Genesis and Matthew VI

 . . . and YHWH, God, formed the human, of dust from the soil, he blew into his nostrils the breath of life and the human became a living being.

After being bathed, Jesus came straight out of the water. And all of a sudden the skies opened and he (John) saw the breath of God descending like a dove and coming toward him.

We do a great injustice in our most popular Bible translations, in going for "modern relevancy" or adhering to historical or orthdox "correctness."

Take the word normally translated "spirit." In the Hebrew, the word was ruach, in Greek, pneuma. In both cases, the literal translation should be breath.

Spirit brings to mind ghosts, misty-like humanoids floating around . . . quite frightening, really.

But the word breath has a more instant quality. It is immediate. Our breath comes in and permeates our souls; it leaves us and joins the air in our immediate surroundings. Breath is here and now, within, without. Isn't this what we want in our connection to God?

In God's two primal acts of human creation, breath is involved. First he forms a man from the dust of the earth ("Adam" meaning "man of the earth"; "adama" meaning earth or ground, itself.). Then the breath of God comes down and around Adam. It goes into Man's nostrils, and he becomes a living being.

In the second primal act of creation, the continuous development of Jesus Christ from Second Adam into Redeemer of the Race, God's breath is equally present and active. Christ's obedience to the Father, his modeling humility in being baptized by John the Baptist, the washing away of sin by bathing earthly dust and grit from off his body, was highly valued by God. (Water has similar qualities as breath. You go into the water and are completely surrounded by it. This is how we want to be held by God our Father!)

God's breath comes down and fills the place. The surrounding crowd sees the breath of God, His presence, come down gently and peacefully, lovingly (as it did to Adam originally). The visible breath of God is the Father's expression of pleasure in what had transpired.

Everything Christ did, His obedience to God, invited breath of God into his ministry. The breath of God creates, enlivens, animates, blesses, heals, and comforts.