Ian,
A quick look into that and bingo - I have to make a descision.
by Daniel M. Brown
1 Corinthians 14 is one of the most popular chapters in the Bible for
Charismatics. Practically every Charismatic author that writes anything
on the gifts of the Holy Spirit will refer to this chapter. Ironically,
1 Corinthians 14 is one of the strongest rebuttals against the modern
Charismatic teaching on tongues, but Charismatics are completely
oblivious to this fact because they read the chapter with a
trichotomous mindset. In a nutshell, this argument against Charismatic
tongues goes as follows:
- No Charismatic claims to understand the tongues-language that he speaks.
- 1 Corinthians 14 plainly teaches that the Biblical tongues-speaker understood the words uttered from his own lips.
- Therefore, the modern Charismatic phenomenon of tongues has nothing to do with Biblical tongues.
When a Charismatic reads 1 Cor 14:14, “my spirit prays, but my
understanding is unfruitful,” he reads this to mean that his spirit
utters words which is own mind does not understand. Based on a
trichotomy or tri-partite view of man, he claims that his spirit speaks
a heavenly language that bypasses the mental understanding of his soul.
However, a careful study of the scriptures concerning spirit and soul
reveals that the Bible does not teach such a concept. This concept of
trichotomy is rooted in Greek philosophy, not Biblical doctrine.
Although common to Gnosticism and other mystery religions, the Bible
knows no such Charismatic concept of edification apart from
understanding. Indeed the Bible often uses spirit and soul
interchangeably. Scriptures showing thought and cognitive understanding
in one’s spirit are inescapable. See Matt 26:41, Mk 2:8, Lk 1:46-47,
Acts 17:16, 1 Cor 2:11, 1 Pet 3:3-5.
Further, the Charismatic interprets the word “mysteries” in 1 Cor 14:2
to mean unintelligible utterances, or tongues, from his own lips.
However, the Bible never uses the word “musterion” in such a manner.
The entire New Testament defines “mystery” as the revelation of the
gospel of Christ which was hidden is ages past but is now revealed to
His saints. See Matt 13:10, Mk 4:11, Lk 8:10, Rom 11:25, Rom 16:25-27,
1 Cor 2:7, 1 Cor 15:51, Eph 3:2-6, Col 1:25-27. Jesus and Paul clearly
use the word “mystery” in a completely different sense than the way
Charismatics use it today. Mystery was revelational truth, hidden in
the past, but now revealed and understood. Victor Budgen writes in his
excellent book,1
“Far from being something hidden or concealed, a ‘mystery’ is a
gloriously ‘open secret’ which we ourselves would never have discovered
had not God revealed it.” Clearly, if one does not understand the
mysteries of which Paul speaks, he cannot be called a Christian!
Dichotomy versus Trichotomy
Brian Onken astutely observes, in his excellent paper on the dangers of trichotomy,2
that the trichotomous mindset leads to a denigration of the intellect
and of rigorous doctrinal study. In fact, one of most commonly heard
complaints of ex-charismatics is that their Charismatic church had
become so anti-intellectual and anti-doctrine that they could no longer
in good conscience subject their children to such mindlessness. I
personally had a Charismatic pastor up in Connecticut that would tell
me, “Dan, your problem is that you worship the Father, Son, and Holy
Scriptures! You need to spend less time reading and more time learning
to operate in the Spirit.” Anti-intellectualism runs rampant in
Charismaticism and is a direct result of trichotomy. Some of the
strongest proponents of trichotomy, including Watchman Nee and Andrew
Murray, are widely read by Charismatics. Trichotomist authors quite
blatantly claim that “soul power,” meaning the power of the intellect,
hinders true spirituality. And the only way to live a holy spiritual
life is to crucify the flesh and the soul life. Such views are more
akin to Gnosticism than they are to a Biblical, Calvinistic,
optimistic, postmillennial world view. Reformed folk understand that
sin has affected all parts of man, not just his flesh and mind, and
that Christ’s resurrection life applies to the total man, not just his
spirit. Louis Berkhof observes that, for most of history, the church
held to a dichotomy view of man, particularly from Augustine on.3
The trichotomy view saw a revival in the nineteenth century and, not
surprisingly, the Pentecostal/Charismatic revival fell right on the
heels of it.
Trichotomy also has a strong effect in evangelical denominations who
would not normally call themselves Charismatic, particularly the more
liberal denominations who have little to no emphasis on the historic
creeds and confessions. Southern Baptists come to mind here. Although
not calling themselves Charismatic, there is no doubt a strong
Charismatic influence in the SBC and many Southern Baptists look like
Charismatics without the speaking in tongues. When trying to correct
some doctrinal error with such folks, we’ve often heard statements
like, “Well, I hear what you’re saying but I’ll just go home and pray
and see what the Holy Spirit says to me about these scriptures.” In
spite of an often outward display of humility when saying such things,
trichotomy has given them an excuse to reject God-ordained church
authority and the historic creeds of the church fathers. Trichotomy
breeds a hyper-independence and individualistic mindset that is blind
to the covenantal and corporate aspects of the Holy Spirit.
