Tripartite Man: Salvation: Dispensing

God’s Salvation and the Three Parts of Man

The Divine Life Dispensed into the Tripartite Man

This section is very similar to the preceding section (The Salvation of God for the Three Parts of Man), but the emphasis here shifts to the dispensing of the divine life and how this life saturates the believers throughout their tripartite being.

Dispensed into our Spirit

Paul did not say that our spirit is living, but that our spirit is life

The divine life is initially dispensed into our spirit. As Romans 8:10 says, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. After being regenerated with Christ, not only is our spirit living and not only does it possess life; our spirit is life itself. Paul did not say that our spirit is living, but that our spirit is life. As believers, a part of our being is now life itself. Paul could make this bold claim based on two divine facts: first, Christ is life (John 11:25; 14:6), and second, our spirit has been made one with this Christ. First Corinthians 6:17 asserts, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This one spirit, which is the joining of Christ with our human spirit, is life (Witness Lee, Basic 103-105).

Dispensed into our Mind

According to Romans 8:6, “the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Like the spirit, the mind, which is the leading faculty of the soul, can also become life.

Just as the husband and wife become one couple, so the mind and the spirit become an inseparable unit

Nevertheless, this mind must be set on the spirit so that it can be flooded, saturated, and infused with the Spirit. To be set on the spirit, the mind must be joined to the spirit, continually relying on the spirit, very much like a wife joined to her husband and relying on her husband. Just as the husband and wife become one couple, so the mind and the spirit become an inseparable unit. In such a condition, the divine life spreads from our spirit to saturate our mind; hence, our mind becomes life. At this point our enlivened mind has an ability that is foreign to the natural mind: the ability to function to minister the divine life to others (105-107).

Dispensed into our Body

The Triune God dispenses His life until we become men of life throughout our tripartite being

Thus far, we have seen the divine life dispensed into our spirit (Romans 8:10) and spreading into our mind (Romans 8:6). Ultimately, the divine life is also dispensed into our mortal body, as explained in Romans 8:11: “And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” Our weak and dying body can be given life. By exercising our human spirit, we allow the indwelling divine Spirit to move in us and to thereby impart life to our mortal body. Thus, from the center of our being (our spirit) to the circumference of our being (our body), the Triune God dispenses His life until we become men of life throughout our tripartite being (107-109).

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