According to the traditional concept of man as being body and soul, the soul is the inner spiritual part, while the body is the visible outer corporal part. According to Watchman Nee's book, The Spiritual Man, "such an opinion comes from fallen man, not from God....and apart from God's revelation, no concept is dependable."
The Bible never confuses spirit and soul as though they are the same; their very natures are different from one another. In fact, the "soul" of man, comprising both intellect and emotion, or mind and feeling, is the link between the spirit and the body -- but the mind and emotions are still considered the "flesh," or the "sinful nature" in Paul's terminology in Galatians 5:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.....Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us be directed by the Spirit.
Notice that in this list, there are sins of the body, the mind, and the emotions. All of these "parts" of man must be taken over by the Spirit of God, which communes with the spirit of man. The spirit and the flesh are at war with one another, according to Galatians 5, and what one desires, the other resists.
The Word of God treats man not as a duality, but as tripartite: "May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thess. 5:23). We are sanctified by having our spirit and soul and body "kept" by Christ Jesus. I recently met someone who does not believe in the resurrection of the body. Of course, that is her prerogative, but since she is a devout Catholic, I have to wonder why she thinks Jesus rose bodily from the dead, and why the Church teaches that Mary was assumed bodily into heaven. I believe that the Word of God must become incarnate in our very flesh, our bodies as well as our minds and hearts -- and that all will be made whole at the coming of Jesus Christ the second time.
To recognize the difference between soul and spirit is critical and an issue of supreme importance for the spiritual life of a believer. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is living and active,...sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit.... If there is no distinction between soul and spirit, why would the Word divide the two?
Without this understanding, we cannot grow spiritually. To fail to distinguish between spirit and soul is fatal to spiritual maturity, according to Watchman Nee. It is possible all of our lives to remain in a soulish state and to believe we are spiritual beings. If we are not willing to accept the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we can conjure for ourselves quite lofty and beautiful, inspirational thoughts -- and believe that we are therefore spiritual. However, Is. reminds us that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and that our thoughts are not His. The mind of man, no matter how deep and philosophical, no matter how broad and insightful, can never reveal the things of God.
In fact, I Cor. 2:14 is quite plain in this area:
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.....The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
It is a matter of pride to think that we can reason to the things of God: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." To be poor in spirit means that we know we can "have" only what God gives to us -- bodily, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. We do not think great thoughts; we receive what the Spirit wants to give us. In Eusebius' History of the Church, he relates that the apostles were not eloquent or well-educated, but they were persuasive, knowing that they were aided always by the Spirit of God:
...neither the conspiracy of Simon nor that of any of the others who arose at that period could accomplish anything in those apostolic times. For everything was conquered and subdued by the splendors of the truth and by the divine word itself which had but lately begun to shine from heaven upon men, and which was then flourishing upon earth, and dwelling in the apostles themselves.
This is the difference between soul and spirit: The Spirit of God fills the human spirit with light and with truth, enlightening the mind and understanding of man, and causing him to love God and his fellow man. Augustine, the great mind and philosopher of reason, saw at one moment a glimpse of that light which is beyond human reason, and he yearned desperately for that light which he could not reach with his mind. By grace, Ambrose was able to explain to Augustine that which he sought with his whole mind and his whole strength. With his baptism came understanding, enlightenment, and wisdom -- all gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Human wisdom cannot touch or apprehend the TRUTH that is given to us in Christ Jesus. Only in Him is the Wisdom of God given to man. And we know Him not with our minds or our understanding or our emotions, but only by the Gift of the Holy Spirit: unless you are born again of water and the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
My heart aches for those who are still trying to apprehend the Spirit by knowledge, or by being good, or by "spiritual" thoughts. "If you knew the Gift of God, and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would ask Him, and He would give you living water springing up to eternal life" (Jn. 4:10).
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