Why is ADAM created from DUST? Is humanity meant to ABUSE NATURE?

How should we read the story of the creation in Genesis 2 and 3? What is meant by Adam being created from the dust and God blowing into him? How should we understand Eve being created from Adam? What is the garden of Eden and what is the river in it and the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? In this series on Genesis 2 and 3, we will be tackling all of those questions and more.

Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.

In the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

We have already covered Genesis 1 in a few videos we will put in the playlist in the description box below. Today, we want to continue our journey together to unpack the beautiful mysteries hidden within these incredible chapters of Holy Scripture. First, I would like to remind all of us that these chapters are not concerned with scientific truths. Because science is relevant and quite important today, we often tend to read these chapters with a scientific lens.

However, the creation account, like Scripture as a whole, is not meant to be understood scientifically, but rather spiritually and theologically. Today, the world treats science as a god and sometimes we unknowingly mimic it and overly prioritize science. When we read Scripture with a scientific lens, we debase its value, not the opposite. The purpose of Holy Scripture is to give meaning to life, which is substantially more valuable than scientific knowledge.

Let us first start with the creation of Adam. Adam comes from the word המדא (adamáh), meaning earth. Adam here is both a person and symbolic for all of humanity. There seems to be a deep play on the word Adam in the creation account that is more apparent in the original Hebrew.

This humanity God creates is implicitly contrasted with the rest of the creation. So, while the world is created by a mere command from God, it is not the case with humanity. God takes special care in Adam's creation. Scripture speaking in anthropomorphic language, human- like language, portrays God as if He's thinking and carefully considering how He ought to create humans. And subsequently, He creates them in His image and likeness. Humanity, therefore, has a special place and is the crown of God's creation.

However, this special status comes with responsibility, as we shall see later in the video, and humans did not do anything to deserve this gift, but rather, it is a grace given from the outpouring of the love of God.

So, the message is that humanity is special and this is, again, emphasized by Scripture by implicitly contrasting the creation of animals and that of humans. Animals are only created from the ground. Man, on the other hand, is also created from dust, but in addition, he received the breath of life, which is the Holy Spirit that dwelt in him through God's grace. So, St. Cyril says the following in his commentary on the Gospel of John:

''(...) that no one, I imagine,... would suppose that the Breath which proceeded from the Divine Essence became the creature's soul, but that after the creature was ensouled, or rather had attained unto the propriety of its perfect nature by means of both, soul and body to wit, then like a stamp of His own Nature the Creator impressed on it the Holy Spirit, i.e. the Breath of Life, whereby it became moulded unto the archetypal Beauty, and completed after the image of Him that created it...'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Book 9)

So, what does this mean? Other Church Fathers, first I would say, would describe this Breath of Life as the νους (nous), the faculty that allows humanity to search for and spiritually connect with God. And both views are synonymous. So, the receiving of the Holy Spirit is also clear from the text of Genesis itself. All animals, fish and birds were created only from the ground and yet they are considered to be living, according to Genesis 1, which means that they had the body and the animal soul, which animated the body into life.

However, Adam received something extra in addition to the soul and body and that was the Holy Spirit, as St. Cyril mentions. It is through the Holy Spirit humanity is endowed with the capability to communicate with heaven: God, angels, the saints that preceded us to heaven. Yet that same humanity who is also created from dust is capable to communicate with the physical world: the earth, the trees, the animals and so on.

It is the only type of creation capable to interact with both the spiritual and physical realms. Animals are created from dust only, or the ground, and therefore, can only interact with the physical world. Angels are spiritual beings and belong to the spiritual realm. But humans can do both. On this, St. Greggy of Nyssa says the following:

''[God] gives [Adam]... a twofold organization, blending the Divine with the earthly... enjoying God by means of his more divine nature [meaning the Holy Spirit in him or the... or the nous], and the good things of earth by the sense that is akin to them.'' (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man, 2)

St. G'ory also says the following:

''While two natures ─ the Divine and incorporeal nature, and the irrational life of animals ─ are separated from each other as extremes, human nature is the mean [or the middle point] between them: for in the compound nature of man we may behold a

part of each of the natures I have mentioned.'' (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man, 16)

Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, this free grace given to humanity came with a responsibility. In Genesis 1, verse 26, God gives authority and dominion to humanity over the creation. Two verses later, in verse 28, God tells humanity to fill the earth and subdue it.

The word subdue here is ( שאבקkabash) in Hebrew. And this word is the cause of divergence between different Christian denominations. Some see it as an aggressive and violent subjection of the creation and they use other Old Testament examples of kabash as evidence for this claim. But we often forget that we are reading a translation that has been manipulated by humans according to their own understanding.

For this video, it is sufficient to say that this is not how Orthodox Christianity comprehends the word kabash. Christ will not break a bruised reed and will not quench a smoking flask 1

and we ought to walk in His footsteps. Humanity has been given a responsibility over the creation and we are to tend and care for it as gently and carefully as God Himself would.

Remember: this authority is linked to being created in God's image and likeness. Being in God's image and likeness entails the mimicking of God's characteristics through His Holy Spirit within us, what we commonly call a life of virtue today. So, most Church Fathers would describe the image of God as our intellect and freedom of choice while they would identify the likeness of God to being virtuous as He is. On this, St. G'ory of Nyssa says the following:

''Our Maker also, painting the portrait to resemble his own beauty, by the addition of virtues... shows in us His own sovereignty... purity, freedom from passion, blessedness, alienation from all evil, all those attributes of the like.'' (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man, 5)

So, our authority on earth is not to abuse it, but to gently use it in thanksgiving; to take care of it in gentleness and love. Notice that the killing of animals was something that, that occurred after the fall. Prior to the fall, Adam would demonstrate his authority over the animals by naming them, which is both a sign of authority and of care.

We find the same idea of authority and care over the animals in many stories of our beloved saints. Those are people who attained the likeness of God and are living life as originally intended by Him. So, one example is St. Barsoum and his story with the serpent. Abba Macarius, among others, has many stories of caring for animals. Here's one example for you:

1 This sentence is a reference to Isaiah 42:3, also echoed in Matthew 12:20: ''A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench...'' Flax oil is flammable, so it was used for lighting purposes in those times.

''Abba Macarius said, 'While we were still sitting in the cave one time, I heard a voice crying out... and when I went [out] outside I saw a huge serpent. When it saw me, it bent its neck... When I looked at it, I saw that there was something lodged in its right eye. When I thought about the compassion of my Lord Jesus Christ and the invincible power of the cross, I put some spittle on the serpent's face while saying, 'My Lord Jesus Christ, who opened the eyes of the man born blind, have pity on this beast's infirmity and heal it.' When I said this, the fragment fell from its eye...' '' (Becoming Fire, Through the Year with the Desert Fathers and Mothers, edited by Tim Vivian, p.40-41)

It is in this light that we ought to understand our vegan fast as well: we seek to become as per the original creation design, caring for the animal world. When Christ became a human being, He took humanity with all its weaknesses and God-given concessions to heal it and perfect it. Therefore, He used to eat what we currently eat today, including animals, till the recreation of humanity is fulfilled in Him.

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Why is ADAM created from DUST? Is humanity meant to ABUSE NATURE?