03.03 - Chapter 14 - The Nature of Man

Chapter 14 THE NATURE OF MAN Dichotomy: a Division between Soul and Body

According to Genesis 2:7 man is composed of two substances, and only two, body and soul. Genesis 2:7 declares that, “The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” The body is material substance; the soul is spiritual substance. Substance may be defined as that which has being, properties, and potency (power); substance is that in which attributes inhere. The attributes or properties of matter are: bulk, weight, hardness, form, etc. The attributes of spirit are: thought, volition (choice), affections, and conscience. These substances, body and spirit, are different because their properties or attributes are different and opposite. The properties of matter do not belong to spirit, and the attributes of spirit do not belong to matter and yet these two substances do unite to constitute man. There is the body, which is matter; there is the soul, which is spirit. There are no other substances to man. Of the two, the soul is the more important for it is the soul that gives life to the body. When the soul is withdrawn, the body is dead for the soul is the seat of the personality. Consciousness of these things can lead to a favorable view of the dichotomy: individuals know themselves to be body and soul.

Scriptural Evidence of Dichotomy In the creation record mention is made of man’s body and soul, but nothing more.

Elsewhere, the Scriptures frequently mention body and soul together, but nothing more.

♦ 1 Kings 17:21 "Let the child’s soul come to him again."

♦ Ecclesiastes 12:7 "The dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit unto God who gave it."

♦ James 2:26 "The body apart from the spirit is dead."

♦ Matthew 10:28 "Able to destroy both body and soul in hell.”

♦ 1 Corinthians 5:3 “For I being absent in body but present in spirit.” The relation of the soul and body to each other is mysterious and almost incomprehensible. How the body acts on the mind, and how the mind acts on the body, cannot be fully comprehended though the experience is known each day. The mind compels the body to act and it acts. The body conveys impressions of the external world to the mind and the mind receives the same. Emotions of the mind affect the body so that their is blushing, or confusion.

Diseases of the body, especially of the brain, affect and disorder the mind. Back and forth the interaction of body and mind moves to produce a great mystery. The Trichotomy theory: Body, Soul, and Spirit

Trichotomy (from tricha, ’in three parts’ and temno, "to cut" = composed of three parts) is the view that man is composed of three substances: body, soul, and spirit. The Eastern Orthodox Church has generally held to Trichotomy. Their belief is best articulated by the Greek Orthodox priest John of Damascus (c. 675-749) who speaks of the soul as the sensuous life-principle which takes up the spirit--the spirit being an emanation from God. The Western church, on the other hand, has generally held to dichotomy. An appeal for Trichotomy is made from the Scriptures.

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

♦ Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Arguments against the Trichotomous Theory

Those who advocate the Trichotomous Theory are not united as to what constitutes the substance of soul and spirit independently. Therefore, the following arguments are used against the Trichotomous Theory. The Scriptures use the Terms Soul (psyche) and Spirit (pneuma) Interchangeably.

♦ Genesis 41:8 "His spirit was troubled.”

♦ Psalms 42:6 “O my God my soul is cast down within me.”

♦ John 13:21 "He was troubled in spirit.” To state the matter simply: the soul is the same as the spirit. The term for soul (psyche) speaks of man’s immaterial part in its inferior powers and activities. Man is a conscious individual. He has a basic form of life along with appetites, imagination, memory, and understanding. However, there is a need to bring attention to the higher capacities which resides within man’s faculties. The term spirit (pneuma) does this by bringing the individual into the presence of God. In the presence of his Makes, created in His image, man manifests powers of reason, conscience, and will. (A.H. Strong) In summary, “The distinction between psyche and pneuma is a functional, and not a substantial distinction.”—W.W. Goodwin " The terms spirit and soul are used of the animal creation.

♦ Ecclesiastes 3:21 "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"

♦ Revelation 16:3 "And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul [i.e., fish] died in the sea." " The soul is ascribed to the Lord.

♦ Amos 6:8 "The Lord God hath sworn by Himself" (lit. "by his soul") ♦ Isaiah 42:1 "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."

♦ Jeremiah 9:9 "Shall I not visit them for these things? Saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

♦ Hebrews 10:38 "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." " Those who are dead are called souls.

♦ Revelation 6:9 "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held."

" The highest expressions of religion are ascribes to the soul.

♦ Matthew 22:27 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul."

♦ Mark 12:30 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul."

♦ Luke 1:46 "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord."

♦ Hebrews 6:19 "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul."

♦ James 1:21 "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls."

" To lose one’s soul is to lose everything.

♦ Mark 8:36 "Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

" Those passages expressing a three-fold division may be explained.

! In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Paul does use the expression “spirit and soul and body,” but only to express man in his totality; his spiritual nature, his bodily nature, and the functional life due to their union.

! In like manner, Hebrews 4:12 speaks of dividing "the soul and spirit"; however, the sense is not that of separating one from the other, but cutting, or smashing through, as you might cut a steak into two pieces. The words are not meant to two things per se, but the cutting in two of a single thing.

! In the account of man’s creation and death mention is made of only two substances, the one matter, the other spirit. Therefore, Ecclesiastes 12:7 is right to speak of the spirit going back to God. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit to God who gave it.”

