理智，或理性，是我们思想的能力。意志是我们选择和行事的能力。感情是我们的感受。希腊哲学家教导说，意志和感情应该服于理智之下，改革宗神学家有时候也倡导“理智第一” 。但是圣经不是这样教导的，它也没有高举意志或感情于其它之上。
在圣经里，这三样没有不平等的。所有的都堕落了，所有的都同样需要救赎。被救赎之后的三者，对于一种敬虔的人生来说都是至关重要的。重要的不是让它们都服在理智或其它的能力之下，而是要让理智、意志和感情都服在上帝的话语之下。这三种能力都是互相依靠的。约翰·傅瑞姆 John M Frame
The intellect, or reason, is our capacity to think. The will is our ability to choose and act. The emotions are our feelings. Greek philosophers taught that the will and emotions should be subject to the intellect, and Reformed theologians have also sometimes advocated the “primacy of the intellect.”4 But the Bible does not teach that, nor does it exalt the will or the emotions over the others. In Scripture there is no inequality among these. All are fallen, all are equally in need of redemption, and all, as redeemed, are essential to a godly human life. The important thing is not to make them all subordinate to the intellect or another faculty but to make intellect, will, and emotions all subject to the Word of God.The three capacities are mutually dependent.
Frame, J. M. (2023). Concise Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (J. J. Hughes, Ed.; Revised and Enhanced Edition, p. 117). P&R Publishing.
