The LDS Doctrine of Pre-existence and Genesis 2:7

On p. 301 of their poorly-researched and argued book, Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons (Harvest House, 1995), Ron Rhodes and Marian Bodine wrote the following against the LDS doctrine that everyone, not just Jesus, had personal pre-existence (emphasis in original):

·       Doesn't a plain reading of Genesis 2:7 seem to indicate that God created both man's material and immaterial aspects at the same time?
·       Where is there the slightest hint in Genesis 2:7 that a pre-existing spirit-being entered a "tabernacle" of human flesh?

I will be the very first to admit that the Bible does not possess a developed doctrine of the pre-mortal existence of spirits as understood within modern Latter-day Saint theology, although there are strong, implicit evidences in favour of this doctrine from the Bible, and no sound exegetical evidence against such a belief; indeed, there is a strong Christological need for belief of the personal pre-existence of everyone  if one wishes to hold to (1) personal pre-existence of Jesus and (2) Christ's true humanity.

Notwithstanding, at least two biblical texts in the Old Testament seem to equate the underworld with human origin. In a statement praising God as creator, the author of Psa 139 declared, "My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being in the depths of the earth" (v. 15 [NRSV]). Psa 139:15 suggests the possibility for understanding Gen 2:7 as a reference to the connection between the human spirit and the underworld.

This perspective certainly concords with the later Adamic curse: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen 3:19). One could argue that this statement indicates that some Israelites believed that in the process of creation, deity literally extracted the human spirit from out of the underworld.

Indeed, it was the location from which the life-force was taken, for like the word אֶרֶץ (earth), the term אֲדָמָה (ground) often refers to Sheol, the abode of the dead:

And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. (Gen 4:10)

But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all the appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand these men have provoked the Lord . . . The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households--everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods. (Num 16:30, 32)

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when the company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign. (Num 26:10)

And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the sons of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. (Deut 11:6)

For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land. (Isa 15:9)

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Dan 12:2)

A similar concept is found in the text Abodah Zarah, 5a, which says that the Messiah will come when all the souls in the "guph" [i.e., the superterrestrial abode of spirits] have passed through the earthly life.

Therefore, Gen 2:7, when properly understood in its ancient context, is not opposed to the Latter-day Saint doctrine of pre-existence.