God made man a living soul that man may have a soul as his person with his personality and as an organ to contact the psychological realm. In between our outward body and our inward spirit is our soul, our person. By means of the soul we contact psychological things. I have previously mentioned some physical things and some spiritual things; now I want to speak about psychological things. Take the example of joy. Joy is neither material nor spiritual—it is psychological. If you come to me and find that I am unhappy with you, how will you know that I am unhappy? You will know by means of your soul, your psychological part. It is very clear that God has made us in three parts with a spirit, a soul, and a body.
God made man as a tripartite being. First Thessalonians 5:23 says clearly that we have a spirit and soul and body. Hebrews 4:12 says that our spirit can be divided from our soul. Why did God create us in this way? Simply that we may be a wonderful person. We are wonderful because we are tripartite. Human beings are not simple. Do not consider yourself as simple. Related to the soul we have the mind, the emotions, and the will. Related to the body we have many members. Medical science takes years to study the human body and still cannot do it very well. Within our spirit we have the conscience, the intuition, and the fellowship. God created us in such a wonderful way because He wanted us to be His container. We were not made for any other purpose. Our body exists that we may be a living vessel to contain God. If we are to be such a vessel, we not only need the inward spirit, but also the outward body to enable us to live on this earth, exercising our spirit to contact God, take Him in, contain Him, and even assimilate Him. Praise the Lord that we have been made in a wonderful, tripartite way!
For the sake of the young people I want to use an illustration. Suppose you are a poor man. You endeavor to earn money, primarily to satisfy your physical needs. Eventually you acquire a good house, fine food, excellent clothing, and the best transportation. Once your physical needs have been met, you begin to desire music, sports, and amusements. These gratify the psychological needs of your soul. Although you can afford every amusement, as you sit alone in your home at night you have the sense that deep within you are empty. You still need something. You tell yourself, "You have everything. What more do you want? You have a car, a fine home, a good wife and children, every amusement and entertainment." Nevertheless, deep within you something says, "I still have a need." Deep within you something is demanding, requiring, and even begging. What is this? It is your spirit. This part of your being, your spirit, needs God.
We have three kinds of needs—material needs, psychological needs, and spiritual needs—because we have three parts to our being. In human society, people take care of the first two needs and neglect the third. This is why the church is here, for only the church can help people to satisfy the third need. Although you may have the finest material enjoyment and the best psychological satisfaction, you are still short. You need spiritual enjoyment, you need God. You need to be satisfied deep within. Since I have been satisfied within, I do not care very much about a car or a house. My spirit is satisfied with God, for my spirit was made to contain Him.
For the fulfillment of His purpose God firstly made man as vessels to contain Himself as life. Man was made in such a specific way, not only with a body to exist physically and with a soul to express himself, but also purposely with a spirit as an organ to contact God and as a recipient to receive and retain God. Man's soul is his person with his personality. It is a complete person. However, God's intention in creating man was not that man should express himself with himself. God's intention was that man, as a complete, created being, might take God as life and express Him in all his personality. Therefore, in addition to his soul, man needs a specific organ to contact God—the human spirit.
As we have pointed out formerly, everything in Genesis is a seed that will be developed in the following books of the Bible. The same is true regarding the matters we have been considering in this message—man as vessels to contain God, the human spirit as the organ to contact God, etc. All of these points are sown in Genesis as seeds and will be fully developed in the New Testament as a harvest. We need many verses from the New Testament to give a comprehensive definition of these matters, but for the time being we must stop here.