CHAPTER I
THE NATURE OF MAN
BODY, SOUL & SPIRIT (Trichotomy)*
 THE
TRIUNE MAN
The Bible says that man is a three-part being:
MAN HAS A SPIRIT
That man has a body is, of course, self evident; but that man has a
spirit in addition to his soul is also just as evident - at least to
those who are disposed to read the Scriptures literally. The Scriptures
very clearly differentiate between the two. For example, that man has
a spirit seems to be very plain from the following Scriptures:
-
"The spirit (Heb. - ne shamah) of man is the lamp of
the Lord." (Prov. 20:27)
-
"The spirit (Gk. - pneuma) indeed is willing ..."
(Matt. 26:41)
-
"Jesus perceiving in his spirit (Gk. - pneuma) ..."
(Mark 2:8)
-
"He sighed deeply in his spirit (Gk. - pneuma) ..."
(Mark 8:12)
-
"My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior (Gk. - pneuma)
..." (Luke 1:47)
-
"He was deeply moved in spirit (Gk. - pneuma) ..."
(John 11:33)
-
"Being fervent is spirit (Gk. - pneuma) ..." (Acts
18:25)
-
"I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the spirit (Gk. - pneuma)
..." (Acts 20:22)
-
"Whom I serve in my spirit (Gk. - pneuma)." (Rom.
1:9 NASB)
-
"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit (Gk. - pneuma)
..." (Rom. 8:15)
-
"What man knoweth the things of a man except the spirit (Gk.
- pneuma) of man which is in him." (I Cor 2:11)
-
"They refreshed my spirit (Gk. - pneuma) as well as
yours." (I Cor. 16:18)
-
"His spirit (Gk. - pneuma) was refreshed by you all."
(2 Cor. 7:13)
-
"The Lord Jesus be with your spirit (Gk. - pneuma)."
(2 Tim. 4:22)
MAN HAS A SOUL
And that man has a soul is also evident from the following Scriptures:
-
"Why are you cast down, O my soul (Heb. - nephesh)."
(Ps. 42:5)
-
"My soul (Gk. - psuche) is very sorrowful." (Matt.
26:38)
-
"My soul (Gk. - psuche) doth magnify the Lord."
(Luke 1:46)
-
"Now is my soul (Gk. - psuche) troubled." (John
12:27)
-
"... were of one heart and soul (Gk. - psuche) ..."
(Acts 4:32)
-
"I call for a record upon my soul (Gk. - psuche) ."
(2 Cor. 1:23)
-
"For they watch for your souls (Gk. - psuche) ."
(Heb. 13:17)
-
"Seeing you have purified your souls (Gk. - psuche)
." (I Pet. 1:22)
-
"Which war against your soul (Gk. - psuche) ."
(I Pet. 2:11)
LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE
It should be noted in this connection that the Hebrew word for spirit
is ne shamah which means "wind," and the Hebrew word
for soul is nephesh which means a "living (thinking) being."
They are two totally different words, and mean two totally different
things. In addition, the Greek word for spirit is pneuma which
means "breeze," and the Greek word for soul is psuche,
which - like the Hebrew word, nephesh - means a "living
(thinking) being." Again, they are two totally different words,
and mean two totally different things.
In addition, the Hebrew word for spirit, ne shamah ("wind"),
corresponds to the Greek word for spirit, pneuma ("breeze"),
while the Hebrew word for soul, nephesh ("living (thinking)
being") corresponds to the Greek word, psuche (also "living
(thinking) being").
Finally, the fact that the soul and spirit of man are two different
things is made absolutely apparent by Hebrews 4:12 where the Bible speaks
of separating the two into two distinct entities:
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
Thus, when God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him ..." (Gen. 1:26-27) what is meant here is that
God made man a three-part being. Since God is a three-part being (i.e.,
He is triune), He created man a three-part being - body, soul and spirit.
WHAT IS THE SPIRIT OF MAN?
If, however, man has a spirit which is different from his soul, what
is the spirit? The spirit is our "inner man" (Eph. 3:16) -
it is that portion of our being which is meant to touch (and commune
with) God - so that we:
"May be able to comprehend (understand) ... what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height (of Christ); and to know (His) ...
love ... which passeth knowledge, that ... (we) might be filled with
all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:18-19).
The spirit is what Peter refers to as "the hidden person of the
heart" (I Pet. 3:4) - and it's precisely this "hidden person
of the heart" which differentiates man from the beasts.
MAN AS DIFFERENTIATED
FROM THE BEASTS
The beasts have no such ability to touch God - they were never meant
to "commune" with God - only man has this ability (or possibility).
Indeed, if only the body and soul are taken into account, then the radical
"animal rights" activists (as bizarre as they may seem) are
correct when they say that there is little that differentiates man from
the beasts - after all, beasts, just like man, think, reason, love,
and hate and, ipso facto, they have a soul!
To say that they don't - that they just react to stimuli like plants
- is asinine. Plants (which have only a body, but no soul) don't think,
don't love, don't reason. Unlike the beasts and man, they only react
to stimuli; they are still alive, but they don't have a soul, and surely
they don't have a spirit.
