Are We Made up of Two Parts or Three? Does it Matter?

Rachel is a new believer and recovering addict who believes she is incapable of living a normal life. From her perspective, it seems nearly impossible with everything she battles and the many diagnoses she has been given. Day to day it’s a different struggle for Rachel, a different diagnosis, dependent on her thoughts for that day. In addition to the belief that her addiction is a disease, she has ongoing issues with anxiety, depression, and PTSD with intrusive thoughts. These are all very serious and can be intimidating for one who desires to help, but we don’t need to understand them fully to begin to care for Rachel. To be clear, we absolutely need to recognize and acknowledge these as real symptoms, as well as attend to her physical needs. These many layers of physical and emotional challenges will need to be carefully considered with her medical doctor, her pastor, and with loving care over time. It cannot be overstated that these are very complex matters that require much prayer and dependance on the Holy Spirit for wisdom. This, however, is not the point of this article. To understand Rachel and her diagnoses better, we should know the theology behind the whole man, how sin affects our thoughts, and how this knowledge can help Rachel in her suffering.

Are we made up of two parts or three, and why does that matter?

Maybe you would say that we are made up of body, soul and spirit. Sounds correct, right? Trichotomy, or the belief that we are made of three parts, is held by many believers, but as we look at how it affects the way we care for others, it is important to define these divisions. Many who believe we are three parts are more susceptible to subscribe to secular psychology as the primary mode of counseling, or those that would separate our human knowledge from God. The paradigm is this: Medical doctors are for the body, Pastors are for the spirit and Psychiatrists are for the soul. (Jay Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, Pg 110) This separation of soul and spirit is problematic in many ways, but primarily because it speaks of the mind, knowledge, and emotions as the soul. When we separate what we feel and think from our spirit, we are left to our own thoughts, we neglect God’s role in making decisions, and we don’t think that things like prayer, attending church, or reading his Word apply to our mental health. The result of this thinking makes the gospel ineffective in everyday life and is directly opposed to Scripture. How do we help Rachel with her thoughts if they are separated from the cross? If we do this, “The gospel and the commands of God are superficial and ineffective, only vaguely relevant to “psychological problems” and irrelevant to “physiological problems.” (Winston Smith, Dichotomy or Trichotomy? How the Doctrine of Man Shapes the Treatment of Depression, Journal of Biblical Counseling-Volume 18-Number 3-Spring 2000)

In contrast, the Bible states that from the beginning, we were created with two essential parts that make up the whole of man; the inner man and the outer man. This is called the dichotomist view of mankind and can be simply defined as a contrast between two distinct things. We can see this clearly depicted in Genesis 2:7 “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” The combination of these two aspects form and create life.

As created beings we have a material side; our outer being (from the dust) that is connected to the earth and is the part of us that includes our physical bodies, our senses, and our actions. This is referred to as “body” or “flesh” in Scripture. The immaterial side of us (the breath), or the inner man, is a little more complicated to understand. In Scripture, there are many descriptions of our inner man, the most commonly used being soul, spirit and heart. Soul/spirit are virtually interchangeable in the Bible. Jesus says not to fear those who can harm the body but not the soul (Matthew 10:28), there is cleansing ourselves of defilement of body and spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1), and beautifully stated by Mary in the Magnificat “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46). Her whole inner being is praising God for his might, his holiness and his mercy. Our bodies and souls/spirits are so closely related there is only one situation that can separate them and that is in death (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Biblical teaching of the inner man and outer man is modeled after unity, not division. We are an embodied soul with only God’s Word able to lay bare our soul, spirit, thoughts, and intentions (Hebrews 4:12). When we view ourselves as such, we can understand the matters of the heart that affect the actions of our bodies. Louis Berkhoff states it this way: “The union between the two may be called a union of life: the two are organically related, the soul acting on the body and the body on the soul.” (Louis Berkhoff, Systematic Theology, pg 195) In Proverbs, King Solomon encourages us to “keep our heart with all vigilance” (Proverbs 4:23). He then speaks about putting away devious speech, looking ahead, pondering our path, and turning away from evil (Proverbs 4:24-27). Our hearts (inner man) drive our actions (outer man) and no behavior change without heart change will last. We must be born again to a new life, with a new spirit that has the desire to obey and follow Jesus. This is imperative in order to care effectively for Rachel. If she has placed her faith in Jesus, she is no longer a slave to her old self or identified by her destructive habits (Romans 6:17). Her thoughts are no longer separated from the redemption that was purchased at the cross. When we believe in our hearts (inner) and confess with our mouth (outer) that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved (Romans 10:8-10). What a beautiful promise that she can hold on to as she battles her thoughts every day. We are transformed, changed from the inside-out and that is where true lasting change comes from. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says:

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Can you see how separation of our thoughts from our spirit would cause a barrier to freedom for Rachel in her life?

“I cannot carve out any part of myself and treat it as if it exists apart from my spiritual obligations to God. To do so impoverishes our understanding both of Scripture and the role of Christ Himself. Christ did not come to simply rescue one-third of my being and contract the rest of it out to the psychological and medical professions. Christ came to redeem me from my fallen nature as it pervades the way I think, the way I feel, what I do, my bodily existence.” (Winston Smith, Dichotomy or Trichotomy? How the Doctrine of Man Shapes the Treatment of Depression, Journal of Biblical Counseling-Volume 18-Number 3-Spring 2000)

This brings us to another concern. Since our thoughts can seem separated and out of control (thanks to a consequence of sin), it’s beneficial to consider the noetic effects of sin in conjunction with dichotomy.

