When are people’s spirits created?
Question:
Some people believe, which was also me until now, that God made man's spirit and not his physical body. Only in Genesis 2:7 had God put man's spirit in a body. Is this wrong?
Also, when God created man on the sixth day, did God just create Adam and Eve? As some also believe that God created everyone's spirit at this time and that you only "come alive" once you are put on this earth. If not, then when was everyone's spirit created?
Lastly, Genesis 2:4 says "When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth" Why is made used in this context? God created the heavens and the earth as created means making something from nothing while made is used in connection with man. We "make" things as we need resources to make things. So why was made used in this context?
Answer:
See: God Created. The world was both created and made.
"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 being" (Genesis 2:7). The verse says that God made man's body since He formed man from the dust. God also gave man a spirit and life. Genesis 2:7 is simply more details about what was already stated in Genesis 1:26-27, "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 2 tells us that it wasn't done in one instance. Adam was made first and then Eve was made a bit later from Adam's rib.
There is no verse that even hints that all spirits were created at one time or that we exist before conception. See Does an unborn baby have a soul? Instead, it speaks of God forming the spirits of men -- an ongoing process -- "The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him" (Zechariah 12:1). God's rhetorical question, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding" (Job 38:4), is to emphasize that Job wasn't around at the creation and is trying to talk about things he has inadequate knowledge.
The Bible does state that God makes each of our souls. "For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made" (Isaiah 57:16). But do note that there is nothing in this verse that says when God makes each soul.
