The Essential Nature Of Man
THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF MAN
There are three differing views that are held by scholars as to the essential nature of man.
Trichotomy. This view states that man is composed of a body, soul, and spirit. It sees a triune makeup in the being of man. The soul is seen as the life force of man while the spirit is that part of man that communes with God.
Soul|Spirit|
The realm of man's relationship with other men|The realm of man's relationship with God|
Hebrews 4:12 speaks of how the word of God is sharp enough to be able to pierce as far as the division of soul and spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Paul gives a closing benediction and says, “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Dichotomy. This view sees man as primarily existing in two parts: the material body and the immaterial part that is unseen and unmeasured. This is not a denial of the soul versus the spirit, but sees these two as aspects of the immaterial part of man.
• The Scriptures to not clearly delineate between the soul and the spirit of man. For example, we can read of one's soul being troubled (Genesis 41:8; Psalms 42:6) as well as of one being troubled in spirit (John 13:21).
• The terms for both spirit and soul are used of animals: Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? (Ecclesiastes 3:21).
• At the time of death, the Bible speaks of both the departure of the soul (Genesis 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21) as well as the departure of the spirit (Ecclesiastes 12:7; John 19:30).
• The Bible speaks of both the salvation of the soul (1 Peter 1:9) and also of the saving of the spirit (1 Corinthians 5:5).
• We regularly read of God's Spirit, but both the Old and New Testament also make mention of God's soul. In the Hebrew of Amos 6:8, God swears “by His soul.” Isaiah 42:1 describes the delight of God's soul. In Jeremiah 9:9 God says His soul will be avenged. Hebrews 10:38 points out that God's soul has no pleasure in those who do not believe.
Monism. This is the secular view that states man is a collective whole with no separate soul or spirit and nothing beyond his physical body. By contrast to this view, the Scriptures speak of an immaterial part of man that exists apart from his body. The observation of John Murray, the late professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary, might be helpful. The evidence does not support the tripartite construction. We need not suppose, however, that soul and spirit are always synonymous and are interchangeable. The entity denoted by soul and by spirit is to be viewed from different aspects. When one aspect is in view, the term ‘spirit' is the appropriate designation, and when another aspect is in view the term ‘soul' (1984b:31-32). The term “soul” generally looks at man as having life that is resident within a body while the term “spirit” generally focuses upon that life as having originated from God.