God created man in three parts—spirit, soul, and body. First God formed man’s body with the dust of the ground. Then He breathed into man’s body the breath of life, which became the spirit in man. When the spirit, the breath of life, entered man’s body, the soul was produced. Therefore, outwardly man has the visible body and inwardly man has the invisible spirit; between the two is the soul.
The body is on the outside to contact the things of the physical world. The spirit is on the inside to contact the things of the spiritual world. The soul, as the medium, is between the body and spirit to contact the things of the psychological world. The body has different sense organs which can contact the material things. The spirit has the functions of the conscience, the intuition, and the fellowship with God, which can contact the things of God and spiritual things. The mind of the soul is man’s thinking organ; man thinks and considers—these are the functions of the mind. The will of the soul is the organ for decision-making; man decides, judges, proposes, chooses, and refuses—these are the functions of the will. The emotion of the soul is the part that governs man’s pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy; man loves, hates, is excited, is depressed—these are the functions of the emotion. These three—mind, will, and emotion—added together equal the soul.
The spirit is the deepest part of our whole being, the receiver for us to receive God, and the organ to contact God and all the spiritual things (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9). Within us the sense of our need for God, the sense and understanding of God in our deepest part, and the reproof or approval of our conscience—these are the functions of the spirit. By the senses of our body we can substantiate the material things; likewise, we can substantiate the things of God and the spiritual things only by the spirit.
The spirit of man was specifically formed by God (Zech. 12:1; Job 32:8). Zechariah 12:1 says that God stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him. In the universe are three equally important things: the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man has a spirit for God. God created the heavens for the earth. Without the heavens, the earth cannot grow anything. The earth was created for the existence of man, and man has a spirit within him to contain God. Thus, man is the center of God’s creation and the center of man is his spirit. As far as God is concerned, if there were no spirit within man, man would be an empty shell. If there were no man on this earth, the earth would be void and, as far as man is concerned, the heavens would become meaningless. Therefore, the heavens serve the earth, the earth serves man, and man has a spirit to receive God.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 says that God made man upright. When man first came out of God’s creating hands, he was not crooked, evil, or defiled, but upright, good, and pure. At that time he had no sin, corruption, or defect. Thus, God considered man “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Of course, the vessel which the upright and good God had prepared for His holy and shining life cannot be evil or crooked; rather it must be good and upright.
Although man was created in God’s image and after God’s likeness, his life is but a created life, unlike God’s life which is uncreated. As man is a created being, so man’s life is also a created life. Man has a beginning and an end, so man’s life also has a beginning and an end, unlike God’s life which is without beginning and without end, which is from eternity to eternity. Although man’s life is high, it is far inferior to God’s life. God’s life is eternal; man’s life is temporal. God’s life is divine and glorious; man’s life is, at the most, pure and good, but without God’s glorious nature. Although man has the form of God outwardly and the image of God inwardly, he does not have God’s life within. Although man has a spirit which enables man to know God and have fellowship with God, man’s spirit does not have God’s life nor God’s nature. Man is only a creature of God, but he does not have the uncreated life of God within.