What Is the
Difference Between Spirit and Soul?
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....
—Hebrews 4:12
The spirit and the soul are not the same.
Many years ago, back in the early 50's, I began an intensive
study on this subject. I got books from the leading Bible schools and
seminaries, both Pentecostal and denominational, to see what they taught on the
subject of man. None satisfied me. None were actually scriptural. They were
only scriptural, as the Bible says, "in part." I asked leading Bible
scholars and ministers across the nation. You would recognize some of their
names if I mentioned them. I even heard someone ask one of today's most well-known
ministers, "What is the difference between the spirit and the soul?"
He looked startled and said, "I thought they were the same." That was
the answer I got from most of the ministers I asked.
Yet how could they be the same? Paul, by the Spirit of God,
said they can be divided by the Word of God (Heb. 4:12). If you can divide
them, they cannot be the same.
Only the Word of God can divide the spirit and the soul,
however. The reason we have not been able to distinguish between them is that
we have not dug deeply enough into the Word. Years ago, in the western part of
the United States, they had what we call "the gold rush." People
rushed out West. They were going to get rich in a hurry. Most panned a little
gold out of creeks. Some found 18 How You Can Be Led By The Spirit Of God
a few nuggets lying on the ground. But if you really wanted
to strike it rich, you had to dig for it. The same is true in spiritual
matters: You can skim along on the surface of the Bible and pan out a little
gold here and there—and even find a nugget occasionally. But if you really want
to strike it rich, you have to dig down deep into the Word of God.
For 15 years I studied carefully, burning the midnight oil.
If there was anything I desired to know it was the difference between the
spirit and the soul. Eventually, I went through this process of elimination. I
wrote it down like this: With my body I contact the physical realm. (That goes
without argument.) With my spirit I contact the spiritual realm. That left only
one other part of me that made contact with any other realm. I knew then that
it had to be with my soul that I contacted the intellectual or soulish realm
(which includes the emotions and the intellect). So I wrote: With my soul I
contact the intellectual realm. Here is a scripture that helped me:
1 CORINTHIANS 14:14
14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but
my understanding is unfruitful.
The Amplified translation reads, "For if I pray in an
[unknown] tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind
is unproductive...."
Our understanding, our natural human mentality, is a part of
our soul.
Notice what Paul said. "My spirit prays, but my
understanding is unfruitful." He did not say, "When I pray in an
unknown tongue my soul prays." He did not say, "When I pray in
tongues, I pray out of my intellect, or out of my mind." He said in
effect, "I am not praying out of my What Is the Difference Between Spirit
and Soul? 19
soul when I pray in tongues; I am praying out of my spirit,
my heart, my innermost being." Do you remember what Jesus said?
JOHN 7:37-39
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, OUT OF
HIS BELLY shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (BUT THIS SPAKE HE OF THE SPIRIT, which they that believe
on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus
was not yet glorified.)
As a result of receiving the Holy Spirit, Jesus said,
"out of the belly shall flow rivers of living water." Another
translation reads, "out of the innermost being will flow rivers of living
water."
A Full Gospel pastor's daughter was six years old when she
and some of the children were off by themselves one night at a revival. Some of
these youngsters were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other
tongues. This little six-year-old, holding her stomach, ran up to her mother,
saying, "Momma, Momma, that came right out of my belly."
She was being scriptural. She was speaking in tongues from
her belly—her spirit, her innermost being. That's where tongues come from—the
Holy Spirit who resides in your spirit gives your spirit the utterance and you
speak it out.
Consider these scriptures together now. "The spirit of
man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the INWARD PARTS OF THE BELLY...
OUT OF HIS BELLY shall flow 20 How You Can Be Led By The Spirit Of God
rivers of living water...."
All the leadings I have ever received have come from out of
my spirit. And most of them have come while I was praying in other tongues. You
can understand why. Your spirit is active when you are praying in tongues.
One reason the church world as a whole has failed so
miserably is that it has done so much of just one kind of praying—praying with
the understanding, or mental praying. Christians have endeavored to fight
spiritual battles with mental abilities.
I have learned this through these many, many years. In every
crisis of life I have learned to look to my spirit inside me. I have learned to
pray in other tongues. While I am praying in other tongues, guidance comes up
from inside me. This is because my spirit is active. My body is not active, my
mind (my soul) is not active, but my spirit is active, and it is through my
spirit that God is going to guide me.
Sometimes I interpret what I am praying in tongues, and
through the interpretation I receive light and guidance (1 Cor. 14:13). But
most of the time, that is not so. Most of the time, just while I am praying in
tongues, from somewhere way down inside, I can sense something rise up in me.
It begins to take shape and form. I cannot tell anyone mentally how I know it,
because my understanding has nothing to do with it. But I know on the inside of
me what to do.
I follow that. I listen to my spirit. Because the spirit of
man is the candle of the Lord.
Source: How-to-be
led-by-the-holy-spirit by Kenneth E. Hagin
