BIBLE LESSON

“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” — Genesis 2:7

When God created the animals, He spoke, and the Earth brought forth living creatures of every kind (Genesis 1:24).

God created the creatures of the land, sea, and air with various abilities, and they all were to breathe, eat and increase in number.

When God created the first man, God made a new beginning.

Rather than speak man’s creation into existence, as He had everything else He created, God took the dust of the ground that He had created previously and personally formed the dust into the shape of the first man, a shape God made in His own image.

Then, God created man in His image from the inside out by personally breathing the breath of life into him.

The book of Genesis implies that the breath of life coming directly from God to man was far different from the ordinary air that people, animals, birds and fish would breathe to physically live; for God gave people abilities similar to His; abilities that would enable people to “rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that moved along the ground” (Genesis 1:26).

God gave people abilities that include, and are not limited to, the ability to think, feel emotions, make decisions and judgments, obey God, and love God and others.

God gave people all the abilities they would need to rule over creation under God’s Sovereign Lordship.

When people obey God as their Lord, they represent God’s wise rule over the Earth.