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In reading popular books written by Kenneth Haggin and Benny Hinn, I have found that an understanding of the three-fold division of men is basic to their system(s). The body, which continued alive after the fall, had the sure destiny of dying suddenly one day. So the born-again man lives with the sure destiny of receiving an incorruptible, holy body suddenly one day. The soul/heart of man is the seat of his emotions, thoughts and will. Animals also have emotions, thoughts and personal wills. After the fall, the soul/heart of Adam underwent a process of decay, whereby it became progressively more wicked. So the born-again man undergoes the process of sanctification in time, where his soul/heart is becoming progressively more holy. The spirit of Adam died instantaneously at the fall. So the spirit of the born-again man is instantaneously made alive. Sanctification consists in listening to and following the spirit (which is the only part of man in contact with God) over and above listening to and following our semi-corrupt soul/heart (and has no spiritual contact with God). Such is my understanding. Understanding the three-fold division of man is absolutely essential to understanding these systems.
Yet, in my study of scripture I have found that the three-fold division of man is not an emphasis of scripture (if it is there at all).
There are extended analogies with a two-fold division of man in Old and New Testament. By extended, I mean that a dualistic division is not just mentioned in one verse, but the two fold division is essential to understanding the larger point being made. It is drawn out and details are explained.
In the creation account, Adam was made from the dust (body) and the body became alive when God breathed into him(spirit).
Dust to dust - his body returns to dust. His soul lives on. - this is a dualistic division
In Galatians 5 and Romans 8 Paul sets "flesh" against "spirit". In both vases he draws out the description in detail across many verses. - this is a dualistic division
In Romans 7 Paul contrasts the "law of my members" with his "inner being", "the law of my mind". - this is a dualistic division
There are single verses that support the dual-division:
Mat 10:28 Fear not those who klll the body, but him who is able to kill both soul and body in hell
II Cor 5:1 Earthly tabernacle and a heavenly one
There is not space to be exhaustive: There are more extended descriptions and single verses that assume a dual-division of men.
"Soul" is often used to mean "entire man"
Lev 4:2 The soul that sin will die.
I Pet 1:9 the end of faith is salvation of souls
Rev 6:9, 20:4 John saw the souls of them that were slain
"If the Bible ascribed only a psuche to brutes, and both psuche and pneuma to man, there would be some ground for assuming that the two are essentially distinct. But such is not the case. The living principle in the brute is called both nphs and rvch, psuche and pneuma. That principle in the brute creation is irrational and mortal; in man it is rational and immortal. "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" Eccles. iii. 21."Hodge, Charles (2012-04-14). Systematic Theology (All 3 Parts Complete) (Kindle Locations 23310-23316). . Kindle Edition.
The most common thing found in scripture is a dualistic division between the part of man that isn material "body" or "flesh" and that which can not be seen "spirit", "soul", "heart", "inner man", "mind"
There are single verses that seem to support a three- fold division (though each of these are disputed):
I Thes 5:23 whole man = spirit, should & body
Luke 1:46,47 My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hat rejoiced…(probably a repetition of the same idea common in Jewish poetry)
4 fold-division
Luke 10:27 - Love with heart, soul, strength and mind
Heb 4:12 (Is this a three-fold division, or is the point that joints and marrow are not distinct substances, neither are soul and spirit. If they are separate substances, why does it prove the extreme sharpness of the word of God to separate them? Would the Word of God be proven sharp if it separated the body and the soul?)
I believe this list IS EXHAUSTIVE - four isolated verses. I have found no more.
What I did not find in scripture:
1. No extended use of a three or four fold division. Each verse in "one and done". There are no systems developed where a three-fold division is used to explain something. There is no section of scripture that details the threefold division and explains it, referring to it several times. Always "one mention and done".
2. No place where a pure spirit was said to exist in a man with a corrupted soul.
I have been looking for a theological work, not a popular book, that defends the tri-fold division of man as an essential doctrine. Can anyone on Christianchat recommend one?
"the 3-fold division of man, proposed by Plato, was introduced partially into the early Church, but soon came to be regarded as dangerous, if not heretical. It being held by the Gnostics that the pneuma in man was a part of the divine essence, and incapable of sin; and by the Apollinarians that Christ had only a human soma and psuche, but not a human pneuma, the Church rejected the doctrine that the psuche and pneuma were distinct substances, since upon it those heresies were founded. In later times the Semi-Pelagians taught that the soul and body, but not the spirit in man were the subjects of original sin. All Protestants, Lutheran and Reformed, were, therefore, the more zealous in maintaining that the soul and spirit. psuche and pneuma, are one and the same substance and essence. And this, as before remarked, has been the common doctrine of the Church."
