Covenant Reformed News – June 2012 • Volume XIV, Issue 2
This article from Covenant Reformed News examines the book of Job's teaching on human nature as a unified being composed of body and soul, drawing parallels with Genesis 2:7 and other biblical passages. The author traces how Job and Elihu describe man's material and immaterial dimensions, emphasizing humanity's creation from dust and dependence on God's breath for life. This exegetical study provides Reformed biblical interpretation of anthropological doctrine as reflected in the wisdom literature of Job.
The Book of Job and the Nature of Man (1) Like the rest of the Bible, the book of Job teaches that man is a unified being with two “aspects” or “parts:” body and soul or spirit (Matt. 10:28; Luke 16:22-23; 23:43, 46, 52). Thus Elihu speaks of God’s gathering man’s “spirit” and man’s body turning again to “dust” after death: “If he [i.e., Jehovah] set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust”...