Proclaimer Blog
Getting the right answer the wrong way
Does it matter if you get to the right answer the wrong way? I think it does. Let me explain.
This weekend I'm preaching on Genesis 2.4-25. There's a huge amount there, and there's plenty of ink spilled. There are also some very obvious things to say – like, for example, that there are NOT two creation accounts. We know this because Jesus, in Matthew 19.3-5 draws from both in the same breath. However, I got a little stuck on Genesis 4.7
The LORD God…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now, there's some obvious NT work that needs to be done – not least 1 Corinthians 15.45 (where, according to Dick Gaffin, the word "spirit" should be capitalised – only the HCSB does this). But my interest was piqued by the number of popular level commentators who point out, again and again, that Gen 4.7 could be translated, "…became a living soul." This is evidence, so it goes, that mankind is super special and is different from the animal kingdom. He has a soul.
All sounds neat, don't it, Mister? Except that it's exactly the same way the animals are described in chapter 1 (Gen 1.24). And though the land produced the animals, they ultimately got their life from God. But the answer is actually right. We know, reading the creation account (singular) in Gen 1-2 that mankind is special. Moreover we know that to be true just from Gen 2 for other reasons – for example it is only mankind for whom this procedure of giving life is mentioned here. So, it's easy to get to the right answer by the wrong method. And this is why it matters:
- there's no guarantee that you will ever get to the right answer unless you are faithful to the text and use the method. OK, it worked here. But somewhere else, it will not work and you'll end up with the wrong answer
- if this is the kind of thing you need to include in a sermon (and there's no need to particularly) then you will not only be using a wrong approach yourself, but you will be teaching it to others
- in this particular case, the tendency is to elevate a slightly gnostic view of the text (I worked out this clever thing) with a much more basic approach – what does, for example, 1 Cor 15 say about it.
So, yep. The right answer from the right approach is always what we pursue.