James 1:21 Part 7—Soul and spirit

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23

The more I write about James 1:21, the more I am reminded about how the Lord has used it to revolutionize my life. Today I will address how your soul and spirit relate to one another.

Your spirit and soul dwell together in your body. They are so tightly knitted that it takes the Word to discern between them (see Hebrews 4:12). When you hear the gospel as an unsaved person, your spirit is typically drawn to it, but often your soul (affected by peer pressure, reason, or demonic suggestion) fights or ignores it. That was my experience as a young unsaved woman. But through the prayers of my grandma and others, my soul got hungry, freeing my spirit to submit to the Lord, and I was born again. My spirit was made new, my soul was glad, and even my body was affected by the work of God in me—my desire for alcohol vanished.

My lifestyle changed dramatically. I grew in Christ and most of the time I made decisions based on the Word of God and a clean, Spirit-led conscience. Although my soul was onboard about almost everything going on in my new life with God, it also had a mind of its own (still does!). You see, I’ve observed in my Christian life that when my soul speaks out apart from my spirit, it is through negative feelings—hurts, suspicion, anger, fear, or the like, or through reasoning and “what ifs”. Because of the close kinship of  soul and spirit, a huge key to successful Christian living is found in discerning between them (which can only to be done by the Sword of the Spirit—Hebrews 4:12) and understanding the relationship that exists between the two—and your body.

Here’s an analogy that helps me to deal with discord which crops up from time to time between my soul and spirit. I picture the two relating to each other similarly to the way a healthy couple might work together to make decisions in a godly marriage. It may sound odd, but this comparison has brought me great clarity.

Your spirit hears from God through His Spirit and His Word. That makes it a much better leader and guide than the soul—your emotions, reasoning, and will. Your spirit, in its relation to your soul is analogous to a husband in relation to his wife. Your body is the house they share.

In a healthy relationship, both members have free expression and support one another. When your spirit and soul are healthy, they feed on the Word of truth and are in constant fellowship with God. Your spirit picks up understanding from the Holy Spirit and enlightens your soul. Your spirit grows strong, and your soul is happy, free, clean, and creative, glad to live and express itself along with your spirit in the house they share together, your body.

But when trial, test, or temptation arises and threatens your peace, virtue, safety, health, integrity, or security, your soul often becomes tempted, alarmed, fearful, angry, ugly, or out of sorts. This is when your soul demonstrates its willfulness and independence from your spirit, who always longs to obey God.

Here’s where the analogy gets interesting. Relationships can be healthy or unhealthy, full of conflict or supportive. I recognize that just like it is wrong for a wife to lord it over her husband, similarly it is wrong for me to let my soul lord it over my spirit. On the other hand, I know that abusive husbands are likewise out of line; therefore, I am to exercise leadership over my soul in a calm, loving way.

Example #1: When your soul dominates your spirit. Imagine that you are hurt by someone. You may feel shunned or invisible. You may want to blast your feelings and spiral into anger or self-pity.

Who is doing the talking—your spirit or your soul? If you picked soul, you are right! In the past, I often let my soul lead, but that resulted in more and more disgust and dysfunction. My spirit would say, “Forgive! Repent!” but instead, I made the choice to get bent out of shape by the whole thing. Only when my bitterness or resentment became unbearable did I finally grab myself by the collar and say, “Get up! Repent and seek God’s help!” I know by experience: When soul leads, things spin out of control.

Sometimes without thinking I still let soul lead. You guessed it—the same upset and disjointedness results. But the good news is this: I catch it more quickly now and reverse course more readily.

Example #2: When your soul mimics your spirit dominating your soul. This is tricky, but it does happen. First of all, you need to know that your spirit is not abusive. It was made clean, righteous, and pure when you received Jesus, and He is not abusive. But sometimes individuals, thinking they are operating by their spirit, get abusive in the way they deal with themselves when tempted, tested, or tried. You may be surprised to hear this, but I’ve observed this in believers as they try to get control over various negative thoughts. I hear them command things like, “Shut up! Close your mouth! You listen to me right now!” when speaking to their souls. It can get even worse when they talk to their body while seeking healing. It’s as if they think the sick or weakened body part is their enemy, and they yell at it as if it could heal itself if it wanted to. I believe such overbearing attempts to control either soul or body come from the soul, not the spirit, and such treatment is foolish and can be harmful. Your soul may not be wise in its current pursuits, but it is eternal and it is in partnership with your spirit. Treat it with respect as you correct it. Your body may be suffering from sickness or injury, but it wants to be well as much as you want it well. Recognize this if you start to get abusive when seeking to control your soul or your body—you are not operating by the Spirit.

Example #3: When your recreated spirit dominates your soul. Let’s say you are hurt by someone, and again, you are feeling shunned or invisible. You still feel like blasting your feelings and spiraling into anger or self-pity. Here’s how I am learning to gain control in scenarios such as this. I speak to my soul, the partner of my spirit, and say, “Soul, I hear you. It’s a bummer that you feel hurt and snubbed. You are precious in Christ and shouldn’t be treated that way, but let’s see what the Word has to say about this.” And I pray, submitting the hurtful situation and feelings to the Lord, and I receive from His Word. Then I’m free to direct my soul to recognize that others (especially believers) don’t hurt me on purpose; they would be devastated if they knew how their actions affected me. My soul is then able to have compassion on them and see them as fellow humans in pursuit of God, making mistakes and receiving forgiveness by the blood of Jesus, just like me.

Viewing my soul and spirit as eternal partners in following Christ has helped me immensely. I don’t view my soul as a bad thing to shut up or shut down; it is eternal. I am learning that my soul is at its best when it yields to my spirit man, filled with God’s Spirit and His Word. I am also learning that there are decisions that, in good conscience, my soul should make—what color should I paint this room? What do I want to wear? What am I in the mood to eat? What kind of car do I want? And in all of it, as I feed on God’s Word and keep communication open to the Spirit of God, I give Him veto-power if my soul chooses something detrimental to His plan or purpose for me.

God’s will for you is to be respectful to your spirit, your soul, and your body.

Be blessed—spirit, soul, and body!

Dorothy

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, emphasis added