Words to Live by is a weekly devotional email of Scriptures and quotes that highlight and expound upon our Union with Christ. If you’d like to receive devotionals like the one below, please subscribe using this link.

Wednesday March 26, 2025

The Difference Between Soul and Spirit

“The writer to the Hebrews likens the difference between soul and spirit to the joints and marrow in our physical bodies. The marrow is what contains the inner life of the bones–a picture of spirit. The joints are the way by which that inner life goes into action in hands and feet, etc.–analogous to soul. And he says we have spirit and soul so mixed up that it takes a revelation for us to see the difference. ‘For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit’ (4:12).

In simple terms, in our spirits we love. By our soul emotions and body action we express our love. In the spirit we know. By the soul we express our knowledge by our reasoning faculty. (Peter shows the relationship between those two when he says we should be ready to give ‘a reason for the hope that is in us.’) So soul and body are the precious and only means by which we–our spirit, and God’s Spirit by us–can express ourselves.

The quality of Spirit-spirit union is stillness, for the universal is always still. ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ God spoke to Elijah in a ‘still, small voice.’ Spirit can be compared to the sea, which, with its mighty currents and streams, is a ‘still’ source of power; the soul is like the rampaging waves which dash about as the expression of that power. The power is in the sea, and not in the waves.

So our danger and problem–till we are awakened to it–is in mistaking the surges of the waves (soul emotions) for the unmoved and calm center (spirit). We get into trouble when we mistake the variable emotions of the soul for our still spirit-center. The waves are feelings such as anger, hurts, jealousies, fears, lusts; or alternatively, soul feelings of depression, deadness, uselessness, meaninglessness, coldness, emptiness, inability to believe–an endless list. The same is true of our soul in its reasoning activities. All kinds of disturbing or evil thoughts can pour into us, with all the doubts and questionings they bring, and influence our mental attitudes. Notice that this verse of Scripture also compares soul and spirit to ‘the thoughts and intents of the heart’: intents, our spirit–fixed purpose; thoughts, our soul–varied opinions about the intents.

That is also why John in his First Epistle (3:19-21) makes a differentiation between our hearts and God. He says, ‘If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.’ ‘Heart,’ representing feelings, is soul–and we can get plenty of condemnation in our feelings.  But God, who knows all and doesn’t condemn, speaks His assuring word into our spirits.

Even so, it is easy, outwardly, to be strongly drawn by some desire of the heart and seem to be helpless against it. But in my spirit-center, where God is, I know my real desire is His will, and He keeps His firm hold on me.”

Taken from: Yes, I Am

By Norman Grubb

Pages 164-165