Bipartite or Tripartite Nature of Man?

[JJ]

I've been reading the posts in this thread from the beginning, and haven't felt learned enough to weigh in on the question.

Like most LCers, I have been in the tripartite "camp" of thought, and still am. As Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and the temple has an outer court, holy place, and holiest place has always been a helpful picture for me. Not just for teaching, but worship as well.

As with others, like aron, on this thread, I have come to see that "pounding and pounding" on the importance of the spirit, without also taking account of the biblical roles of body, soul, and heart leads one into weird places.

That Jesus' death tore the curtain between the holiest place and holy place may be instructive, as His Spirit now "invades" more than just the spirit from the inside out, and as it does, He is magnified.

Praise Him.

[aron]

Originally Posted by JJ

Like most LCers, I have been in the tripartite "camp" of thought, and still am. As Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and the temple has an outer court, holy place, and holiest place has always been a helpful picture for me. Not just for teaching, but worship as well...

That Jesus' death tore the curtain between the holiest place and holy place may be instructive, as His Spirit now "invades" more than just the spirit from the inside out, and as it does, He is magnified.

Praise Him.

I'm also in the tripartite camp, but with qualifications. A few comments from Paul, in passing, doesn't lay the foundation to build a hermeneutical system.

Originally Posted by JJ

I've been reading the posts in this thread from the beginning, and haven't felt learned enough to weigh in on the question.

Mr. Lee didn't learn enough to weigh in either, and it didn't stop him from putting out 26 books on the subject. So feel free to comment, as we all have. It's a learning process here, or should be, and as we think, read, talk, listen and write, hopefully we learn something. As (a small) part of the larger conversation, Witness Lee and Mary McDonough and the 'three parts of man' also have a place.

http://www.tripartiteman.org/historical/mcdonough.html

But Erasmus wrote on the three parts of man back in 1504, and with much more "life" (imho) than Lee ever did. Read his "Enchiridion" and he has a chapter devoted to it. I loved it (but I love Erasmus anyway, and am hopelessly biased).

Take Lee in small doses, balanced liberally with others, and you might avoid going into a ditch. But if you live on the "ministry" exclusively, I daresay your journey through the Bible, and life, will be distorted.