Hodge, Charles (2012-04-14). Systematic Theology (All 3 Parts Complete) (Kindle Locations 23386-23395). . Kindle Edition.
I do believe in and have come to know the charisma of the Holy Spirit. That is not the point of the thread. I might concede (or might not) that one or more of those four verses above shows a three-fold (or four) division of man. What I can not see, and am not close to seeing, is that the three-fold division of man is a basic, essential doctrine, on which other doctrines (such as sanctification) should be built.
Yet, in my study of scripture I have found that the three-fold division of man is not an emphasis of scripture (if it is there at all).
There are extended analogies with a two-fold division of man in Old and New Testament. By extended, I mean that a dualistic division is not just mentioned in one verse, but the two fold division is essential to understanding the larger point being made. It is drawn out and details are explained.
In the creation account, Adam was made from the dust (body) and the body became alive when God breathed into him(spirit).
Dust to dust - his body returns to dust. His soul lives on. - this is a dualistic division
In Galatians 5 and Romans 8 Paul sets "flesh" against "spirit". In both vases he draws out the description in detail across many verses. - this is a dualistic division
In Romans 7 Paul contrasts the "law of my members" with his "inner being", "the law of my mind". - this is a dualistic division
There are single verses that support the dual-division:
Mat 10:28 Fear not those who klll the body, but him who is able to kill both soul and body in hell
II Cor 5:1 Earthly tabernacle and a heavenly one
There is not space to be exhaustive: There are more extended descriptions and single verses that assume a dual-division of men.
"Soul" is often used to mean "entire man"
Lev 4:2 The soul that sin will die.
I Pet 1:9 the end of faith is salvation of souls
Rev 6:9, 20:4 John saw the souls of them that were slain
"If the Bible ascribed only a psuche to brutes, and both psuche and pneuma to man, there would be some ground for assuming that the two are essentially distinct. But such is not the case. The living principle in the brute is called both nphs and rvch, psuche and pneuma. That principle in the brute creation is irrational and mortal; in man it is rational and immortal. "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" Eccles. iii. 21."Hodge, Charles (2012-04-14). Systematic Theology (All 3 Parts Complete) (Kindle Locations 23310-23316). . Kindle Edition.
The most common thing found in scripture is a dualistic division between the part of man that isn material "body" or "flesh" and that which can not be seen "spirit", "soul", "heart", "inner man", "mind"
There are single verses that seem to support a three- fold division (though each of these are disputed):
I Thes 5:23 whole man = spirit, should & body
Luke 1:46,47 My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hat rejoiced…(probably a repetition of the same idea common in Jewish poetry)
4 fold-division
Luke 10:27 - Love with heart, soul, strength and mind
Heb 4:12 (Is this a three-fold division, or is the point that joints and marrow are not distinct substances, neither are soul and spirit. If they are separate substances, why does it prove the extreme sharpness of the word of God to separate them? Would the Word of God be proven sharp if it separated the body and the soul?)
I believe this list IS EXHAUSTIVE - four isolated verses. I have found no more.
What I did not find in scripture:
1. No extended use of a three or four fold division. Each verse in "one and done". There are no systems developed where a three-fold division is used to explain something. There is no section of scripture that details the threefold division and explains it, referring to it several times. Always "one mention and done".
2. No place where a pure spirit was said to exist in a man with a corrupted soul.
I have been looking for a theological work, not a popular book, that defends the tri-fold division of man as an essential doctrine. Can anyone on Christianchat recommend one?
"the 3-fold division of man, proposed by Plato, was introduced partially into the early Church, but soon came to be regarded as dangerous, if not heretical. It being held by the Gnostics that the pneuma in man was a part of the divine essence, and incapable of sin; and by the Apollinarians that Christ had only a human soma and psuche, but not a human pneuma, the Church rejected the doctrine that the psuche and pneuma were distinct substances, since upon it those heresies were founded. In later times the Semi-Pelagians taught that the soul and body, but not the spirit in man were the subjects of original sin. All Protestants, Lutheran and Reformed, were, therefore, the more zealous in maintaining that the soul and spirit. psuche and pneuma, are one and the same substance and essence. And this, as before remarked, has been the common doctrine of the Church."
Hodge, Charles (2012-04-14). Systematic Theology (All 3 Parts Complete) (Kindle Locations 23386-23395). . Kindle Edition.
I do believe in and have come to know the charisma of the Holy Spirit. That is not the point of the thread. I might concede (or might not) that one or more of those four verses above shows a three-fold (or four) division of man. What I can not see, and am not close to seeing, is that the three-fold division of man is a basic, essential doctrine, on which other doctrines (such as sanctification) should be built.
