Is the soul-body triadic view of man desirable? ——From the perspective of Eastern Church spirituality

Question: Is the three-dimensional view of the soul body desirable?

A: To put it simply, the spiritual tradition of the Eastern Church emphasizes the heart-centered theory of man and rejects the extreme ternary view of man (Gnosticism and Origenism). also have a negative attitude.

First of all, the historical origin of the soul-body triadism

The source of interpretation of the soul-body triadism: See Paul's Epistles in the New Testament and the interpretation of Hebrews. Among them, "May your spirit (τὸ πνεῦμα), soul (ἡ ψυχὴ), and body (τὸ σῶμα) be preserved" (1 Thess. 5:23). The Book of Hebrews also says that the Word of God (ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ) can penetrate and divide soul and spirit (ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος). Some church fathers (like Origen) in church history have developed a trinomial view of man based on these verses.

The philosophical origin of the soul-body triadism. In early philosophy, man is the dualism of the soul and the body. One of the functions in the soul, νοῦς nous (generally translated in English as Mind, intellect, Chinese is translated as intellect, intelligence or the translation adopted by the author) The mind (the mind) gradually makes a distinction between the other faculties in the soul, that is, the mind (Nous) is mainly used for contemplation of the One. This principle is used in Christian spirituality to be the mind (νοῦς), or the spirit (πνεῦμα) gradually draws The upper equator is mainly used for communion with God.

The origin of the godfather of the soul-body triadism was eventually excluded by the church due to Origenism: in the long history, some of the godfathers have made a clear distinction between the spirit and the soul, and established the so-called "three Meta-theory" concept of man, whose representatives include Titan (Tatian, about 110-172), Origen (185-254), the Greek godfather of the Alexandrian school, and Nissas, one of the Cappadocia godfathers in the 4th century. Gregory of Nyssa (Gregory of Nyssa, 330-395). [1]

From my limited knowledge, Trinism was ultimately spurned by the early church not only because of its inextricable connection with early Gnosticism, but also because of its close connection with Origenism. Origen's disciple, Evagrius, was a great teacher in the spiritual world in the 4th century. His writings and ideas were far-reaching, throughout the East and West, but they were never recognized by the church [2]. The reason for this is that Alvagra adopts Origen's view of the second creation and the ternary view of man.

Origen believes that the creation of man in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis is two different accounts of the creation of man, not one. Origen believed that the man created in the first chapter of Genesis was a pure astral body, νοῦς/spirit, without a soul and body. The first time man was created was complete, but for some reason, the spirit slipped from God. During the process of falling, the spirit cooled down and became a soul. In order to prevent the soul from falling further, God created the material world. , that is, man's body to receive his soul (that is, the cooled spirit), which is the second creation of man.

Influenced by the heretical teachings of Origen, Elvagrey adhered to the view of the second creation and the trinomial view of man, and was condemned by the church, and was formally condemned by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553. Since then, the trinomial view of man is no longer popular in the early church.

Secondly, the origin of the Chinese church's soul-body triadism

During the Reformation period of the 16th and 17th centuries, the reformers were also not optimistic about the Trinitarian view of man. The popularity of the Trinitarian view of man in the Chinese church is directly linked to the Charismatic movement in the early 19th century.

"As early as 1905-1908, several Western charismatic churches, such as "The Assemblies of God" and "Pentecostal Church", emerged from the first wave of the Charismatic movement.

