3 parts of man

[byHismercy]

I have a question, would love your input, saints...

When I received the 3 parts of man teaching as a young believer in the LC, I remember distinctly being taught that when we receive Christ, He initially enters into our human spirit. Remember the 3 circles? Whether or not His abiding goes 'further' into the rest of our being, that is, into our soul, then ultimately our physical body, that is a matter of whether or not we give Him permission to go there, be there. Does this have any scriptural basis?? Am I missing it? Does anyone else remember receiving this teaching?

I know there is a matter of being a babe in Christ, contrast that with those mature in Christ....

To take this further, I wonder now about the validity of this 3 separate parts of man doctrine....I think someone mentioned it in another thread, is what brought this question up for me....

byHismercy

[Ohio]

The Bible does say we have a spirit, soul, and body, but are these three distinct and separate parts of the whole person? The Bible also mentions our heart, our inner man, our conscience, our character, our hidden man, our natural man, etc. Lee endeavored to organize these into a flow chart, while constantly trying to convince us that all of Christianity was fallen.

Some in the LC have gone crazy trying to figure it all out. One testimony in the LC said it all. The husband said he could not help his sick wife do the dishes because he didn't want to "do it out of his natural man." Seriously? Sounds like he had all the knowledge, yet not love. Sounds like I Cor 13.2. Paul says then that he is "nothing."

Thus is life in the LC -- struggling to have all knowledge, yet not enough love to wash the dishes.

[Sons to Glory!]

Some good verses on the three main parts of man:

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved, entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess 5:23

"For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even as far as the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrows, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Heb 4:12

"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." 1 Cor 6:17

""That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 3:6

"But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding." Job 32:8

"Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him" Zech 12:1

"The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you." 2 Tim 4:22

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by Ohio

The Bible does say we have a spirit, soul, and body, but are these three distinct and separate parts of the whole person? The Bible also mentions our heart, our inner man, our conscience, our character, our hidden man, our natural man, etc. Lee endeavored to organize these into a flow chart, while constantly trying to convince us that all of Christianity was fallen.

Sons of Glory gave all the verses proving we have a spirit and it is separate from our soul. Someone I heard put it this way: we are a spirit. We have a soul. We live in a body....Food for thought.

The difficult part is living and walking in the spirit.

Galatians 5:16 says
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 5:25 says:
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

I think the more we abide in Christ, in His Spirit by worshipping and praying, seeking HIS PERFECT WILL in our lives, studying His Word through the Spirit not through man's interpretation, God will help us to walk and live in the Spirit. This includes being filled and walking in the Love of Jesus..something the LC/LSM lost a long, long time ago.

[Sons to Glory!]

Amen! And our minds need renewing to better realize what Christ has done for us and who we are in Him!

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by countmeworthy

Someone I heard put it this way: we are a spirit. We have a soul. We live in a body....Food for thought.

I have heard this before, but I'm not so sure.

I think we are a soul, a living soul breathed into existence at conception by God. (Gen 2.7) We also have a soul, which is our person, so the Bible refers to us as souls. (Gen 46.27) Both the saved and the unsaved have a soul which will live forever. Whether or not their spirit within is born of His Spirit, decides their destiny, whether one perishes or possesses eternal life. (Jn 3.16) Living forever does not mean we have eternal life, rather that is determined by faith in God's promised Redeemer. Our body, of course, is temporary, made of dust, a tent (II Cor 5.1-4) which covers our naked soul, one day to be replaced by a spiritual body.

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by Ohio

I have heard this before, but I'm not so sure.

I think we are a soul, a living soul breathed into existence at conception by God. (Gen 2.7) We also have a soul, which is our person, so the Bible refers to us as souls. (Gen 46.27) Both the saved and the unsaved have a soul which will live forever. Whether or not their spirit within is born of His Spirit, decides their destiny, whether one perishes or possesses eternal life. (Jn 3.16) Living forever does not mean we have eternal life, rather that is determined by faith in God's promised Redeemer. Our body, of course, is temporary, made of dust, a tent (II Cor 5.1-4) which covers our naked soul, one day to be replaced by a spiritual body.

