Love and Marriage: Body and Soul

To better understand about marriage and how a man and woman can meld their lives together, let’s look at some of the basics from God’s Word. Understanding what our heavenly Father says about our body and soul is vital to appreciating how awesomely and wonderfully He has designed our lives.

As a high-school science teacher, I love seeing how God’s Word is perfectly accurate when it comes to human physiology. Genesis records where the original man and woman came from. The Biblical explanation agrees with everything modern science knows about our bodies. In fact, there is still much to be learned from the Bible that may help scientists find the answers they seek.

God Formed the Body

The Lord God originally formed and made man, Adam. He took the basic building blocks from the earth and formed man’s body from them.

Genesis 2:7:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust [powdered earth] of the ground….

The science of chemistry shows that all matter is composed of basic units called atoms [from the Greek atomos, meaning not able to be cut to a smaller size]. Although we now know that there are subatomic particles, atoms are the basic building blocks that form molecules.

Organic chemistry studies how life processes occur at this level. Molecules make cells, cells make tissues, tissues make organs, and organs work together to make whole body systems (such as the circulatory, nervous, skeletal, muscular, respiratory). And these systems work together to carry out the processes that we need to live.

The Lord God formed man (adam in Hebrew) of the “dust” of the ground (adamah in Hebrew). God used the smallest units from what is in the earth to construct Adam’s body. Both our bodies and the earth’s crust have a high percentage of oxygen. The earth’s crust contains most of the mineral nutrients our body needs, and the chemical composition of a rock, such as granite, is strikingly similar to the composition of the human body.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they received negative physical consequences from their actions. God told them what would happen when their bodies died. The basic chemical elements would return to where they had originally come from.

Genesis 3:19:
…till thou return unto the ground [adamah]; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

God Made the Soul

But the Lord God did much more than form man’s body of the earth’s elements. He also put life into man’s body. He made Adam’s soul.

Genesis 2:7:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed [naphach] into his nostrils the breath [neshamah] of life; and man became a living soul [nephesh].

The Hebrew words for “breathed,” “breath,” and “soul” are related. God put breath-life into man. It is interesting that He did it “into his nostrils.” Over the years, I have enjoyed teaching people about the benefits of deeper breathing. One important technique to good breathing is to inhale through the nose. God designed the nose to filter air for impurities and to get it into our trachea and lungs at the proper temperature.

When we breathe in air through our nostrils, nose hairs begin the process of filtering. Air enters the nasal cavity and sinuses and heads down through the trachea (windpipe) into the lungs. The whole system of airways is lined with a thin layer of sticky mucus that traps dust particles, bacteria, and other pollutants. Tiny hairs called cilia sweep mucus from the nasal cavity.

As an avid runner for forty-five years, I’ve consistently enjoyed a good jaunt when we lived in snowy winters and tropical summers. Whether hot or cold, dry or humid, my nose has kept the air going into my lungs at the proper temperature and moisture. An intricate network of blood vessels takes care of the heating and humidifying work. Folds of tissue inside the nasal cavity provide a huge surface area of blood vessels that warm the air to body temperature and add moisture within seconds. It also regulates extremely hot or moist air going in.

God’s Plan: Man and Woman

Adam had perfect health and an amazing body. But something very important was missing—and the Lord God did something about it!

Genesis 2:18,21,22:
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one [originating from] of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made [built] he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

God took something “originating from” Adam’s rib and built a woman from it. What material is found in the rib that would be a building block for a whole new person?

The answer lies within the bone marrow found in the rib. Most people think that bone marrow is only a yellow material in the bone. But actually, we begin life as children with only red bone marrow. Then, as we get older, the red marrow is displaced by yellow marrow (which stores fat). The interesting thing is that adult people still have red marrow in their ribs, as well as the vertebrae, pelvis, and skull. This red marrow is where our adult stem cells are located. Scientists estimate that we each have about 150 million adult stem cells.

Stem cells are different from every other kind of cells in the body. All stem cells can do three things: 1) divide and renew themselves for long periods, 2) begin as unspecialized cells, and 3) generate specialized cell types for the tissues in our bodies.

Now let’s look at stem cells from the bone marrow in the rib. Normally in the body, cells divide symmetrically so that you get two “identical” cells, each having the original DNA. But in bone marrow, cells divide asymmetrically. In other words, of the two cells produced, one has only a copy of the DNA, and the other keeps the original DNA from the parent cell. The copied DNA stem cell leaves the bone marrow, while the original DNA stem cell remains behind. This makes sure that the number of adult stem cells stays the same in our bone marrow!

When the Lord God took material from within Adam’s rib to build a woman, He knew exactly what He was doing! Bone marrow stem cells support and generate a large number of different cell types found throughout our bodies.  They have recently been used to regenerate heart and liver tissues.

Adam joyfully responded to God’s great work and named his wife. She was Adam’s very own “flesh and blood.”

Genesis 2:23:
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman [Hebrew: ish-shaw], because she was taken out of Man [Hebrew: ish].

Look at how beautifully the first man and woman were made to enjoy life together! They were made of the same material by a loving God. They had souls that could experience God’s creation, including each other. But something important was missing before they could “be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). They needed a connection with God. Later in this series, we’ll see how He so richly supplied that need!