: PURPOSE 3. any of a group of related actions contributing to a larger action especially: the normal and specific contribution of a bodily part to the economy of a living organism.

xMAN'S CONSTITUTION ("the structure, composition, physical makeup, or nature of"-- Merriam Webster Dictionary)

xi"breathed"; Strong's Dictionary: ἐμφυσάω (emphusaō^G1720) "to blow at or on"

xiiMerriam Webster online: "1a: a particular status or phase in which something appears or may be regarded."

xiiiPlease refer to my previous article on "breath of life." https://biblestudylessons.net/articles/offspring.html pnoē^G4157: "breeze" synonymous with pneuma, spirit.^G4151It is not breathing nor air; man becomes as a result a breathing soul.

xivper Strong's: Hebrew-- "be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary): continue..."; Greek--"to cause to be (“gen” -erate), that is, (reflexively) to become (come into being), used with great latitude (literally, figuratively, intensively, etc.).

xviThe verb action is passive in the Greek translation (LXX) which was used by the early Jewish Christians. That means that God directs the separate process. Again, the language is includes the preposition (LXX) εις^G1519[towards] a "living soul" ( ψυχην^G5590).

xvii"Repent and be baptized eis the forgiveness of sins" Acts 2:38.

xviii"life": ζωή (zōē^G2222). Thayer: "1a) the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate. 1b) every living soul"

xxKinoumetha, either is middle or passive according to Robertson's.

xxihttps://english.stackexchange.com/questions/154844/talkies-motion-pictures-movies-films- and-3d

xxiiIn the Hebrew נֶפֶשׁa [nephesh^H5315] as "life", "creature", etc. The Jewish Greek (LXX) translates the Hebrew nephesh^H5315 as psyche^G5990. For examples, Gen. 1:20, 21, 24,30;2:7, 19; 9:4,5, 10,12,15,16; etc. Genesis 9:10: "And every [soulG5590 living] after you, from fowls and from cattle, and with all the wild beasts of the earth, as many as are with you,from all the ones coming forth from out of the ark." All animals have soul life, including man.

xxivKJV uses the revised Masoretic Hebrew OT and the Greek NT. Strong's Dictionary is for Greek and Hebrew.