Dividing Soul and Spirit

By Rev. J. Patrick Bowman

God has been speaking to me over the last few weeks in my time of Bible study and directed me to several passages. At first I was not sure how or if these passages related to one another but now see that they do in ways that were surprising to me. I hope this article will unfold in such a way that the clarity I found in these scriptures will be retained in my writing about them. I am going to start with part of a long conversation Jesus had with His disciples as recorded in John 15:1-11 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Fathers commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (NASB)
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As we begin, lets look at verses 1-3. We see here several keys for the rest of the passage. First of all Jesus refers to Himself as the true vine; not a true vine, but the true vine. Jesus is unique. He is not just one of several leaders we can choose from in the apostasy of religious smorgasbordism. He also calls Himself the true vine, or real and genuine as the Greek puts it. If He is the real and genuine, that tells me there are false and nongenuine vines, but Ill save that for a later writing. We also see that the Father is the vinedresser. God owns the land, He does the planting, He does the pruning, and He maintains His vineyard. He is the husbandman. God gets His hands dirty in the affairs of His children. The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof.

Next we see that there are two kinds of branches; those that do not bear fruit and those that bear fruit. Both are cut, one in removing and one in pruning. We also notice that the unfruitful and fruitful branches were each in the vine (every branch in Me) until the husbandman, the land worker, either removed them or cut them back. At issue is fruitfulness or the lack thereof. What does this fruit look like? What is acceptable fruit in the vineyard of the Lord? Galatians 5:22-23 shows us. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (NASB)
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The taking away here is the lifting up and removing from, while the pruning refers to cleansing, purifying without stain or spot, so that they may produce more fruit. Jesus tells His disciples in verse 3 that they are already clean; clean or pure in the spiritual sense from the pollution and guilt of sin. And how? Because of the word, logos, that He had spoken to them. And in that speaking, the logos became rhema, that substance of what was being spoken, to them and that living word did its work in them. When Jesus speaks to us, mighty things happen! Hebrews 4: 12 talks about that logos. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any twoedged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (NASB)
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Now the context of this verse has to do with entering Gods rest. So we see here that the word of God is a living, operative word. Its an active and moving word that is sharper than any two-edged sword. Its piercing capabilities go as far as the dividing of the soul (psuche) and spirit (pneuma). In further illustration, Paul adds joints and marrow. Now the joint is a part of the body that denotes joining. It works in relation to bones coming together and moving. But marrow is the life within the bone, the deeper inner most part. The marrow produces the blood. Life is in the blood. The joints may give movement, but they dont give life. I had bone marrow disease several years ago and could feel life leaving me at times. I knew when I needed that next transfusion. Continuing, Paul adds the words ability to judge, or discriminate between the thoughts (like joints) and intentions (like marrow) of the heart. Its interesting here that one of the Greek words for judge, kritikos, is used only in this verse and means one whose special gift is to judge. That is speaking of the sharpness of His word. The soul allows us to function in this

world and connect with other human beings but it is the spirit of man that is mans vertical window to God and partners with God for life in the fullest sense. Paul continues in Hebrews 4 with the following statement. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (NASB)
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We cant hide from God. It is hard work to try. And no matter how many ways we try with our soul to sew fig leaves together to cover our nakedness, it does us no good. Looking back to our illustration in John, I believe that the difference between the two types of branches is that the fruitful branches related to the vine by the spirit, while the unfruitful branches tried to maintain a relationship with the vine by the soul. In fact, I see this very thing happening in John chapter 8. As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. 31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 33 They answered Him, We are Abrahams descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, You will become free?34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abrahams descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. (NASB)
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Verse 31 is usually the first verse in a new section in many Bibles, but I want us to look at it as a continuation of the previous section and so I start with verse 30. We see here that Jesus was speaking to those who came to believe in Him by the words that He had previously spoken. So they were in the vine but look at how they wanted to maintain that relationship. Jesus wanted them to continue or abide in His word, obey what He said, come into discipleship, and come into freedom by the truth, or the applied word they would receive by abiding. This was the yoke He wanted them to willingly come into because it is easy and His burden is light. It is always easier to do something Gods way than to labor in the soul realm. They wanted to base their relationship with Jesus on their association with Abraham. Their soulish pride was not something Jesus was going to relate to. Our soul realm of mind, will, and emotions, when ungoverned by our spirit, always become perverse. And by verse 59 they were picking up stones to throw at Him. How many in the body of Christ today are trying to maintain their connection to the true vine by denominational

