In Christian theology, the tripartite view (trichotomy) holds that each human combines three distinct components: body, spirit, and soul. In contrast, the bipartite view (dichotomy), while accepting the body as distinct, takes "soul" and "spirit" as different terms for the same entity (the spiritual soul).
Scriptural basis The primary proof texts for this position are as follows:
"Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (JPS Tanakh)
Trichotomists see in Genesis 2:7 the first implications of the constituents of man's nature.Heard, Tripartite Nature of Man, p. 47-48. "It is referred to in Gen. 2:7, in such terms that we cannot fail to see that an exact system of psychology is here alluded to... We may amplify and illustrate the psychology of Gen. 2:7, but here is substantially, and in the fewest possible words, all that we know of the sources of man's nature and their union-point, the soul." Franz Delitzsch, commenting on this passage, says, "We cannot consider with sufficient care Gen. 2:7; for this one verse is of such deep significance that interpretation can never exhaust it: it is the foundation of all true anthropology and psychology."Delitzch, Biblical Psychology, p. 90. John Bickford Heard refers to Genesis 2:7 as a revelation of the material cause, the formal or efficient cause, and the final cause of man's threefold nature.Heard, Tripartite Nature, p. 41. The material cause—the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground. The formal or efficient cause—God breathed into his nostrils the breath (neshamah) of life. The final cause—man became a living soul (nephesh). The question is whether Genesis 2:7 refers to two or to three distinct facts and thus whether Genesis 2:7 describes two or three distinct parts of man's constitution. Trichotomists believe that God's breath of life, when breathed into man's body of dust, became man's human spirit.Delitzsch, Biblical Psychology, p. 147. "He then breathed into this form the creature spirit, which, because it originated after the manner of breathing, may just as well be called His spirit as man's spirit, because it is His breath made into the spirit of man."Lee, The Spirit With Our Spirit, p. 63. "The breath of life is not God Himself, God's life, or God's Spirit. But it is very close to God, very close to the life of God, and very close to the Spirit of God... The breath of life produced the spirit. Actually, it was the breath of life becoming the spirit."Boardman, Scriptural Anthropology, p. 184. Proverbs 20:27 uses the same Hebrew word (neshamah) for the spirit of man, indicating that God's breathe of life and man's spirit are closely related.Hendry, Holy Spirit in Christian Theology, p. 106. Although, this does not mean that man possesses a spark of divinity or that between God and fallen human beings there is some continuous element. George Boardman describes the Divine Pneuma and the human pneuma as "constitutionally akin" Boardman, Scriptural Anthropology, p. 185. while Heard ascribes to them the same nature.Heard, Tripartite Nature of Man, p. 42-43. "The Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives. We speak of the formal and efficient cause as one, not because we wish to confound the agent [the Lord God] with the instrument [the breath of life], but because the instrument is in this case of the same nature as the agent. The Lord God is the efficient cause—doubtless the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. But the instrument He uses is the breath of lives. It is clear that the breath is here of the same nature as the Being who breathes it." For Michael SchmausHendry quoting Schmaus' Katholische Dogmatik, p. 332. "It is in his spirit that man is the image of God, that he bears the lineaments of God, that he is akin to God." and most trichotomists, the human spirit is the focal point of the image of God.
