The
trichotomy of man (body, soul and spirit) is an essential doctrine for
believers because in this doctrine lies the work of the Holy Spirit. Without
the understanding of the role that the human spirit plays in the life of man,
the role the Holy Spirit plays in our overall existence is then diminished. The
doctrine of the trichotomy also provides a unique understanding of many
scriptures regarding our resurrection. This is why the early Christians held
this philosophy and this is a historical truth.
Man’s
nature and our own history of the world go hand in hand. History teaches us
many lessons from those who have lived before us. History also demonstrates to
us the methods by which to live our lives and teaches us the dangers of
forgetting those lessons. It is however a two-sided coin. On the one side are
the lessons that benefit man such as our Biblical history and even the more
recent 9/11 bombings. On the other side is the history of the corruption of man
such as the Gnostic gospels and other deliberate forgeries. Therefore history
is a minefield that must be carefully tread upon considering each step
carefully.
Scrutinize the teaching of Josephus for a moment on the nature of man. Some
basic questions come to mind such as: What did he believe, what are the
meanings of what he wrote, Should I consider what he believed important and if
so does it harmonize with the beneficial history of man?
On the nature of man Josephus wrote: “That God took dust from the ground, and
formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a soul.” (Josephus, Antiquities,
1:1:2). Josephus is writing on the creation of man. He describes the Jewish
belief on the creation of the body with some detail such as even the color of
the dust that was used and that the dust came from Jerusalem. His description of the bodily
creation is so detailed why did he see it necessary to also comment of the soul
and spirit if it were not considered important?
Was Josephus influenced by Greek philosophy? Yes. But was he not also a Jew now
trying to keep the integrity of his people together? Yes. There is no known
contestation of this citation of Josephus in other Jewish history to refute it.
In fact a reading of the Jewish Talmud, particularly the book of Shabbath,
shows the usage of both soul (“neshamah”) and spirit (“ru’ah”). So Josephus was
not without precedence in his distinction of the three elements of man’s
nature.
From a historical perspective Josephus opens up his narrative of antiquities
with this description but then later does not use both in the same context. Why
should he or any of the Biblical authors for that matter apply both terms in
any context of their writings. A discussion on the applications of ketchup may
only need to refer to tomatoes once. The same is true of the historical usage
of soul and spirit. The subject matter of the writing determines the proper
word to use.
Read the latter words of Josephus: “At length God sent a very destructive
disease upon the city and country of Ashdod, for they died of the dysentery or
flux, a sore distemper, that brought death upon them very suddenly; for before
the soul could, as usual in easy deaths, be well loosed from the body, they
brought up their entrails, and vomited up what they had eaten, and what was
entirely corrupted by the disease.” (Josephus, 6:1:3). Josephus did not need to
refer to the spirit but described that the soul is usually responsible for the
eventual death of man and as we shall see later, this is consistent with the biblical
teaching from Genesis.
The early Jews were not the only patrons to have held the philosophy of the
tripartite nature of man. Early Church fathers and apologists also wrote in
similar fashion as Josephus on the soul and spirit. As we have discussed with
Josephus the reference to both or even all three elements may only occur once
according to the context needed of the subject matter.
Justin Martyr approximately
150-160 A.D. in his dissertation of the resurrection wrote:
“For the spirit dies not; the soul is in the body, and without a
soul it cannot live. The body, when the soul forsakes it, is not. For the body
is the house of the soul; and the soul the house of the spirit. These three, in
all those who cherish a sincere hope and unquestioning faith in God, will be
saved” (Roberts, 298).
Justin
only incorporated all three in his final summary of the matter which was
appropriate for the context of discussion but still managed to describe in
detail what the predominant thought was at the time. For if it was not the
predominant thought at the time, why were the manuscripts copied and spread out
through a wide geography. This fact is evidence in the manuscripts that exist
today, specifically the Codex Parisinus Graecus 450 of 1364, the Codex Claromontanus
Mediomontanus of 1541 and a recent discovery in 1938 at Mount Athos by Walther
Eltester of Justin’s dialogue with Trypho, shows the wide spread publication of
Justin Martyr (Osborn, 13).
Irenaeus wrote approximately 175-185 A.D in his first book Against Heresies:
This, however, is not of a corporeal nature, for the body is
corruptible; nor is it animal, since the animal soul is the fruit of a defect,
and is, as it were, the abode of the spirit. The redemption must therefore be
of a spiritual nature; for they affirm that the inner and spiritual man is
redeemed by means of knowledge, and that they, having acquired the knowledge of
all things, stand thenceforth in need of nothing else. (Roberts, 346)
Again
this shows precedence between several authors because none then mention all
together in such fashion. This is not a cryptic code in the bible but proper
use of authors who thought out their dialogue thoroughly.