association, or worship style, or by their association with specific teachers or movements, or church culture? These may help facilitate organizational programs, agendas, and relationships with others, and the teachers may be teaching good stuff that builds us up. But they do not provide life. We dare not try to maintain our relationship with Christ on these, as good as they are. Life happens at the deeper inner most part. And without this life, the branch cannot produce fruit and is then removed from the vine. The problem is not in the vine, but the branch. The problem is in the abiding. Returning to John 15, lets now focus on verses 4-6. In verse 4 Jesus brings His parable down to a personal level with His disciples. Abide in Me, he tells them, and I in you. The branch is fruitless unless it abides in the vine, and so are you unless you abide in Me. The word abide here is the Greek meno and means, in verses 1-8, to remain, abide, dwell. The meaning is slightly different in verses 9 and 10. So Jesus is telling them that if they remain, abide, dwell in Him, He will be able also to remain, abide, dwell in them. Where there is no abiding, there is no fruit. In verse 5 He finally identifies them as the branches He is referring to. And He makes reference to the pruning of verse 2 by telling them that this mutual abiding produces much fruit. He then reminds them that outside of Him, they can do nothing. In verse 6, Jesus again refers back to the removing of the branches of verse 2 in telling them of the consequences of not abiding in Him. Going back to Hebrews for just one thought, could it be that the two-edged sword has to do with its double purpose of lopping off dead branches as well as pruning the fruitful ones to bear more fruit? In verse 7 Jesus makes quite a promise to them. He says if they abide in Him and His words abide in them, whatever they ask will be done for them. Here words refers to rhema; the spoken, uttered word, the subject matter of the word spoken. To be in such a place that the very words He spoke to them would become the substance of what was spoken only comes by abiding. And in that place the asking would always be in accordance with what the substance had already established within them. No misguided or soulish prayers here. Just them returning to God in prayer the living truth He had placed in them through abiding. In verse 8 we learn how the Father is glorified, which means the realization and manifestation of all God has and is. The bearing of much fruit by pruned branches is the manifestation of God and also proves ones discipleship relationship with Jesus. A Disciple is an adherer who accepts the instruction given and makes it his rule of conduct; the exact opposite of the Jews who believed but did not accept instruction in John 8.

Jesus now turns to love. He lets them know in verse 9 that as the Father has loved Him, He has also loved them. Then He tells them to abide in His love. Abide here means to persevere, continue, keep on. And He refers to His love as agape, which means charity, but as the one being loved needs, not necessarily wants. Pruning, when it comes in our lives, is never pleasant at the time. But the yield of righteousness afterwards should give us occasion to rejoice in Gods providence for us. He is skillful beyond measure and never makes a bad cut. He cuts deep but He also cuts clean. He knows what we need. So, how do we abide or persevere in His love, the love that takes account of our needs? Jesus says, in verse 10, by keeping His commandments. To keep means to watch and actively observe. He says it has worked well for me to actively obey My Fathers commandments, so follow my example in obeying me. And why did Jesus tell them these things? Verse 11 has Jesus telling His disciples so that His joy may be in them and their joy may be made full. He is saying I want you to have My overflowing delight and that in you My delight may be made full, complete, in perfecting you. Even here fruitfulness is on the Saviors mind. Since the word of God is the divider, discerner, and judge, we must trust the word in areas of faith and practice. The soul is always ready to rise up and try to take dominion over the spirit, the seat of the corruptible seed trying to usurp authority over the incorruptible seed. We must bring all that we think and do to the word and continue abiding in its direction to us. Only by this will we abide in truth and see the complete perfecting of our lives in Christ. As you review the scriptures I have shared here and the associations I have made, I hope you will find them as waters to swim in. I am not sure if the waters will get deeper but usually they do. So what I share with you in this writing is just an invitation to jump in the water with me and get wet. Take it yourself and go to the depths the Holy Spirit will lead you.