JRS 80 THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN 6/21/2026 SELECTED SCRIPTURES JESSE RANDOLPH Well, we are back this evening resuming our Summer in the Systematics study as we dive back into this topic of Biblical Anthropology and I’m going to lay out our definition again. I will likely lay this out each of the next many Sunday nights. Anthropology is the doctrine of man and specifically, man’s relation to God and the world in which God has placed him. That’s our governing definition of Anthropology for the series this summer and we’re just two messages into this series. In Week One, we looked at the Origin of Man where we surveyed some of the unbiblical theories that are out there about man’s origins, atheistic evolutionary theory, theistic evolutionary theory, the gap theory and the like. We also surveyed the one view which syncs up with the actual revelation of Scripture, that being the Biblical Creationism view, taking God at His Word. That’s the right one. Then in Week Two, we studied The Image of God in Man. As we looked at what it means as it says in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Then tonight we’re going to be looking at The Constitution of Man, which is not a legal definition. We’re not going back to 1776 or 1787. This could also be defined a The Composition of Man. We’re really asking with this topic tonight of what is man made. That’s our governing question for this evening’s lecture. I don’t call this a sermon; this is more like a lecture of what is man made. What are the essential ingredients or components, if you want to put it that way, of each man and woman of whom God has made in His image? Now we’re going to consider this question from a number of different angles. First, we’re going to look at the distinction between the Material and the Immaterial Elements of Man. Second, we’re going to look at one specific aspect of the immaterial, meaning non-physical part of man as we lean into a longstanding debate as to whether man is made up of two parts or three. Are we Dichotomist or are we Trichotomist? There will be some big words this evening. I’ll define them along the way. Then third, we’re going to consider an interesting theological topic about when were and from whom were the souls of men created. More on that later. Our basic outline for this evening, if you’re a note taker, the first one will be The Material and the Immaterial Elements of Man. Second will be The Nature of the Immaterial Aspects of Man. This will make sense as we fill them in. Then the third blank is the The Origin of the Soul of Man. Those are our three points for this evening. Tonight’s message will move fast. It will be deeply theological. It might even be headache-inducing. But I do think it is going to pay some dividends later in the summer. Because this is going to be that pivot point in this series for the summer, where we’ve been plowing through some of the deeply theological territory, the first two messages, also tonight. But then that’s going to lead into some of the more practical outworkings of a Biblical Anthropology which we’ll be getting into for the remainder of the summer, starting next time when we look at, this is the heading for the next lecture, The Design of Man where we’re going to look at what God meant when we said that He created man in His image, male and female He created them. That will be a familiar topic and a popular topic in this room. But it’s one that sort of falls on deaf ears out there in the world, especially in the month that we’re in. So, we are going to plow through some of the heavy stuff tonight. Like I said, we’re going to be getting into some more of the practical materials in the subsequent messages. So back to our headings here. Here’s our first heading for this evening as we look at The Material and the Immaterial Elements of Man. Men and women have been made, created, by God in His image. As He created men and women in His image, they have been made up of material elements, meaning their physical bodies, hair, fingernails, teeth, etc. We are also made up of non-material elements. Things like our mind, and our consciences, our soul, our spirit and the like. We see the two come out, the material and the immaterial, in a passage like II Corinthians 5:1, where Paul says “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Meaning we have a temporal body, an earthly tent which is attached to this world. But there’s also this immaterial part of our being whether you call it a soul or a spirit, which is preparing to be in this house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Now regarding The Material Elements of Man, Genesis 2:7 tells us that the physical body of man was formed from the dust of the ground. “Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so, the man became a living being.” When God formed man, He took him out of dust from the ground. Man, truly was made from of the earth. In fact, even secular scientists would acknowledge that the elements which physically make up a man or a woman, you or me, are elements which come from the earth. Calcium, iron, potassium, and the like. These are the things that are found in the soil, and they’re also found in our bodies. Not only that, but at death the body of man again unites with the dust from which the first man came. Genesis 3:19, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Psalm 104:29, “You take away their spirit; they breathe their last and return to their dust.” So, when we refer to the material elements of man, we are speaking very simply