and the "Apostolic Faith Mission" (Apostolic Faith Mission) to carry out missionary work in Hunan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and other places in China respectively. They also founded such publications as "Pentecostal Pravda", "Evangelization of the Gospel" and other publications to emphasize the need to "receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues", thus attracting Paul Wei, Zhang Lingsheng, Barnabas Zhang, Jing Dianying, Watchman Nee , Wang Zai, Wang Mingdao and other Chinese preachers (Wang Mingdao left the Apostolic Faith Society in the 1930s, and criticized some of the problems existing in the Society in "The Charismatic Movement in the Light of the Bible"). In 1919, Wei Paulo, Zhang Lingsheng and others established a "True Jesus Church" similar to the Apostolic Faith Church in Weixian, Shandong; two years later, Jing Dianying established a "Jesus Family" similar to the Assemblies of God in Tai'an, Shandong. By 1923, Watchman Nee (1903-1972) finally broke away from the church established by foreign missionaries under the influence of the "spiritual writings" of Mrs. Bing Louie and Spike and others, and together with Wang Zai established a non-sectarian church in Fuzhou. Independent Chinese churches - Christian meeting places (also known as "small group churches" or "local churches", etc.). "[3]

Watchman Nee is the person who made the trinomial view of man take root in the Chinese church. Ni's trinomial thought has benefited from the inspiration of Mrs. Bing-Louis, Spike, Andre Murray, and Afort, especially from Bing. Madame Louie and Spock were the most inspirational. As early as his youth, he read Mrs. Binglu's masterpiece "Soul and Spirit: A Brief Explanation of Biblical Psychology" ("Souland Spirit" A Glimpse into Bible Teaching on the High way to Spiritual Maturity, 1913)[4], and he also The idea of openly admitting to distinguish between "spirit" and "soul" originally came from

Inspired by the latter. [5]

In Watchman Nee's book "Spiritual Man", he cites letters other than the New Testament Gospels to demonstrate his triadic thought, mainly including 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 1 Corinthians 2:14- 15 and 15:44, Hebrews 4:12, James 3:15, Jude 19, etc.). [6]

When it comes to explaining the difference between spirit, soul, and body and their respective functions, Watchman Nee's statement is not much different from that of Mrs. Bing-Louis and Spock. He also thinks that "spirit" represents the most noble and sacred part in man, with three functions of intuition, communication (communication) and conscience;[7] "soul" represents the natural life of man, with mind (mind), will and emotion Three functions; [8] "Body" represents the material body that people contact with the outside world, and has natural tendencies such as evil feelings and selfish desires. [9]

The above is the basic background introduction of Watchman Nee's three-dimensional view of human beings (Note: The author is not a scholar who specializes in Watching Nee, and readers are welcome to correct them)

Finally, stand in the spiritual tradition of the Eastern Church and see the desirability of Watchman Nee's Trinitarianism

From the perspective of the Eastern Church, Watchman Nee's triadism does not correspond to the triadism discussed by the church fathers one by one. It can even be said that the two have similarities in defining the function of the triad, but they are not related. The triadism that the godfathers talked about was mainly Origen's division, not Watchman Nee's.

The spirit that the church fathers speak of is Nous, which mainly refers to the function of communion with God. The church fathers sometimes distinguished between the spirit and the soul, and sometimes regarded them as one, thinking that the nous or spirit was only a more subtle part of the soul.

The soul (ἡ ψυχὴ) is divided into the functions of reason (λογιστικος), desire (ἐπιθύμοστικος) and anger (θύμοστικος) according to Plato's triad. The functions are all placed on reason, because they almost equate reason and spirit; while desire and anger generally refer to various emotions, that is, the seven emotions we say are all under the two, but the emotion of desire is more passive, and Anger is a more active emotion. In addition, the soul also has the power of imagination and so on.

The body, that is, the faculties of the body, mainly refers to the senses of the body, as well as the natural desires of the body after the fall of Adam, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, etc., which the church fathers sometimes call the corruption of the body. It also includes what Watchman Nee said is the natural inclinations of the body such as evil passions and selfish desires, that is, the law of sin in the body, which the church fathers called the impulse to sin (the church fathers did not think that the body itself was evil, but pointed out that the sin in the body is sinful). The impulse is evil, and this impulse is one of the results of the separation of body and mind after Adam's sin, and the reader may call it original sin if he wishes)

Not only are the functions and significations of the three elements different, but the core of the spiritual theory of the Eastern Church is not in the three elements, but in the heart. That is to say, according to the spiritual tradition of the Eastern Church Fathers, although people can be divided into two or three elements, they are all centered on the heart (please refer to the author's translation: "Heart-Centered Theory of Humanity" ), and all human faculties are based on The heart is the foundation and belongs to the heart, just like the relationship between the root of a tree and its branches and leaves.

