معرفت ادیان (Ma`rifat Adyan)

In one of his theological views, the Apostle Paul believes that Adam, through his transgression and eating of the forbidden fruit, brought death upon himself and all of humanity. Although this death is sometimes interpreted as physical demise and the separation of the soul from the body, the reality is that this death occurs while a person is physically still alive; thus, a human is dead while alive. To resolve this issue, a viewpoint emerged proposing that a human consists of three dimensions: body, soul, and spirit, and the death Paul refers to is the death of the spirit, presenting a form of trichotomism. However, opposing this view, there exists a dichotomous perspective which considers a human as having only a body and a soul/spirit. This paper, by referring to the Bible and its interpretations, seeks to examine these two viewpoints. Ultimately, after evaluating the arguments from both sides, we conclude that the trichotomous interpretation regarding the existential dimensions of humanity is not sufficiently justified from the perspective of the Bible, and Christian thinkers cannot rely on it to explain Paul's view.