Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple
Heb 4:12
12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
IMO "soul" in this verse speaks of the natural man as here:
1 Cor. 15:42-49
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Many times the soul simply refers to man himself which includes a body. Man also has a spirit. The word of God discerns where one starts and the other ends.
The same verse gives a parellism speaking of the joints and marrow (natural man, flesh) and thoughts and intents of the heart, (spirit", inner man).
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I am thinking the Word being like a sword is a simile (or metaphor). And therefore "dividing asunder" is part of the metaphor/simile of the sword. A sharp two-edged sword can split joint and marrow apart. It can also "divide soul and spirit", that is, separate a living soul from its life-giving energy (spirit), or in simple terms, kill a man. That deadly efficiency is transferred to the rhema (Spirit-anointed prophetic preaching of the Gospel, see
Eph 6:17) in that the rhema/logos can discern (or disclose) the thoughts and intents of the heart (
1 Cor 14:24-25).
So I am saying the passage is NOT saying that "the Bible separates or distinguishes the soul from the spirit". Dividing of soul and spirit seems more a euphemism for taking a life, a function of a sharp sword, just like cleaving joints and marrow.
Which actually relates to the idea of God slaying enemies by His mouth, word, or sword that comes from His mouth, but that's another tangent.