Summary Statement The conclusion is this: the spirit of man is not something higher than the soul of man, nor different from the soul. The soul and spirit are one and the same. "As to the distinction between “soul” and “spirit” perhaps it is best to say that soul refers to the immaterial part of man regarded as a human personality, while spirit refers to that same immaterial part with reference to its substance, or as to its divine origin." (David Clark) Three Main theories as to Free agency Within the soul of man is the capacity to make choices. The question arises, "Is man a free agent?"

♦ Fatalism. This doctrine teaches that all events are determined by a blind necessity. There is no freedom of the individual, no liberty of choice, and no self-determination. All things must be as they are with no possibility of being different. In this view there is no free agency. The cause of this necessity may be in the nature of things, or the uniformity of natural laws over which there is no intelligent control, or even in the decree of God. Fatalism destroys all responsibility and therefore destroys all morality.

♦ Self-determination. This doctrine teaches that man’s will is independent of his other faculties. Man decides, or may decide, something irrespective of his knowledge, feelings, conscience, desires, inclinations, or inducements. If this is true, it means that man is free to act irrationally.

Self-determinism is partially true: man is free to choose. However, the will does not act regardless of all considerations, but is determined by the contents of the other faculties. The will is always influenced by character or nature and by external inducements. The will is always bound by God and subject to the laws of the universe in which man live’s including the laws of his own being. Properly speaking, it is not the will that acts, but the whole man that wills.

♦ Free agency. The doctrine of Free Agency teaches that a man acts free from compulsion by some external power. Man acts in accordance with his own nature and under the influence of his knowledge, desires, feelings, inclinations and character. No one denies that man has a will, that is, a faculty of choosing what he wishes to say, do and think. “God has indued the will of man, by nature, with liberty and the power to choose and to act upon his choice. This free will is neither forced, nor destined by any necessity of nature to do good or evil.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 1, Section 1; study Matthew 17:12; James 1:14; Deuteronomy 30:19)

" Observation. While the will of man is not forced, neither is it neutral. The Bible teaches that the will of man in Adam is weak. This is easily proved by circumstances (Genesis 50:20 cp. Proverbs 16:9; Jeremiah 10:23; Luke 12:18-20), and by wrong moral choices (Genesis 6:5; Romans 3:12; Romans 1:21; Romans 3:11; Jeremiah 13:23). What man must openly confess is that he is not independent of God, nor of the laws of the universe, nor of his own nature. The Bible teaches that a man is a free agent, bids him choose, and holds him responsible for his choice. If man were not a free agent, he would have no responsibility. On the whole, man acts as he thinks and feels and in accordance with his character or nature. Free agency, however, has its limitations. The limitations are severe due to the fall into sin. “Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God, but he was unstable, so that he might fall from this condition.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 9, Section 2; study Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 3:6)

“Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has completely lost all ability of will to perform any of the spiritual good which accompanies salvation. As a natural man, he is altogether averse to spiritual good, and dead in sin. He is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself for conversion.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 9, Section 2; study Romans 5:6; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:5; Titus 3:3-5; John 6:44).

" Because of the Fall there are many things in which man’s free agency plays no part. No man has ever had a chance to say whether he would initially exist or not. His consent is never asked in the matter. When existence was given to man, he never had a chance to say either yes, or no. Existence has been thrust upon man, and a heavy hand impels him through a series of experiences, of joys and sorrows, of tears and fears, of wants and woes, of triumphs and tragedies, without pause, without stop, without retreat, or even the possibility of them. Because "Someone" is making a lot of choices on behalf of every person on planet earth, the power of Free Agency should not be overemphasized.

" “We must recognize the limits of free agency; that we are bounded by God and His absolute sovereignty; and by certain laws and conditions which God hath impressed upon our being and the universe in which we live. We are free agents within certain limits, and beyond these limits we are absolutely dependent on the God who made us, and whose providence controls the arrow’s flight and the sparrow’s fall.” (David Clark)

Charles Gore, formerly Bishop of Oxford wrote, “No doubt the free will of men has been absurdly exaggerated. As a fact it is strictly limited. There is no such thing as human independence. All the forces which any man employs, in choosing or carrying out his choice, are drawn from beyond himself. His conditions determine the channels along which he must use the powers which are available. Nevertheless, in the heart of this world of determinate and determinated forces and laws there lies this mysterious and unique thing free choice.”

C. H. Spurgeon stated forcefully that, "Free will has carried many souls to hell but never a soul to heaven." The Relation of Free Will to Regeneration

It is to be remembered that regeneration comes by divine intervention to change the nature and determine the life. No free agent is above God. This is proven by the fact that no man is an agent in his regeneration. While the new creation or new birth is not a violation of free agency any more than man’s initial creation at birth violates free agency, the truth is this: “When God converts a sinner, and translates him into a state of grace, He frees him from his natural bondage to sin, and by grace alone He enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good. But because of his remaining corruptions he does not only (or perfectly) will that which is good, but also wills that which is evil.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 9, Section 4; study Colossians 1:13; John 8:36; Php 2:13; Romans 7:15, Romans 7:18-19, Romans 7:21, Romans 7:23).

If God does not regenerate man, if God does free individuals, then they are certain to remain in bondage to sin and, consistent with "free" will, they will continue to act according to a depraved nature. The choices will always be sinful (Romans 6:16-17; John 8:34). A sinner can do nothing but sin (Romans 8:7-8) until grace sets the soul free (Romans 6:14-15, Romans 6:18, Romans 6:22 cp. 2 Corinthians 5:17).