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This has been my personal position on soul and spirit for a long time (mid-80s). A lot more could be said on this subject by a gifted teacher, but just the basics as presented here are vital. I believe God’s people would be more effective and enjoy greater unity if they were willing to humbly invite Him to divide soul and spirit. https://handtotheploughblog.wordpress.com/self/ Available as a PDF file: SELF ___ “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7:18). What is the soul, and why must it be spiritually controlled? We learn from Scripture that spirit signifies life. The first man was lifeless until he received “the breath of life” from the Lord God (Genesis 2:7). In time Adam’s spirit departed and his body was lifeless again. “…the body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). God Himself “is Spirit” (John 4:24), and it is the Spirit Who gives us life (6:63). His Spirit now lives in those who were formally dead in sin and under wrath (see Ephesians 2). He lives within those who have been made righteous before Him by their faith in Christ. It is crucial we understand our spiritual standing in Christ and recognise the dangers of being dominated by self. By His indwelling Spirit God can free us from our natural inclinations so we can clearly understand His will for us. When we are born anew we enter into a spiritual relationship with God. Christ lives in us Spiritually: "...you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Romans 8:9); “...Jesus Christ is in you” (2nd Corinthians 13:5). Christ in us is life and strength. We have been made alive with Him (Ephesians 2:5) and now our bodies are the dwelling place of God: “...do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1st Corinthians 6:19, NASB). It is Christ Himself Who lives in each of us: “...Jesus Christ is in you” (2nd Corinthians 13:5). The Spirit of the Lord is our strength: "...strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:16, 17, NASB). Christ in us is understanding. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are His children (Romans 8:16). “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1st Corinthians 2:12, ESV). (Also read John 14:26; 1st Corinthians 6:17; Galatians 2:20; 1st John 2:20; 27.) It’s very important to remember that when we understand God's will for us in daily life it will always be consistent with the balanced fullness of His written Word. His Holy Spirit is Life to us and searches the depths of God comprehending His thoughts. He teaches us all things by revealing His Truth in and through our spirits. “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1st Corinthians 2:15, 16, ESV). We need to hear Him clearly each day so we can know His will for us and work for Him constructively. Failure to hear from God – not having a spirit that is in touch with His wisdom and revelation – is a spiritual deafness that causes us to be governed by self. There are times when we need to spiritually discern God's will for us. He desires to give us "…the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened… (Ephesians 1:17, 18, ESV); “…be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9, ESV). Do we truly believe that “nothing good” dwells in us? If so, we know that whatever comes entirely from self will always be unsound. Scripture reveals that the soul is the seat of a person's personality. It is the essence of who he or she is, with or without God's influence. It is our natural identity. It consists of the mind's thoughts, with all its emotions and intentions, preferences and dislikes, and so on: "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. And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account" (Hebrews 4:12, 13, Amplified Bible). It is the Spirit alone Who gives life. Human nature gets us nowhere. We will profit from His Spiritual Life when we are changed by Christ's Word to us. (Consider John 6:63.) His Word is to live in us richly (Colossians 3:16). If by faith we hear and embrace God's Word, there will be times it will surely divide us and show us where we need to change. We should remember too in passing that our minds control our bodies. Where there is no clear division of soul and spirit we may be tempted to use our bodies sinfully. We are commanded to glorify God in our bodies. (Read 1st Corinthians 6:19, 20.) Allowing God's living Word to divide soul and spirit is essential if we are to keep the whole person pure and be centred in His will. To continually and successfully resist all fleshly impulses we must recognise what comes from self, the soul. Soul-centric believers who rarely, if ever, experience "the division of the soul and spirit" are easily controlled by a “carnal” mindset. In Scripture this is the hallmark of the spiritually immature. For example: "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly [carnal]. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" (1st Corinthians 3:1-3, NASB). In the book of James we read that similar "soulish" behaviour was causing problems among believers. Scripture may suggest here that carnal Christians can be influenced by our spiritual enemy: "This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual [Greek: “soulish”], demonic" (3:15, ESV). It is clear then that to avoid fleshly, disruptive behaviour your soul needs to be under the direct control of God's Holy Spirit through your spirit. So you will need His living Word to divide you to show you the full extent of what is untrustworthy and carnal, even though you may be convinced you are right. Self is the fullness of our soul-life and by nature it desires to express itself apart from Christ's influence. To enjoy all that God would share with us, self, with its many thoughts and intentions, needs to be divided from the spirit, where God lives. With self exposed, judged and under control, we will freely hear from God, and His Word will become alive within us. If by faith we are willing, His Spirit can perfectly expose the self-serving nature of our innermost motivations and thoughts. If a division doesn’t regularly take place, we will be more likely to lean on our own abilities and intellect while trying to follow Christ. But we dare not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). If the soul dominates our Christian walk we will be vulnerable to other dangers. If we remain “soulish” we will struggle against the works of the flesh, sometimes with dreadful results (see below). Those who are literally full of themselves cannot be led by God’s Spirit in their spirits. Their efforts will revolve around self and will not