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TO THE GLORY OF GOD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Study No 11 THE NATURE OF MAN - Part 1
INTRODUCTION
This subject is far from being irrelevant - rather it is
essential to the proper understanding of a number of other extremely
important subjects. viz. The Baptism and gifts of the Spirit - The
Fruit of the Spirit and Maturity - The Ministry of Deliverance and
the place and scope of Regeneration, and Sanctification.
1. Man's Nature Is Tripartite.
A. There are opposing views on this subject. One school of
thought is that man is a Dicotomy - (only having 2 parts. A
body and a soul/spirit. This theory teaches that the words,
soul and spirit are interchangeable and refer to the same part
of man.)
B. The Trichotomists believe that man is 3-fold in nature or
Tripartite, having a separate Body, Soul and Spirit, and that
each part has its own essential functions not being
interchangeable. The Scriptures make it clear that this is
so. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 which says that God intends to
sanctify us "wholly", tells us that the "whole man" has 3
parts. Spirit, soul and body. Hebrews 4:12 advises us that
the Spirit and soul can be divided though only by God's
method. Man's philosophy unenlightened by divine revelation
and built only upon human reason sees only 2 parts, - the body
and the mind.
C. Paul uses the illustration of the Temple in describing the
Christian's life. 1 Corinthians 6:19. This would mean only
one thing to the early Christians who knew that the Temple in
Jerusalem (like the Tabernacle of the Old Testament) has three
parts - The Outer Court which is parallel to the Body of man;
the Holy Place, the type of the soul; and the Most Holy Place,
speaking of the Spirit of man.
D. The Scriptures use some enlightening words in describing our
make-up.
a) The Body is called the Outward Man. 2 Corinthians 4:16.
b) The Soul is the Inner Man. Ephesians 3:16,Inward Man Romans
7:22, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Inward Parts, Proverbs 20:27, Job
3:36; Psalms 51:6; Psalms 5:9; Jeremiah 31:33;; Luke 11:39.
c) The Hidden Man of the Heart. 1 Peter 3:4, The Hidden Part.
Psalm 51:6; note: Truth in the Inward part but wisdom in
the Hidden part.
E. The Body is that part of Man which is World Conscious.
The Soul is Self-Conscious.
The Spirit is God Conscious.
This is illustrated by the following:
a) The Temple as we have already noted.
b) Noah's Ark with its 3 compartments.
The Lower deck - animal passions.
Middle ground in the Centre deck.
Upper deck with its window open to heaven.
c) Israel's Journey - Egypt - Wilderness - Canaan.
2. The Creation And Fall Of Man.
God created man in His own image as a spirit being, Genesis 1:26,
2:6, and intended that his spirit should -
A. rule over his entire being.
B. be conscious of God.
C. be able to commune with God as spirit to spirit.
The temptation to Eve is a key in understanding the present state
of man. It was first directed to her body - good for food.
Genesis 3. She then noticed that it was pleasant to the eyes and
to be desired to make on wise. This was an appeal to her mind
instead of her spirit. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 11:3 that
Eve's mind was deceived. Had she operated on the level of
her spirit she would have refused knowledge and chosen life.
They were not forbidden to eat of the Tree of Life.
It is from this origin of deception and confusion that mankind's
unholy interest in philosophy and reason has sprung. For this
purpose Paul declares that the natural mind is the enemy of God.
Romans 8:7.
The Fall Of Man produced a changed order of rule within the
human personality.
A. The spirit became dead to God. It could no longer correspond
with the environment of God and became clouded by sin. Genesis
2:17; Ephesians 2:1.
B. The soul gained control, with the Mind of Reason producing a
totally self-orientated being.
C. The body now controlled by the soul instead of the spirit
descended to the level of instincts and animal passions.
In fact man is now (before regeneration) a different species
than he was created to be. Instead of being spirit dominated and
God orientated, he is now flesh dominated and Satan orientated.
Genesis 6:3; Psalms 51:5; cp. 1 John 3:8,12; John 8:44.
3. The Need For Understanding Our Composition.
A. To identify thought and emotions - to know the origin of
various feelings and ideas and thus be able to deal with them.
a) Satanic thought can be injected into our mind. John 13:2, 2
Corinthians 10:5 - note v.4, we do not use weapons against
ourselves. Ephesians 6:12 indicates that these are for use
against wicked spirits. Note 1 John 4:1.
b) There are basic human and selfish desires which need to be
identified to avoid carnality.
c) There are Divine thoughts. 1 Peter 1:11. Many people have
been robbed of the blessings of spiritual gifts because
they could not tell the difference between God's thoughts
and their own.
B. To adequately use each part for the glory of God. 1
Corinthians 6:20 - John 4:24. You can't worship God in spirit
unless you know how to exercise it and to stir up the gift of
God within you. 2 Timothy 1:6.
C. To make our spirits once again the dominant part of our lives.
Many Christians continue to allow the soul life to rule and
are carnal instead of spiritual. 1 Corinthians 1:1-3.
4. The Parts Of Man Identified.
The Body
A. Added to these faculties of man there are a number of DRIVING
FORCES. These are resident in the flesh oriented part of man
- that is in the soul life which is impelled by the needs and
desires of the body. These Driving Forces which are God given
impulses to enable our life to function in proper perimeters
can be perverted into opposite extremes, by indulgence or
suppression.
