Holistic Dualism And Trichotomy: Soul Searching

Soul Searching
Picking a topic for this paper was a tough decision and I had to do some serious soul searching; however, once chosen the material seemed to throw itself onto the page. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the 3 most commonly held views of man’s nature, discover the Biblical teaching regarding the Soul and whether or not it is philosophically coherent (answering a few objections along the way), and then to delve a little in depth in the position I find to be the most compelling. The Biblical teaching regarding the Soul is clearly that of Holistic Dualism. Furthermore, Holistic Dualism is philosophically coherent. The first part of this paper will focus on the Biblical aspect, and the latter part will tackle the philosophical
This view was developed back in the day by the famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle’s teaching of the soul. With Trichotomy mankind has a physical body, a soul – where reason, emotion, and human interaction are housed – and a spirit – which is the part of man that is spiritual and speak with God. Irenaeus was a theologian during the early church period who believed that man is made in God’s image and because of that they possess a body and a soul; however, when they are converted they gain the third and final material, a spirit. During the Reformation Martin Luther was a Trichotomist. He said, “The first part, the spirit, is the highest, deepest and noblest part of man. By it he is enabled to lay hold on things incomprehensible, invisible, and eternal.” To Luther the spirit is something that is granted by God to the faithful. Those who hold to a Trichotomist view find their Biblical evidence in two major passages. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which is a prayer from Paul that says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Robert L. Thomas is one who says that a reading of this through the lens of Trichotomy is the best reading because it defends against non-exegetical arguments that might be presented. A pretty big problem with this is that one must take this passage at face value and to do that with scripture often leads to shallow faith. The other passage would be Hebrews 4:12. In this passage the author says that the Word of God is said to pierce “as far as the division of soul and spirit.” With this passage the Trichotomist argues using the Law of Identity. If there is a possibility of the two being divided then the terms cannot be used