Man is a threefold being: body, soul and spirit.
The real man is soul and spirit, conferred directly from God.
The body, the outward casing, is dust and to dust it returns.
Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 ¶ These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 ¶ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18 ¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:1-17 – Man in Eden, Innocence
The first paragraph, like the previous chapter, uses the same term for God–Elohim. God’s Rest was not from weariness, or exhaustion, but because His work of Creation was finished. He is ever at work, remember John 5:17. We enter into His rest, when we cease to worry, and trust Him in all and for all. In Genesis 2:4, Moses incorporates another of those wonderful God-given narratives, which had been handed down from the lips of the patriarchs. It is marked by the use of another term for God–Jehovah Elohim. Every man is entrusted with a garden, that he may keep it. God’s goodness is no excuse for idleness. Whether your heart and life shall produce weeds, or flowers and fruits, depends on yourself. Ponder Proverbs 4:23; 24:30-31. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Genesis 2:1-3 – J. Vernon McGee
Genesis 2:4-6 – J. Vernon McGee
Genesis 2:7 – J. Vernon McGee
Genesis 2:8-14 – J. Vernon McGee
Genesis 2:10-14 – “A pure river of water of life…proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1).
The Bible is a circle, in describing which the Divine hand begins in Paradise and ends there. In Genesis God dwells with men, and He does so in Revelation. In Genesis man is in Eden, with the river that watered the garden, and the trees yielding their pleasant fruits, and in Revelation man is in the garden of God once more, with this advantage, that no serpent is there to beguile, and no forbidden fruit to allure. (John Hall)
Genesis 2:15-17 – J. Vernon McGee
Genesis 2:15 – The Lord God put him into the Garden
Thus God started man in an ideal home. Memories of Eden, exquisite as dreams, weave the background of human life. Fellowship with the Creator, who walked its glades; its river, trees, and fruits; its blessed companionship; its light and ennobling toils—how fair the picture!
The Garden of Eden.—That was God’s ideal. When men point thee to the scars on the world’s face, left by the trail of the Arab slaver, the march of the army, the decaying glory of human civilization, and ask how such things are consistent with God’s love, point to that garden and say, “That is what the love of God meant for man; Satan and sin have wrought this.”
The Garden of Gethsemane.—When man forfeited Paradise, the Savior was revealed to regain it. He trod the winepress alone in the shadowed garden of the olive trees that through its glades He might pass to his cross, and so make the wastes of sin bloom again as Eden. Is it wonderful that another Paradise is possible, when He sowed its seeds and watered the soil with his blood?
Turning wastes into gardens.—In Eden man wrought as God’s fellow-worker; and we are called each day to do something towards reconstructing the Lost Paradise. Find thy part in delving, sowing, watering, or tending the tender shoots! Seek that thine heart should be an Eden, kept sacred for thy King, and endeavor thy best to plant gardens where hitherto sand-wastes and thorn-thickets have prevailed. Then, “instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 55:13). —Our Daily Homily
Genesis 2:18-25 – Man and Woman
Human love is God’s best gift to man. Without it even Eden would not be Paradise. That Adam was able to name the animals, affixing a title suggested by some peculiarity or characteristic, indicated his royal supremacy, and, in so far as we live in God, that supremacy is restored. See Daniel 6:22; Mark 1:13. But what is power without love, or a throne without a consort? Eve was, therefore, given to crown his bliss; taken from his side, as afterward the Church from the opened side of Christ. See John 19:34, and Ephesians 5:25. Still God brings Eve to Adam; and such a marriage is truly blessed. —Through the Bible Day by Day