The effects of sin on our thoughts

When Adam sinned in the garden, he not only condemned himself, but he condemned all of humanity as our representative before God (Romans 5:12). That one act of rebellion against a Holy God caused sin to enter all parts of our lives, including the way we think. This is called the noetic effects of sin. Ironically, the initial act that began with the desire to know good and evil and to “make one wise” (Genesis 3:5-6) is what caused us to be separated from God and gave us the inability to know him. The sad fact of the matter is that we gladly join Adam in our rebellion against God and we openly desire to know more than God. We willfully follow the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2), we claim to be wise (Romans 1:22), and we exchange God for anything but him (Romans 1:25). We have become wise in our own minds to the point that we trade God in all of his Glory for the glory of ourselves. While God says “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26) we choose to listen to our own thoughts and the lies of Satan, just as Adam and Eve did. Paul comments in Ephesians 4:

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (17,18).

Our inability to understand God is intrinsic to our fallen nature and we are constantly searching for ways to understand things apart from God. But Paul says our own thoughts are futile; or pointless, useless, and worthless. It’s no wonder we don’t “think” God understands or we don’t “believe” that the Bible has answers to our most difficult problems. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

If all these things are true about human behavior and the way we think, how then are we supposed to be able to answer questions and solve problems in a God-honoring way? On our own, we cannot. This is the core problem with psychology and the trichotomist view. Modern psychology prescribes what God rejects. Self-actualization, self-esteem, selfishness, and pride are cures and encourages self-love above all else. Psychology wants us to think upon ourselves and promotes “feet that make haste to run to evil” (Prov 6:18). Because of the noetic effects of sin, without Christ, psychology has a perverted way of thinking and the closer it gets to the root problems of the heart the more pronounced the noetic effects become. (Heath Lambert, A Theology of Biblical Counseling, Pg 71) In other words, the more we try to understand matters of the heart and of God through modern thought, the farther we get from understanding our true condition. Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians 1:20-15:

“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

If, in fact, the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God, then how do we think about the diagnoses given to Rachel? Real change in thinking and behavior happens through the power of the Holy Spirit in repentance, faith and obedience to Christ as our minds are being renewed (Romans 12:1-2). Without understanding of our separation from God, the need for a Savior, and the Spirit indwelling in us, we are incapable of understanding the will of God for our lives. Ultimately the goal in a Christian’s life, is to think the way God thinks, for his desires to be our desires, and to follow obediently in the path he has prepared for us. Transformation comes from the regeneration of our minds and turning from worldly views and standards to what is good and acceptable and perfect in God’s eyes (Romans 12:2).

Common Grace and the way we think

There is one more thing to consider when speaking of our thoughts and minds. One of the greatest gifts from God through common grace is our ability to know and understand things in this world. Our mind has abilities that we cannot comprehend, and science (common grace) has only begun to scratch the surface of what our brain is capable of. Psychiatry and Neurology, therefore, are quite able to know and understand things about the human brain and how we process different life situations. There is much valuable research and data that can be used in our care for others. We can use strong data to understand why someone may behave under certain life circumstances, but as believers we must see the solution differently. This is where we, as Christians, must differ from secular ideology and thinking. We cannot and must not value the interpretations of secular theories in conjunction with the theology of God’s grace. To do so would be adding a little leaven to the whole lump (Galatians 5:9). Paul is very specific as he speaks to the Galatians regarding adding to the message of the cross. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other” (Galatians 5:17). If common grace enables unbelievers to know facts and information, we must be diligent to seek out biblical ways to interpret the data and find biblical solutions for the information presented.

For Rachel

Rachel is suffering, first and foremost, and we should keep this as our utmost reality. Whatever thoughts or feelings she is having, she is seeking comfort that will never come from the world. She is also a sinner in desperate need of God’s grace. We can use these theologies to reassure and to teach her through scripture what God says and what His thoughts are about her. Psalm 139:1-6 says:

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

There are no thoughts or separate parts within her that God does not know intimately. Her mind is not an unreachable place on which the Gospel has no effect, rather, it is the deepest part of our understanding of who God is. The way to battle against intrusive thoughts and false imaginations is to truly know God, to value his thoughts above our own. Psalm 139:17-18 says:

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

We can never fully understand all the thoughts or ways of God (Isaiah 55:9) and that’s a good thing! To contemplate the holiness of God and the sinless perfection of Christ’s life that now belongs to us is an unfathomable gift. To meditate and ponder all the wonders of our God takes us out of our own minds and connects us directly with what Jesus calls the greatest commandment, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). This is worship with our whole being. When we care for Rachel as an embodied soul, we help her to see the beauty in God’s redeeming, life changing power.

Thou Great I Am,

Fill my mind with elevation and grandeur at the thought of a Being

With whom one day is as a thousand years,

And a thousand years is as one day,

A mighty God, who, amidst the lapse of worlds,

and the revolutions of empires,

feels no variableness,

but is glorious in immortality.

May I rejoice that, while men die, the Lord lives;

that, while all creatures are broken reeds,

empty cisterns,

fading flowers,

withering grass,

He is the Rock of Ages,

The Fountain of living waters.

-Valley of Vision, The Infinite and The Finite

The Author: Lara Kees is certified with ACBC and serves as the church liaison for Hope for Addiction.