Fundamentals
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23 NASB
Shall be called – When did you become self-aware? Before you try to think back to your infancy, let’s ask the question a different way. This isn’t a temporal question. The answer isn’t, “Oh, when I was 15 months old.” This is a question about personal consciousness. How is it that you became conscious of yourself as a person? How did that event come about so that you were aware of yourself? By the way, this is also a fundamental question. To be self-aware is one of the critical components of what it means to be human. So the answer is quite important, even if you never thought about it before.
The Bible provides a unique answer to the question of self-awareness. The answer is fundamental to how we understand relationship. The Bible’s answer is addressed in God’s statement, “It is not good for man to be alone.” This is not a statement about companionship or spiritual connection or propagation of the species. It is a statement about self-awareness. We cannot become self-aware alone. Self-awareness, the experience of knowing that I am a person, can occur only in relationship. According to the biblical story, I am not aware of myself until I am aware of the other.
Jonathan Sacks puts it like this: “Man must pronounce the name of woman before he pronounces his own name. He has to recognize the other before he can recognize himself.”[1] In fact, the Hebrew text shouts this conclusion. Adam alters his own name (his self-identity) from adam to ish in this verse, and he does so because of the presence of ishshah, the woman. Man does not know who he is until she arrives and after she arrives he is who he is because she comes before him. Self-awareness is a function of the presence of the other.
Moses Luzzatto recognized this fundamental biblical truth. He contended that self-awareness means consciousness of my infinite obligation toward others because it is their presence that actually caused me to become human. I owe them my life! Without others, I could not be who I am. I might be walking in the Garden. I might be innocent. But I could not be human because being human is fundamentally about being connected to others. This is the basis of Luzzatto’s entire approach to spirituality. It begins with the debt I owe for becoming aware of myself.
The Genesis story is not a nice tale about moral responsibility, keeping commandments, creation and sin. It is about being human. It is fundamental. To be human is to be connected. No man can be human unless there is woman—the one who is the reflection of himself not in himself. Connection is not internal. It is external, voluntary and entangled. “To be, or not to be” is not the question. “To be for her, or not to be at all,”—that is the question.
As long as we are being controversial, we might also notice that the man changes his name because of the presence of the woman. The relationship between them is not one of possession, that is, naming her according to him. It is one of connection, changing him because of her. It is voluntarily putting her before him. The tradition of taking the man’s name in marriage is not supported by this text. In fact, it is an ancient pagan idea of ownership. The biblical idea is much more sophisticated. The biblical idea is that the relationship depends on recognizing that my identity is found in the other person. Sacks drives the point home: “It [not treating the other person as the image of God] also fails to redeem solitude, for if I regard you as an extension of me, not a person in your own right, I am still alone.”[2] As God Himself said, “It is not good for man to be alone.”
Topical Index: Genesis 2:23, woman, self-aware, Luzzatto, Sacks
[1] Jonathan Sacks, Radical Then, Radical Now, p. 77.
[2] Ibid., p. 80.
Theology from my past implied YHVH didn’t NEED to create man because he had fellowship with the other two members of the trinity, the son and holy spirit. That never fully rang true as the three but one, one but three logic always left my thoughts empty and confused. So, if YHVH is one, echad, does being alone also apply to him, that it is not good, since there is NO one like YHVH. Doesn’t that translate to being alone, having no one else like him as Chava was like Adam?
Well, here is one of my many speculations: We’re told that God’s word was with Him from the beginning. And it seems that God can make His word be whatever He wants it to be. So I would say that God never was alone at all.
Is a manifestation of myself the same as community?
Who says my naturally begotten children are me? Or has the word lost its meaning when it was given to us about the Echad? We are biologically based so we cannot compare with that Godhead (unfortunate and inadequate word that it is) for sure, even when it comes the begetting, but then, that is going to also mean that our comparison of community, as we know it, cannot compare, either. What I see on both ends, though, is persons. Fully realized individuals. (Or, in our case, as humans, you could say more in the process of becoming fully realized.) What if, when we finally get the community thing right, we discover it is more like Him than we thought?
When Yeshua was baptized, God spoke to His Son, “This is My beloved Son…” Does this qualify as a community. Thanks, Skip, for helping us to think and to ask questions.
Don’t forget, the Holy Spirit was there, too. Would that consist of the entire Community?
I mean, that obviously was when the full Purpose was joined. The Anointing was the ultimate meeting of the Minds, you could say.
You assume that the Holy Spirit is a “person,” something Jewish thought does not embrace. God is echad, one, solo, no other. There are not three “persons” and a “Godhead.” Those Christian anti-semitic ideas came much later and depend on Greek philosophy
Please define ‘person’.
