How does God gain this corporate man? Genesis shows that in order to gain a corporate man, the first step in God’s work was to create man. Whenever we look at God’s work in man, we cannot neglect God’s creation. However, creation was a preparation, not the completion; creation was a preparation for the completion. Creation prepared the material and laid the foundation for the completion of God’s work to fulfill His purpose.
The Bible reveals that God created man with three parts—spirit, soul, and body; in this way we are different from all other creatures. The Triune God created a tripartite man. God’s purpose is to enter into us so that we may have His image to express Him and His authority to deal with His enemy. In order to accomplish this purpose and carry out this work, God created a tripartite man with a spirit, soul, and body so that He could enter into such a man.
Let us consider God’s creation of man with a body. God created man with a body so that through this body there would be a framework, an appearance, and an expression. We usually become acquainted with a person through his body. We see the body of a person and become acquainted with him through his build, appearance, demeanor, and actions. Our body is our concrete expression. Concrete means having a shape or form, referring to a practical expression. God created us with a body for our practical expression. However, we must keep in mind that this body is to express God, not ourselves. Therefore, the Bible says that consecration is to present our body (Rom. 12:1) and that we should glorify and express God in our body. The body is for expression.
God created us also with a soul. Our personality is in our soul; it represents our person. We were not created passive and indifferent beings before God. Man is an active creature, with a strong will, mind, and emotion. Take a look at all the living creatures on earth; there are millions of creatures, yet man is the most capable. Man dominates the earth today because man has a personality, is living, and has a will, ideas, preferences, and thoughts. Since man has such a personality, he can cooperate with God’s need. If God had created a passive and indifferent man, this would indicate that He was not very great or beautiful. However, God created man with freedom and personality so that His greatness and beauty would be expressed.
God desires a living, capable man to cooperate with Him. Some say that man cannot know the things of God. On the one hand, this is true, but on the other hand, it is not true. Actually, there is not one person who is unable to know the things of God, because God created man so that man could know Him. Romans 1:19 clearly says, “That which is known of God is manifest within them, for God manifested it to them.” Animals, such as cats, dogs, cows, and sheep, cannot know the things of God, but man can know the things of God. Although it is difficult to know the things of God from the spiritual side, man nevertheless has the capacity to know the things of God. The reason man thinks of God is that he has God’s concepts, thoughts, and preferences. We need to remember that God created a soul for man so that man would have a personality to match and complement God.
This can be compared to God’s creating Eve to match Adam. God first brought all the animals He had created to Adam, but nothing matched him. Then God created Eve to match him (Gen. 2:18-23). We all know that this typifies Christ and the church, but it also typifies what man is to God. Man is God’s counterpart in the universe. After creating all things, God felt that it was not good to be alone, yet He could not find a counterpart in the universe. Thus, He created man to be His counterpart. Of course, man must first receive God’s life in order to match God. In order to make this match, God in His creation laid the foundation and prepared the material; He created man with a soul so that man would have a personality and be able to respond to God.
Regardless of how smart an animal is, it will not respond to the preaching of the gospel, because animals were not created with such an ability. However, the most uncivilized, uneducated, and ignorant person, or the most corrupt and extreme atheist, can respond to the gospel. God created man with this capacity; this is the preparation God made, the foundation God laid. Regardless of how much we may speak to a table, it will not respond, because our speaking cannot enter into it. However, our speaking can enter into a microphone because a microphone is designed with special devices to receive our voice.
We need to thank God that He created us with “special devices.” We have a personality, a will, thoughts, emotions, and preferences. These “special devices” give us the capacity and ability to respond to God. God created all these items for Himself, not for man. For this reason the Bible not only requires us to consecrate ourselves but also to obey; consecration is of the body, and obedience is of the soul. Our being must be defeated and obedient so that we can match God. Our will, our thoughts, and our emotions should all match God. A simple analogy would be marriage; we are marrying God. The best marriage is when a couple matches each other; any unmatched marriage is not perfect. God created us so that we would match Him. To match God in our soul is a matter of obedience. Our taking captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ is a matter of the soul (2 Cor. 10:5).
God created man not only with a body and a soul, but He created man also with a spirit. We all know that the spirit is used to contact God. Man’s will can choose God, man’s emotion can love God, and man’s mind can think of God. However, man still cannot touch God with only these functions of the soul. For example, it may be very pleasing to our eyes to look at a flower, but we cannot touch a flower with our eyes; if we want to touch the flower, we must reach out with our hands and contact it. Another example would be a table of delectable dishes set before us. Although it may appeal to our eyes, we cannot eat unless we open our mouth.
If God had created us only with a soul, we could choose Him, love Him, and think of Him, but we would be unable to touch Him and receive Him into us. God made us with a stomach to receive food, with ears to receive sound, and with eyes to receive color. In the same way God created us with a spirit to receive Him. The spirit is a specific organ, just as man’s stomach is a specific organ. Our spirit is for receiving God and is for God.
The outermost part of man is a body for expressing God; within man is his personality, his soul, which can cooperate with God; at the center of man is the spirit, which is able to receive God. This can be compared to a light bulb. The exterior part is a glass bulb, the body through which the lamp is expressed. The innermost part is a filament, which possesses a special property that allows it to receive electricity, absorb electricity, and be compatible with the flow of electricity. When electrical current flows in and through a filament, light is emitted, and through the bulb on the exterior this light is expressed. In the same principle, God is Spirit; He as the Spirit is able to enter into us and express Himself through us because we were created with a spirit, with the ability to receive Him as the Spirit. He created us with a soul so that we may choose Him, desire Him, love Him, meditate on Him, and comprehend Him. He also created us with a body so that we may express Him. This is God’s creation.