What Are the Elements of Man?

By Kristina Y.

 

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." -1 Thessalonians 5:23

 

The question of how many elements there are to man has been an important factor in every culture, religion, and people group over the centuries. It ranges from one (the physical body) to five or more. The most common belief, however, is that we consist of two parts: the physical body, and another non-physical element known as the spirit, soul, or mind; this is the seat of our thoughts, feelings, imagination, affections, etc.

Now, I must admit, I did not know just how common the dualistic (two-parts) belief was in Christendom until about a year and a half ago. I was listening to a Christian radio program and the subject of how to define the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) came up. The host was giving various analogies, and some people called in to give their opinion. One of the people calling in suggested that we use man (meaning the human being) as an example. He said that man is made up of body, soul, and spirit, and yet is one man. I was expecting the host to agree with this, but instead he quickly brushed the idea aside saying matter-of-factly that man is not a trinity, so therefore you cannot use man to describe the Holy Trinity. This surprised me to say the least. Up until then I had always assumed that most Christians (especially fundamental) believed in a triune human nature, and it was only those with humanistic, naturalistic beliefs who would deny a second non-physical element. No honest person can get around the fact that thoughts and feelings are non-physical, but that's about as far as most unbelievers will go.

So, that is what prompted me to start researching the subject of man's elemental nature. The first thing that came to mind was the familiar phrase found in both Testaments, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength." For some, this alone would be enough to prove that man is more than two parts. Here it lists four distinct attributes we are to use to focus on God. However, after further investigation, I found the argument against that to be rather strong. Those on the dualistic side say that it was only meant for emphasis. Even though each word has a different meaning both in English and the original Greek or Hebrew, it isn't enough to convince those who hold strongly to the dualistic approach.

 

However, that isn't the only Scriptural support for a triune nature. There are many passages that don't even mention the soul or spirit which demonstrate how man must consist of more than two parts. For example, John 13:3-11:

"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, 'Lord, are You washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.' Peter said to Him, 'You shall never wash my feet!' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.' Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.' For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, 'You are not all clean.'"

 

The obvious question now is, what part of the human nature does this feet washing apply to? Christ Himself said that once you are bathed you are completely clean, except for your feet. Bathing here must refer to salvation, being cleansed from one's sins. It is quite frankly absurd to think that Christ is speaking of literal, physical feet. Therefore, if you believe that man is a dual nature, it must be concluded that it is your spirit (which has become a new creation and is covered by the blood of Christ) which has become dirty and in need of cleansing, even though this is a direct contradiction of what Jesus said in the text. Your "hands and head" are already clean, and will always be clean. It is just the this one part of you, the metaphorical feet, which needs washing. What could it be?

Here is another passage which may put things into perspective. Romans 12:1-2:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

  

Here Paul is asking his "brethren" (fellow Christians) to "present your bodies a living sacrifice.," and to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." What then is our mind? If it is our redeemed spirit, why does it need to be renewed? It sounds like this "renewing of the mind" is the same thing Christ was demonstrating in the washing of the feet. There is some part of us which is touched, non-physically, by the world and needs to be washed or renewed.

  

Yet another passage from a Pauline epistle shows us a battle between two non-physical human elements. Romans 7:14-25:  

"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

"I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

"So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

Are we to believe that Paul was being held captive to his physical body? It is your stomach which hungers, but it is your hand which picks up the food and puts it in your mouth.

What does the hand care if your stomach is hungry or not? Or what physical need does the body have for a fancy car, big house, or fine clothes. Is it not our ego, our self (which we are to deny daily) which desires these things? It appears to me that there must be two sides to our non-physical nature, which are constantly warring with one another for control over our physical body.

 

Here is a commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:23 from the Scofield Study Bible, written in 1909:

