The Three Substances and the Tripartition of Mankind in the *Tripartite Tractate

**The Three Substances and the Tripartition of Mankind in the *Tripartite Tractate***

In Valentinian theology, the cosmos and humanity are understood through a threefold division: spirit (*pneuma*), soul (*psyche*), and matter (*hyle*). This tripartite anthropology reflects the cosmos itself and is rooted in the creation myth of Sophia’s fall, repentance, and redemption. The *Tripartite Tractate*, one of the most detailed Valentinian texts, gives explicit articulation to this framework. It explains how these three essential natures arise and unfold in the human condition, in history, and in salvation.

### The Origin of the Three Types

The *Tripartite Tractate* declares that:

> “Mankind came to be in three essential types, the spiritual, the psychic, and the material, conforming to the triple disposition of the Logos, from which were brought forth the material ones and the psychic ones and the spiritual ones. Each of the three essential types is known by its fruit. And they were not known at first but only at the coming of the Savior, who shone upon the saints and revealed what each was.”

This shows that the threefold division is not arbitrary, but flows from the internal disposition of the Logos. Humanity is made in correspondence with these cosmic principles. However, the true nature of each type—spiritual, psychic, and material—was not manifest until the appearance of the Savior, who revealed them by bringing knowledge (*gnosis*) and light.

### The Response of Each Race

The *Tractate* continues:

> “The spiritual race, being like light from light and like spirit from spirit, when its head appeared, it ran toward him immediately. It immediately became a body of its head. It suddenly received knowledge in the revelation.”

This spiritual race is described as having an intrinsic affinity with the divine. Their response to the Savior is immediate and instinctive. They do not need instruction or persuasion because they are “like light from light,” already prepared to receive gnosis.

By contrast,

> “The psychic race is like light from a fire, since it hesitated to accept knowledge of him who appeared to it. (It hesitated) even more to run toward him in faith. Rather, through a voice it was instructed, and this was sufficient, since it is not far from the hope according to the promise, since it received, so to speak as a pledge, the assurance of the things which were to be.”

The psychic are capable of salvation, but they require teaching, persuasion, and moral effort. They are neither wholly evil nor wholly divine, and so their destiny depends on their response—whether they incline toward faith or unbelief.

The lowest type is the material race:

> “The material race, however, is alien in every way; since it is dark, it shuns the shining of the light, because its appearance destroys it. And since it has not received its unity, it is something excessive and hateful toward the Lord at his revelation.”

Matter, associated with ignorance, fragmentation, and resistance to light, is utterly alien to the divine. It is described as shunning the light, reacting to the Savior’s revelation with enmity rather than openness.

### The Destiny of the Three Races

The eschatological outcomes of the three types are also explicitly stated:

> “The spiritual race will receive complete salvation in every way. The material will receive destruction in every way, just as one who resists him.”

For the psychic race:

> “The psychic race, since it is in the middle when it is brought forth and also when it is created, is double according to its determination for both good and evil. It takes its appointed departure suddenly and its complete escape to those who are good.”

The soul is capable of choosing either path, and its final destiny is determined by that choice. Those who align themselves with the “good disposition” and the confession of the Father will share in salvation, though often not within the Pleroma itself.

### The Mixed Nature of the First Human

The *Tripartite Tractate* further explains the origin of the human being as a composite of all three substances:

> “The first human, then, is a mixed molding and a mixed creation, and a depository of those on the left and those on the right, as well as of a spiritual Word, and his sentiments are divided between each of the two substances to which he owes his existence.”

The first human was created by a collaboration between the demiurge, subservient angels, and even rebellious powers. His form reflects this mixed origin:

> “The spiritual Word set it invisibly going, accomplishing it by means of the demiurge and his subservient angels, who were joined in their modeling by the presumptuous thought and its rulers.”

Because of this mixed formation, the human is deeply conflicted:

> “As for the substance of those who are psychical, its condition is double, because it has an understanding of what is superior, and confesses it, but it is also inclined toward evil on account of the inclination of the presumptuous thought. And as far as the material substance is concerned, its impulses are diverse and take many forms. It was a sickness that assumed many kinds of inclinations.”

The soul’s dual nature stems from this inner tension: it knows the good, but is tempted by lower desires. The material element is described as “a sickness” with many chaotic forms.

Even the body’s very breath of life comes from the spiritual Word, though it passed through the demiurge “as through a mouth”:

> “Now, the Word gave him something through the demiurge, without his knowledge, to let him know that there exists something higher and realize that he needed it. This is what the prophet called ‘the breath of life’ … and this is the living soul that gave life to the substance that was dead at first.”

The soul, then, is a divine gift implanted into the human form to awaken a longing for what lies beyond. Its origin is spiritual, even if it came through intermediaries who misunderstood its true nature.

### Conclusion

The *Tripartite Tractate* presents a coherent anthropology rooted in cosmic principles. Humanity is a mirror of the universe—divided into spirit, soul, and matter. Each race has a distinct origin, nature, and destiny. Salvation belongs fully to the spiritual, potentially to the psychic, and not at all to the material. The human story is one of mixture and potential, with gnosis as the decisive factor. Those who recognize the Savior and the divine origin of their being return to the light. Those who cling to ignorance perish with the shadow they love.