What is the difference between the Soul and the Spirit – How to Divide

What is the difference between the Soul and the Spirit?

At The Shoe Ministries, God has given us a dividing line.  This line was given to us in a miraculous way and by using this principle of the Line, we are able to, not only divide between soul and spirit but also know what is the difference between the soul and the spirit.

Let’s start with the spirit

The way to understand the soul and the spirit in a Biblical sense is by using the cross. We are an artistic family and we use pictures to explain spiritual truths.  In this picture you can see the head or face of a person with a cross on it. The horizontal beam of the cross divides between the soul and the spirit of man.  The horizontal line runs across the forehead on the same place Jesus Christ wore his thorn crown. Where the horizontal and vertical beams cross, marks the spot where Goliath was killed with David’s stone from his sling shot.

The upper part of the cranium is where the spirit of man resides. Remember there is a difference between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God. When we draw the line across the forehead the upper part of the cranium represents a rising sun, like in the second picture here.

The spirit of man should be as calm and at peace as a beautiful, tranquil sunrise. In a calm spirit we make contact with God. The aim is that we want the Spirit of God to rule in our spirit.

The soul of man

Unfortunately we have a lower sinful nature that steals our peace.

When God created Adam He blew a breath into him which is the living soul. (Genesis 2:7)  This living soul part of man is where the will, intellect, feelings and emotions reside. We are naturally ruled by things that come out of the living soul to rule in the spirit of man. For example things like fear, anger and pride, come out of the living soul, below the Line, into the spirit of man and causes a different ruling spirit of fear, anger, pride and so on.

How to divide between soul and spirit

The work Jesus did on the cross was to divide between spirit and soul. By understanding the work of Calvary we can be saved from the way the natural sinful man comes into the spirit, from below. When we give our lives to Christ, His Spirit comes to live in our spirit, to teach us how to overcome the sinful nature of the living soul. The idea is that the spirit of man will be the throne of Christ and the living soul part, will die as the will, intellect, feelings and emotions of God come into our spirit.  The Bible calls this indwelling adversary the flesh. In Galatians 5 we are given a list of the fruits of the flesh. We are all capable of these things as they reside in us naturally.

Gal 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

This list is not complete for words like evil, Devil, Satan, wicked, sorrow, ignorance should have been here also. This is what our natural sinful man looks like.  These things are in us but it is for us to discipline ourselves and practice self-control. As we know the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Because it is just about impossible to really deal with this part in us, God sent His Son to die to the flesh and rise in the Spirit.

In Luke 9:23 He invited us to follow; To lay down our life (flesh), take up our cross and follow Him daily. We can crucify those things we know should not come into the spirit. We can crucify those things we are heavily loaded with, nail it to the cross, die to it, and then rise in the Spirit free from the things that steal our peace. We invite the Holy Spirit to guide us in these things and gradually the fruit of the Spirit begins to flow from us.

Gal 5:24:  “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

Gal 5:22-23:  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Gal 5:25:  “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Conclusion

When we look at a man with a living soul and spirit; he is called a soul. A man who has not been saved from the flesh, or is not at least taking part in becoming a better person is longing to be fulfilled with the nature of God. These unfulfilled people are the ones who listen to soul music and are constantly looking for love in the wrong places because they long to be fulfilled with love, joy and peace in their spirit.

1 Cor 15:45:  “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

In the past it has not been possible to explain the soul and spirit in this way because no one knew what the cross stood for. The Line was found by an artist family in 2005- in a miraculous way.  Read about how the Line came about here.

Read more about the miracle of the Line and how it came about on the ‘About The Line’ post on this website.  The Line is useful in explaining and understanding all religions and every possible controversial Biblical question.  Look at the right side menu for more articles or under the ARTICLES tab at the top.

Recommended reading to continue with this topic:

Click here to read the foreword on each book or to obtain a PDF or hard copy.

These books cover the following topics:

• The Garden of Eden – The Spiritual meaning of the Garden
• The flood and the ark – The Spiritual meaning of the Ark
• The Exodus out of Egypt – The passing through the Red Sea – The Spiritual meaning of it.
• All other Bible stories explained.
• The Promised Land
• The Virgin birth explained logically.
• The book of Revelation explained logically
• The true work of the Cross and what happened in the spiritual world during the crucifixion.

And much much more…

Don’t like reading?  Then get the DVD’s instead or watch our online Videos.