Genesis 2:7 describes the birth of the first man as: “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” (emphasis mine). But, what is the breath of life, and is it “the breath of God”? Well, the only scripture that actually uses the phrase: breath of God is Job 37:10, but it isn’t used to describe God breathing into a man’s lungs, rather it is used to describe a cold breeze that freezes the waters and leaves a frost behind on the ground. The closest the Bible comes to saying the breath in a man’s lungs is “the breath of God” is Job 33:4 “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
Nevertheless, if we want to claim that the Lord actually breathed the air into Adam, we need to ask ourselves a few questions that concern our understanding of God. Does God need to breathe? In other words, if he stopped himself from breathing would he die? The scriptures contradict this idea, saying that God is eternal (Psalm 90:1-2), and he is even called the eternal God (Deuteronomy 33:27). So, God doesn’t need to breathe in order to live. However, does the phrase “the breath of God (or the Almighty) suggest that God breathes? I don’t think so, because this idea would mean there must be air (or something comparable) beyond our universe where God resides and God breathes that air, suggesting that the air God breathes must also be eternal, i.e. he didn’t create it. So is there something besides God that is eternal? In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; that is, our universe and everything that is in it embraces what God created (cp. Mark 10:6). Thus, before anything else existed, there was God (Psalm 90:2). In the context of this study, God wasn’t breathing, nor did he need to—he simply existed and was living without any need to keep him alive.
So, what do the scriptures mean, when they mention “the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7)? The phrase breath of life is mentioned only four times in scripture. First, there is Genesis 2:7 where we are told that God breathed into the man’s nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. Having the breath of life means one is a living soul (Genesis 2:7), and God is responsible. If Adam didn’t receive the breath of life, he wouldn’t have become a living soul. I think that is the logical conclusion of Genesis 2:7.
Secondly, we find the phrase “the breath of life” at Genesis 6:17, where we are told that God would “…bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die” (emphasis mine). According to this verse, it is suggested that all animal life that breathes has the breath of life, and this is substantiated by the third and fourth mention of the phrase breath of life, which are found in Genesis 7:15 & 22. All life that breathes, whether human or animal, has the breath of life! So, did God actually and literally breathe into the nostrils of animals, too, as many believe he literally did to Adam? The very idea seems ludicrous, not to mention disrespectful. So, what should we say about these things? Do we change the word of God to fit our understanding, or do we allow the word of God to formulate what we believe? Our answer to this question would be very telling, indeed.
Assuming we would allow the scriptures to define our understanding of God, let us ask: what, then, is the breath of life and is it the breath of God? The scriptures tell us: “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.” (Job 27:3-4). The speaker, of course, is Job, and he claims that the breath that is in him is the spirit of God in his nostrils! It seems fairly clear, therefore, that the breath we breathe is the breath of God. Additionally, Job tells us: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life” (Job 33:4). Who would deny that the breath of the Almighty would be the breath of God? This, also, seems very plain and clear, no wiggle room here for folks who like to oppose the obvious.
As I mentioned above, the only scripture in all the Bible that actually contains the phrase: the breath of God is Job 37:10:
“By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.”
According to the weather channel where I live, cold winds leave a frost behind and cold winds or air cause water to freeze. So, is the weather channel wrong or is Job and the weather channel saying the same thing? Does God run all over the globe causing frost and freezing water where it is cold, or does he do this through the thing he created – the wind? If the latter is true, then the **wind** (i.e. the air we breathe) is the breath of God. Remember, God doesn’t literally need to breathe nor does he do so, because it might be a cool idea. The ‘wind’ or the ‘air’ **is** the breath of God, in the same way the universe is the universe of God—because he created it.
In Conclusion “… the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7) and caused him to gasp, much in the same manner a doctor would do at the birth of a child by slapping his fanny! The result was that the man breathed in “and he became a living soul.” This is what was done in the beginning, and it is also what is done today. When a baby first breathes in the breath of God, i.e. breathes in the air, and takes in the wind, he or she becomes a living soul, a person, a human being! Some may wish to believe otherwise, but this is the clear teaching of the Bible. We may have great compassion for the life within the womb, but it isn’t a person, until it breathes in the breath of God, so says Genesis 2:7. Whatever abortion may be in terms of righteousness or unrighteousness, it isn’t murder, and no one has the God-given authority to say abortion is murder.
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