In Christian theology, the tripartite view (trichotomy) holds that humankind is a composite of three distinct components: body, spirit, and soul. It is in contrast to the bipartite view (dichotomy), where soul and spirit are taken as different terms for the same entity (the spiritual soul).
Scriptural basis
The primary proof texts for this position are as follows:
"Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (JPS Tanakh)
Trichotomists see in Genesis 2:7 the first implications of the constituents of man's nature. Delitzsch, commenting on this passage, says, "We cannot consider with sufficient care Gen. 2:7; for this one verse is of such deep significance that interpretation can never exhaust it: it is the foundation of all true anthropology and psychology." John Bickford Heard refers to Genesis 2:7 as a revelation of the material cause, the formal or efficient cause, and the final cause of man's threefold nature. The material cause—the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground. The formal or efficient cause—God breathed into his nostrils the breath (neshamah) of life. The final cause—man became a living soul (nephesh). The question is whether Genesis 2:7 refers to two or to three distinct facts and thus whether Genesis 2:7 describes two or three distinct parts of man's constitution. Trichotomists believe that God's breath of life, when breathed into man's body of dust, became man's human spirit. Proverbs 20:27 uses the same Hebrew word (neshamah) for the spirit of man, indicating that God's breathe of life and man's spirit are closely related. George Boardman describes the Divine Pneuma and the human pneuma as "constitutionally akin" while Heard ascribes to them the same nature. For Michael Schmaus and most trichotomists, the human spirit is the focal point of the image of God.
"And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (ASV)
Proponents of the tripartite view claim that this verse spells out clearly the three components of the human, emphasized by the descriptors of "whole" and "completely". Opponents argue that spirit and soul are merely a repetition of synonyms, a common form used elsewhere in scripture to add the idea completeness.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, bringing together spiritual (men, pneumatikois) with spiritual (things, pneumatikà). 14 But the soulish man (psychikós) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But the spiritual man (ho pneumatikòs) appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. 16 For "who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 3:1 And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual men (pneumatikois), but as to carnal men (sarkínois), as to infants in Christ. 2 (I gave you) milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able (to receive it), for even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still carnal (sarkikoí). For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not carnal (sarkikoí), and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when someone says on the one hand, “I am of Paul,” but another, “I am of Apollos,” are you (acting like) men?
In this passage, the Apostle Paul divides men into three categories based on their responses to apostolic teaching: those who are spiritual (pneumatikos, 2.13, 15; 3.1), those who are soulish (psychikós; 2.14) and the Corinthians who are carnal (sarkivós; 3.1, 3). Each is driven or controlled by some aspect of their being, whether the spirit, the soul or the flesh. If the spirit and soul are identical, Paul's argument is meaningless.
"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (NIV)