into hisface the puffoflife. Several codices, you see, have breathed or exhaled1
Book V11
Genesis 2:7, continued: On the creation of the soul
On what can be meant by God puffing or blowing
1,1. And Godfashioned the man with dustfrom the earth, andpuffed into his face thepuffoflife, and the man was made into a living soul (Gn 2:7). We also set ourselves the task of considering these words of scripture at the beginning of the previous volume, and discussed what seemed to be the intention of scripture about the man thus made, and particularly about his body, as much as we thought sufficient. But because there is a problem, and no small one either, about the human soul, I reckoned that that should be deferred to this volume, not knowing how much the Lord was going to help me, eager as l am to speak correctly; but at least l knew this, that I was not going to speak correctly unless, and to the extent that, he did help me. "Correctly," though, means truly and relevantly, without either brashly refuting or brazenly asserting anything while there is still any doubt over its being true or false, whether in the light of Christian faith or of Christian learning; but unhesitatingly affirming whatever can be taught on the clear evidence of facts and by the light of reason, or on the unambiguous authority of the scriptures.
2. First, then, let us take a look at what is written here: God puffed, or blew, into hisface the puffoflife. Several codices, you see, have breathed or exhaled1 into hisface. But since the Greek codices have enephusesen,1 there is no doubt that puffed or blew is what is to be said. Now we were inquiring in the previous volume about the hands of God, where the man was being thought of as having
1nspiravit in the Latin, being given as an alternative to spiravii. But we do not have a word "inbreathed" in English, and "inspired" would clearly not do; nor for a rather different reason would "inhaled." From emphusao, which in classical Greek certainly had the stronger sense that Augustine and his Latin versions give it here. 1t is the same word as we find in Jn 20:22, where the risen Christ breathed on the disciples and said "Receive the Holy Spirit." Augustine and his versions, however—and also the Vulgate, which in Gn 2:7 has inspiravit—there read insufflavit, and so are still thinking of something stronger than just breathing; perhaps the evangelist too wanted to give the impression of Jesus Wowing the Holy Spirit into the apostles.