of man’s physical makeup. Man’s physical body. Of course, when I say man in this setting, I’m referring to men and women. We’re talking about mankind. The term that’s used most often in the Greek New Testament to describe man’s physical body, his material components, is the the Greek word soma. That’s the term that we see here in Matthew 6:22 in the words of Jesus. “The eye is the lamp of the body (soma); so, then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” There are a number of other places in the New Testament where the physical body, our material elements are mentioned or alluded to. Like in Romans 6:5-6, “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” Paul here is saying that our sin nature expresses itself through the body, our body of sin. Paul also made a mention of the body in Romans 7:23-24 when he speaks of this body of death. He says “But I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Then, here’s Paul again in Philippians 3:20-21, referring to the body of our humiliation. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform (this is the part I meant to underline) the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” Then come many different statements in Scripture about what we are to do and what we are not to do with our physical bodies. As Believers, we’re reminded in I Corinthians 6 that these bodies are sanctuaries (LSB), temples (NASB) of the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” And then comes an outworking, a command associated with this truth in I Corinthians 6:19, it’s found in verse 20, “For you were bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.” Along these same lines we remember a number of other statements in Scripture about our physical bodies and what we’re to do with them. Romans 8:12-13. “So then, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.” Colossians 3:5 says “therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.” In other words, our bodies are not to be ruled by sin. Romans 6:12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.” Rather each Believer is called to present their body to the Lord as a sacrifice. Romans 12:1, “Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Passages like these remind us that we are called to put to death with the Spirit’s help, the sin that occasionally will still manifests itself in our bodies. But then we also see from a passage like I Corinthians 6:20 which we just looked at, that we are to take care of our bodies. There’s a dimension of putting to death this sin in the body, but there’s also a component which respect to our physical bodies of taking care of them by glorifying God through them. So, the obvious spiritual solution is to kill sin, to mortify sin, to put sin to death. But a passage like this tells us that our stewardship responsibility with respect to our bodies is even broader than that. This actually means taking care of our bodies. This can include applications like putting proper nutrition in your body. Nourishing your body, giving your body proper rest. This might mean saying maybe no occasionally to that third piece of cheesecake. This might mean saying yes to 10 minutes on the treadmill. This might mean an occasional visit to the doctor to make sure that you are stewarding well the body the Lord has given you. Yes, ultimately, we are waiting for glorified bodies. That’s our ultimate hope and desire. That’s our ultimate event and object to which we’re looking forward. But in the meantime, God has given us these physical bodies to use and enjoy and steward in this life. He tells us that we are to glorify Him in these bodies. Alright. That’s a bit on the material part of man, the physical part of man. Now let’s devote some time to The Immaterial Elements of Man. The Immaterial or non-physical Elements of Man. A number of different terms are used in Scripture to describe The Immaterial Elements of Man. We’re going to work through a number of them right now. The two most common though would be the terms soul and spirit. Let’s start with the soul. In the Old Testament the references to this term soul are rather broad. The soul is referred to as that element of man that is distinct from his physical body. That’s here in Isaiah 10:18, “And He will bring to an end the glory of his forest and of his fruitful orchard, both soul and body.” But then in other places in Scripture, the term soul is used to describe the whole of man. Genesis 2:7, “Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so, the man became a living being.” And you think there’s no word soul there. Well, the word living being there is nephesh in Hebrew which is the word soul. Scripture tells us that in death, it is the soul that departs. Genesis 35:18 is speaking of Rachel, “Now it happened as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.” But then sometimes, it’s said that the spirit departs at death. John 19:30, this is Jesus on the cross. “Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” In other words, and we’ll get into this momentarily at a later section, those terms, soul and spirit are sometimes used interchangeably and even synonymously. Now, in terms of what the soul does, what our souls do if it can be put that way, Scripture tells us that the soul is at the root of a number of different experiences and emotions that men and women undergo. That would include sympathy. Job 30:25, “Was not my soul grieved for the needy?” That includes despair. Psalm 43:5, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?” That includes hatred. This is David