THE NATURE OF MAN BODY, SOUL & SPIRIT
(Trichotomy)*
THE TRIUNE MAN
The Bible says that man is a three-part being:
Body
Soul
Spirit
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)
ne
shamah = spirit (Hebrew); pneuma
= spirit (Greek); both words mean wind or breeze
MAN HAS A SOUL
And that man has a soul is also evident from the following
Scriptures:
(1) "Why are you cast down, O my soul (Heb. - nephesh)."
(Ps. 42:5)
(2) "My soul (Gk. - psuche) is very sorrowful."
(Matt. 26:38)
(3) "My soul (Gk. - psuche) doth magnify the
Lord." (Luke 1:46)
(4) "Now is my soul (Gk. - psuche) troubled."
(John 12:27)
(5) "... were of one heart and soul (Gk. - psuche)
..." (Acts 4:32)
(6) "I call for a record upon my soul (Gk. - psuche)."
(2 Cor. 1:23)
(7) "For they watch for your souls (Gk. - psuche)."
(Heb. 13:17)
(8) "Seeing you have purified your souls (Gk. - psuche)."
(I Pet. 1:22)
(9) "Which war against your soul (Gk. - psuche)."
(I Pet. 2:11)
nephesh = soul (Hebrew);
psuche = soul (Greek); both
means a living, thinking being
nephesh = soul (Hebrew);
psuche = soul (Greek); both
means a living, thinking being
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 in 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.
It's
in our spirits where "the peace that passes all understanding"
is to be found.
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 with 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
