Trinity Concepts (2.02) Man's Soul (basic)

Will

Mind

Emotions

The human soul reflects the nature of God Himself: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, correlating to the will, the mind and the emotions, respectively. 

God, the Father, is sovereign in His decisions, and yet He has placed in the being of every individual a measure of His sovereignty.  The human will’s choices ultimately create the world in which he will exist.  As it is surrounded by various stimuli, from that which the Mind has learned or what the Emotions are feeling, the Will can select from these stimuli which impulses it will act upon or reject.  The Will chooses to seek after knowledge and wisdom, or to reject these, following after less noble purposes.  Whatever decisions are acted upon ultimately produce the results, whether good or evil, of those choices.  “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” (Deut. 30:19)

The Mind is a storehouse of what is remembered, that which can be drawn upon to inspire or to discourage.  Filling this storehouse with positive information gives the individual fuel for success, whereas filling it with meaningless and useless information leads the individual to unproductivity and bewilderment.  “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.  The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil.” (Matt. 12:34-37) “Therefore very scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matt. 13:52)  

Our Will can not only choose to acquire positive information, but it can also accentuate the positive information which already exists in its ‘storehouse’, amplifying it, meditating upon it.  “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” (Phil. 4:8) 

The Mind correlates to the Word, Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:1), as He is the message of Truth to humanity (Heb. 1:1-2), the Light of the world (Jn. 8:12), “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), the entrance of His Word bringing light. (Ps. 119:130; Ps. 36:9)

The Emotions of the soul correlate to the Holy Spirit of God.  The emotions are closest to the natural realm, sensing and feeling what is surrounding the individual.  The Holy Spirit of God likewise is here in this realm with us, as Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.” (Jn. 14:16-17)  “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” (Jn. 16:5-7)

Many people mistake their Emotions with the Spirit of God, since they are categorically in the same line; however, these should not be confused.  Our human emotions are fickle, easily influenced by the world around us, whether by positive or negative circumstances.  A mature believer is aware of his emotions, yet not moved by them.  Rather, he expresses his convictions through the emotions, thereby causing the emotions to come in line with the thoughts of his Mind and the decisions of his Will.  His emotions become an expression of his inner convictions, an outward display of his inner man.  Emotions can be a powerful influence to the circumstances surrounding the individual, and becomes a conduit to the outer world of the power released from the Mind and Will.

Emotions should be used to influence the world rather than becoming an instigator from the world of sedition against the convictions of the Mind and Will.  “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” (Prov. 16:32)

Trinity Concepts (3.01) devil's attributes

Accuser

Deceiver

Tempter

Will

Mind

Emotions

Pride of Life

Lust of the Eyes

Lust of the Flesh

These three attributes of the devil fall in line with the three aspects of the human soul: the will, mind and emotions, as well as the three aspects of man's susceptibility to temptations in his fleshly appetites. (See Man's Flesh, Temptations)

The Will

He makes accusation against the righteous, those who have made right choices in living a life of faith.  Believers who, in the will of their soul, have made a decision to trust and obey God’s best for their lives, are accused by the enemy through people as being ‘holier than thou’.  They are ridiculed, mocked and persecuted, sometimes in veiled hostility and sometimes in open vehemence.  The tactic here is to get the steadfast to compromise.  If one who is righteous (in Christ, not in human performance) accepts the devil’s accusation as ‘truth’, it will lead him to compromise what is really  true in his life.  However, if the upright remains steadfast in his conviction, unmoved by the accusation, he will ultimately come out of the heat victoriously.  If he stays strong, the persecution, lies and ridicule that he endures will only serve to make him stronger. 

God has given a part of Himself (the Only Sovereign) into our wills (which are also sovereign).  Ultimately, the choice to stand strong belongs to the individual.  Choices, however, are empowered by right thinking and balanced emotions.  Right thinking comes under attack through deception, while balanced emotions come under siege through temptation.  A successful will is under-girded by a successful mind and successful emotions.

The Mind

The devil uses deception to come against the mind of the believer.  The only shield against this tactic is the Word of God.  Notice that Jesus, the Word of God, is categorically (by Trinity pattern) in the same line as the mind of the soul.  When we put God’s Word into our minds, we become immune to the deceptions of the enemy.  The power to withstand deception is not within the natural human condition.  The only way out of it is through God’s supernatural influence.  It could come by a revelation of God’s love and grace in an individual’s life through people or through the inspirational truths seen throughout God’s creation, but ultimately, the clearest exposé of truth is found in Scripture.  What a gift it is to have thousands of years of documented supernatural revelation of God’s dealings with humanity!

When a believer meditates (lit. thinks upon, revolves in his mind like a cow chewing the cud) the truths found in Scripture, he immunizes himself against the deceptions of the devil.  The bait the enemy uses is to get us to come to a place in our lives in which we believe that within our own insight and capability we have the power to see life as it truly is.  Metaphorically, it would be a lot like taking a walk in uncharted territories, thinking that you know what’s coming, when getting up in a helicopter would really let you know for sure! 

