II. TRIPARTITE MAN
[Not only is God triune; man is tripartite. We human beings are spirit, soul, and body. We were created in this way, so that we could be organically grafted to God, and so that the two spirits, His and ours, could be joined together.]
A. Body and Soul and Spirit
[Man, as we have often pointed out, can be represented by three concentric circles. The outer ring corresponds to our physical body, the part of us that has substance and can be seen and touched. Besides this part, we have a soul, represented by the middle ring. This is the psychological part of us, enabling us to think, to love or hate, and to make decisions. The soul, then, consists of the mind, the emotion, and the will. The innermost ring, the deepest part of man, is the spirit. You may not be clear about the human spirit, but one part of it, the conscience, you are familiar with. The conscience is deeper than the mind, emotion, and will.]
B. The Spirit Making Man Unique
[Such is the way man is made. Animals may have a part that corresponds to the soul, but they lack this inner part, man’s worshipping organ. There has never been a case in the whole history where a donkey, or a monkey, or a goat built a little sanctuary and set up an image to worship! The record of mankind, in contrast, is replete with religions, idols, temples, and forms of worship. Cultured or barbarian, ancient or modern—all peoples have a desire to worship a higher Being. What accounts for this difference between man and the animals? What constrains man to worship? It is because man was made by God with a spirit.]
C. Regenerated with the Divine Seed
[What is the distinction between an unregenerated human being and a believer? Both have these three parts of body, soul, and spirit. The believer, however, has a divine seed in his spirit. The seed of God abides in him!]
[This seed of the divine life and nature needs to grow. As it grows, it develops and spreads from the spirit into the soul, especially into the mind, the leading part of the soul. If we allow this seed to grow without hindrance, it will spread even to our mortal body.]
III. THE IMPARTING OF LIFE
TO EVERY PART OF OUR BEING
[In 8:1-11 we see that, after having passed through the various processes, the Triune God became a life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life. In verse 11 Paul clearly says that the One who raised Christ from among the dead gives life to our mortal bodies "through His Spirit Who indwells you." This Spirit now dwells in our spirit.]
A. Our Spirit Being Life
[As the life-giving Spirit, the processed Triune God dwells in us to give us life in a threefold way. The first aspect of this giving of life is found in verse 10: "And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness." This verse says that if Christ is in us, our spirit is life. Christ here is the very Triune God who has become the indwelling Spirit. Because this Christ is in us, our spirit is life, for as the life-giving Spirit, Christ dwells in our spirit, and His indwelling makes our spirit life. This is the first aspect of the giving of life revealed in Romans 8.]
(Lesson Book, Level 3: Two Spirits—Two Spirits - the Divine Spirit and the Human Spirit, Chapter 22, by Witness Lee)