II Samuel 5:8, “And David said on that day, ‘Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him reach the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul.” This includes love. Song of Solomon 1:7, “O you whom my soul loves.” This includes grief. Jeremiah 13:17 “My soul will cry in secret for such pride; and my eyes will bitterly weep and flow down with tears.” As we come over to the New Testament, we are given even more data about what a soul does and what a soul is. For instance, the term soul can be used to describe a whole individual person like it is at Pentecost in Acts 2:41, “That day there were added about three thousand souls.” But the term soul can also be restricted to refer to the immaterial, meaning non-physical part of man, as we see in Matthew 10:28, where Jesus distinguishes between and soul and body. He says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” So, He is distinguishing the two. Specifically in the New Testament, there are multiple places where the term soul is used to describe the part of us as humans, which is the immediate object of Christ’s redemption. I Peter 1:8-9, “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” James 1:21, “In gentleness receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” So that is the soul. The immaterial aspect of man, the soul. Next, we’re going to look at the spirit, ruach in Hebrew, pneuma in Greek. The term spirit refers only to the immaterial part of man, the non-physical part of man which makes it different than the word soul. The soul can mean either the whole man or the immaterial part of man. Spirit always refers to the immaterial part of man. Another way to think of this is man is a soul; man has a spirit. Now it’s important to note that all men, all women, all image bearers, all people have a spirit. Even the unsaved. Even the unregenerate. They all have a spirit. That’s picked up in I Corinthians 2:11 which says, “For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” As a part of the immaterial part of man, one’s spirit is the center of a variety of different traits, and emotions, and activities. That would include the ability to think. Isaiah 29:24, “Those who err in spirit will know discernment.” That includes remembering. Psalm 77:6, “I remember my music in the night; I am musing with my heart, and my spirit is searching.” That includes humility. Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This includes the feeling of vexation. John 13:21, “When Jesus had said these things, He became troubled in spirit.” This includes pride. Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” And this includes the ability to feel contrition. Psalm 34:18, “Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” So, to summarize, spirit does not refer to a whole or the whole person, but on a more limited basis the word spirit refers to the immaterial part of a person, the non-physical part of a person. We’re still on this topic of the immaterial dimension or the immaterial components of man. We’ve looked at the soul. We’ve just now looked at the spirit. Now we want to look at the heart. The heart is another term used in Scripture over and over to refer to an aspect of the immaterial part of man. I think there are just a couple places in the Scriptures where the heart is referring to the actual blood pumping organ in our chest. Most of the other times it’s referring to the immaterial dimension of man. Now, heart is a very comprehensive term in both the Old and New Testaments. It’s used about 1,000 times in the 66 books of the Bible. And the overwhelming, again, usage for this term refers to the inner man. Not the organ pumping blood but the inner man, the center, the seat of our life. The heart is used to describe the seat of man’s intellectual life. Deuteronomy 8:5, “Thus you shall know in your heart that Yahweh your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” Look at that knowledge link to the heart there. Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” The heart also refers to man’s seat of emotions. That well spring from which he takes action. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can know it?” Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in Yahweh; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Then finally Paul in Romans 9:2, speaking of his fellow people says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” So, the heart is the seat of emotion, the heart is the seat of intellect in man. It’s also the seat of volitional, will, decision making. So, in that sense it overlaps to a certain degree with the human will. Deuteronomy 4:29, “You will search for Him with all your heart.” Exodus 8:15, “Pharaoh saw that there was relief, and he hardened his heart with firmness and did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.” Hebrews 4:7, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” And then last, the heart is the seat of the spiritual life. I Peter 3:15. “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” I Timothy 1:5. “But the goal of our command is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unhypocritical faith.” So, we’ve looked at the soul, the spirit, the heart. Now we’re going to look at another aspect of the immaterial side of man which is the conscience. Conscience is another term especially used in Paul’s writings in reference to the immaterial side of man. I appreciate Ryrie’s definition of the conscience. He calls it “a witness within man that tells him he ought to do what he believes to be right and not to