Since man is created in the image of God, man is as triune as God is. (Gen1, 27.)
Every human is a spirit, has a soul and lives in a body. (1 Thess. 5, 23.) Nobody would think of one man as of three distinct beings.
The BODY is the servant of the soul. It does what the mind tells it to do. With it we contact the natural realm.
The SOUL is the command center of man: it is the seat of the will and also of thoughts and of emotions. With it we contact the intellectual-emotional realm.
The SPIRIT is the hidden man, the part that gives personality and life. It speaks through the conscience. With it we contact the spiritual realm.
Both spirit and body vie for influence over the soul. Thus we stand between carnality and spirituality. Our will, - member of our soul -, makes the decision in which direction we'll bend.
Let's relate what we found out about the trinity of man to the trinity of God, after which we are fashioned.
JESUS is the BODY of God, if you will. He is that part of God that became visible and touchable and watchable in the natural realm.The body is the servant of the soul. Jesus was the servant of God. As a matter of fact, Jesus said: "I can do nothing on My own initiative." (John 5, 30.) "He who has seen me has seen the father." and: "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." (John 5, 19.) Just as the body doesn't move unless the soul tells it to, the Son of God didn't move out of his own volition.
Jesus also said: the father is in me. Like the soul is in man. Soulthoughts and bodily behaviour usually correspond, (unless you're a spastic.) And: aren't we called the Body of Christ and Jesus is the head of the BODY? We aren't the soul or the mind of Christ, but we have it in us, like the body has the mind in it.This does not mean that we are God, as Jesus is. We do not stand in that office. Rather, we are the children of God. We are his church, the chief agency through which God works. (He also works through governments and courts, etc. (Romans 13, 1f.)
God the FATHER is the SOUL of the Godhead, if you will. He is the command center. He sits on the major throne. Jesus is enthroned at his right hand, and we with him.The Father makes the decisions which the body carries out, as we have already seen. He told Jesus what to do. The Father even decides when Jesus will return to the earth. Not even Jesus knows when that'll be. (Acts 1,8f.)
The Father exercises the will of the Godhead: "In love He (the Father) predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His WILL." (Eph. 1, 5.)
That the HOLY SPIRIT corresponds to the human SPIRIT is so obvious that I don't need to elaborate on it.The Holy Spirit is the great inspirator of all good thoughts, of all longings for righteousness and for God. He is the life giver by whom Jesus was raised from the dead and by whom we are born again through faith in the word.He inspires the preacher and explains the word of God as the divine teacher.
He heals.
He hooks us up with God the Father in praying in the Spirit.
His gifts bring salvation to the suffering and help to the needy.
He gives the church color and personality.
He is a real and powerful person.
So we see that the divine Trinity is really not all that hard to understand. Even though it is much more intricate and complicated, it issimilar to the human trinity.Just as man is one all the while consisting of three parts, God is oneGod, all the while being triune.
In Him,
Gert Hoinle, Pastor, Editor of "Teaching News"
Copyright (c) 1998 by Gert Hoinle