A famous Syrian church father of the late 7th century, St. Isaac of Nineveh (about 613-700) [10] said,

"Purity of the mind is as distinct from purity of the heart as a limb is from the whole body. The mind is only one faculty of the soul, and the mind controls all the faculty within: it is the The faculties, the faculties, are their root. If the root is holy, then its branches are holy; but if only one branch is holy, it is not so."[11]

Therefore, the correct anthropology of Christian spirituality is centered on the heart, and the universally accepted dualistic view of the human being is indisputable both in China and the West, but the most controversial is the triadic view of the human being. In the history of the church, it has been linked with Gnosticism and Origenism and its disciple Aiwagra, and has been marked dangerously; while in the Chinese church, with the rise of charismatics (apparently overcorrecting with the Reformation, monasticism Tradition and the abandonment of the practice of inner prayer and contemplation), under the influence of Watchman Nee, the triadic view of man became popular again.

From the perspective of the spiritual tradition of the Eastern Church, the author believes that the three-dimensional view of man under Watchman Nee's system is full of dangers, and is not accepted and recognized by the monastic tradition of the early church. Readers should be wary of its teachings.

Note: The study of Watchman Nee and his comparison with the spiritual traditions of the Eastern Church are just the beginning, and there are still many places to study. The author would like to stand from the perspective of Eastern church spirituality, and provide a reference for the church and spiritual practice produced under Watchman Nee's system.

[1] Regarding the investigation of the Trinity of Soul and Body, the author partly refers to the following article: Xu Tao, Tao Xiaohui, "The Trinity of Spirit, Soul, and Body and Its Influence on Chinese Churches", "Religions of the World", 2014 Year 4. However, the author thinks that this article is sloppy in linking trinism with the heretics of Apollinarius (310-390) and Pelagian.

[2] With the exception of the Syrian Church, because most of the translations were found in Syriac and the original Greek text was destroyed, some scholars believe that the Syrian translators made corrections to their doctrinal errors when translating his writings.

[3] Xu Tao, Tao Xiaohui, "The Trinity of Spirit, Soul, and Body and Its Influence on Chinese Churches", "World Religions Studies", No. 4, 2014, pp. 123-4.

[4] For Mrs. Penn-Lewis's triadic thought, see Jessie Penn-Lewis, "Souland Spirit": AGlimpseintoBibleTeachingOIZ

the Highway to Spiritual Maturity, London: Overeommer Office, 1913.

[5] Liang Jialin: "Watchman Nee's Early Life and Thoughts", Hong Kong: Qiaoxin Co., Ltd., 2005, pp. 57-67.

[6] Watchman Nee: "Spiritual Man" (Fifth Edition), Taipei: Taiwan Gospel Book Room, 2002, Vol. 1, pp. 49-72.

[7] Watchman Nee: "Spiritual Man", Vol. 2, pp. 81-83.

[8] Ibid., pp. 243-244.

[9] Watchman Nee: "Spiritual Man", Vol. 1, pp. 73-74.

[10] Saint Isaac of Nineveh was the most influential Syrian author, and his works were translated very early into Greek, Latin, and later Slavic, and had a profound impact on the Greek retreat tradition. See Brock, Syriac Fathers on Prayer , 242.

[11] Isaac of Nineveh, Discourses. Part I. Mar Isaacus Ninivita: De perfectione religiosa, edited by Paul Bedjan (Leipzig, 1909; reprinted 2007), 29. See also Brock, Syriac Spirituality, 151.