do what he believes to be wrong.” I think that’s helpful. It tells him what he ought to do, what he believes to be right, and not to do what he believes to be wrong. Now importantly, the conscience is not the means by which we are taught what is right or wrong. God’s revelation, general revelation and primarily special revelation, the Scriptures do that. That’s how we receive information about what is right or wrong. But our consciences then prod us to do what is right or wrong in light of what we do know from God’s revelation. Note though affected by the Fall, the conscience still does function in the unregenerate, in the unsaved. Romans 2:15 says “they (the unregenerate) demonstrate the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.” But for unbelievers, it is also possible that they’re consciences have been seared as it says in I Timothy 4:2 which speaks of “the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience.” The conscience can be seared not only when somebody is in a state of sin as all unbelievers are, but when they’re especially given over to particular sins and become hardened in those sins whether it’s the sin of lust or anger or drunkenness, or what have you. Now for the Believer, the conscience functions in a number of different ways in their lives according to Scripture. The conscience prods the Believer in regard to certain spiritual matters. Romans 9:1,2, Paul says “my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” And II Corinthians 1:12 he says, “For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.” The Christian’s conscience prods him to obey the governmental authorities which have been placed over him. Romans 13:5, “It is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of that wrath, but also because of conscience.” The Christian’s conscience prods him to bear up under unjust authorities. I Peter 2:19, “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unrighteously.” And then stronger brothers, we’re told in I Corinthians 8, should bear up with the consciences of those who have weaker consciences in certain matters. I Corinthians 8:10-12, “For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge, he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And in that way, by sinning against the brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” We’ve looked at the soul, the spirit, the heart, the conscience. Next let’s consider as we look at the immaterial components of man, his mind. The mind is another aspect of man’s immaterial makeup. The mind is involved in our perceiving, our understanding, our feeling, our judging, our discerning, our determining, etc. etc. Now we know from Scripture that the unsaved mind, the unregenerate mind is darkened. Ephesians 4:17-18, “Therefore this I say, and testify in the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God.” We are told in the Bible that the unregenerate mind is defiled. Titus 1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” Paul tells us also that the unregenerate mind is blinded. II Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And then the unregenerate mind is unsound and unfit. Romans 1:28, “Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper.” But then even once a person is saved and is regenerated their mind still does need a lot of work. That’s why we are here. To learn and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. An old pastor of mine used to always say that Christians need to be brainwashed. We are always accused and Mike used the word cult tonight. You’re a serious Bible church; you’ll be accused of being a cult and your friends and family will say they’re brainwashing you to which you say Amen. They are. They are taking out the old junk that used to occupy my mind and filling it with the new material, namely that from God’s Word. That is brainwashing. That’s good. So yes, even as regenerate people we need to have our minds transformed. The regenerate minds still need to take thoughts captive. II Corinthians 10:5 “We tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” The regenerate mind needs to be girded up. I Peter 1:13, “Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The regenerate mind needs renewing. Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.” The mind is that part of our immaterial being which God uses to help us understand truth. Jesus on the road to Emmaus Luke 24:45, “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Our minds are used to help us decide doubtful things. Romans 14:5, “One person judges one day above another, another judges every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.” And finally, the mind is involved in loving the Lord. Matthew 22:37, “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” One more aspect of the immaterial part of man would be flesh. Which sometimes in Scripture is used to refer to physical flesh, like tissue, muscle, that sort of thing. That’s what Jesus was referring to in Luke 24:39, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Other times in Scripture this word flesh is used to describe the entire physical or material, part of man. For instance, Jesus, in His humanity, is described this way by the author of Hebrews. Hebrews 5:7, “He, in the days of His flesh, (meaning his incarnation) offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.” Now when the word flesh is ever used to refer to the immaterial side of man, the non-physical side of man, it is always used with reference to man’s disposition to sin against God. Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” I Corinthians 3:3, Paul accuses the Corinthians by saying “you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” And we all know this one. Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want.” Both the unbeliever and the Believer possess the capacity to give into the flesh. But we know for the Believer of course, this ought not be a regular pattern or practice in their life if they are controlled and submitted to the Spirit. That was our first heading. The Material and the Immaterial Elements of Man. Now we’re going to work through this second one which would be The Nature of the Immaterial Aspects of Man. In some ways, this second heading, this second point is connected directly to the first one. Because now we’re going to consider the makeup or the composition of the non-material, or the immaterial aspects of man. Some of the questions that we’ll be looking at under this second heading are questions like, are the soul and the spirit different? Are the soul and the spirit distinct or are they the same? Is man made up of body and soul/spirit, or body, soul, and spirit? Is man’s immaterial nature dichotomous or trichotomous? Is he made up of two parts or three parts? Or is man’s immaterial nature even more multifaceted than this? Meaning, does he have more than two parts or three parts on the immaterial side. Let’s take some time to work through a variety of different views here. First is what is known as the Dichotomy View. It comes from the Greek dicha which means two, and temna which means cut. The word literally means to cut in two. Under this Dichotomy View, man is a two-part being. He consists of body and soul. The non-material part of man is the soul and spirit which though mentioned distinctly in the Bible are actually of the same substance though they might have different functions. So, they merge soul and spirit. Now in terms of the Scriptures that will be cited in support of the Dichotomy View, they’ll start with the Genesis account which appears to affirm really only two parts of man. Genesis 2:7, “Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being.” God formed man from the dust of the ground that’s the material part of man, and then He breathed into the man the breath of life, that’s the immaterial part. Two parts and then man became this living being. Another Biblical argument raised in support of this dichotomy argument is that the words soul and spirit are regularly used interchangeably throughout the Scriptures. For instance, it’s said of Pharaoh in (Genesis 41:8) that “his spirit was troubled.” But then in Psalm 42:6 the author of that Psalm says, “my soul is in despair within me.” It’s the same idea though but different words are used. In the New Testament we see similar overlap between these terms. Hebrews 12:23 speaks of the “spirits of the righteous” while in Revelation 6:9, we see the “souls of those who had been slain.” Further there are other passages in the New Testament, where the body and the soul or the spirit are used interchangeably, kind of traded out with one another as they describe the entire person. I Corinthians 5:3, “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this.” There’s the word spirit. But then in III John 2, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, (that’s referring to the physical side of man) just as your soul prospers.” He didn’t use the word spirit there but soul. And beyond these we have a number of other places in the New Testament where really a twofold composition of man is laid out, with his immaterial side being described as soul or spirit and then His body being described as the second part. I Peter 2:11, “I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” So that’s a two-part constitution Peter’s referring to. James in James 2:26 says “just as the body without the spirit is dead, (two-part composition) so also faith without works is dead.” Paul speaks of just two parts of man here in I Corinthians 7 pertaining to marriage and singleness. I Corinthians 7:34, “The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit” two-fold composition. There’s so much more on this view and many other passages we could site, but we’ll get right into trichotomy. We’re going to now evaluate the Trichotomy View. This word means, cut in three. The Word is from tricha, that’s the Greek word for three, and temno, to cut, means cut in three. Under the Trichotomy View, man is a three-part being consisting of body, soul, and spirit. Not two but three. Under the trichotomy view the body is viewed as the material or physical side of man. The soul is considered to be the intellectual or rational part of man. Then the spirit is considered to be the spiritual or the religious side of man. Those are the three breakdowns of man’s constitution. The body is the physical, the soul is the intellectual, the spirit is the religious or spiritual. One argument that will be raised in support of the Trichotomy View is they will look at the fact that God is triune, that we worship a Trinitarian God, and just as there are three persons in the Godhead, there must be three parts of man, body, soul and spirit, each reflecting one of the persons of the Trinity. A problem with that argument of course, is that no Scripture says such a thing. And then how would you decide which persons of the Godhead correlate to which persons or parts of the human constitution. I guess spirit goes with Spirit but other than that, it’s sort of a crapshoot. More frequently, those who hold to a Trichotomy View will make their