The Messenger of the Cross by Watchman Nee

Author:Watchman Nee
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Clergy
ISBN: 9781575938714
Publisher: Living Stream Ministry
Published: 1998-01-31T22:00:00+00:00

5

5 The Dividing of Soul and Spirit

The word of God is living, and active, and sharper

than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the

dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Heb. 4.12,13)

One

The dividing of soul and spirit is exceedingly essential since it concerns the Christian’s spiritual growth. How can a Christian seek for that which is spiritual if he does not even know the distinction between spirit and soul? He will often mistake the soulish for the spiritual, and thus stay long in the realm of soulish living instead of seeking for the spiritual. The word of God cites many times the features of the spirit as well as those of the soul. For instance, the Bible records being sorrowful in the spirit as well as being sorrowful in the soul, it mentions being joyful in the spirit as much as being joyful in the soul. Hence people draw the conclusion that since the expressions of the spirit and the soul are the same, the spirit must be the soul. This is like saying, “Because you eat food and I too eat food, therefore you must be me.” Yet Hebrews 4.12 says that “the

word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit.” Since soul and spirit may be separated, soul must be soul and spirit must be spirit.

We are shown in Genesis 2 that when God first created man He

“formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (v.7) This breath of

life is man’s spirit since it came directly from God. As it touched man’s body, the soul was produced—and man became a living soul.

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The Messenger of the Cross

Man’s spirit has God-consciousness, knows God’s voice, and is able to communicate with Him. But after the fall of Adam, his spirit became dead to God. Thereafter the spirit of Adam (and of all his descendants) was so oppressed by the soul that his spirit was knit intimately with the soul. When a person is saved, though, his spirit becomes alive to God; but due to the close uniting of the spirit with the soul for such a long period, it requires the word of God to divide or separate them.

Two

Though the expressions of the soul and the spirit appear similar, they belong to different realms—they come from two different sources. When you are joyful today, this joy may come from the soul or from the spirit. Joy is being expressed, but there is a difference from where it comes. Likewise, you may feel sorrowful today. Now sorrow is sorrow; yet it may come from different sources. From whence does it come? This is the question God will himself ask.

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