Good points! The Bible's does have some emphasis, in that respect, more on the mention of the soul it seems. And probably because of this, many throughout time haven't seen or focused as much on the spirit of man. Some de-emphasize the spirit and sometimes it's even said that the soul and spirit are the same (they're not). In recent years I've heard more about our spirit from various preachers, but many are still not clear that this is the part the Lord joins Himself to at regeneration. (e.g., 1 Cor 6:17)

The matter of life in spirit ("It is the spirit that gives life") may be the better way to look at it - life in our spirit animates our soul to express Him and do His works.

Perhaps it's like air in a balloon - when I haven't been in the word and turning to Him much, I just feel basically flat.

BTW - I've heard others say that "We are a spirit in an earth-suit.' Not so sure this is accurate either . . .

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

BTW - I've heard others say that "We are a spirit in an earth-suit.' Not so sure this is accurate either . . .

Im sure it’s not accurate StG... consider this source:

“This is perhaps the most fascinating part of the Heaven’s Gate scenario. As previously mentioned, humans are composed of two separate parts: 1) the body, which is nothing more than a container; and 2) a spirit, which functions as “the informational mind or ‘software’ [in computer talk] of a human plant.” “

..... and I’m sure it wouldn’t even make it to Alternative Views!

Drake

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

BTW - I've heard others say that "We are a spirit in an earth-suit.' Not so sure this is accurate either . . .

I'm not so sure about that either. I've known some who espoused this, and they had trouble with relationships. That's why I question it's value.

Marriages, in particular, suffer greatly when one party wants to be "a spirit." Ever hear the saying, "heavenly minded, but no earthly good."

John Piper had a few pointed comments about such ones:

It is possible to be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use. My problem is: I’ve never met one of those people. And I suspect, if I met one, the problem would not be that his mind is full of the glories of heaven, but that his mind is empty and his mouth is full of platitudes.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Ohio

...One testimony in the LC said it all. The husband said he could not help his sick wife do the dishes because he didn't want to "do it out of his natural man." Seriously?

The instance I know of where this actually happened, the brother was an elder. His wife eventually divorced him. Who knows how many times such stupidity occurred.

Nell

[awareness]

Originally Posted by Nell

The instance I know of where this actually happened, the brother was an elder. His wife eventually divorced him. Who knows how many times such stupidity occurred.

Nell

This idea that we are spirit, soul, and body, can be twisted in so many ways.

Spirit, soul, and body are not 3 separated compartments. We are all 3 combined together.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by awareness

This idea that we are spirit, soul, and body, can be twisted in so many ways.

Spirit, soul, and body are not 3 separated compartments. We are all 3 combined together.

But...but...with the body, soul and spirit, our soul is divided into the mind, emotion and will. Right? But...I need help with the dishes. So you're in your mind to figure out if we are in our soul or spirit, unless you get emotional about being in your body and you have to exercise your will to decide to call on the Lord to get back into your spirit to bring your body into subjection so you can help with the dishes... or is it your emotion that needs to be brought into subjection? Oh! And the spirit!!! Three parts, right? Intuition, conscience and fellowship! Shouldn't your conscience make you help your sick wife with the dishes?

And the body! So how many parts does the body have? And how do you know where you are...in your body?
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone
Your hip bone connected to your back bone
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone
Your neck bone connected to your head bone

I think my leg bone is connected to my shoulder bone.

I'm so confused. Who's going to do the dishes?
Nell

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Nell

But...but...with the body, soul and spirit, our soul is divided into the mind, emotion and will...

Here is the apostle's reaction to such nonsense taught by Lee:

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ."

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by Nell

I'm so confused. Who's going to do the dishes?
Nell

Quote/question of the day!!!

As I was reading the last few posts, it became more apparent why there is a need to divide the soul from our spirit! It's such an intricate endeavor that only the Word of God can do this!

Hallelujah for the Living Word in our lives!

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Nell

The instance I know of where this actually happened, the brother was an elder. His wife eventually divorced him. Who knows how many times such stupidity occurred.

Nell

What a shame! Talk about a stupid teaching!

I'm sure that elder was hand-picked for his unwavering loyalty to Lee rather than for any of the basic qualifications in the scripture.