case for the Trichotomy View, based on the language of Scripture, with two passages specifically often being cited. The first is Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” According to trichotomy camp, the fact that the author of Hebrews, in this passage speaks of a division of soul and spirit, is conclusive proof that soul and spirit are distinct elements of man’s immaterial constitution. Then you add that to his physical body, his physical makeup and he becomes a three-part individual. The other passage that I’ll cite is I Thessalonians 5:23, which says “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Similar to Hebrews 4:12 argument, those who hold to the trichotomy, will look at this passage and say it’s a slam dunk. This conclusively establishes that man has a threefold composition. And frankly when you look at these texts, they do seem on their face to settle the debate. Hebrews 4:12 does speaks of a division of soul and spirit. Now it seems to suggest these are distinct elements of our composition. I Thessalonians 5:23 does refer to spirit and soul and body. So, trichotomy is the only way to go right? I’m not convinced. I want to start with the question of authorial intent. The reality is in neither of these passages in the context according to the evident intention of the human author as he was moved by the spirit to write what he wrote. Neither author, the author of Hebrews or Paul in I Thessalonians was giving a discourse on the nature of man’s constitution or on Biblical Anthropology. Rather in the case of both texts, the human author was addressing something entirely different. Hebrews 4:12, I appreciate what Charles Ryrie says about the Hebrews 4:12 argument. That text “seems to separate soul from spirit, thus supporting the Trichotomy View. However, the verse does not say that the Word severs soul from spirit but that it pierces through to divide soul and spirit, thus exposing the innermost aspects of man. The point is simply that the Word of God leaves nothing hidden.” I think that’s an important observation, that the author of Hebrews says he wrote those words in Hebrews 4:12 was not weighing in on the topic of Biblical Anthropology. Rather he was highlighting as Ryrie’s alluding to here, the comprehensive work of exposure that the Word of God does as the Holy Spirit convicts. Ryrie has something similar to say about the I Thessalonians 5:23 passage. He says, “Trichotomists understand spirit, soul, and body in this verse as defining the parts of man; Dichotomists say they represent the whole man. If these terms are inclusive of all the aspects of man, then what place do heart, mind, will, and conscience have? (we’ll get to that point in a minute) Why did not Paul also include them in the list?” Then speaking of I Thessalonians 5:23 he says the “emphasis of the verse is on the completeness of sanctification.” I would agree. Now that’s just the high-level summary of dichotomy, trichotomy. If forced to make a decision between the two, trichotomy, dichotomy, I would choose dichotomy. I would choose the view that man is made up of two parts. First his physical body and then second his inner immaterial self which in some places is referred to as his soul and other places is referred to as his spirit. Given the interchangeability of those terms all throughout the Scriptures, soul and spirit, I’d be comfortable making the argument that they are being used to regularly interchangeably to refer to the same thing, namely, man’s inner being. But now I’m going to throw you a curveball and point out that in this broader discussion of the immaterial and material parts of man, I actually think that those terms dichotomy and trichotomy are far too limiting, because they box us in in this discussion to only look at two passages, the ones we just looked at, Hebrews 4:12 and I Thessalonians 5:23. When the reality is, as you survey the entirety of the Scriptures as we’ve already looked at this evening, the Scriptures testify very clearly to the fact in total, that there are more than two or three parts to the human constitution. We’ve already just looked at the fact that we have a soul, and the fact that we have a spirit. But then we also looked at the fact that we have a heart, and we have a mind and there is flesh and there is a will and a conscience. I would hold to what is called the Multi-faceted View of the immaterial part of the human constitution. According to that view while it’s recognized that the terms like soul and spirit are the most common ones to describe the immaterial part of man, it’s also noted that there are other parts in other words to describe man’s immaterial nature, like his heart, like his mind, like his conscience, and all of those have to be considered as we look at the Immaterial Aspects of Man’s Constitution. So, the heart, we’ve just seen refers to the intellectual or the volitional, or even the emotional part of man. Matthew 15:19-20, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man.” Out of the heart we confess Jesus as Lord, Romans 10:9-10. There’s the conscience which we’ve already looked at in some depth, which is a part of man’s human composition, constitution that we can’t just overlook. God has given man a conscience, even fallen unregenerate man, as a witness to who God is and what He expects man to do. Then there is the mind as we looked at in Matthew 22:37, which for the unbeliever we know is depraved and blinded by Satan and futile and darkened and blinded. But even in the Believer allows him to love God with all his mind. Those