Teachings in Tenach - Old Testament Scripture

The first book of scripture, Genesis makes pronouncements concerning the way that God created human beings. It teaches that humans are created beings and that we in many ways mirror the image of our creator. During the creation of what Christians now know as the Old Testament, the Hebrew Torah and Tenach the Spirit of God reveals much about human beings and their nature and destiny. Of particular importance are the creation accounts in the book of Genesis.

Developments in the New Testament Period

During the period of the formation of the New Testament Scriptures, the early church began to increase in its knowledge of God's plan and dealings through Jesus. As their understanding developed, it filtered through to their concept of who they were. The writings of Paul and the other original disciples are full of suggestive material as to the nature of the human being. Many scriptures deal directly and indirectly with the nature of the human being and point to the kind of beings that humans are.

Development after the formation of Scripture

Franz Delitzsch in his book A System of Biblical Psychology has an introductory chapter on the history of the subject. He says that the oldest written sources for Biblical Psychology outside the New Testament are the writings of Tertullian who in his Montanist days wrote - De Anima (on the Soul) in Latin. Melito the Bishop of Sardis wrote a short treatise on the soul, body and mind. Irenaeus in his work Against Heresies II.33.5 teaches on the subject and from church history we also know of the views of Apollionaris of Laodicea (approx. 310-390AD). Teaching after that was strongly influenced by the Greek Philosophers Plato and Aristotle.

  

The issue was revived by the man Delitzsch rightly ascribes the title "The father of modern Biblical Psychology" The German Theologian, Magnus Friedrich Roos (1727 - 1803) whose ground breaking Fundamenta Psychologiæ ex sacra Scriptura Collecta (1769) (tr. Outlines of Psychology drawn from the Holy Scriptures) sparked renewed interest in the subject in German Theology. Roos' work was translated into German by Cremer of Unna in 1857. Roos was the first person in the modern era to attempt a comprehensive exegesis of terms and contexts relating to Biblical Psychology from the scriptures.
 
 German Interest Crosses the Channel...

Johann T. Beck wrote his Outlines of Biblical Psychology in 1843 borrowing heavily from the work of M.F. Roos. The Biblical Psychology of J.T. Beck was translated into English from the original German in 1877. Franz Delitzsch wrote his A System of Biblical Psychology in the early 1840's. Delitzsch's work was translated into English by the Rev. Robert Wallis and published by T&T Clark in 1866.

In England, Theologians like Jonathan Langstaff Forster (1804-1870) wrote a work titled Biblical Psychology which was published posthumously by Longmans in 1873. The Rev. James T Gall wrote his Primitive Man Unveiled or the Anthropology of the Bible in the early 1870's. G.H. Pember taught on the subject in his influential work Earth's Earliest Ages in the Late 1870's.

Teaching Developments in England

John Laidlaw wrote one of the most influential theological works on the Subject in 1879 with his The Bible Doctrine of Man. J.B. Heard wrote a work The Tripartite Nature of Man in 1866 (of which I have a copy of a 1st edition with a inscription by J.B. Heard which reads - to the Dean of Canterbury with the writers respects.) By the Late 1800's in England the subject had a new vogue with popular Christian teachers like F.B.Meyer, Andrew Murray and Jessie Penn-Lewis teaching on the Subject. Andrew Murray who was familiar with J.T. Beck's Teachings passes on famous triparitite teachings like "The Spirit is the seat of our God-consciousness; the soul of our self consciousness; the body of our world-consciousness". ( See His Notes to The Spirit of Christ). Jessie-Penn Lewis teaches on the subject in a booklet Soul & Spirit A Glimpse into Bible Psychology and in the work she co- authored with Evan Roberts the Famous 1904 Welsh Revival Evangelist War on the Saints.

Modern Developments in Academic Theology

Many studies have investigated the meanings of the Greek and Hebrew terms for spirit, soul and body. Some doctrinal studies by academic theologians have dealt with the subject. Other studies have provided important background Information. Studies that deal with Issues related to Biblical Psychology include: Professor William P. Dixon St. Paul's use of the terms Flesh and Spirit. 1883, The Christian Doctrine of Man by H.Wheeler Robinson 1911 and also his other articles: Hebrew Psychology in The People and the Book (ed A.S.Peake) Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament, The Religious Ideas of the Old Testament and The Christian Experience of the Holy Spirit. The Psychology of the New Testament by M Scott Fletcher 1912, The use of Metaphor in the Names of the Parts of the Body in Hebrew and Accadian by P. Dhorme 1923, Israel, It's Life and Culture by Johs. Pederson Tr.1926, The Christian View of Man by J. Gresham Machen 1937, The Heart (Leb, Lebab) in the Old Testament by F.H. Von Meyenfeldt 1950 and The word Nephesh in the Old Testament by J.H Becker 1942. The Vitality of the Individual in the Thought of Ancient Israel by Aubrey R. Johnson 1964, The Bible Doctrine of Man by C.Ryder Smith 1951 and The Bible Doctrine of the Hereafter by the same author 1958. The Nature and Destiny of Man by Reinhold Niebuhr 1941, The Concept of Man in the Bible by Albert Gelin S.S. 1968 Man in the New Testament by W.G. Kümmel, Man the Image of God by G.C. Berkouwer 1962, The Pauline View of Man by Rev. W. David Stacey 1956, The Christian View of Man by H.D. McDonald 1981, Created in God's Image by A.A. Hoekema 1986, The Biblical Doctrine of Man by Gordon H. Clark 1984 and Body, Soul & Life Everlasting by John W. Cooper 1989. Most Recently John C. Garrison's book The Psychology of the Spirit has been published 2002.

Modern Developments in Popular Christian Teachings

We follow the link from Roos through into the 20th Century through these teachers with Watchman Nee. Watchman Nee, A prodigious writer and influential Christian teacher wrote The Spiritual Man a large work in 3 sections in which he refers to the writings of Andrew Murray and Jessie-Penn Lewis. He also teaches on the subject in his work The Release of the Spirit and his The Latent Power of the Soul which refers to Jessie Penn-Lewis' work Soul & Spirit. Other teachers of this Era are Oswald Chambers with his Biblical Psychology and A.T. Schofield with his Studies in the Highest Thought 1911. T.Austin-Sparks wrote a short book What is Man? which also deals with this Subject.

Click on this link to go to a page that deals with Watchman Nee's teachings in his book The Spiritual Man

Watchman Nee's writings on the 3 part nature of man in turn have influenced a number of teachers especially in the field of Christian Counselling and Therapy. Authors such as Robert Frost Set my Spirit Free 1973, Charles R Solomon Handbook to Happiness 1971, Frank B. Minirth Christian Psychiatry 1977, Dennis and Rita Bennett Trinity of Man : Healing-Body, Soul & Spirit 1979 Witness Lee Spirit, Soul & Body in The Stream 4:1 1966. Kenneth E. Hagin The Human Spirit and Man on 3 Dimensions 1973. Bill Gothard Institiute in Basic Youth Conflicts 1979.

Another source of tripartite and trichotomist teachings has been the Dallas Theological Seminary through such teachers as Lewis Sperry Chafer in his Systematic Theology and C.I. Scofield through the influential Scofield Refrence Bible.