The Tripartite Man The Tripartite Man

The Functions



The Functions of the Three Parts of Man:

The Function of the Spirit

To Contact God

“Worship” literally signifies
“to come forward
and kiss”

The Lord Jesus explained in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” To worship God is actually to contact Him, based on the etymology of the Greek word here rendered “worship,” proskuneo. This term derives from pros, meaning “toward,” and kuneo, meaning “to kiss.” Thus, “worship” literally signifies “to come forward and kiss.” To kiss is to make intimate contact with another person. Similarly, we make contact with God in the most personal, intimate way when we touch Him as the divine Spirit in our human spirit (Vine 1247).

To Receive God

To receive God it is crucial that we exercise our spirit

 

We receive initially God when we are born anew. This new birth takes place in our spirit, for according to John 3:6, “…that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Not only does our spirit function to receive God initially; it continues to function to receive God as the Spirit for the rest of our Christian life. The Lord prophesied of this New Testament experience in Ezekiel 36:26: “I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” God wisely gives His believers both a new heart to love Him and a new spirit to receive Him. As a physical illustration, our heart may love many things, but without the exercise of the appropriate faculty in order to receive those things, they can never be substantiated and enjoyed by us. For example, to apprehend and appreciate sound, we must exercise our ears, just as color is substantiated by the exercise of our eyes. Neither can we receive food without exercising our mouth. Likewise, to receive God it is crucial that we exercise our spirit.

To Contain God

Finally, our spirit functions to contain God. Second Timothy 4:22 says precisely, “The Lord be with your spirit.” This word clearly designates our human spirit as the place where God makes His abode in us. Since the Lord lives within our spirit, we can accurately describe our spirit as a container of God.

The Tripartite Man

Main
Scriptural Basis
Historical Perspective
The Definition of the Three Parts of Man
The Functions of the Three Parts of Man
God's Salvation
Realizing the Body Life