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The Tripartite Being of Man

Updated: Oct 26


Genesis 1:26 King James Version

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."


Now we come to one of the most important truths in the word of God: the truth that deals with man as a tripartite being. By “tripartite” we mean a “trichotomy”; that man has three parts: body, soul, and spirit. This constitutes the trinity of man, which is patterned after the Trinity of God. There are two passages that clearly teach that man has three parts to him.


1 Thessalonians 5:23 King James Version

“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.”


He is a spirit, a soul, and a body. That verse clearly states that man has three separate, distinct parts.


Hebrews 4:12 King James Version

“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 is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”


Soul, spirit and the joints and marrow which is the body.


Man has a body. He has a soul. He has a spirit (dead spirit if unsaved, and alive if saved). We know he does because the revelation of God, given by the God (Who made man), says he does. For example, God has a body: the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father,” (John 14:9). God has a soul: God the Father. “No man hath seen God at any time,” (John 1:18). God has a spirit: the Holy Spirit. The Trinity has nothing to do with religious tradition. The Trinity is the fundamental, basic fact of the Bible


There is nothing in this universe that has reality that doesn’t have three basic component parts. If you have an Old Testament and a New Testament, there is one part of the word of God that is missing. If you want to know what part is missing, it is the incarnate Word of God (John 1:1) who is seated at the right hand of the Father. Therefore, to say that man does not have a body, soul, and spirit is to deny the basic fundamental of reality. A “family” is a man, a woman, and a child. In action there is the motive, the act, and the consequences. The mind thinks, wills, and judges.


If a man does not believe in the Trinity, he denies the first basic, fundamental fact of reality, that God is a Trinity and therefore everything that is real (that God has to do with) is composed of three parts. That’s all there is to it. Every color has a chroma, a value, and a hue. Music has rhythm, melody, and harmony, and without all three elements you don’t have music.


You will find nothing in the world that doesn’t bear the mark of the Trinity. You cannot be an atheist with your eyes open. There is nothing you see in the realms of biology, zoology, ethnology (three races: Shem, Ham, and Japheth), or linguistics (lingual, dental, and palatal consonants); there is nothing you can find under God’s heaven that doesn’t have three parts to it. The Almighty Divine Creator, the Alpha and Omega, has stamped indelibly the attributes of His character and His person upon the animate and inanimate creation. Or, as Paul says it, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse:” (Rom. 1:20). If you are not a Trinitarian, you have no alibi for your ignorance. It is willful and deliberate. In the origin of the universe in Genesis 1:1, the Bible tells us that God existed in the beginning. He has always existed. He is eternal.


Soul

In Genesis 1:26 we find the fact recorded (chronologically) that man was created on the sixth day. The details are given in Genesis 2:7, “and man became a living soul.” This is the bodily shapeinside the man that gives man his person and personality. It is the part of man between his spirit and his body which acts as a medium between the two. The SOUL, contrary to the teachings of Thieme, Pember, Larkin, Scofield, Pettingill, Gaebelein, Custer, Neal, Bullinger, and the next four hundred scholars, is a bodily shape.


Body

The BODY of man is apparent. This is the part of man which is most familiar, the physical part of man. In Genesis 3:19 the Lord pronounced the curse on man after the fall and said, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” and that is exactly what happened to Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky, and every Bible-denying atheist who ever lived. They went back to the dirt. Isn’t it remarkable how the power and authority of the Bible extends over those who don’t believe it?


Spirit

Concerning the spirit, we are born in this world with a dead spirit because of sin.


Genesis 2:17 King James Version

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”


Romans 5:12 King James Version

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"


When we were dead in spirit (before we received Salvation) we were two-thirds of what we should have been, and 2 divided by 3 is 0.666666.... which has the number of the devil, that's why when we were unsaved we are called the child of the devil (Acts 13:10), children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2 )


It is only when we receive Salvation that our spirit become born again, and the Spirit of Christ dwells in us.


Romans 8:9-11 King James Version

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.


Ephesians 2:1 King James Version

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;"


Ephesians 2:5 King James Version

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)"


And when we die, whether we’re saved or unsaved, the spirit goes back to God, either a living spirit or a dead spirit.


Ecclesiastes 12:7 King James Version

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”


Ever since Eden, man was born with an appointment with death. What will you do about it? You will do absolutely NOTHING about it, nor will any of your friends. Nor is there any scientist who could ever keep you alive forever, nor will there ever be. Nor will any scientific achievement or scientific advancement of any kind by fallen man ever reduce the ratio from 100 percent to 99.999 percent. There isn’t one case in the history of the universe where science could keep anybody alive indefinitely. “The wages of sin is death,” (Rom. 6:23). You die because you are a sinner, and if you come back from the dead fifty times in fifty days, you will eventually kick the bucket, and they will put you to bed with a shovel. Once God takes your soul for good, brother, you are gone. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” (Heb. 9:27). By trying to get rid of death, man is trying to cover up the obvious fact that he is a sinner, for “the wages of sin is death.” Until a man is born again he only has five senses, and beyond those five senses he can understand nothing.


The unsaved man, being dead in trespasses and sins, lives like an animal; breathes, smells, tastes, hears, and sees like an animal; and feels like an animal. In his most highly cultured moments man is nothing but a highly trained animal, which is why he thinks he came from animals. All animals have three basic drives: self-preservation, self-propagation, and self-gratification. And although from animal to animal these drives may vary in their fulfillment, they are the only three goals an animal has in mind.


Therefore, every unsaved man, at this moment, has three goals, and whether they’ve been disguised as religious goals, humanitarian goals, “do-goody” goals, or “make the world a better place to live in” (that’s the old buffer), they still come under the heading of SELF-GRATIFICATION for the altruistic reasons, SELF-PROPAGATION for the sex instinct, or SELF-PRESERVATION for staying alive. No unsaved man has any higher goal or basic drive than any dog or skunk or ape that ever lived. That is why Darwin capitalized on the unsaved condition of the lost man, dead in trespasses and sins, and taught him that he was kin to an orangutan. As the Bible says, “Ye must be born again,” and “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Or as someone so aptly put it, “Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once.” The body of man is a doomed machine headed for the grave. Unless you are born again, you cannot have everlasting life, for “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”


Excerpts from Theological Studies Vol II – Man, A Tripartite Being by Peter Ruckman


How to go to Heaven? Find out in the short video below


GOD's Simple Plan of Salvation


If you were to die today for any reason, are you 100% sure you will go to heaven?


This video explains the SIMPLE TRUTH according to the Scriptures. The only way to go to heaven is by:

(1) Admitting that you are a sinner

(2) Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior and Lord

(3) Repenting (meaning you are willing to turn away from your sins) of your sins then confessing your sins to God


Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed Himself and shed His precious blood on the cross as a substitute for you, so that you don't have to burn in hell for all eternity because of your sins, and have eternal life in heaven instead.


Watch the video to learn what Scripture says of God's great plan of salvation for you and how to receive His free gift. This is wonderful news. We pray you surrender to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and to know 100% for sure you will go to heaven when you die!


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Bible Believers Baptist Church International

2F Lakeview Manors Arcade, 11 Bagong Calzada St., Taguig City, 1634 Metro Manila

Globe: 09171926870 / Smart: 09201205400


“And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” (Luke 4:4)

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