are just a few reminders and examples that the Believer’s constitution, his immaterial non-physical constitution is his makeup, is not limited only to his body and not only to his soul, or in the case of the Trichotomist, only to his spirit. What I’m arguing for is it’s not just body, soul, and spirit, its body, soul, spirit, mind, conscience, will etc. etc. the multi-faceted view. As we wrap up this second point, it’s important to note that whether you take a Dichotomy View, a Trichotomy View, if somehow, I’ve persuaded you of my multi-faceted view, the witness of Scripture is that whatever view you take of any one of those, it’s all centered, that constitution of man is all centered within a unified being. A singular being. Mankind, man, woman, has a physical dimension, a body and a non-physical, an immaterial dimension, that’s what we’ve just been looking at the last 15 to 20 minutes, but it’s all centered in the unified physical being. This all goes back to the creation of the first man. When God created Adam, He took the dust of the earth, he breathed into the man the breath of life. That’s Genesis 2:7, and when He did so, He formed a singular, unitary living person. So, when we say that man is made up of body, soul, spirit, or body, soul, spirit, mind, conscience, intellect, we’re not saying He’s five different people. We say he’s one person, one singular unified person that possesses these different dimensions. That’s what we are today, just like Adam was. We are these single, unitary living persons who have both material constitution, brain, fingernails, teeth, etc. and also an immaterial constitution, soul, spirit, will, conscience, mind, etc. As Berkouwer notes, “The Biblical view of man shows him to us in an impressive diversity, (that’s what we have been looking at up to this point) but it never loses sight of the unity of the whole man.” So, he’s an immaterial entity, he’s a material entity, but he’s functioning within the unity of a singular man. Those are the first two headings. The Immaterial and the Material Elements of Man. We just looked at The Nature of the Immaterial Man. Next and here’s our third and final point, we’re going to look at The Origin of the Soul of Man. What we’re going to do attempt to accomplish under this third heading is to drill down on one aspect of the immaterial side of man, namely the soul, and we’re going to consider the question what is the origin of the human soul? Whether you take the dichotomy position or the trichotomy position, or my view, the multi-faceted position, how is man’s soul, or spirit transmitted? From whom did he get his soul? From whom did he get his spirit? Where did our spirits or souls come from? There are really three views that are out there. One is called the Preexistence View. According to this view all human souls have been created from eternity past. This was a view that was taken early on in early church history, even pre-Christian Jewish history. Philosophers like Philo, Christian apologists like Justin Martyr, Origen, they took this view. And this view is interesting because it essentially presents sort of a reincarnation line of thinking. Like we might think when we study Hinduism. This view teaches that each human soul existed previously and in that previous existence, all men were at one-point angelic spirits. But as a punishment and a discipline for sinning as angels, those spirits were then sent to indwell the human bodies that we now possess. So, the spirits, the souls that men have today, are essentially cast-off, reincarnated angelic spirit beings or spirits. Now as I say that I almost can’t say it with a straight face because there are all sorts of problems with this view. As I just mentioned it has many eerie parallels to the false religion of Hinduism and its reincarnation views. Second, there is no clear statement in Scripture at all that would testify to this view. Third, it would contradict the teachings of Paul, in Romans 5 who reveals in Romans 5:12 that sin and death entered into this world not because of angelic sin but because of the sin of one man, the sin of Adam. So, that’s kind of a survey of this view. We are going to give the least amount of time to this one. Next is what is known as The Creationism View. Now this is not the creationism that you’re thinking of, the Biblical view that the God of heaven and earth created all that is in the world, in six literal 24-hour periods. No. The Creationism View that we’re looking at here has to do with God’s involvement in creating in conception in the mother’s womb, every soul of every man and every woman. So according to this view God creates each new soul every time conception takes place, sperm implanting an egg, here on planet earth. So, the body of the new child is propagated by the parents through the normal process of procreation. But the soul of that child, this view would say is not generated or derived from the child’s parents, but instead that soul is created separately and individually in time, in that moment by God. Some adherents of this view they say that the soul is created immediately at conception. And others would say that the soul is created by God somewhere between conception and birth. Now in terms of the Scriptures that folks will cite and support of this view, the creation is in view that God creates the soul, post conception. They’ll cite Genesis 2:7, which refers to God creating the soul of Adam. “Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; (that’s the parallel they draw) and so the man became a living being.” They’ll