DRIVING FORCES PERVERSION OPPOSITE PERVERSION
a) Hunger Gluttony Fasting
b) Self Preservation Fear Recklessness
c) Acquisition Covetousness Prodigality
d) Reproduction Immorality/Lust Celibacy
e) Sleep Laziness Restlessness
f) Dignity Pride Self-Depreciation
g) Curiosity Meddling Indifference
h) Desire of Dominion Dictatorship Cowardice
i) Creativity/Pleasure Hedonism Asceticism
The life of unregenerate man is dominated by one or all of these
drives. All sins of the flesh and soul are derivatives or perversions
of these sources. eg. God intended us to have a Dignity within
limits, but this can become on one hand, Pride or Vanity, and on the
other, Carelessness and Uncleanness.
B. The physical part of man - his blood, bone and tissue, though
not evil in itself is so affected by the self-orientated soul
life that it's needs and desires can actually add fuel to the
fire. It, being loosed from the leash of the God-orientated
spirit, can now exercise a never intended influence upon the
life. Note that in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples
failed Jesus in his hour of greatest need, not because they
refused to pray with Him. Their bodies demanded sleep. Jesus
said, "the `spirit' is willing but the `flesh' is weak."
Matthew 26:41.
a) The body is the vehicle of expression for the inner man.
Hence the fact of psychosomatic illness. Eminent medical
men now claim that 90% of all sickness begins in the mind
ie. the soul out of harmony with God. The corruption of
the inner life of man soon expresses itself in the body.
Proverbs 23:7.
C. There are 5 senses of the Body through which the whole of
world consciousness is relayed to the mind and spirit of man:
Though these senses are good and essential, they are not the
faculties through which God is understood. In fact they can
be the enemies of faith because their service to the
personality has been perverted from that of a servant of the
spirit to the arbiter of truth. Many people - now born again,
find it difficult to raise their level of faith beyond what
they can see, hear and feel. The thought life of man is
dominated by the signals of these senses.
D. The Body is also the vehicle to express the various
attitudes of the inner life besides sickness. Such things as
Joy - Sorrow - Elation - Depression - Weariness - Vitality
are only made known through the Body.
E. The Body is often made the excuse for failure and sin.
However, the trouble is deeper. Many of the early Christian
teachers such as Augustine, looked for perfection through
"purification of the Sepulchre." They felt that only with
death could there be holiness of life. The physical body of
Jesus did not cause him to sin and, though we realize that He
did not come with a bias toward evil that born in us, Psalms
51:5, yet His weariness never turned to laziness, nor His
hunger to greed. He was tempted in all points as we are yet
He did not sin, because His inner life was different to ours.
He had an unbroken relationship with God the Father as He
lived out of His spirit, perfectly controlling every faculty
and part of His Body with its senses, expressions and drives.
In fact today He still has a physical body - he was
resurrected in the flesh and we will be too. - The body has
value to God. Note 1 Corinthians 6:13(b).
THE NATURE OF MAN
DEALING WITH THE SOUL
It is impossible within the limited scope of a study such as this
to present all the material necessary to a thorough understanding of
the Nature of Man. We are confining ourselves to a very general
outline. The interested student will profit from the experience of
other teachers such as Watchman Nee in "The Spiritual Man" or Witness
Lee in "The Economy of God", T. Austin Sparkes, "What Is Man?" etc.
a. The soul of unregenerate man bears little similarity to the organ
which resulted from God breathing a spirit into the inert clay
form. Then it was the submissive vessel of a God oriented spirit.
Through sin it became a dangerous and complex element capable of
extraordinary deception, rebellion and independence, and allied to
evil powers bent on the destruction of the whole person. Jer.
17:9, Eph. 2:2-3.
b. It is the spirit which is born again as is seen in John 3:6.
Hebrews 12:9 - God is spirit, John 4:24 and we are born of Him.
Acts 17:28-29. Therefore the part that is begotten of God, is
spirit. The spirit is saved, the soul is being saved and the body
will be saved - rather the work of redemption in our spirits is
constantly flowing into our soul and transforming it into the
image of the Lord. Rom. 12:2.
We are told in the New Testament that it is the purpose of God to
sanctify us wholly in spirit, soul and body.
1 Thess. 5:13, that had NOT been accomplished at the time of
Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians. Hebrews 10:39 indicates that
the saving of the soul is a result of standing steadfast in our
faith - note v.38. James 1:21 is a charge to Christians to
receive the Word of God which is able to save their souls. They
were already saved. 1 Peter 1:9 indicates that the salvation of
our soul is the end result of our faith. It is God's purpose to
liberate and transform the soul of man until it becomes a true
reflector of the life of Christ which is in our spirits, having no
rebellion, deceitfulness or independent thought or action.
c. The means God has designed to deal with the soul (self) life is
the Cross of Christ. The basic self nature must be crucified with
Christ. Paul says, "I" the egocentric life" is crucified Gal.
2:20. It must be constantly reckoned dead. Rom. 6:11, "reckon ye,
`yourselves' to be dead." Jesus said also regarding discipleship
- (which means to be disciplined - the treatment hated by the
soul) that we should deny "self" and take up the cross daily Matt.
16:24 - He said this in relation to the soul v. 26. Note the
same in Mark 8:34-37.
d. Parallel to this it is essential to develop a "renewed mind" - the
mind of the flesh is at enmity with God - Rom.8:5-7. Through the
cleansing action of the Word of God it must be transformed and
renewed. 2 Cor. 4:16, Col. 3:10, Eph. 4:33, Rom. 12:2. It is
Knowledge which renews the mind but only Revelation Knowledge. It
is the Word of God illuminated by the Holy Spirit which brings the
mind into subjection. Note 2 Cor. 10:4-5, also Heb. 4:12.
END of Part 1