further the work of God. They will be blind to the fact that their activities may in fact be harmful. Many of those who are governed by self have a tendency to be wordy and crushingly intellectual, overbearingly eager to share what they know. They often take delight in discussing irrelevancies, or in being different to the majority. Soulish believers who are very knowledgeable (or think they are) often focus on getting the better of those around them rather than humbly sharing their knowledge in the hope they might enrich others. Some have influential and magnetic personalities that draw many Christians to causes that hamper the work of God and result in distracting quarrels and damaging conflicts. Soul-driven believers are often content with a comfortable religious routine that rarely exposes them to God’s instruction and correction. Others are religiously self-righteous. Many instances of disharmony are caused by the stubborn work of the soul, often through those who, lacking humility, see themselves as being able to teach. Teaching from the soul is precarious. This is why an illiterate person who comes to Christ can have spiritual wisdom and understanding found lacking in those who have been to seminary. So we know that the human spirit has been made alive in Christ through faith in Him and His sacrificial work. By prayerfully and faithfully remaining in Christ and heeding His teaching, we will experience a spiritual awareness that overcomes the potent impulses of the soul (self, with all of its thoughts and intentions). In this standing the human spirit can have a dual awareness: through the Holy Spirit Who dwells within, each spirit can effectively evaluate a person's thoughts and also be free to know the mind of Christ. (Consider 1st Corinthians 2:9-16.) We have been crucified with Christ. “…those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24, 25, ESV). We will keep in step with the Spirit if we allow Him to show us those dead characteristics that are rooted in our souls. In claiming our death with Christ, our souls will gradually be conformed into His image. When we fully realise and acknowledge nothing good dwells in us, we will allow the Holy Spirit to freely work through our spirits. In this way we will be properly and effectively subjected to His will. “…the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2nd Corinthians 3:17, NASB). “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’” (John 14:23, ESV). The Works of the Flesh in the Believer’s Life "Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21, Amplified Bible). From the earliest days of the Church, countless believers have struggled against some of "the works of the flesh" – those ugly practices of human nature that hold us back from giving our all to Christ. In New Testament letters Christians were repeatedly reminded to live honest and pure lives in Christ, in accordance with sound teaching. Although called to be holy and set apart (sanctified), they were instead clearly troubled by carnal behaviour and attitudes. A passage in Galatians 5 is key to understanding the practices of the sinful nature in the life of the believer: “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (v. 16, ESV). By implication we can understand that the opposite is true: if believers do not willingly abide in Christ daily – if they don't walk in the ways of the Spirit Who dwells within them – it’s inevitable that they will allow the flesh to rise up and contaminate their walk with Christ. As we saw earlier, by faith they must allow God’s truths to pierce deep within them, highlighting the sinfulness of their harmful soulish ways. “…those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." (Galatians 5:24, 25, NASB). This reminds us that we must consider our flesh crucified with Christ. We are no longer dead in our sins because we have been made alive in Christ. We no longer need to be slaves to the demands of our sinful fallen nature. We must actively "put to death" fleshly impulses (Colossians 3:5). Turn from them! We cannot allow them to control us. If we are careless and do not live by the Spirit (abiding in Christ by faith), we run the risk of experiencing increasing struggles with our flesh. When thinking about "the practices of the sinful nature", the difference between a believer’s experience and that of an unbeliever is profound. Obviously the unbeliever knows nothing of fleshly impulses clashing with the desires of the Holy Spirit: “…the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you [true believers] may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:17, NASB). God intends that His people should be led by His Spirit Who lives within. To freely enjoy this relationship they must be able to recognise when their souls have the upper hand. They must know when self is blocking the Life-flow of the Spirit. They can experience an ongoing pure relationship with the Lord when they willingly and habitually die to self and deny its fleshly impulses. In this spiritually healthy condition they will experience the fruit of the Spirit. Their lives will be characterised by: "…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (vs. 22, 23, ESV). Paul’s warning at the end of verse 21 is a sobering reminder to all believers that those who willfully practise the works of the flesh will not be accepted by God. Under the Holy Spirit's inspiration he spells out clearly what these practices are. It’s most important to remember that to “practise” the works of the flesh is to do them repeatedly and habitually. Would we expect a true believer in Christ, in whom God’s Spirit lives, to willingly, repeatedly and continually commit various sins as part of his general lifestyle? No, we would not. He could not live this way because to do so would demonstrate his unbelieving indifference to sin. He may well experience testing inner struggles, but the believer’s ongoing lifestyle will not be characterised by a casual attitude to sin. This is very different to those who "practise" wrongdoing habitually, who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Finally, it’s worth underlining here that true believers can struggle with sin very badly for long periods of time. In that condition they should expect to be conflicted. It is this struggle with the invasive power of their sinful nature that will remind them they have wandered far from God’s narrow path. Many prodigal sons and daughters have turned back after wasting their time with sin. “…put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Romans 13:14, NASB). “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1st Peter 2:11, ESV).