DIVISION

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the DIVISION of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart – Hebrews 4:12

Let’s scrutinize the soul further! While in the body, the spirit and soul are virtually inseparable, except by DIVISION through the agency of God’s Word. On the side of the body, the soul is linked to the human brain, yet closely connected to the spirit. The two can be “divided” only by the Sword of the Spirit (Heb.4:12). Indeed, when the spirit departs from the body at death, the soul accompanies it. The Bible illustrates this beautifully. Under the Old Covenant, before Jesus died for the sins of man, Heaven was off-limits to all human beings, because human blood was tainted by Adam’s sin and man's spirit was corrupted and in union with Satan (Eph. 2:2,3). God is of “purer eyes than to behold evil” (Hab.1:13a). Sin, evil, and iniquity cannot dwell in His presence. This warranted His divine plan for the spirits and souls of Old Testament saints to go to “Abraham’s Bosom” or “Paradise.” That’s why Jesus could tell the thief on the cross, “This day you’ll be with Me in Paradise” (Lk.23:43).

In the Resurrection process, having paid the penalty for man’s sin, Jesus spoiled Satan and demon powers to restore man’s God-given authority that had been stolen from Adam in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:14-24; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14-15). When Jesus completed His three-day assignment in Hell, He went into Paradise or Abraham’s Bosom and as “He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive” (Eph.4:8). He gathered up those who were held captive there – all those precious, waiting, excited Old Testament Believers – and moved and ushered them back to Heaven with Him. Now, when Born Again spirit-souls leave their expired human bodies, they proceed directly to Heaven. Luke 16:23-23 describes how a man died and went to Hell, and on looking across a great divide, saw Father Abraham being protected in Abraham’s Bosom (or Paradise). This man had departed his body back on Earth and was now down in Hell, in spirit form, shouting to Abraham over in Paradise. 

Abraham shouted back to him, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things…” (vs.25). This scriptural illustration shows that it was possible and still is, for souls long gone to remember their lives on earth! People who are presently in Hell and in Heaven retain all the capacities of their SOULS: their intellect, will, emotions and memories. This confirms that the soul is directly connected to the human spirit and goes wherever the spirit may go. It also means that our loved ones who died in Christ and are in Heaven will remember and recognize us in the sweet by-and-by. Eternal souls are cognizant, aware, living beings with all the capacity to reason and recall all they had while on planet Earth. Unfortunately, this is also true with those who end up in Hell. But there will remain an eternal DIVISION between the two sets of souls!

To re-cap: the human spirit is the real man, the innermost man, the human core or nucleus. He is the daily renewed “inward man” (Rom.7:22; 2Cor.4:16); He is the “hidden man of the heart” (1Pet.3:4). The main organs of the spirit are: intuition or inspiration, conscience, and communion. The spirit emanated from the breath of God; hence is the one that can commune with God and contact the ‘spirit realm.’ Inside the spirit is the life-force that keeps the soul and body alive and functioning. A person is not dead until the spirit has been severed from the body. When the body dies, it decays– goes back to the dust from whence it came – while the spirit-soul lives on. But the spirit also does not function independently in the natural realm. It expresses itself through the soul and body. The Word of God is central to the workings of the triune man, because it is the only means of “division” between the spirit and soul, and the only agency of renewal of the soul to align with the virtues of the spirit.