{"id":1519,"date":"2010-04-28T01:00:42","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2010-04-12T11:02:36","modified_gmt":"2010-04-12T19:02:36","slug":"living-theology-20-the-essential-nature-of-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2010\/04\/28\/living-theology-20-the-essential-nature-of-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Theology #20 – The Essential Nature of Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Garrett Glende<\/em><\/p>\n

Chapter 23 of Wayne Grudem\u2019s Systematic Theology<\/em> deals with the subject of the \u201cessential nature of man.\u201d In it, Grudem explores the two views in modern day evangelicalism, namely dichotomy and trichotomy. The fundamental question deals with what comprises a human being. Are we body and spirit? Or are we body, spirit, and soul? Essentially, the difference between the two opinions comes down to what differences (if any) there are between the soul and spirit of a person.<\/p>\n

We all agree that we have physical bodies, but we also have a sense that there is something more to who we are than just flesh. We use phrases like \u201cmy heart is telling me…\u201d or \u201cI know inside of me…\u201d This kind of language attests to the fact that there is a part of us that is different than our material being. The Bible ultimately puts the question to rest, testifying that man does indeed have a soul. There are spiritual terms used throughout Scripture that point to man as being more than just flesh and bones. But are we body, soul, and spirit? Grudem argues that the words \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cspirit\u201d can be used interchangeably in the Bible, thus concluding that humans are essentially two parts, body and soul. The thrust of his argument lies in the fact that these words (in Greek psyche<\/em> and pneuma<\/em>) appear in the same contexts with apparently the same meaning. One example of this is in John 12:27 where Jesus says \u201cNow is my soul troubled,\u201d but then later on in John 13:21 it says that \u201cJesus was troubled in his spirit.\u201d Grudem also cites Luke 1:46-47, where Mary says \u201cMy soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.\u201d Are these really two different parts of Mary expressing different emotions? Or is the author simply using a parallel to describe what Mary was feeling \u201cinside\u201d of her? Grudem also shows that the soul and spirit can do similar things. When we die, the Bible says in different places that our soul and our spirit depart (Isaiah 53:12, John 19:30). Also, it is seen that both the soul and the spirit have the capacity to sin (2 Cor. 7:1, 1 Pet. 1:22). When all is said and done, it seems clear that humans are, in essence, flesh and spirit.<\/p>\n

Understanding this doctrine correctly should lead us, as Christians, to change the way we live our lives. Especially important in all of this is the fact that we are still only one person, made up of flesh and spirit. So often we separate our spiritual lives from our physical lives and vice versa. But I\u2019ve noticed that the two really do have a great effect on one another. It\u2019s easy to be disciplined spiritually if I\u2019ve been more active in my physical life. If I\u2019ve been getting sleep and eating well, then I have a stronger desire to open up God\u2019s word so that my soul would be encouraged. On the other hand, when I\u2019m tired or sick there is less of a motivation to feed my heart and mind with God\u2019s truth and I am more prone to sin. This is also reason to take sexual sin all the more seriously. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says that we must flee sexual immorality, for \u201cevery other sin a person commits outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.\u201d Because our sexual intimacy involves both body and spirit we must make every effort to flee from it. In everything, we must see ourselves as one unified person, maximizing our time for God\u2019s glory in both the physical and spiritual aspects of our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Garrett Glende Chapter 23 of Wayne Grudem\u2019s Systematic Theology deals with the subject of the \u201cessential nature of man.\u201d In it, Grudem explores the two views in modern day evangelicalism, namely dichotomy and trichotomy. The fundamental question deals with what comprises a human being. Are we body and spirit? Or are we body, spirit, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-theology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1521,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions\/1521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}