trichotomy
Definition
Trichotomy (from Greek τριχοτομία, threefold division) is the anthropological view that the human being consists of three distinct and separate parts: spirit (pneuma), soul (psuche), and body (soma). These three parts are not reducible to two; in particular, spirit and soul are essentially different. The primary scriptural basis is 1Thess. 5:23 (“your spirit and soul and body”) and Heb. 4:12 (the sword of God’s Word “divides soul and spirit”). The contrasting view is dichotomy, which treats spirit and soul as a single composite part.
In the corpus authors, trichotomy is the standard anthropological framework. They connect the threefold structure each with their own theological scheme: Nee/Lee with the vessel-principle and the regeneration of the spirit, Noordzij with the penetration of the Kingdom through all three human dimensions.
Usage variants by author
Nee/Lee
Lee grounds trichotomy in 1Thess. 5:23 and develops the threefold division as three distinct contact organs for three levels of existence:
“Man has three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. These are three distinct and separate parts of one human being.” [Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 1, chap. 5]
“In the universe there are three different worlds: the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual; and because man has three different parts, he is able to contact these three different realms.” [Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 1, chap. 5]
Heb. 4:12 proves for Lee the separability of soul and spirit: “The soul and the spirit are not the same, for this verse indicates that they can be separated from each other. The soul is the soul and the spirit is the spirit, and these two must be separated.” The human spirit is the exclusive organ for contacting God (John 4:24); the soul contacts the psychological realm; the body the physical.
Noordzij
Noordzij connects trichotomy with the parable of the leaven (Matt. 13:33), reading the three measures of flour explicitly as spirit, soul, and body:
“The Kingdom of God is like leaven which a woman (= the ekklesia) took and hid in three measures of meal (= in spirit, soul, and body), until it was all leavened.” [From Passover to Tabernacles]
The new leaven of the Kingdom must permeate all three dimensions of the human being. This gives trichotomy an eschatological and pneumatological significance: no part of the human being remains outside the reach of God’s Kingdom.