SOUL AND SPIRIT -- HEBREWS 4:12

 

Hebrews 4:12 Soul and Spirit

The word “soul” (psyche) is actually used in three different senses in the New Testament:

    Soul = person

        “We were in all 276 souls in the ship.” Acts 27:37

        “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities...” Romans 13:1

        “...eight souls were saved through water.” I Peter 3:20

    Soul = non-material aspects of mankind

        “...fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

This last passage is a clear example of a BIPARTITE DIVISION.

    Soul = Personality

        “...the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit...” Hebrews 4:12

        “...may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Thessalonians 5:23

These passages further divide the non-material person into spirit and soul, resulting in a TRIPARTITE DIVISION.

However, we should keep in mind that whichever division one pictures, it isn't as if we can clearly identify which part of us is soul/spirit and which is body. We are all of them at the same time. It is somewhat akin to the nature of Christ, who was wholly God and wholly man.

Taking a tripartite definition of “soul,” it is usually further subdivided into three aspects that make up our personality: intelligence, emotion, and will. And these are easy to memorize by considering the Wizard of Oz, since each of Dorothy's three friends – the scarecrow, tin woodsman, and lion, respectively – is missing one of these three parts of a balanced personality. All three are really necessary for the integrated Christian life, or any life for that matter.

But what can we say regarding Hebrews 4:12 with its unusual statement regarding the word of God being able to pierce between soul and spirit? Here are the words of a few scholars attempting to explain the various aspects of this passage:

Distinctions Between Soul and Spirit

Buchanan: “Psyche comes from the verb psycho, 'to breathe,' 'make cool or cold,' as a breeze does. Pneuma also means wind, air, breath. Paul contrasted between the first Adam, who was a 'living soul' (psychen zosan) and the last Adam who was a pneuma zoopoioun, 'a 'life-giving spirit.' In religious circles, psyche was sometimes identified with secular life, which a person surrendered for 'life' (zoe) in a communal order under the covenant. Spirit (pneuma) was related more closely to zoe (religious life) than to psyche (secular life). The author of this poem may have wanted to distinguish between the spirit (psyche) which constituted physical breath that keeps animate beings alive, and the holy breath of spirit (pneuma) that provided religious life with its necessary basis.”

Authorship

The author of Hebrews is anonymous, and therefore there has been much speculation regarding his identity. This book was traditionally included among the Pauline epistles. However, as Lane says, the author “employs a distinctive range of images that are not found in Paul (Heb 2:1; 4:12,13; 6:7-8,19)...” On the other hand, Bruce notes: “With the 'living' word we may compare Stephen's reference to the 'living oracles' received by Moses at Sinai (Acts 7:38), and Peter's description of 'the word of God, which liveth and abideth' (I Pet. 1:23).” Interestingly, Luke has been closely associated with the writing of both those books.

And as D.L. Allen points out in much more detail, that is not by far the only correspondence the language in Hebrews 4:12 has with the writings of Luke:

Medical language has been detected first by Delitzsch in 4:12-13; 5:12-14; and 12:11-13. This is not unexpected in light of Luke's description by Paul as “beloved physician.”

Allen suggests that “scalpel”is a better translation than “sword” in 4:12.

“The first thing that strikes us about 4:12-14 is that only in Luke and here in Hebrews do we find the exact phrase 'double-edged sword.' Second, the phrase we translate as 'sharper than' where huper is the comparative preposition is compared by Westcott to Luke 16:8.”

Next, Travis states, “'Heart' (kardia) is the seat of human will and desire. It is the source of emotions and passions (Jas 3:14), understanding and reflection (Heb 4:12), and hence the whole inner being in contrast with the external aspect (Heb 10:22; I Pet 3:4; I Jn 3:19-21).”

For more concerning the Lukan authorship of both Hebrews and I Peter, see my posts titled “I Peter: Introduction to the Literary Structure” and “Book of Hebrews: Introduction to the Structural Analysis.”

Divine Power and Judgment

Kreitzer: “A number of NT passages speak of future eschatological judgment, particularly associated with the Parousia [Second Coming] of Jesus Christ.” He lists no less than fifteen passages within Hebrews, including Heb. 4:12-13.

Newman: “Disobedience cannot be hidden form the 'eyes of him' who knows and sees all (Heb 4:11-12).”

Ellingworth: “The main emphasis of these verses is on God's power, and thus the power of his word, to examine and discern. His power to judge is implied and perhaps indirectly his power to destroy the guilty...However, the destructive power of God's word is not emphasized...”

Seifrid:”Disobedience to the word that God has spoken in his Son brings about a more severe punishment than rejection of Moses (Heb 4:12-13; 6:7-8; 16:26-31: 12:25).”

Stibbs says that God's word “penetrates into a man's inmost being and, like a dissecting knife, forces open a radical division and distinction between things that differ in human life. It brings under judgment the thoughts and ideas of man's mind and will (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5).”

“To separate between 'soul and spirit' was as difficult as distinguishing between 'designs and intentions of the mind'...the author wished to show that there was no area out of God's reach, physical, spiritual...,and intentional or moral.” (Buchanan)

The Word

That leaves one major point to be pinned down – the exact nature of the “word of God” mentioned in this passage. And, as usual then it comes to scholarly opinions, there is somewhat less than a full consensus.

“For this Word is God's Word. It shares the very attributes of God Himself. It is living and acting, and full of activity and power to achieve. In it God Himself is active.” (Stibbs)

“Ho logos tou theou [the word of God] is found only here and in 13:7, where it clearly refers to the Christian message. In the present, largely nonchristological context, a wider reference is probable, namely to God's warnings to his people throughout OT and NT times (cf. v. 11). The genitive is subjective: not a message about God, but one spoken by God...The word of God is personified. However, the majority patristic and medieval view that the phrase refers to the Son, as in Rev. 19:15,21 (but not Eph. 5:17), has no support either in the immediate context here, nor in the epistle as a whole.” (Ellingworth)

“Recently a few scholars have tried to revive the traditional exegesis of Hebrews 4:12-13 in terms of the personal logos ['Word']. More likely, however, the word of God described in Hebrews 4:12 is the 'living' and 'discerning' address of God (Heb 4:13)...” (Rainbow)

Hodges treats the “word of God” as the Old Testament Scriptures and states that “it is able to discriminate successfully between what is spiritual in man and what is merely 'soulish' or natural...and does so even when these often-contradictory inner elements are interwoven as closely as joints and marrow. The inner life of a Christian is often a strange mixture of motivations both genuinely spiritual and completely human. It takes a supernaturally discerning agent such as the Word of God to sort these out and to expose what is of the flesh.”

“The expression 'word of God' may refer to that message of God spoken either through the prophets or by Christ and His apostles which in itself possesses a dynamic so great that when heard and retained it creates anew (cf. Rom. 1:16), or it may simply be a circumlocution for God himself, as was sometimes done.” (Hawthorne)