We regard the trichotomous theory as untenable, not only for the reasons already urged in proof of the dichotomous theory, but from the following additional considerations:
(a) Πνεῦμα, as well as ψυχή, is used of the brute creation.
Eccl. 3:21—“Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth [marg. “that goeth”] upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth [marg. “that goeth”] downward to the earth?” Rev. 16:3—“And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood, as of a dead man; and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea” = the fish.
(b) ψυχή is ascribed to Jehovah.
Amos 6:8—“The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself” (lit. “by his soul”) lxx 42:1—“my chosen in whom my soul delighteth”; Jer. 9:9—“Shall I not visit them for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged?” Heb. 10:38—“my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.”
(c) The disembodied dead are called ψυχαί.
Rev. 6:9—“I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God”; cf. 20:4—“souls of them that had been beheaded.”
(d) The highest exercises of religion are attributed to the ψυχή.
Mark 12:30—“thou shalt love the Lord thy God ... with all thy soul”; Luke 1:46—“My soul doth magnify the Lord”; Heb. 6:18, 19—“the hope set before us: which we have as an anchor of the soul”; James 1:21—“the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
(e) To lose this ψυχή is to lose all.