Man has a body, soul, and spirit
There is no support for tripartism in the Scriptures. You (and other exchanged life proponents) have construed the only place all three are mentioned simultaneously, 1 Thess. 5:23 incorrectly, where they all actually mean personal aspects to which Paul is referring.
The duality of man is clear from Scripture, see James 2:26; 2 Cor. 7:1, Matthew 10:28) where spirit and soul are used interchangeably. God "breathed into his nostrils: the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7. The "breath of life" is the principle of his life, and the "living soul" is the very being of man. The soul is united with and adapted to a body, but can, if need be, also exist without the body. In view of this we can speak of man as a
spiritual being, and as also in that respect the image of God.
God’s image in humanity at creation, then, consisted in:
(a) existence as a “soul” or “spirit” (Gen. 2:7), that is, as personal and self-conscious, with a Godlike capacity for knowledge, thought, and action;
(b) being morally upright, a quality lost at the Fall but now being progressively restored in Christ (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10);
(c) dominion over the environment;
(d)the human body as the means through which we experience reality, express ourselves, and exercise dominion; and
(e) the God given capacity for eternal life.
You cannot have a human soul without having an individual "person".
You cannot have a
Person that does not possess independent subsistence, as in the three Persons of the Trinity, or as in you or I. Necessarily that Person comprises a body and a soul
and an independent subsistence<--this is a key aspect you are overlooking with respect to the Incarnation.
You or I, as wholly human beings, are not comprised as was Incarnate Christ. The
Person, that which independently subsisted, of the Incarnation was God the Son. The human nature of the Incarnate Christ could not independently subsist
without the union of the divine Son of God. If it could, then there would indeed be two Persons in the one body, but the Incarnation was not wholly analogous to our commonly understood notions of human existence. Indeed,
the Incarnation is uniquely special (Amen!).
The nature of Jesus is divine, not human. He does not have two souls. You cannot have a "nature" without a soul.
It was both, divine and human. You are confusing Person (see above). Once you get your mind around the distinction between
person and
nature this will all fall into place for you.
Agreed. Then He would also have to become a new person, making Him a pre-existing individual, and a non pre-existing individual. Two individuals in one body.
Again, distinguish between
person and
nature. A person, like you or I, subsists separately.
The human nature of Christ has not and never had a separate subsistence, thus it is impersonal. In the Incarnation of the God-man, the God the Son furnishes the Personhood (the personality).
Likewise, we need to understand that self-consciousness and self-determination do not belong to nature but to personality. Therefore, Incarnate Christ does not have two consciousnesses, only a single divine self-consciousness and a single human conscious. Moreover (another key distinction coming), the consciousness and will is not simply human, it is theanthropic--one personality uniting the divine and the human.
There is no human nature unless you have a newly created soul which requires a whole new person and a whole new identity.
Here as above, we must understand the differences between
person and
nature.
There cannot be two concious wills without two persons.
If two
persons existed in a single body you would be correct. A single Person existed in Incarnate Christ. The will and the conscious of that Person was
theanthropic.
