Mankind

The lesson begins with mankind's ultimate purpose: human beings were created with the potential to enter God's family as literal children and to share the God-level plane of existence.

Man was created as a physical “living soul.” The Hebrew word nephesh is used for both human and animal life and refers to living, breathing creatures rather than to an inherently immortal essence. The biblical soul therefore lives and dies.

Scripture repeatedly emphasizes human mortality. Ezekiel states that the soul that sins shall die, Paul says the wages of sin is death, and Ecclesiastes teaches that the dead know nothing.

Although human beings and animals are both mortal, mankind was made in God's image and given something animals do not possess—the “spirit in man.” The lesson describes this as a nonphysical component that works with the brain to produce the human mind, self-awareness, reasoning and the capacity for spiritual thought.

The spirit in man is not itself a conscious immortal soul. It has no independent awareness apart from a functioning brain. At death it returns to God, where it preserves the unique pattern or record of the individual until resurrection.

Physical life provides the arena in which human beings develop character. God created mankind with free moral agency so that righteous character could be formed through choice, experience and the consequences of those choices.

The lesson rejects the idea that mankind was created inherently evil. Humanity was created upright and morally neutral, but wrong choices and Satan's influence have led human thinking away from God.

Because the human mind operates on a spiritual level, human problems are fundamentally spiritual. Yet mankind generally tries to solve them with only physical solutions. The lesson argues that this is why human civilization repeatedly fails to produce lasting peace and happiness.

God's Holy Spirit provides the missing spiritual dimension. Through repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands and conversion, God's Spirit renews the human mind and begins transforming the person's character.

God's Spirit works with the spirit in man, bearing witness that Christians are children of God. If that spiritual life continues to grow, the believer will ultimately be born into God's family at the resurrection.

The lesson also stresses that all mankind will receive a genuine opportunity for salvation. There is no “second chance” for one who knowingly and permanently rejects God after being fully enlightened, but everyone must first receive a real opportunity to know God's truth.

Human destiny therefore extends far beyond this physical life. Hebrews describes “all things” as ultimately being placed under man, while God's purpose is to develop sons prepared in character, attitude and experience to share eternity with Him.

This future purpose does not diminish the value of physical life now. The lesson also emphasizes abundant living, personal growth, health, family, work, character and the dignity of human life as important parts of God's plan.