Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:26–27
It is hardly hidden that we are made in the image of God. We also know God to be triune in nature, Father, Son, and Spirit. It is not accepted in some circles that we humans are also three-part beings. Is that true?
Here is what Paul said of the matter:
May the very God of peace sanctify you completely. And I pray to God that your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Paul tells us that a human is spirit, soul, and body. In my study, I prefer the Biblical principal that a matter is established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15.) Considering that, let’s see if we can find another.
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7
From the very first moment Adam was created, a body was fashioned from the dust of the ground. Then God breathed spirit into that body. And finally, Adam became a living soul. It’s the three parts that make one whole.
For another witness, we have this:
For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
This text is a nexus for many other ideas. Especially when considering the immediate context. The verse that follows this hints at hyperspaces. That is another discussion for another time.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that all things are revealed to God. There is no hiding things from Him. His Word is powerful and can divide the spirit and the soul. There are two of the parts of the human. The third comes in the next phrase, where it also divided the joints and marrow. That is most definitely speaking of the physical body. This text indicates three parts.
There is another distinction in this verse, I think. The spirit and the soul seem to be containerized. That is, the body is the house for the soul and the spirit.
Body Shelters Spirit and Soul
We know that if our earthly house, this tent, were to be destroyed, we have an eternal building of God in the heavens, a house not made with hands. In this one we groan, earnestly desiring to be sheltered with our house which is from heaven. Thus being sheltered, we shall not be found unsheltered. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we wish to be unclothed, but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal might be swallowed up by life. Now He who has created us for this very thing is God, who also has given to us the guarantee of the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:1–5
It is of utmost importance to understand this concept. It goes right to the very heart of what it is to be Christian. Our current physical body is a home to our spirit and soul. Paul says when we die, leaving this shelter behind, we have an everlasting one in heaven awaiting us.
Because sin has been sequestered to the flesh, we are burdened by it. And our physical bodies show the wear and tear of sin. Our spirits and souls do not. How can that be?
Paul calls that the circumcision made without hands.
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised with Him through the faith of the power of God, who has raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has resurrected together with Him, having forgiven you all sins. He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us and contrary to us, and He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed authorities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:11–15
Paul uses the metaphor of circumcision to explain what happened when we got saved plain to understand. Listen, when someone is circumcised, what is cut away is not reattached, it doesn’t grow back again, and it is removed to be discarded.
It’s like what happens to us Christians. The flesh part is separated from the other parts, the soul and the spirit. That is why Paul says that a believer is a new creation.
So from now on we do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Yes, though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we do not regard Him as such from now on. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:16–17
We don’t regard any believer according to the flesh… Yes, we know them physically, but we don’t know them by their foibles. E we don’t identify our brothers and sisters by their sins. They, like us, are new creations.
It’s as if there is some kind of out-of-this-world surgery done… My mind screams Hebrews 4:13. It is the Word of God that divides joints and marrow. The Word is Jesus! He saves, and that is why the resurrection is so much better than the cross.
It’s the Resurrection
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. So it is written, “The first man Adam was made a living soul.” The last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:42–45
We see clearly that something about the natural physical body we have now cannot get to heaven. It is the natural man the Bible speaks of, the part that cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.
Just as we see in Jesus’ life, the ugliness of the cross…. What came before… Does not compare with the glory of resurrection. Just as we do baptism, we provide a picture of this very thing. Baptism proclaims resurrection.
We are going to put off these bodies. They don’t go to heaven.
However, that which is spiritual is not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man was the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:46–49
At creation, God formed a body for Adam. We all share the genes given to Adam. They are part of the physical body in this physical world. We bare the image of the man of dust, and we bare the image of the One True God.
But there’s a problem.
Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
1 Corinthians 15:50
In the Twinkling of an Eye
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51–53
I know some of you may roll your eyes at talk of rapture. It seems to be controversial. But Paul called it our blessed hope. And that is what it is. We move around burdened by these bodies marked up with sin. Our spirit and soul long to be free of what besets us.
Most importantly, we see from the very beginning of why these things are so. If they weren’t, who really could be saved?
One last point, the angels in heaven are not made like we are. They do not have these three-part bodies. They do not bear the image of God. They have no Kinsman to redeem. That is why they tremble.
But you and I do.