Between
the Jewish and Christian thought, between the historical and apologetic
writings, between the Talmud, Josephus and the Early Church Fathers, there is a
concise historical view of a distinction of three elements of the human
condition. It becomes difficult, given the years of history discussed, to
foster any other belief than the predominant philosophy of the nature of man
was a trichotomy.
The nature of man has been
debated for many centuries among Christians. Most of this debate has been based
on historical and philosophical ground to be sure. Even the scriptures fall
prey to the philosophy of man in this debate when scholars easily dismiss
scriptural integrity on the belief that some how Greek philosophy has crept
into the Gospel. Louis Berkhof in his Systematic Theology sites his opinion of
the origin of the trichotomy view on page 191.
“The tripartite conception of man originated in Greek
philosophy, which conceived of the relation of the body and the spirit of man
to each other after the analogy of the mutual relation between the material
universe and God. It was thought that, just as the latter could enter into
communion with each other only by means of a third or an intermediate being, so
the former could enter into mutual vital relationships only by means of a third
or intermediate element, namely, the soul.”
One must consider this issue when looking at any scripture; however that is
precisely the point. There aren’t much of the New Testament writings that
haven’t been influenced by the Greek culture. Consider the doctrine of the
intermediate state of man and Christ’s usage of Hades in the Gospel. The Hebrew
usage of Sheol in the Old Testament has evolved through the Testament to
incorporate a metaphysical state but the Greek thought on the matter is what
now dominates the teaching. Is this not influenced from Greek mythology and
philosophy? The concept that Christ taught on gehenna was originally a Hebrew
concept, linked to the Old Testament worship of molech (Smith, 130), but when
Greek philosophy arrived in the Holy Land the concept shifted to that of the
place to burn the bodies of criminals which now give us our Christian doctrine
of eternal punishment to the unrighteous criminals.
This is
not only the case with Greek philosophy but with other Rabbis in the
inter-testament period. Consider Christ’s teaching on Paradise
and Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22). This teaching is straight from the Jewish
Talmud. The point is that the Holy Spirit used many methods to bring about the
complete and inspired revelation of the Bible to man. We should not so easily
dismiss a doctrine on this argument because it ignores the working on the Holy
Spirit’s influence on those who authored the scriptures. Based on Berkhof’s
argument we just as well should exclude Mark and Luke from the inspired
writings because they were not Jews.
What is
the point then of distinguishing between the soul and spirit and what exactly
are they? Well to give away the answer now would not guide you through the
analysis. First, the soul is apparent both in the scripture and is not debated
between either the trichotomists or the dichotomists so an examination of the
soul should be the first part of the analysis.
The soul
is a metaphysical element of man which all humans have. A discussion of animal
souls goes beyond the scope of this writing although it is logical to presume
that the soul of man is unlike the soul of an animal because the bodies of
animals are different in construction to the human body. Either way it is clear
that man has a soul and this is what the focus shall be.
The
death of the physical body, which is irreversible, is the result of the slow
dying of the soul. There is a relation to the spirit in this matter but it will
be discussed later. Death, sin and the soul share a relationship in the
scriptures that shows how the soul is affected by sin and then results in
death. This death is both the immediate or spiritual death (discussed later)
and the final physical death. Proverbs 8:36 says “But he that sinneth against
me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” This proverb is an
example of the damage done to the soul by sin and it implies that death is the
final result.
The next
obvious question that concerns people is: does this scripture refer to the
metaphysical soul or does it refer to the whole person? Correlate this
scripture with Ezekial 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the
father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall
die.” This scripture discusses individual people, namely a father and a son,
and the soul is used in the genitive form for possession using the words “of
the father.” So man possesses a soul and the soul in future tense “shall die.”
From these scriptures we can extrapolate that a soul is in a state of life
while the body is alive and that death of the soul is a future event. This is
in harmony with the doctrine of the second death for it is the soul that must
be saved from the second death. James teaches “Let him know, that he which
converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death,
and shall hide a multitude of sins” (emphasis added) in James 5:20. Revelation
6:9 describes a view in heaven where John sees the disembodied souls of men
under the altar of the Lord and again in Revelation 20:4-5 he sees more
disembodied souls who are alive and not dead and calls this the first
resurrection.
What then prevents the soul from death in the scriptures? This is where the New
Testament teachings of the spirit come in. We have seen how the death of the
soul is in fact a future event in the personal history of a person. Now let us
also look at Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.” Not a future tense but a present tense. God is even so specific in
his decree that he specifies “on that day”. What died that day if not the soul?
The spirit of man died the immediate death and the soul slowly suffocated to
death taking the body with it.
