THIS remarkable passage in Hebrews 4:12 clearly sets forth the distinction between soul and spirit, the need of the "dividing" of one from the other, and the means whereby this is done, so that the believer may become a truly "spiritual" man, living "according to God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6). Pember points out, in regard to this passage, that here the apostle "claims for the Word of God the power of separating, and, as it were, taking to pieces, the whole being of man, spiritual, psychic (soulish), and corporeal, even as the priest flayed and divided limb from limb the animal for the burnt offering . . . .'

Fausset writes, "The Word of God is 'living,' and `powerful'-energetically efficacious (Greek) 'reaching through even to the separation of the animal-soul from the spirit, the higher part of man"'; "piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, . . . distinguishing what is spiritual from what is carnal and animal in him: the spirit from the soul." "The Word of God divides the closely joined parts of man's immaterial being, soul and spirit . . . ." An image taken from the "literal dividing of joints, and penetrating to (so as to open out) the marrow by the priest's knife."

These words show how suggestive, and full of teaching, is the whole passage to the believer whose eyes are opened to the danger of the soul-life dominating him, instead of the Spirit of God acting freely from the shrine of his spirit.

The question at once arises in a believer who desires to be a spiritual man-"What am I to do? How can I discern what is soulish in my walk and service?" The text we are considering shows that we are to yield ourselves to our High Priest who has "passed into the heavens," and He, before whom "all things are naked, and laid open" (Hebrews 4:13, ASV), will exercise His office of Priest and wield the sharp two-edged knife of His Word, piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit within us, discerning even the "thoughts and intents of the heart." "The Greek for 'thoughts' refers to the mind and feelings, and the word `intents,' or rather 'mental conceptions,' refers to the intellect," again writes Fausset in his commentary.

The High Priest, who Himself became man, that He might be "a merciful and faithful high priest" (Hebrews 2:17), able to sympathize, and touched with the very feeling of our physical and moral weakness (Hebrews 4:15), is the only one who can take the sacrificial knife and patiently "divide" the soulish life from its penetration into thoughts and feelings, the intellect, and even mental conceptions. What a work to be done! How can the animal soul-life, penetrating the very "joints and marrow," be tracked and dislodged so that the spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit may dominate, and every thought be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ? Our High Priest will not fail nor be discouraged in bringing forth victory out of judgment in all those who commit themselves to His hands and trust Him to wield the knife of His living Word by the Spirit of God.

But what are the steps? What is man's part? How is the believer to co-operate with the High Priest in this great and delicate work?

1. By definite surrender of the whole man as a burnt sacrifice laid upon the altar of the cross, with the entire consent of the will irrevocably given, that the High Priest, Christ Jesus, should by His Spirit bring the entire being into conformity to His death (Philippians 3:10), i.e., that He should never stay His hand until the animal-soulish life is "divided" from the "spirit, " so that the man may become a vessel into which, and through which, the inflow and outflow of the Spirit of God may flow freely from the shrine of the spirit.

2. By continual, persistent, watchful prayer, and searching the Scriptures, praying that the keen edge of the Word of God may be applied to all that is of the soulish life; the believer implicitly obeying the Word, right up to the light given, according to 1 Peter 1:22, ASV, "Ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth."

3. By the daily taking of the cross in the circumstances of life, so that the believer has the entire victory over sin and the "works of the flesh," while the Spirit of God is doing the more minute work of separating the spirit from the soul and teaching the believer how to walk after the spirit.

How the separation between soul and spirit is carried out in those who thus lay themselves upon the altar (the cross) and trust the heavenly High Priest to use the sword of His Word as a knife to do the work in them, we see in the calls to the cross given by the Lord Jesus to His disciples when He walked the earth as man.

"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his soul shall lose it, and he who has lost his soul for My sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:38-39)

This passage occurs in the charge given to the twelve when the Lord sent them forth in His name. He warns them that "a man's foes shall be those of his own household" and shows that their first following Him in the path of the cross will mean a "sword" in their family life, when the claims of Christ and the family are not in accord. The "sword" to divide the soulish and the spiritual in the affections generally comes in a clash between the known will of God and the will of the loved ones, which compels the believer to "take his cross," i.e., "go forth even to crucifixion, and follow the Lord, even though it causes "variance" with father or mother or the "own household."

It was so with Christ Himself. He who had said, "Honor your father and your mother" had to say, "Who is My mother and My brethren?" when they judged Him to be "beside himself' as He was occupied with His Father's business. The taking of the cross in this way, and the choosing to be obedient to Christ before-family claims, means to the natural affections such suffering that it is as a sword piercing the soul, so that in very truth the soul-life in the affections is "lost," and the purified vessel of the "soul" in the aspect of its affections becomes open to the inflow of the love of God by the Spirit, whereby the believer loves the loved ones no longer for himself but for God, and in and through God.

The lower life is exchanged for the higher, i.e., the "soul" in its personality and vessel capacity remaining the same "soul," but now dominated from the spirit by the Spirit of Christ—the Last Adam—and not by the fleshly soul-life of the first Adam (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45-48).

In Luke's Gospel the sword-effect of the cross in connection with the soul's affections is more plainly defined, for the Lord uses the word "hate" and says, "If any man come unto Me, and HATETH not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). Here again the word "life" is `psuche"—i.e., the animal or soul-life. Matthew gives us the test for the will in its choice of God or the loved ones as first in the words "loveth more than Me"; but Luke records the language used by the Lord which describes the ATTITUDE of the wholly devoted follower of Christ to the soul-life in its permeating of the affections—an attitude which is necessary for their purification. Such a believer must "hate" his "own life" (the psuche) in its penetration to family relationships, so that he may have "soul" divided from "spirit" in this sphere, and, in the "hating" and "losing" of his soul-life, find the higher and purer love-life of Christ which shall permeate the close family ties, ordained and honored by God Himself through His Son in human form.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘if anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his soul shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’" (Matthew 16:24-26)

Later on Matthew again records a similar statement by the Lord, but this time it is drawn forth by Peter's words to Jesus in regard to His cross. Peter had said, "Pity thyself," but the Lord replies that the path of following Him meant "DENY HIMSELF." Here is the soul-life summed up in the word "himself, " when shown in self-centeredness in any form, i.e., self-pity, self-interest, self-shrinking from suffering; in short, all that would make a man "save his life" rather than go forward in divine strength to pour out his "soul" unto death for others.