That is the issue, isn’t it? Take a close look at the definition of the Trinity provided by John Piper (his web site) and you will see that he claims each “person” of the Trinity is a “person” in a way that we DO NOT USE THE WORD “Person” of any other thing. This is pure equivocation, pretending that we know what the word means but using it is a way that it cannot mean what we think it means. Wittgenstein spent his philosophical career pointed out the nonsense of this kind of thinking. Person is what we mean when we use it in our ordinary language. You are a person. I am a person. Nephesh is the Hebrew word (one of them) for person. A fully integrated seat of consciousness enveloped in human form capable of independent choices and actions distinct from any other person and recognized as such by others.
Are angels persons?
Do they have independent centers of consciousness, distinction from each other, choice, self-awareness. Are they alive? Can you interact with one and not another?
I guess the answer is “yes” to all your questions, but, they are not human (flesh and blood). Can you have a non-human person?
Non-human person. This is what I discuss in my lecture “Being Human.” You can have a non-human biological entity that appears like a human being, but if being human is a function of displaying the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), then there are a lot of non-humans in the world. They are not persons in the biblical sense, but they would be persons in the philosophical sense.
If reality consists of the space in between, then “one” would be referring to the echad, and not the particulars. No particulars if no unity, then. We might have reality exactly backwards. Thanks, Alice.
Was reflecting yesterday on the question that Lauretta Aragon was asking about prophecy. Specifically, that Yeshua promised that He would come back when there was a kingdom to come back to. He stated that that kingdom would be determined when the gospel will have been presented to the entire world. To know is to have a choice, but to have a choice then means you are responsible for that knowledge. To know about the kingdom is to then become responsible for the choice FOR or AGAINST. At that point, the number of the kingdom has been perfected, as all the choices will have been exhausted. No more ignorance to wink at also means no more chances, either.
Yeshua does not bring the kingdom with Him. He shows up when it (the Body) has been perfected for Him. He came the first time in a body prepared for Him by the Father. He shows up this time when we perfect one for Him. The kingdom is an echad, a unity. We are only realized in our identity when we have perfected the unity between us. Then, and only then, will we be properly reflecting His likeness, even the glory of that heavenly Echad. I am fully me only when we are fully us.
The prophecy is contingent upon US to bring it about. He delays because we hesitate. Prophecy is a two-step. He will know us when we know Him.
Laurita, As always your comments add flavor to the meat of the meal at God’s Table (and sometimes it is a side dish or even a desert). Thank you. So nice to see new contributors with different spices as well. As to the pre-conditions of Yeshua’s return I reckon I can put away my binoculars and put on my work boots to do my part- however small or short. Also I might as well learn to accept that this promised coming Kingdom may not happen in my lifetime, but it will certainly happen and it will be LIFE everlasting.
My wife and I often find ourselves in opposition to each other; we are very different one from the other. But when I am aware of how different she is and, more importantly, appreciate that, then I am all the better for it.
We have a friend, Richard, who told us a long time ago that he tries to see something worthwhile in every one he meets, something worth emulating.
My self-awareness is constantly enhanced, and I am a more well rounded individual only by seeing the good in others. No time for moody introspection here!
Adam must not have spent any time with all the dogs and cats he named before she showed up. Those critters may have some cognizance of self as well, but how could that be proven?
Okay, I’ll accept the probability there were only two dogs and two cats at the time and she showed up the same day. But what about Adam’s relationship with his Creator? That would not have crystallized self-awareness in him?
Read Moses Luzzatto, Mesillat Yesharim, and Stone’s commentary, then Heschel on self-awareness, and perhaps a few psychologists. Self-awareness requires more than inner consciousness, as Luzzatto makes clear 250 years ago, and as modern psychotherapy seems to confirm. The biblical view of “It is not good for man to be alone” is much more than just divine-human fellowship.
Self and Sin Aware
~ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ~
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked?”
When did I become “self” aware, yes, but also when did I first become “sin” aware? When did I first realize and recognize I was a sinner, in need of a Savior?
~ because ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God..”
Yes sir, yes ma’am, it is “all about relationship!” The Scriptures state: ~ The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy ~ (Proverbs 28.13)
My sins have been exposed, under the scrutiny of the Scriptures. The Light of the Word of God has revealed the decay and degradation within.
But, am I alone? ~ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God ~ (Romans 3.19)
Every mouth? The whole world? Ahh, now not only are we self-aware, and sin-aware, but we are also “world-aware!” All have sinned, therefore all (self included, of course) are in need a Savior.
Yes, we are in this together. Can we now see the amazing beauty of John 3.16? Once we became self and sin- aware, “I hid myself” (typical reaction to the holiness of God – to hide), we have a new and deeper appreciated for the blood-atonement (the covering and cleansing) of Calvary’s Lamb.
