February 13, 2024

Human Beings Have Three Parts (1)

Words of Ministry

[Part 1 of 2] All human beings, regardless of their race or nationality, are vessels of God. The Bible, the word of God, divides this vessel into three parts--the spirit, the soul, and the body. Everyone is aware of his own physical body. It is tangible, concrete, temporal, and lends itself to scientific investigation. A chemistry professor, might produce an analysis chart and point out that human beings are composed of so many percent water, nitrogen, carbon, and various other elements. Although man has managed to prolong biological life, every man comes to the point where he has to admit that the body is a dead end. God's purpose for man does not focus on man's physical body. After examining man according to his view, a psychologist might say that besides man's body, man has an inward, hidden composition. Man has a mind, a thinking organ. He also has emotions, the faculty of inner feeling, capable of loving, hating, and being depressed and elated. He might also point out that man has a will, a faculty for making decisions. He would say that our inner self, our psychological self, is our real self, while our body is merely the outward shell of our being. Psyche, the root of such English words as psychiatry and psychology, comes from the Greek word meaning "soul." Psychology is the study of the soul. The three faculties of mind, will, and emotion compose the personality and are merely the components of the human soul. (Continued tomorrow)