In contradistinction to trichotomy, it is Christ Himself, not the
Trinitarian Godhead, that shows us what the ideal spiritual man looks
like. Christ was the perfect sinless Israelite fulfilling all the
requirements of the Law, the true Seed of Abraham through whom all
nations are blessed, the eternal heir of David’s throne, who has a
fully resurrected body that eats and drinks with His saints. It is
this, “One Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of
His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of
very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
by whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation came
down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin
Mary, and was made man;”4
it is this Christ, who is both God and Man, who was raised from the
dead to be seated on His throne at the right hand of God. And just as
the Son submitted His entire dichotomous Being to the Father and His
entire dichotomous Being was raised from the dead, so we submit our
entire beings to Christ in the hope of our mortal bodies being
resurrected at His second coming, 1 Cor 15:20-28, 1 Th 4:13-17. We
avoid the error of the Apollinarians, yet we also avoid the error of
the Nestorians by neither denying nor confusing Christ’s Divinity and
His Humanity.5
Numerous reformed authors have dealt with the arguments for dichotomy
and trichotomy (as well as monism). So, we’ll only briefly review the
arguments here. Dichotomy, or the view that man is a unity of body and
soul, or body and spirit, sees material and immaterial parts joined
together in man. Spirit and soul are used interchangeably for the same
immaterial element in man but from different points of view. A few
scriptures supporting dichotomy include; Gen 2:7, Job 32:8, Job 33:4,
Eccl 12:7, Is 10:18, and Matt 10:28. Sometimes the scriptures speak of
a dichotomy of body and soul, as in Matt 6:25 and Matt 10:28, and other
times of a dichotomy of body and spirit, as in Eccl 12:7, 1 Cor 5:3-5,
1 Cor 7:34. Death is referred to as giving up the soul, as in Gen
35:18, 1 Kg 17:21, Acts 15:26, and as giving up the spirit, as in Ps
31:5, Lk 23:46, Acts 7:59. The immaterial part that survives death is
referred to as the soul, as in Rev 6:9, Rev 20:4 and as the spirit, as
in Heb 12:23, 1 Pet 3:19. The soul communes with God in Jam 1:21 and
Heb 6:19 and the spirit communes with God in Rom 8:16 and 1 Cor 6:20. 2
Cor 7:1 speaks of sin affecting flesh and spirit and Eph 2:3 speaks of
sin affecting flesh and mind. The dichotomy present in the scriptures
is obvious, but so is the interchangeable use of soul and spirit. John
Calvin clearly demonstrates the dichotomous view when he writes:
Moreover, there can be no question that man consists of a body and a
soul; meaning by soul, an immortal though created essence, which is his
nobler part. Sometimes he is called a spirit. But though the two terms,
while they are used together, differ in their meaning, still when
spirit is used by itself it is equivalent to soul.6
Likewise, Charles Hodge defends the traditional dichotomy view in his second volume:
This doctrine of a threefold constitution of man being adopted by
Plato, was introduced partially into the early Church, but soon came to
be regarded as dangerous, if not heretical. Its being held by the
Gnostics that the pneuma in man was a part of the divine essence, and
incapable of sin; and by the Apollinarians that Christ had only a human
soma and psuche, but not a human pneuma, the Church rejected the
doctrine that the psuche and pneuma were distinct substances, since
upon it those heresies were founded. In later times the Semi-Pelagians
taught that the soul and body, but not the spirit in man were the
subjects of original sin. All Protestants, Lutherans and Reformed,
were, therefore, the more zealous in maintaining that the soul and
spirit, psuche and pneuma, are one and the same substance and essence.
And this, as before remarked, has been the common doctrine of the
Church.7
The two primary scriptures used to support trichotomy (the view that
man consists of three parts; spirit, soul, and body) are 1 Thess 5:23
and Heb 4:12. But the first cannot be used to support trichotomy any
more than Mk 12:30 can be used to support tetrachotomy. The second
passage does not say “dividing between” but “to division of.” It is
talking of the power of God’s word to pierce to the deepest and
remotest parts of man, both his immaterial and material parts. It
speaks of “soul and spirit” in the same manner that it speaks of
“thoughts and intents of the heart,” two views of the same thing. So
neither of these passages provide clear support for trichotomy, and of
course these must be interpreted in light of the rest of scripture
which gives overwhelming evidence for dichotomy.
Pretty easy descision once you look into it further......
Thanks,
misterkilometres.