Isn’t it wonderful? ~ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him! ~ (John 3.17)
And to take and run with this blessing even further.. “of Him, through Him and to Him are?” (ALL things!)
Let us always remember and rejoice in this: It is found in the “gospel,” the “good news” of Jesus, who is the Christ. Friend, ~ God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He has given unto us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
Relationship? (Hallelujah!) Restored.
We gain far more *in Christ than we ever lost *in Adam!
C.S. Lewis writes, “There is no reason to suppose that self-consciousness, the recognition of a creature by itself as a ‘self’, can exist except in contrast with an ‘other’, a something which is not the self. It is against an environment of other selves and preferably a social environment, an environment of other selves, that the awareness of myself stands out. …… and hence I have the pleasure of making your acquaintance.” Do you see God as a risk taker or as someone who plays it safe, if such things are possible or present to the Creator? What would the good creation be like without humanity? Say a world of beautiful flowers, rolling hills, lush forests and vegetation, soaring birds, grazing deer, flowing streams of water, endless lakes and mighty oceans. Such a world would be one of tranquility for sure. It would be nice to look at, like a beautiful painting, but could never be appreciated for its’ beauty. The appreciation of beauty, required a creative risk, on the Creator’s part. Awareness of beauty requires a consciousness and a ‘something’ to support that consciousness, to give it life. Enter the human creature, fully conscious with capabilities for cognitive growth. Perhaps it could ‘appreciate’ the beauty of creation in some sense at first, but self-recognition, recognition of ‘itself’ as a self, required the presence of another self. The foundation of humanity is established with self-awareness. With a ‘me’ came a ‘you’ and with time and community came an ‘us and a ‘them’ and eventually, a ‘mine’ and a ‘mine’, and with that, the real possibility of conflict. Self-awareness, spawned selfishness, self-centeredness, self-loving and rarely, self-giving. There’s risk in creating, greater risk in creating self-consciousness, still greater risk in creating self-consciousness with the added ‘bonus ’of free will. Scripture states that it was ‘not good for man to be alone’. Self-awareness and self-consciousness required an ‘other’ to be viable in the way humanity was intended to be, in creation. There was a great risk taken by the Creator, to create in His image, yet He announced it as ‘good’. So, we are all children of that ‘risk’. A self required an ‘other’ self to become aware. “It is not good for man to be alone”. And yes, ‘one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do’.
But man was not alone, before woman was created man had the presence of God.
“Sacks drives the point home: “It [not treating the other person as the image of God] also fails to redeem solitude, for if I regard you as an extension of me, not a person in your own right, I am still alone.”[2] As God Himself said, “It is not good for man to be alone.””
Does this concept allow that YHVH finds meaning and value in relating to his creation, man, as part of his makeup as YHVH? Is the creation of man a necessity for YHVH to be who he is, breath/wind/ruach that he is? Does the building of Chava out of Adam, an image of himself, as a vehicle or means to being human equate in any way to YHVH creating adam in the first place as means to being who YHVH is.
Just trying to determine any correlation of our being who we are to YHVH being who he is.
Or I might just be bouncing crazy things around the inside of my skull to hear any echoes resonating from things ricocheting around. Contemplating that which can’t be contemplated but stabbing at it anyway.
Even in human action there is a difference between essence and choice. God chooses not to be alone. That does entail that in order not to be alone He depends on His creation and in particular His creation of Man as another moral agent. But choice does not mean He is not God if He is alone. It just means He chooses not to be alone.
The Kotzker Rebbe said: “If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you”. Aye, Aye, You!
1 JOHN 5
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that
begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5Who is
he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6This is he that
came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is
the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7For there are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8And there are three
that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
St. John
CHAPTER 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same
was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing
made that was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in
darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
This not a Christian teaching but an Apostle of Christ enlightening or empowering Jewish congregations.
The trinity is similar to me, my thoughts and my actions. God, His thoughts (Word/Christ), His actions (Jesus/Holy Ghost active in flesh). For me the New Testament God in flesh. How far have we progressed to realizing this principle in our lives…
This is my christian doctrine and Jesus the proof that this is what God desired Adam be before Eve fed him knowledge and wisdom of the creation and its wealth… Personal view.
1 Cor 15: 20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that
slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But every man in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Can I suggest that you provide the reference and not quote entire sections of Scripture. We are all capable of looking up the verses.
Will do
Just a question John was one of the eleven sent to the the lost sheep, Paul to the gentiles which of these records are to be deemed christian doctrine and which verifying the implication of the prophetic reasons before Yeshua was born?