Gaining a higher perspective is what will shield from deception.  When we are in the midst of battle, involved only in that which is ‘up close’, we have a tendency to lose perspective.  Only when we gain objectivity, can we truly evade the tactic of the enemy’s deception.  The influence of God’s thoughts in our lives does exactly that.  It brings us the objectivity to view life as He sees it from a heavenly (outside of time and natural space) point of reference.

The Emotions

Temptation relates to the emotions of the soul, as temptation draws upon the physical ‘hungers’ of the human body.  The emotions are closely related to the body’s natural hungers and desires.  Temptation endeavors to hi-jack the wholesome desires of procreation, obtaining food for sustenance, and defense against natural attacks, to pervert them.  The ability to procreate through the establishment of family, when it is perverted, becomes fornication and adultery.  The ability to obtain food for sustenance, when perverted, becomes gluttony and dissipation.  The ability to defend one’s self against attacks, when it is perverted, becomes uncontrolled rage and murder.  The emotions that come from these activities, through chemical releases happening within our bodies, whether it be of sexual pleasures, satisfied hunger or released adrenaline in a ‘fight or flight’ situation, originally are by God’s design for our benefit and preservation.  Temptation, however, brings an overly-focused imbalance of these things in our lives.

There is a remedy, however.  The Spirit of God (which is categorically in line with the human emotions in Trinity pattern) can bring a greater fulfillment than that which comes from the natural realm.  The Scripture admonishes “do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:19)  The Spirit of God not only replaces the temptations of imbalance and perversion, but actually goes way beyond in satisfying the human soul.  

Conclusion

The will of the believer, staying steadfast upon righteousness, as it is under-girded by a mind immersed in the Word of God and emotions that are saturated by the Holy Spirit becomes an impenetrable shield against “all the flaming missiles of the evil one.” (Eph. 6:16)

(for more study, see the Trinity Concepts Key)

Trinity Concepts (2.03) Man's Soul, Personalities

Man’s soul (personalities)

Choleric

Melancholy

Sanguine

Phlegmatic

The ancient Hebrew word for heart is ‘leb’, which is the mind, emotions and will.  These attributes of the human soul can be seen in modern-day psychological studies.  One study divides the human personalities as such: Choleric (black and white decision-making); Sanguine (life of the party); Melancholy (detailed, analytical); Phlegmatic (stubbornly unmoved).  Although the four-fold nature of this psychological study seems to be enigmatic, its relationship to the triune human soul is simple to see. 

The Choleric personality is centered in the will of the soul, as it is a decisive personality.  The Sanguine personality is centered in the emotion of the soul.  The Sanguine is easily moved to joy or tears.  The Melancholy personality is centered in the mind of the soul, as this person bases his every move on meticulous calculation.  The Phlegmatic personality is said to have as his motto, “I shall not be moved”.  His personality is centered, as is the Choleric’s in the will, however, it is a passive will, while it’s Choleric counterpart is an active, aggressive will. 

Another view of the Phlegmatic personality can be illustrated with color, which also holds a triune example.  The three primary colors are Red, Blue and Yellow.  When mixing these colors together into one color, they become Brown, a very non-specific, or ‘vanilla’ common color.  This could also be similar to what happens in the mix of human personality traits, as the fiery Sanguine (represented by red) blends with the cold and calculated Melancholy (represented by blue) and the somewhat removed, or objective decision-making Choleric (represented by yellow, the color closest to light or white) balances and arbitrates between the two characteristics of red and blue.  In other words, the ‘average’, ‘vanilla’ Phlegmatic personality is actually a well-blended mix of the mind will and emotions of the soul, while the others excel in one or more areas of these.



(for more study, see the Trinity Concepts Key)

Trinity Concepts (2.01) Man's Spirit

Man’s spirit

Conscience

Intuition

Communion

Most people would agree that we as humans have a body and a soul.  But we also have what the Scriptures continually refer to as a spirit.  This is the part of us least detected by the common observer.  One author* characterized the human spirit as our Conscience, Intuition and our Communion with God.  Again, each of these corresponds categorically to the triune nature of God.   Our conscience (or sense of right and wrong) corresponds to the Father, Who will judge the world one day.  Our intuition (or revealed knowledge) corresponds to the Word of God.  Our Communion with God corresponds to the Holy Spirit, as He is here with us on the earth, in Jesus’ absence.  One of His names is Comforter.  (It is easy to see why many young believers mistake the movings of the Holy Spirit with their emotions, since the emotions of the soul are in the same category of [Holy Spirit, Communion with God, Emotions, Endoderm].

*Watchman Nee

(for more study, see the Trinity Concepts Key)