SOUL AND SPIRIT
It is important to understand the difference between our soul and spirit
because it is in our spirit where we are cognizant of God and where
He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. It is the spirit where our
fellowship with God begins. It is in our own spirit where we must worship
God. This is why Jesus said,
"God is a Spirit (meaning the Holy Spirit): and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit (meaning man's spirit) and in truth."
(John 4:24)
Our spirit is deeper than our soul. It's deeper than our random thoughts.
It's deeper than our outward emotions which we might project to others.
It's a place to which we can retreat and always find happiness and joy
in Christ - regardless of our outward circumstances. This is what Paul
was talking about in II Cor. 6:10 when he said that as a servant of
Christ he was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" - sorrowful
in his soul due to the trying circumstances which surrounded him - but
always rejoicing in his spirit where he had fellowship with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul puts it this way in II Cor. 4:8:
"... we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed,
but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but
not destroyed." (II Cor. 4:8)
Nothing could shake Paul from his deep, abiding trust and peace that
was his experience down deep in his spirit - although outwardly, in
his soul, he was often bewildered and distressed. Some have likened
it to a storm raging on the ocean; but if we go down beneath the waves
we find rest and peace. How often we forget, and try to ride out the
storm on the surface (in our soul) where the raging waves of confusion
and fear predominate, instead of trusting Christ in our spirits.
It's in our spirits where "the peace that passes all understanding"
is to be found (Phil. 4:7) - the peace which is ours because Christ
dwells there. It was in our spirit where we first met God when the Holy
Spirit convicted us of our sin. Wasn't it glorious when we first came
to know Christ? It might not have made sense in our mind or soul, but
down deep inside we knew the gospel was true and that we needed a Savior.
That was God speaking to us in our spirit.
BEHOLDING AND REFLECTING THE LORD
It is in our spirits where the consciousness of God is found. Some
have said that:
-
Our spirit is where we are conscious of God.
-
Our soul is where we are conscious of self.
-
Our bodies are where we are conscious of the physical world of
the senses.
Sanctification means bringing our soul into submission to our spirit
which is beholding and reflecting God. When we do this, we reflect God
to the world. This is what Paul meant when he said that
"... we all, with open face beholding as in a glass [mirror]
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:18)
This is what true godliness is all about. It's not about learning formulas
from "how to" books promoted by "Christian" psychologists
and counselors on how to have a good marriage, to be a loving father
or wife, to be a caring parent, etc. It's about beholding God in our
spirit and reflecting Him through our soul to the world which surrounds
us. Our need isn't for more books and seminars, our need is to behold
the Lord in our spirit and reflect Him to those who touch us in our
daily lives. When we do this, we will automatically be a loving father
or mother, because He is a loving father or mother; we will automatically
be a loving husband or wife because He is a loving husband or wife;
we will automatically be a caring parent because He is a caring parent.
This is exactly the practice of our Lord insofar as His walk with the
Father is concerned. Jesus said,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he
doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John 5:19)
ABIDING IN THE LORD
And, likewise, this is what Jesus told us to do insofar as our relationship
to Him was concerned:
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye
abide in me.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye
can do nothing.
"If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and
is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and
they are burned.
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so
shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:4-8)
It's not working for Christ, but "abiding" in Christ; it's
not doing, but "beholding and reflecting."
NOTE
THE HISTORY OF TRICHOTOMY
Most Biblical scholars in the early church saw man as a threefold
(trichotomous) being. Even as late as Augustine (A.D. 354-430),
the common view was that man was trichotomous - that he possessed
a body, a soul, and a spirit. The words of Augustine substantiate
this fact very plainly when he wrote in Faith and Creed:
"... there are three things of which man consists - namely
spirit, soul, and body ..." [Faith and the Creed
(XX:23)].
But as Latin Theology (i.e., Roman Catholicism) began to take
hold, most theologians abandoned trichotomy and began to see
man as simply a two-fold being of soul and body (with spirit
being just another name for the soul). This idea, known as dichotomy,
continued as the majority opinion down through the centuries
and still is the common view held by the Roman Catholic Church
and most of the Protestant churches that came out of the Reformation
(i.e., the Dutch Reformed, the Lutheran, the Episcopalian, the
Presbyterian, etc.) - all of which, interestingly enough, hold
to a post-millennial approach to eschatology [i.e., that the
church must take control of the world before Christ can return
(more about this later)]. It is interesting to note in this
connection, however, that Martin Luther, the father (so to speak)
of the Reformation, championed the view that man was trichotomous.
THE PLYMOUTH BRETHREN
It wasn't until the rise of evangelicalism in the 1800s [and
most especially, the Plymouth Brethren, the group which is looked
upon by most church historians as the parent body out from which
evangelicalism sprang] and John Nelson Darby that trichotomy
once again revived - and it's worth noting in this connection
that along with a revived view of man as a trichotomous being,
pre-millennialism also revived. Darby's teachings were popularized
and gained wide acceptance and public acclaim in conservative
church bodies throughout most of the 20th century. But with
the rise of the modern ecumenical movement - i.e., the political
movement of Protestant and Catholic bodies together to "take
the nation back for Christ and the church" - post-millennialism
(which "politicizing" promotes) resurfaced along with
dichotomy - which post-millennialism of necessity encourages. |
* Much of this material was derived from Brent Harris's excellent
booklet, Body, Soul and Spirit
|
