The Make Up of Man
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 3 hours ago
- 8 min read
1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There are three major components to the make up of mankind, and the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul lists those three components for us in the above quoted passage of scripture, which is the spirit, the soul and the body. The body is the outward man while the spirit and the soul are the two main components of the inward man. It is because these two components are the main parts of the inward man that scripture very often refers to mankind as either a soul or a spirit, when referring to the inward man as a whole.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
As we can clearly see in the above quoted passage of scripture, the spirit and the soul of man are not the same, for the scripture teaches us that the two parts can be separated. I want you to notice however that it is only the word of God that can separate the spirit and the soul of man, for God has created them to function together. Nevertheless just as the brain and heart of the physical body have different functions to perform within the body of man, so it is that the spirit and the soul also perform different functions within the inward man.
The diagram above shows the three components of God’s creation called mankind. The reason I have shown the soul at the top of the diagram is because, as we will see in the following section, the soul of man can be broken down into further components, of which the will is one, and it is the will of man that we want to concentrate on in this series.
Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
As it pertains to free will, the third class of God’s creations that we will discuss is mankind. In the first section we have already seen conclusive evidence of man’s free will given to him by God. And so in this section we would like to more fully understand the function that the will of man plays in the lives of men. But in order for us to have a clearer understanding of how our wills function, we need to have an understanding of the make up of man as a whole. The scripture reveals to us that mankind has two basic components, i.e. the inward man and the outward man (2 Corinthians 4:16). The outward man refers to our physical bodies that our inward man lives in. Mankind understands that the physical body, i.e. the outward man, is made up of various parts and each part has its own function. In a similar manner however the inward man is also made up of various parts and each part has its own function. As we will see in this section, scripture reveals to us that the inward man is made up of four separate parts, i.e. a spirit, a mind, a conscience and a will, and each of those components of our inward man has its own function. The first component of our inward man is the spirit of man. Man is primarily a spirit being and it is the spirit of the man that gives life to the physical body of the man, for the scripture teaches us that the body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26). Believers are alive in spirit whereas unbelievers are dead in spirit. Spiritual death is not the same as physical death however, for spiritual death does not mean cessation of existence but rather a perverse state of existence, i.e. the opposite of spiritual life. And so we see that it is not the condition of the spirit that gives life to the physical body but rather it is the presence of the spirit that gives life to the physical body, which is why the bodies of both believers and unbelievers have life in them. It is the spirit of man that is born-again and thus becomes a new creation in Christ when we are saved (2 Corinthians 5:17). In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul teaches us that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are God’s children. So why does the Holy Spirit bear witness with our spirits? He does that because under the New Covenant the spirit of the born-again believer is created in righteousness and is thus free from all sin. It is because of this truth that the Holy Spirit can now reside in our spirits, thus witnessing with our spirits that we are God’s children. Because New Testament saints are born-again they are able to grow spiritually (1 Corinthians 3:6). Old Testament saints could never grow in their spirits, because they could not be born-again and so their spirits remained spiritually dead and thus separated from the life of God. There are many other references to the spirit of man in the New Testament, all of which point us to the fact that the spirit of the man is the primary part of the inward man.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The second component of our inward man is the mind of man. Unlike the spirit of man however which becomes a new creation when we are born-again, the mind of man remains unchanged. It is for this reason that the apostle Paul counsels the church in the above quoted passage of scripture to renew our minds. All believers come into the kingdom of God with carnal mindsets. In other words we think just as this world thinks, and because the carnal mind is enmity against God we have learn to change the way we think. The way we do that is to transition from natural thinking to spiritual thinking, i.e. we renew our minds through God’s word (Romans 8:6). And so this process of renewal begins when we come into the kingdom and continues throughout our time here on the earth. As we will see in this section, it is because of the role that the mind has to play in influencing the will of man that it is vital that all believers are diligent in the area of renewing their minds. Sadly because many believers are not diligent in this area they continue to live just as this world lives, for ultimately it is the way we think that determines the way we behave.
Acts 24:16 “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.”
The third component of our inward man is the conscience of man. God has given the conscience to men to guide them to choose good and reject evil. In other words man’s conscience acts as referee that blows its whistle when the individual chooses to do that which is evil, and gives them the green light when they choose to do that which is good. All men have a conscience, believer and unbeliever alike, and the conscience performs the exact same function in all men, for you will recall that it was the consciences of the unbelievers that prevented them from stoning the adulteress when they accused her before the Lord Jesus in the temple (John 8:9). And so we do not get new consciences when we come into the kingdom, for our conscience performs the same function after we are saved as it did before we were saved. Although we do not receive new consciences we can however either weaken or strengthen our consciences. We strengthen our consciences when we obey them. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul speaks of always living his life in a way that did not violate his conscience. Those who choose to violate their consciences however will weaken them over time (1 Corinthians 8:7).
Luke 22:42 “saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”
This brings us to the fourth component of our inward man, which is the will of man. Unlike our spirits which become new creations when we are born-again, the will of man does not change after salvation. In other words after we are saved we have the same will that we had before we were saved, for if our wills were to change after salvation that would imply that we no longer have free wills. Let me say at the outset of this discussion, that if God had created us without a free will we would be no better than an extremely sophisticated machine, incapable of having true fellowship with our Creator. Sadly there is a strong belief among many ministers in the church that the sovereignty of God precludes any possibility of any of His creations having a free will, for in their carnal thinking they naturally assume that the moment God gives any of His creations free will then He loses sovereignty over that creation. However God is well able to give His creations free will and still maintain His sovereignty over them. Without realising it these same ministers almost accuse God of narcissism. So why do I say that? I say that, because when these individuals accuse God of being incapable of creating any of His beings with a free will they therefore imply that God pretends that His creations desire to worship and have fellowship with Him, whereas all they are doing is simply what He has “in His sovereignty” programmed them to do. I have noticed that “ministers” of the gospel that hold this view are very intellectual in their arguments, but display no close relationship with the Lord. And the reason for that is obvious, for their erroneous belief forces them to view their relationship with God as one of Master and slave, not Father and Son and certainly not friend. So what about the free will of man? We all know the account of how Adam and Eve sinned against God by rebelling against their creator. And as we have already seen, God knows everything. And so when God created Adam He knew that Adam would rebel against Him, but He gave Adam his free will anyway. And so we see from that account that man’s will reigns supreme in the makeup of man, to the point of even being able to rebel against his maker, for it was as an act of Adam’s will that he rebelled against God. As revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, the Lord Jesus who came to the earth as the Son of Man also has a free will. Unlike Adam however, who as an act of his free will rebelled against God, our Lord Jesus, as an act of His free will, submitted Himself wholeheartedly to the will of God our Father.
Michael E.B. Maher
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