The Human Will – Man as a tripartite being

The objective of this article and others that will follow this series is to highlight one of the greatest gifts of the Creator to man – the human will, how it works and how to maximise its potential.

Today, we shall begin with a brief introduction into the human will. I want to lay the foundation that man is made up of three distinct components. This foundation will help us when we begin to discuss the human will proper.

Man, a tripartite being

Man (male and female) is composed of three distinct but interwoven components. Components that can not be dissected anatomically but are spiritually distinct and identifiable nonetheless. You are a tripartite being composed of the body, the soul and the Spirit. This is in likeness to the Blessed Trinity, made up of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

Obviously, the body component of this tripartite structure is the flesh, bones and annexes that we all see. This is the component, out of the three, that we can see, feel and touch. The others are invisible to the human eyes, but their invisibility doesn’t make them less real than the flesh. In fact, the real you are the invisible parts. For when we were created by God, the Bible says that God made us in His image after His likeness. And afterwards breathed into us the breath of life. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Seeing that God doesn’t have flesh, it follows that the real you (image of God) cannot be the flesh. After all, the flesh will die and be converted to humus while the spirit will return to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7) So, the real you is the soul and the spirit. One important thing to note is that the flesh (body) doesn’t get born again; it remains carnal and susceptible to appetites that give it pleasure. You can only bring it into subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27) or spiritually mortify her members (Colossians 3:5). 

This is important to note as a born again Christian so that you don’t reexpose yourself to the old pleasures of sin just because you think that your redemption automatically immunizes you against sinful infections. However, the more you follow Christ and submit to His divine spiritual operations, the less interested your flesh will be in searching for worldly pleasures. 

In any case, you still need to continue to flee any appearance of sin, irrespective of your spiritual attainment (1 Thessalonian 5:22-24; 1 Corinthians 6:18)

The soul is made up of the Mind, the Will and Emotions. We shall however focus our attention on the will component of this part of man.

The spirit sometimes is used interchangeably with the soul in some places in the Bible. But I’ll leave that for a different article. But suffice you to know that the spirit is the breath of God in man during creation. It proceeded from God and will return to God at the end of life. Ecclesiastes 12:7. 

In the next article on this series, we shall specifically consider the Human Will.

Thanks for reading this brief write-up on The Will of Man. If you enjoyed it, kindly share it with everyone you know so they’ll benefit from it. Also, check out other interesting articles under the various categories of this blog. 

God bless you.

Click here to read Part 2: The Human Will – God’s gift to man