Man a trinity. That the human soul and spirit are not identical is proved by the facts that they are divisible (Heb. 4:12), and that soul and spirit are sharply distinguished in the burial and resurrection of the body. It is sown a natural body (soma psuchikon = "soul-body"), it is raised a spiritual body (soma pneumatikon), 1 Cor. 15:44. To assert, therefore, that there is no difference between soul and spirit is to assert that there is no difference between the mortal body and the resurrection body. In Scripture use, the distinction between spirit and soul may be traced. Briefly, that distinction is that the spirit is that part of man which "knows" (1 Cor. 2:11), his mind; the soul is the seat of affections, desires, and so of the emotions, and of the active will, the self. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful" (Mt. 26:38; see also Mt. 11:29; and John 12:27). The word translated "soul" in the O.T. (nephesh) is the exact equivalent of the N.T. word for soul (Gr. psuche), and the use of "soul" in the O.T. is identical with the use of that word in the N.T. (see Deut. 6:4; 14:26; 1 Sam. 18:1; 20:4,17; Job 7:11, 15; 14:22; Psa. 42.6; 84:2). The N.T. word for spirit (pneuma), like the O.T. ruach, is trans. "air," "breath," "wind," but predominantly "spirit," whether of God (e.g. Gen 1:2; Mt. 3:16) or man (Gen 41:8; 1 Cor. 5:5). Because man is "spirit" he is capable of God-consciousness, and of communication with God (Job 32:8; Psa. 18:28; Prov. 10:27); because he is "soul" he has self-consciousness (Psa. 13:2; 42:5, 6, 11); because he is "body" he has, through his senses, world-consciousness. See Gen 1:26, note.

-C.I. Scofield, The Old Scofield Study Bible, 1909

Now, here is the passage being commented on, 1 Thessalonians 5:23:

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit^G4151 and soul^G5590 and body^G4983 be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

Here are the definitions of the Greek words highlighted, taken directly from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

     G4151 - pneuma:

pnyoo'-mah

From G4154; a current of air, that is, breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively a spirit, that is, (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy spirit:—ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Compare G5590.

 

G5590 - psuche:

psoo-khay'

From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]:—heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

 

G4983 - soma:

so'-mah

From G4982; the body (as a sound whole), used in a very wide application, literally or figuratively:—bodily, body, slave.

One would think that all of this would be sufficient evidence for a triune nature to man. However, that is not the case for some. As with many issues within Christendom, no matter how much evidence one presents, straight from Scripture, there will always be those who deny it.

Another argument the dualistic side gives is that there is no evidence in the creation story of God giving man three natures. I beg to differ. Here are two passages out of the creation story which refer to both animals and humans, and the elements God created in them.

Genesis 1:24:

" And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living^H2416 creature^H5315 after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast^H2416 of the earth after his kind: and it was so."

Genesis 2:7:

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed^H5301 into his nostrils the breath^H5397 of life^H2416; and man became a living^H2416 soul^H5315."

Here are the definitions of the Hebrew words highlighted, taken directly from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

     H2416 - chay:

khah'ee

From H2421; alive; hence raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively:— + age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life (-time), live (-ly), living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop.

      H5301 - naphach:

naw-fakh'

A primitive root; to puff, in various applications (literally, to inflate, blow hard, scatter, kindle, expire; figuratively, to disesteem):—blow, breath, give up, cause to lose [life], seething, snuff.

      H5315 - nephesh:

neh'-fesh

From H5314; properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental):—any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-] contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortality, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.

      H5397 - n^eshamah:

nesh-aw-maw'

From H5395; a puff, that is, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect or (concretely) an animal:—blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

You should be able to tell from the passage and definitions above that both man and the animals held two things in common upon creation: A body, "chay" (H2416), and a soul "nephesh" (H5315).

However, there is one thing God gave Adam which He did not give the animals: The breath (spirit) of life, "neshamah" (H5397). God breathed, "naphach" (H5301), something different and special into Adam.

So, according to Genesis 1 and 2, the animals have a body and a soul. But man has a body, soul, and spirit.

Thank you for reading this. I feel I have made my case to the best of my ability. Ultimately you must look at the evidence for yourself and decided what you believe. Obviously, this is a non-essential doctrine, and your view on this does not affect your salvation or status in the body of Christ. So, I will just leave you with a few more passages of Scripture to think about, and a simple illustration of how I believe man's trinity could be different from God's trinity. I encourage your feedback, positive or negative. I would like to hear from both sides proofs and arguments.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18:

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Galatians 6:15:

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."

Ephesians 2:15:

"Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace."

Ephesians 4:23-24:

"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

Colossians 3:9-10:

"Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him."

Romans 7:23,25:

"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members… So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

1 Thessalonians 5:23:

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

You can see from these oversimplified drawings how the "Holy Trinity" could be understood as different from the human "triune nature." All persons of the Holy Trinity are interconnected: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Whereas with human nature, the body is not directly connected to the spirit. This is only a theory, however, and should not be taken as fact.

Kristina Y.

January 13, 2008