"And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (ASV)
Proponents of the tripartite view claim that this verse spells out clearly the three components of the human, emphasized by the descriptors of "whole" and "completely".Heard, Tripartite Nature of Man, p. 73-74. "The apostle had desired that the very God of peace should sanctify them wholly, ολοτελεις. The word ολοτελής, which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, is clearly contrasted with the following ολοκληρον, and the contrast is that between totus and integer, complete and entire. In the one case the apostle prays that their salvation may be complete as a whole (totus), in the other entire (integer) in every part. The complete sanctification of the believer thus suggests those parts of man's nature that the Divine Spirit is to enter and entirely (entierement, i.e. inwardly) sanctify by His indwelling power. If sanctification is to be complete as to the end, so it must be as to the means; if of the whole, so of the parts. The τελος in the first compound suggests the end, which is our whole sanctification; the κληρος, of the second, suggests the means, that we may be sanctified in every part. Sanctification thus rests on these two conditions, that the Holy Spirit shall possess each of the three parts of our nature, and' possess them entirely."Lee, Footnotes. Recovery Version of the Holy Bible. "Wholly: Or entirely, thoroughly, to the consummation. God sanctifies us wholly, so that no part of our being, of either our spirit or soul or body, will be left common or profane. Complete: God not only sanctifies us wholly but also preserves our spirit, soul, and body complete. Wholly is quantitative; complete is qualitative. Quantitatively, God sanctifies us wholly; qualitatively, God preserves us complete, i.e., He keeps our spirit, soul, and body perfect." Opponents argue that spirit and soul are merely a repetition of synonyms, a common form used elsewhere in scripture to add the idea completeness.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, bringing together spiritual (men, pneumatikois) with spiritual (things, pneumatikà). 14 But the soulish man (psychikós) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But the spiritual man (ho pneumatikòs) appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. 16 For "who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 3:1 And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual men (pneumatikois), but as to carnal men (sarkínois), as to infants in Christ. 2 (I gave you) milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able (to receive it), for even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still carnal (sarkikoí). For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not carnal (sarkikoí), and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when someone says on the one hand, “I am of Paul,” but another, “I am of Apollos,” are you (acting like) men?
In this passage, the Apostle Paul divides men into three categories based on their responses to apostolic teaching: those who are spiritual (pneumatikos, 2.13, 15; 3.1), those who are soulish (psychikós; 2.14) and the Corinthians who are carnal (sarkivós; 3.1, 3). Each is driven or controlled by some aspect of their being, whether the spirit, the soul or the flesh. If the spirit and soul are identical, Paul's argument is meaningless.
"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (NIV)
Proponents of the tripartite view claim that this verse spells out that there is a clear difference between soul and spirit,Delitzsch, Biblical Psychology, p. 109. "And as for the essential condition of man, I certainly agree entirely with the view that the spirit and soul of man are distinguished as primary and secondary, but not with the view that spirit and soul are substantially one and the same... there occur to us two New Testament passages (viz. 1 Thess. v. 23 and Heb. iv. 12) which here claim special consideration, because they denominate, not only casually but designedly, the condition of man's being; and their logically rigid trichotomic mode of expression cannot be summarily set aside with the assertion, that in them is meant the condition of man's life, and especially of the Christian's life, not in relation to its three distinct elements, but assuming the existence of only two elements, only in reference to its three distinct relations."Delitzsch quoting Eduard Karl August Riehm in Biblical Psychology, p. 111-112. "The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in naming (ch. iv. 12) ψυχη and πνευμα in juxtaposition, as composing the immaterial substance of human nature, announces a trichotomic view of the nature of man."Ellicott, Destiny of the Creature, p. 107. though they may be so intertwined and similar that they would be difficult to separate without scriptural clarity. Opponents argue that there is no real separation here (though there must be some difference, at least in emphasis, if two different words are used), but the two are only used as a metaphor of things difficult to differentiate, like the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
" in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;" Before salvation, the soul was stuck to the body.
"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members."
After salvation, the soul is trying to follow the spirit. The spirit is known to be the new man or new nature. At the same time, the soul is trying not to follow the old man or old nature (body). The soul can either follow the spirit and do what is right or follow the body and do what is wrong.
Historical development
Old Testament
The Old Testament consistently uses three primary words to describe the parts of man: basar (flesh), which refers to the external, material aspect of man (mostly in emphasizing human frailty); nephesh, which refers to the soul as well as the whole person or life; and ruach which is used to refer to the human spirit (ruach can mean "wind", "breath", or "spirit" depending on the context; cf. Ezek. 37:1–14 where ruach is translated as all three). In the Old Testament basar occurs 266 times, nephesh occurs 754 times, and ruach occurs 378 times with at least 100 times referring to the human spirit.Good, 1997, p. 47.