Answer:
The material part of man is transmitted through natural generation by the union of the female egg and the male sperm. Three suggestions have been made as to how the immaterial part of man is transmitted.
1. By the Pre Existence of the Soul
The preexistence of the soul was the view of some ancient church fathers, such as Origen. This view held that all the souls that ever existed, do exist, or will exist were created in the very beginning, but they enter the body either at conception or at birth. The soul of man has a separate, conscious, personal existence in some previous state. Having sinned in that pervious state, they are condemned to be born into the world in a state of sin in connection with the material body.
The problem with this view is that it has no biblical support whatsoever. The Bible does not teach the preexistence of the soul prior to the formation of the material part of man.
2. By the Doctrine of Creationism
The second suggestion is known as the doctrine of creationism. Insofar as the immaterial part of man is concerned, creationism teaches that each soul is individually created and is placed into the body either at conception or at birth or at some time in between.
Those who hold this position believe it for three reasons. First, they point out that the body and soul are said to have different origins, with the soul coming from God. For example, they cite Numbers 16:22, where God is called “the Father of the spirits”; Ecclesiastes 12:7: the spirit returns unto God who gave it; Isaiah 42:5, Jehovah gives the spirit; Isaiah 57:16: the souls that I have made; Zechariah 12:1, God forms the spirit of man within him; and Hebrews 12:9: the Father of spirits. These various verses are supposed to teach that the body and the soul have different origins, with the soul coming from God. Secondly, they point out that the nature of the soul is spiritual, and that which is spiritual must always come directly from God. Thirdly, they claim that this is the only way to explain why the Messiah did not have a sin nature.
In spite of these reasons for believing in the creationist position of the origin of the immaterial part of man, this is not the best answer for what the Bible teaches. Five answers can be given to the creationist’s claims. First, the body is also said to originate with God, just like the soul (Ps. 139:13–14; Jer. 1:5), yet we know that the body comes into existence through natural generation. When these verses speak of the body coming from God, it obviously points to its ultimate original source: God the Creator. All bodies after Adam and Eve are not created but are transmitted through natural generation. When the Bible speaks of the soul coming from God, it could also refer to the ultimate origin of the soul, which is God’s creation by the breath of His mouth. But this does not have to mean that every single soul is created, any more than every single body is formed by creation. Secondly, the fact that the soul is spiritual does not exclude the possibility of the soul also being transmitted through natural generation. Thirdly, the Messiah was protected from the sin nature, not because God created a soul for Him, but because of the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35). Fourthly, this view fails to explain why the soul has a tendency to sin unless God created the soul sinful. Yet this is something that they do not say. But why does the soul have a tendency to sin if the soul was created holy by God? And fifth, there is a moral problem with this view. According to this view, God creates the soul sinless, and then He puts the soul into a sinful body that, in turn, corrupts it. The moral problem is: How could God create a holy soul, and then put it into a sinful body, knowing that upon contact, it would corrupt the soul? God created Adam and Eve, and He created the first souls for Adam and Eve, but He does not create every individual soul any more than He creates every individual body.
3. By the Doctrine of Traducianism
The third suggestion for how the immaterial part of man is transmitted is the best view. Theologically, this is called the doctrine of Traducianism which teaches that the immaterial part of man is transmitted through natural generation, just like the material part of man. At the point of conception, the material part of man is formed, but also, at the point of conception, the immaterial part of man is formed.
Traducianism is the best view in light of Scripture for three reasons. First, Genesis 46:26 states that souls are already present in the loins. Secondly, according to Genesis 5:3, the “begetting” includes the image and likeness of God, which is not a component of the material part of man, but of the immaterial part of man. Thirdly, the Bible teaches that the sin nature is already present at birth (Job 14:1–4; 15:14; Ps. 58:3; Jn. 3:6), and the sin nature is part of the immaterial part of man. Even more conclusive is the fact that, not only is the sin nature present at birth, the sin nature is present even at conception as David wrote in Psalm 51:5: in sin did my mother conceive me. The sin nature, a facet of the immaterial part of man, is already present at conception.
The point is quite simple: just as the material part of man is transmitted through natural generation, so also is the immaterial part of man transmitted through natural generation. At conception, both the material and immaterial parts of man are present.
Extract from Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries: Messianic Bible Study 086: The Composition of Man pp. 6-7.
