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NASB | Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. |
Bible Question:
Fellows, Why must we divide soul and spirit? How does this apply to our thoughts and intentions of the heart? In Christ Jesus, charis |
Bible Answer: Simular to what There has said, I look at the spirit of man to be the mind, thoughts, inner man. The soul as the seat of one's emotions and the body as the physical man, infected with sinfullness. The body has it's own desires. The desire to survive, the desire to eat, desire for creature comfort and sexual satisfaction, etc. All of these desires are tanted with the infection of sinfullness which results in death that was acquired from Adam. The soul, being the seat of our emotions, is the essence of who we are as individuals. To a great degree, what we do is lead by what we feel. We are all born with a spirit, it is from God and is the source of the moral conscience we all have. God has given everyone a spirit, but the spirit of the unbeliever is separated from God while he is alive on earth and will return to God at death.(his soul suffering eternal separation from God) Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Paul spoke of this makeup in Rom 7:23 "...a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind (reasoning from his spirit) and making me (his soul - the essence of who he is) a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members(physical body whos desires are infected with sin)" Our soul can receive input from our physical body and our spirit. How many times do we know what we should be doing in our mind yet opt for the "creature comfort" or desire of the physical body. When we make a decision of faith and trust in Jesus, it is a decision to apply His sacrifice to our spirit allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell within our spirit giving it a wellspring of renewing life. With our life now coming from the Holy Spirit we die to the influence of the body. Our soul (our emotions and essence of who we are) receives it's input from our spirit which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Like There said, as believers, our body (which is infected with sin) will return to dust, but our spirit and soul will enter Heaven. Later we will receive a resurrection body that will replace our old currupt body(Phil 3:21). The division of the spirit and soul is the separation of our emotions and feelings (soul)being directed by physical desires, from our mind (spirit) which will have the leading of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of God's word. When this happens we can control the sinful desires of our body so that our actions will reflect the wisdom dwelling within our spirits. In Christ, Bob |