also cite passages like Zechariah 12:1, “Thus declares Yahweh who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.” Other passages, these are just excerpts here, Numbers 16:22, “God of the spirits of all flesh.” He’s called the “Father of spirits” in Hebrews 12:9. Now there are both some strengths and some weaknesses with this Creationism View. One strength is that it maintains the purity of Christ, specifically in His incarnation. By that I mean this that under this view, Christ, there’s no way that Christ could not have inherited a sinful nature from Mary, from His mother, since His soul would have been created in time by God, somewhere between conception and birth. So, He would have been under this view spared from contamination from this sinful human nature of Mary. There is a strength. There are weaknesses to this view too though. One weakness is that holding to this view would seem to suggest that God creates something in this case, a human soul, which is immediately fallen, and immediately corrupted. And that doesn’t square up with God’s character. After all we know from Scripture that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Over the course of church history, there have been many who have embraced this view of creationism. Jerome, Aquinas, Anselm Ambrose, Pelagius, Reformers, like John Calvin. This is also the official position of the Roman Catholic Church. Last one. The Traducian View. This is the final view on the origin of the soul of man. According to this view each human soul is created through conception, through natural means. Meaning by the parents. So according to this view, the Traducian View, not only the body, but the soul is transmitted naturally through one’s parents. God’s direct supernatural involvement in the creation of the soul according to this view, is not required. According to this view, the Traducian View, God’s creation of Adam’s soul in Genesis 2:7 when He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, that was a one-time act. But now new souls are transmitted through the union of a man and a woman every time, at conception. Support for this view is found in such passages like Genesis 5:3, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.” Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” John 3:6, “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.” Each of these it would be argued, support the Traducian View, but the soul is transmitted from parent to child. One of the arguments in favor of this view, Traducianism, is that it eliminates the objection to Creationism about God creating fallen things. Because according to the Traducian View, fallen people, a fallen man and a fallen woman through the procreation process, they create another fallen individual, a child, and they create both the child’s body and the child’s soul. Traducianism also fits well with what the Scriptures reveal about the natural depravity of man. It explains how the passing on of not just the body but the soul, the sinful soul, fits in neatly with the entire procreative process but also with what the Bible reveals about being born in sin. Job 15:14, “What is man, that he should be pure, or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?” Answer, he’s not. Psalm 58:3, “The wicked are estranged from the womb.” Another argument in favor of this Traducianism View, is that it seems to better align with what we’re told about God resting after He created all things. In Genesis 2, recall it was said that God was finished with all of His creative work after the sixth day. Genesis 2:1-3, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it.” But according to the Creationism view, this wouldn’t apparently be the case because God continues to create and God continues to create new souls every time a man and a woman come together and procreate. Now there are objections to the Traducianism View as well. Most notable is the objection that if this view were embraced, then Christ would have had to partake of the sinful nature of His mother Mary. But as we saw two summers ago when we studied Christology, that’s not so. Since Christ’s human nature was perfectly sanctified and perfectly protected in and through the conception that occurred in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit. In other words, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit, Christ though born of a woman, Galatians 4:4, was perfectly protected from the corruption of sin. This argument against Traducianism actually doesn’t hold up. All in all, then of these three views, the Preexistence View, the Creationism View, the Traducian View, I would argue that the last one, Traducianism is the strongest, Biblically speaking. This is not a matter of who’s going to heaven and who’s going to hell, but it is an important doctrine just to work through to make sure that as in all things we are sorting through topics Biblically and understanding them rightly. Well, we are out of time for this evening. I hope I kept you engaged, I hope this was clear enough to kind of get us through another deep theological dive before we get into some of the more practical studies. In the next couple of weeks, starting with God’s design for man and that those words in Genesis 1:27, we’ll spend a whole night on those. About God having created man in His image, male and female He created them. Before we part ways though I just want to read this to you. I found this instructive and encouraging in my devotional reading this week from Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Let’s pray.