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THE NATURE OF MAN

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 11.

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THE NATURE OF MAN.

By L. D. Santee

The question, What is man? is, in many minds, still unanswered; and yet God has made it plain.
Let us briefly consider our own natures in the light of Scripture, leaving out prejudice and believing just what God says. And now to our subject, What is man? Of what does he consist? What relation do the parts sustain to each other?
Let us notice 1 Thess. 5:23, where the entire man is comprehended. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then man is composed of three parts, “spirit and soul and body.” Now by reading Heb. 4:12 we learn that the Word of God makes a distinction between soul and spirit, or, in other words, teaches that they are different, the one from the other, and when one is spoken of it does not mean the other.
Now to understand what those parts are, let us go back to the account of man's creation. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen. 2:7.
It is easy to understand what “man” is. It is the visible part, the tangible, material form made in the image of God. It is just as really man, when separated from the other elements as when united to them. Just as really man when dead as when living, so we read in Isa. 26:19: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.”
The account continues, “and breathed into his nostrils the breath [Heb. ruach, spirit] of life.” This introduces another part of the person. Now to know what the “spirit of life” is, we shall briefly consult a few of the leading authorities on this subject. While several definitions are given, we shall use the one that is the most natural, and in harmony with the Word of God.
Grim's Greek Lexicon says, “Pneuma—the vital principle by which the body is animated.” Ewing's Lexicon gives the following definition of pneuma: “Spirit, the principle of animal life.” McClintock and Strong give the following as the third definition: “The vital principle which resides in and animates the body.”
Cremer's Lexicon: “We are led to regard the spirit as the principle of life.” In harmony with this is James 2:26: “The body without the spirit is dead.” It is now easy to understand that the spirit is the vitality, or animal life, that vivifies the body; that causes the heart to throb; the lungs to inflate; and the brain to quiver, producing thought. We now have a living body, performing all its functions. What is the result of this combination of life and matter?—“Man became a living soul.”
Laing's Greek and English Lexicon gives “mind” as one of the meanings of “soul.” Gile's Lexicon defines the word psyche as “soul, disposition, genius, mind.” Ewing's Greek Lexicon has it, “soul, as distinguished from the body and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23). The mind, disposition, particularly as denoting the affections.”
We could increase the list of authorities, but this is sufficient. We have now the whole man, body and soul and spirit, or as defined, it is body, life, and intelligence; and we attach these meanings to the words in our ordinary talk. We say, “That is a spirited horse.” We mean full of life. Again, “He is a liberal-souled man.” We mean that he has a benevolent mind. This is in harmony with the teaching of the Bible (Eze. 18:4). “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” In Matt. 26:38 the Saviour said: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.”
After examining the foregoing, it is clear to us that the complete man is the visible part made of dust, the spirit, which vivifies it, and the intelligence, and we have in a wondrous combination, “spirit and soul and body.”
The next question that would naturally arise is, How does death affect each of these parts? Eccl. 12:7 tells us: “Then shall the dust return [go back] to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Death, then, is a separation of life and matter, of body and spirit, and at the resurrection they are again united. “The Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.” Rev. 11:11.
This was well understood by inspired writers. Read the dying prayer of Stephen (Acts 7:59, 60): “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Jesus, in His agony on the cross, cried, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit; and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” Luke 23:46.
Man, when the spirit has returned to God, is spoken of as being asleep. Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” Of Stephen it is said, “He fell asleep.” In 1 Cor. 15:6 we read, “Some are fallen asleep.” Again, verse 16–18: “For if the dead rise not, . . . then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” So we say with the divine warrant of all the unnumbered dead, when life has left them, they are asleep.
In the resurrection, when the spirit of life from God enters into them, they awaken. “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Ps. 17:15.
With the understanding that death is a sleep it is easy to comprehend the condition of the mind. Our nightly slumbers are to us periods of unconsciousness. So with that longer sleep that shall be broken by the voice of the Son of God.
Here is what God says of the condition of the mind between death and the resurrection (Ps. 146:4): “His breath (ruach, spirit) goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” “The dead know not anything. . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” Eccl. 9:5, 6.
The body of the dead is asleep. The spirit is not extinct, but separated from the body, and in the keeping of God. All thought is suspended till the reunion of life and matter shall awaken all the forces of life to activity.
The definitions given above are not absolute or complete. Sometimes the word soul or spirit is translated from a different word in the original, and sometimes one of the parts is named, when the whole person is meant. But when the parts of man are spoken of, as in 1 Thess. 5:23, I believe that the definitions that we have given are in harmony with the whole trend of the Scriptures.
L. D. SANTEE.