All around the world the spirits of human beings are dying daily. “For I was
alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died.” Romans 7:9. This is the instant death at the age of accountability when
each of us realizes our sins. Romans is referring to the same death that Adam
experienced and Paul uses this verse as an introduction to his teaching in the
following chapters on the spirit. Exactly one chapter later (Romans 8:9) Paul
teaches that the believer is not in the flesh but in the spirit.
If the spirit died at the moment of self-awareness of sin, then what gives the
soul a resurrection? This question is paramount in the scriptures. Let us look
at the doctrine of “the quickening” which is the primary reason to believe in
the trichotomy. The Reverend Heard wrote in 1775:
The mystery of human nature seems to lie in this, that men are
born into the world with a living body and soul, but with a dead or dormant
spirit. How else are we to reconcile the Scriptures statement that men are by
nature dead in trespasses and sins, with the fact the intellectual and
sensitive powers, though impaired, are not destroyed by the fall? (Heard, 201)
The doctrine of the trichotomy and the “quickening” work together in the Scriptures.
Many passages in the New Testament do not make logical sense with it. Such is
the confusion with passages like 1Thessalonians 5:23. Of this problem, John
Laidlaw spoke:
When we content ourselves with the assertion that this
description of the 'new man' presupposes corresponding outlines in the first
man which were broken off and blurred by sin, and which are now for the first
time fully realized in man redeemed and renewed, a sound exegesis will bear us
out. (Laidlaw, 106)
John 5:21 says “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them;
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” Christ teaches the resurrection in a
process that is referred to in the King James Version as the “Quickening” also
known in other versions as the “life giver”. Now the resurrection is a process
called “quickening” but how does this occur?
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” John 6:63.
Through the words of Christ the human spirit (note the context of the small
‘s’), which was dead from sin is given life by the very words that created it
in the beginning. For it was the word of Christ that all creation occurred and
even now John sees how those words are giving life even now. “All things were
made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was
life; and the life was the light of men” John 1:3-4.
How should this teaching be applied to the ministry? Modern day ministry seems
to be void of this teaching and it should be utilized with proper application.
This teaching is about the direct interaction of the Holy Spirit on man and
that is important knowledge for our proper relationship with God. Salvation
through the quickening places our lives into a greater perspective and teaches
us how our relationship to God exists in Scriptural form.
The
doctrine of the “Quickening” does not stop there for God is the Judge of the
“quick and the dead” according to Acts 10:42. This means that the baptized
believer has come to life and is given a distinct category in the Day of
Judgment. How does the quickening occur? It occurs by the Holy Spirit through
Baptism. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by
his Spirit that dwelleth in you” Romans 8:11.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit resurrects the dead human spirit within us
and scripture shows us how this is possible. First examine Psalms 51. This
whole Psalm is a glorious testament in itself which contains the prophecy of
the New Testament Gospel in a summary. David prophecies these words in verse 2:
“Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” This is
the prophetic reference to baptism in the Old Testament. Verse 9 then discusses
the removal of the sins or iniquities by saying “Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities” followed immediately with verse 10 which is
the pivotal teaching in this Psalm: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and
renew a right spirit within me.” Here David prophesied the “creation” of a
“renewed” spirit (small ‘s’) and not a new spirit. This verse also teaches that
the spirit is within man and is the Hebrew word ‘ru’ah’ (spirit) and not
‘nephesh’ (soul). Charles Moule commented on this saying “and the fact in both
Ps 51 and 1 Cor.2 words for ‘spirit’ are used to reference both God and man is
itself significant” (Moule, 7).
Numbers 11:17 discusses how God can add to a person’s spirit and this is
exactly the same method used by the Holy Spirit today at baptism. Look at 1
Corinthians 6:17 “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” and also
Romans 8:16 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God.” We are one spirit merged together to become a child of God
all because of baptism which is when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Surely the gift of the Holy Spirit is the resurrection and merger of our own
spirit so that we might live forever. This is the doctrine of the “Quickening”
and why man is a trichotomy. Even the unbaptized human is a trichotomy only
their spirit is dead and acts more like a slow cancer on the man rather that
the “life-giver” it was meant to be since the creation.
Work
Cited
Berkhof, Louis, Systematic
Theology, 1949; Grand Rapids:
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996
Heard, J.B. Rev., The
Tripartite Nature of Man, Edinburgh, T & T Clark,
1775
Josephus, Flavius. The Works of
Flavius Josephus, Translated by William Whiston. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
1995.
Laidlaw, John, The Bible
Doctrine of Man, Edinburgh, T & T Clark,
1879
Moule, Charles Francis Digby,
The Holy Spirit, Continuum Intl Pub Group, 2000
Osborn, Eric Francis, Justin
Martyr, Mohr Siebeck, 1973
Roberts , Alexander D.D. and
Donaldson, James LL.D, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, Grand rapids MI, 1956
Smith, William Dr. Smith’s
Bible Dictionary, Nashville
TN, Holman Bible Publishers
