Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word divides the spirit from the soul just as the sword divides the marrow from the joints which are the bones. The marrow is not the same as the bones. The marrow is something within the bones, the joints. In the same principle the spirit is something within the soul. It is easy for people to see the bones. But it is not so easy for people to realize what the marrow is. You have to break the bones to get to the marrow. In like manner, the spirit is under the covering of the soul, but it is absolutely different from the soul.
Luke 1:46-47 says, “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” My soul magnifies and my spirit has rejoiced. These verses again clearly show the uniqueness of the soul and the spirit. The spirit firstly rejoices and then the soul magnifies the Lord. Again, if we are going to know the spirit, we have to see the difference between the spirit and the soul.
In the teaching of the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, it always tells us that we have to deny the soul, to lose the soul, but it never tells us that we have to deny the spirit. In the Epistles, we are always told that we have to walk according to spirit, live in the spirit, and do things by the spirit. In the Gospels is the denying of the soul; then in the Epistles you have walking according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4). The New Testament doesn’t tell us to walk and live and do things in the soul.
Matthew 10:38-39 says, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his soul (the word here in Greek is “psuche,” meaning soul) shall lose it, and he who loses his soul for My sake shall find it.” Then Matthew 16:24-26 says, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his soul shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he should gain the whole world, but forfeit his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” The soul must be denied.
Then Mark 8:35-36 says, “For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever will lose his soul for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Luke 9:24-25 says, “For whosoever will save his soul shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his soul for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” In Matthew it says “lose his own soul.” Here it says “lose himself.” That means to deny the soul.
John 12:25 says, “He who loves his soul loses it, and he who hates his soul in this world shall keep it unto eternal life.” In all the four Gospels the Lord told us again and again that we have to lose the soul, to deny the soul, but you cannot find a word telling us that we have to lose the spirit or deny the spirit. On the contrary, the Epistles charge us to walk according to spirit, to do things in the spirit, and to pray in the spirit (Rom. 8:4; Rom. 1:9; Eph. 6:18). In the teachings of the Gospels we are told to deny the soul, to lose the soul, but in the teachings of all the Epistles we have to take care of the spirit, walk in the spirit, and we have to do things, to pray in the spirit. So there is a big, big difference between the soul and the spirit.
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