Cees Noordzij — Anthropology
b6 — From Passover to Tabernacles
Trichotomy: the human as a threefold being
In his explanation of the feast of Pentecost, Noordzij cites the parable of the leaven and provides an explicit threefold anthropological interpretation:
“The Kingdom of God is like a leaven that a woman (=the ekklesia) took and put into three measures of flour (=in spirit, soul, and body), until it was all leavened” (Matt. 13:33, Luke 13:20-21).
The “new leaven of the Kingdom” must permeate all three dimensions of the human person. Noordzij adds: “The entire Church will one day be completely permeated with the ‘new’ of God’s Kingdom and ‘be waved upward’!”
Interpretation: The three measures of flour stand explicitly for spirit, soul, and body in Noordzij — a trichotomous anthropology that serves as the framework for his understanding of spiritual growth. The human person is not twofold but threefold, and all three dimensions must be penetrated by the new life of the Kingdom.
Metamorphosis: transformation from earthly to heavenly person
In the section on the great Day of Atonement, Noordzij describes humiliation as the necessary preparation for transformation, employing the image of metamorphosis:
“What is the state of my transformation into the image and likeness of God? Have I spent long enough cocooned as an ‘earthly caterpillar’ to become a ‘butterfly’ ‘from above’? What a beautiful image of absolute separation to bring about a metamorphosis! (cf. Gal. 1:12-17).”
On those who refuse this path: “Whoever does not humble himself and does not cease all fleshly works will not see the ‘great Day of Atonement’.”
Interpretation: The metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly is for Noordzij an anthropological image of the transition from earthly to heavenly person — a transformation that does not happen automatically but requires humiliation and withdrawal.
The human as earthen vessel
Noordzij describes the anthropological destiny of the believer as bearing the life of Christ in human fragility:
“This is not merely about a life freed from a particular sin or bondage, from an unpleasant temper or a bad habit. It is about a life that is identical to that of Jesus, in ‘earthen vessels’ of human clay.”
Interpretation: The ‘earthen vessel’ is for Noordzij not a negative anthropological judgment but a description of the human condition that provides precisely the space for the life of Christ in the person.
Conformity to Christ
Noordzij states that the ultimate destiny of the spiritual journey consists in the formation of Christ in the person:
“It is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’, who can now ‘take form in you’ (Col. 1:27, Gal. 4:19).”
Elsewhere he writes about the call to openness: “Open yourself to the coming of His kingship! Let the life of Jesus grow in you to full maturity.”
And: “This is the life of (and not the knowledge about) the Kingdom of heaven.”
Interpretation: The formation of Christ is for Noordzij not a doctrinal position but a living process — the growth of the life of Jesus in the person to full maturity.
Liberation from the flesh as anthropological new beginning
In the section on the Passover, Noordzij describes spiritual liberation as a complete analogy with the exodus:
“Now in an identical way every believer stands at a new beginning when he lets himself be led out of ‘Egypt’. He is then freed from the slavery of the flesh and a ‘new’ life begins for him, as a member of a ‘holy nation’ (Eph. 2:5, 2Pet. 2:9).”
On the immediacy of this liberation: “Whoever now eats and drinks Jesus to be freed from the ‘house of slavery’ must also set out immediately! He is then finally freed from the grip of the ‘flesh’, redeemed. God does not intend this for later. It is for here and now!”
Interpretation: Liberation from the flesh is for Noordzij a concrete beginning of the new life — not a future eschatological moment but an actual anthropological turning point.
Earthly vs. heavenly thinking: renewal of the mind
Noordzij returns repeatedly to the distinction between earthly and heavenly orientation as the central anthropological tension:
“Let us think ‘new’ and learn to walk in ‘newness of life’ (Rom. 12:1-2).”
On the self-reflection this requires: “Humiliation belongs to reflection in silence. How does God see what I have been doing — earthly or heavenly? To what extent have I been transformed? (Rom. 12:2).”
On those who refuse to move forward: “But those who wish to keep working out spiritual realities in an earthly way and again want to put the heavenly into an ‘old vessel’ will turn away their ears in horror.”
Interpretation: The earthly/heavenly distinction is for Noordzij not a static division of humanity but a dynamic field of tension that every believer must traverse through renewal of the mind (Rom. 12:2).