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Transcript 143A
The Division of Soul and Spirit [Heb 4:12-13]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. You were talking about Hebrews 4:12 and 13. And it brought up a question that I wanted to ask earlier, but I had forgotten about it. The King James Version says that the Sword (God's Word) separates the soul and the spirit. What is the difference between a man's soul and a man's spirit?
HC: The question is raised, What does Hebrews 4:12 mean when it speaks about the Word of God, which is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit? And we could go on with the question, "and of joints and marrow."
Actually, sometimes these words soul and spirit are synonymous. The inner essence of man, the part of man that leaves the body at death, sometimes is called the soul and sometimes is called the spirit. But here it talks about the division of soul and spirit. And so it's not using soul and spirit in the same sense.
Now the word spirit is also the same word as breath. And when our breath is separated from our soul, that's at the point when we are dying, or when we have died. The breath of life has returned to God. And the breath of life of every individual returns to God at death. And in our soul, we either go into Hades, if we're unsaved, or we go into the presence of Christ if we are saved. Only at death is there a separation between soul and spirit.
Now by the same token, it goes on and speaks about the division of joints and marrow. Now the marrow is inside the bone, and the separation of joints and marrow only comes at death. As long as a man is alive, there is no separation of joints and marrow. So it indicates that the Word of God is piercing to the death of a man. It is the Word of God that is our judge, that actually will condemn us at the Judgment Throne, because if we are unsaved, the wages of sin is death. And sin is known to be sin by comparing our actions and thoughts, and so on, against the Bible, which is the Word of God.
CALLER: Okay, then it's talking about death. It's talking about of what goes on into the after-life and what stays here after death.
HC: I would say that it is a synonymous thought to John 12:48, where it speaks in this way: "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings has a judge. The Word that I have spoken will be his judge on the Last Day." The Word of God is a two-edged sword. It cuts away, but it also condemns. It is the "savor of life unto life," we read in Corinthians, or it is the "odor of death unto death." And if a man is unsaved, it is going to come against that man at the Judgment Throne. At death it's going to condemn him.