The Tripartite Man The Tripartite Man

God’s Salvation


God’s Salvation and the Three Parts of Man

The Three Parts of Man Spoiled by the Fall of Man

Created with a spirit to receive God, a soul to express God, and a body to maintain his existence, the first man, Adam possessed a tremendous potential to express and represent God. Before this potential could be realized, however, Satan came in to damage and ultimately annul the proper function of each of man’s three parts. The fall of man thus was not merely an act of disobedience and transgression; rather, it had the effect of corrupting all three parts of his being, thereby preventing man from fulfilling God’s purpose.

The Human Soul Contaminated by Receiving Satan’s Thought, Feeling and Will

Adam possessed a tremendous potential to express and represent God

All three parts of man were spoiled by the fall: First, his soul was contaminated; second, his body was transmuted into the sinful flesh; and third, his spirit was deadened. It is crucial that we see the tactics employed by God’s enemy to corrupt man’s soul (his mind, emotion, and will). This awareness will equip us to discern the strategies he continues to employ to keep man from receiving and enjoying God and thereby expressing and representing Him.

The serpent began his assault on the human mind by injecting it with doubt

  

Satan began to contaminate man’s soul by touching the mind, thus causing the human mind to begin to doubt God’s Word. In Genesis 3:1 the serpent began his assault on the human mind by injecting it with doubt: “Did God really say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” By responding to the serpent in verses 2 and 3, Eve opened the door of her soul to the serpent, allowing him to take another step to further contaminate the human mind. In verse 4 the serpent went on to assure Eve, “You shall not surely die!” By this time the serpentine venom had infiltrated her mind, causing her to doubt God’s Word.

The serpent sowed a seed of resentment into Eve by lying to her about God’s motive

The second stage of the contamination of man’s soul was mounted against his emotion, causing man to begin to dislike God. In this stage, the serpent sowed a seed of resentment into Eve by lying to her about God’s motive: “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). This word incited Eve’s emotions, causing her to feel that God was withholding something good from her. Thus, the human emotion that was created to love God was spoiled, poisoned instead with an actual dislike for God.

The third stage of the contamination of man’s soul took place in his will, enticing man to choose the satanic tree of knowledge rather than the divine tree of life. Genesis 3:6 records, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make oneself wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” This consummated the contamination of the human soul, by means of the seduction of the human will to choose the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge (Witness Lee, Basic 35-37).

The Human Body Transmuted into the Flesh

 

We should never have any confidence in our flesh

The body as originally created by God was a pure vessel containing only one created essence, the human nature created in God’s image and likeness. But this pure body was changed in nature, that is, transmuted into the fallen flesh when a foreign element was introduced through the fruit of the tree of knowledge. This foreign element, called indwelling sin, now resides in man’s flesh. This is why Paul says in Romans 7:17, “Now then it is no longer I that work it out, but sin that dwells in me.” Because this evil substance has fully occupied and saturated our body we should never have any confidence in our flesh (Witness Lee, Life-Study 238).

The Spirit Deadened

The ultimate consequence of man’s fall was that his spirit was deadened, thus becoming insulated from God and losing its function toward God.

God has preserved the human spirit inviolate for Himself

  
Ephesians 2:1 therefore says, “And you, though dead in your offenses and sins,” referring to our fallen, deadened, state before we were saved. But in what part were we dead? Since our body and soul were very much alive, this verse must refer to our human spirit. We must make it clear at this point, however, that neither sin nor Satan have ever had any entrance or access into man’s spirit at any time before, during, or after the fall of man. God has preserved the human spirit inviolate for Himself. Rather, it was only the God-contacting function of our spirit that was deadened.

Thus, each of the three parts of man was damaged by the fall. The entire soul (mind, emotion, and will) was contaminated, the body was changed in nature, and the spirit was deadened. Nevertheless, this hopeless state of man’s sets the stage for God’s salvation, which we will examine in the next section (Witness Lee, Life-Study 239).

Spoiled by the Fall | For the Three Parts of Man | The Divine Life Dispensed

Sinful Man
The Tripartite Man

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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