The Dividing asunder of soul and spirit

 

The Dividing asunder of soul and spirit

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; Heb. 4: 12.

      Here the write of the Book of Hebrew is making a distinction between the soul and the spirit. The form of expression used is poetical, and signifies that the word is powerful and penetrates to the inmost recesses of our spiritual being as a sword cuts through the joints and marrow of the body.

Soul is the intellectual property God has endowed to mankind. This consists of mind, will, intellect, emotions, volitions, and the choices one makes.

Spirit is given to man by God, when he is born. We have to remember that when God made Adam, from the dust of the earth, He breathed into His nostrils and he became alive. This is the breath of God, the spirit of God which God in his mercy parted to mankind, for him to be alive and active.

        Ref. Gen. 1: 26, man was made in the image of God. 

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; Gen. 1:26.

What they lost was huge: Knowledge of reality; valid ideas; self-perception, healthy attitudes, awareness of possibilities, accurate sense of values and much more were lost when they fell! 

“The New Testament use of pneuma for the human spirit focuses on the spiritual aspect of man, i.e. his life in relation to God, whereas psyche refers to man’s life irrespective of his spiritual experience, i.e. his life in relation to himself, his emotions and thought. There is a strong antithesis between the two in the theology of Paul.” (Guthrie)

      We have an “inner” and an “outer” nature (Ref. Gen. 2: 7; Cori. 4:16). The inner man is described by both the terms the spirit (Ref. Acts. 7: 59; Jn. 4:23-24); and the soul (Ref. 1 Pet. 2:11; Heb. 6:19).

       Here the word of God makes the distinction between the spirit and the soul: Spirit focuses more on the supernatural contact and power of the inner life. Soul focuses on the intellectual property endowed to man (mind; will; intellect; emotions; thoughts; volitions). This is exactly why the Word of God is so powerful and precise; it can pierce even to the division of soul and spirit, which is not easier.

      When we allow our flesh or the world to direct our thoughts, intentions and actions, it ends in spiritual ruin. God wants us to be directed by His spirit and His word, not by the flesh, which is fallen, nor even by the soul which is fallen ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden.

 “While it has an edge like a sword, it has also a point like a rapier, ‘Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.’ The difficulty with some men’s hearts is to get at them. In fact, there is no spiritually penetrating the heart of any natural man except by this piercing instrument, the Word of God. But the rapier of revelation will go through anything.” (Spurgeon)

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth; 3 Jn.1: 2. 

Mind, will, Intellect. Emotions; Thoughts and Intent?

        Flesh and the World?

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; 1 Thess. 5: 23. 

       God sees us, naked and barren and this means; God sees each one of us the way He sees Adam and Eve in their feeble hiding, robed themselves with fig leaves. Fig leaf aprons does not help us on the day of reckoning!

       Absolutely nothing can be “hidden” from God. The word of God discovers and exposes each of our condition very precisely.