A Personal God

I was once a professor at Britain’s largest university, and I held various degrees and academic distinctions. In many ways, I was quite sophisticated—intellectually. But I do not feel in any way intellectually inferior to say I believe the Bible’s record of creation. Prior to believing the Bible, I studied many other sources that attempted to explain man’s origin, but I found them unsatisfying. In many cases, they contradicted one another. I then turned to study the Bible—not as a believer but as a professional philosopher. I thought to myself, At least it can’t be any sillier than some of the other things I’ve heard! To my astonishment, I discovered that the Bible had the answer.

In Genesis, we read a short, simple statement. It begins, “The Lord God”—that is, “Jehovah God”—God’s personal name. This term tells us that a personal God formed a personal man for personal fellowship.

“The Lord God formed [molded] man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [soul].” (Genesis 2:7)

Here we see the union of God’s divine, eternal breath from above with the body of clay from beneath, molded by the hands of the Creator. The union of spirit from above and clay from beneath produced a living human personality—one that can have fellowship with the living, personal God.