Heb 4:12
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
This is a passage I keep coming back to again and again. I meditate on it, study it, preach it, teach it…it’s been a consistent theme for me for more than twenty years. I’m still not sure I quite get it though.
Post-enlightenment westerners tend to think of words as tools to transmit data. That’s not how we experience them though, is it? Cruel words tear us down and wound us deeply. Encouraging words can build us up and cause hope to spring up in the deep places of our hearts. Words about data do in fact transmit data, but words about identity do much more.
God’s words do so much more than transmit correct information about doctrine (what we’re supposed to agree with) and morals (what we’re supposed to do). God’s word is living and powerful. God’s word is alive and it does stuff! A lot of the stuff it does is external to me. The entire universe has been formed and is being sustained by God’s word. But that’s not the focus of this verse.
God’s word divides soul and spirit. God’s word cuts to the deepest places within me. God’s word smells out every thought and motive within my heart. God’s word is living inside me! God’s word is doing stuff inside me! This is great news because inside me is where I need the most stuff done. How about you? We tend to think that if God would just fix our circumstances then everything would be ok. But that’s not really true. What’s wrong in my life is internal, not external, in the vast majority of instances.
One of the things I need to internally experience is the division of soul and spirit. My spirit is the deepest part of me. It’s the part of me that came to life when I accepted Christ. It’s the part of me that is one with him. It is from this spirit to Spirit connection that I receive the life that comes from his voice and presence.
My soul is my mind, emotions, and will – what I think, feel, and want. I’m very used to being ruled by my soul. It’s all I was ever ruled by before I became alive in Christ in my spirit. Now sometimes, quite often actually, it is necessary to distinguish between the strong force of what I think, feel, and want and the still small voice of the Spirit. God’s word is alive and powerful within me to help make this distinction.
4 Comments
Alan, forgive my verbosity (I will plunge into the depths of your stream..throw me a lifeline)…This morning , in our family devotion, we looked at Heb 4:12. It is the logos that is living and powerful. First, 1) John 1 is the logos made flesh…I have often wondered why the faith guys have made a bigger issue out of rhema over logos. Rhema simply means that the message is spoken, we all rhema all the time. Granted, if God 'speaks' that is powerful , but Logos includes more than mere speech. It has the idea that the actual substance of what is spoken IS IN the words expressed.Logos is the revelation and release of the reality…in the words themselves e.g. When I speak of the cross and it is actual logos not
just spoken words ..then by the Spirit, the cross is not a historic act that we are recalling..but the power and effect of the cross are actually present at that moment ,active and powerful for the hearer ! The actual reality of the cross is present at that moment IN THE WORDS ! Jesus is the logos of God..He is the actual revelation of the interior reality of God. The exact representation of God (charakter- the stylus that engraves) into us..Himself living and present. Logos is the reality of what is spoken
IN THE WORDS as they are proclaimed.
2) Heb 4:12 ( as per our devotion today)is couched in the flow of a divine calling (invitation) throughout the book of Hebrews. The Lord is calling (3:1;4:1,3,11,16;10:10 etc.), we are not to ask to be excused from this calling(invitation) to draw near into His rest, like the Israelites did at Sinai , when they told Moses, "you go talk to Him for us." (Heb. 12:25).
But 4:12 indicates that the logos is like a sword
that cuts us apart (4:13)..just like a priest would do to a sacrifice when it was brought to the altar. He would take this part and separate it to the fire,that part to the priest, to be burned, to be thrown away, to be eaten (DIVIDING soul, spirit, joints, marrow,etc.). We accept the "living and powerful" invitation (logos) to come near to Him..and He is present IN THAT Word
as a sword to separate our interior as we offer ourselves on the altar and His living word (logos) cuts us apart and discerns between thought and intents…Then verse 13 closes with the phrase "to whom we must give account". The word 'acount' is logos.(we must reveal our interior to Him.)
So , He sends His interior reality (logos ) to us and calls us to come to Him..because we shall reveal our interior (logos) to Him at some point. We might as well do it now when His grace is reigning..and not wait till later when the season of grace has concluded.
Mike,
Great thoughts. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and share.
I really like your simple distinction between rhema and logos – rhema simply being the spoken version of logos. I've been using that so long I think I forgot I learned it from you!
My next post will be about vs. 13, specifically the idea of "naked and laid bare" – trechalidzo, and will go more into the idea of the imagery of the priest, with a sword, and me up on the altar with my neck bent back. Fun times!
Alan, This is a great post and a place that I too am still learning. Finding the line between Spirit and soul and using the Word to bring my soul into order. Sounds simple, but hard to do! Thanks for reminding me that the Word is so able…He is able.
"God's word smells out every thought and motive within my heart"…
That brings such vivid imagery to my mind. It literally takes God's word and makes it active…which, duh, is exactly what you're speaking to here.
As I've written to Bob before, there is generally one line in each blog I read that God brightens in my heart…the word He is speaking to me in any particular teaching…the point He wants to make on my heart that day.
God's Word – Jesus – "smelling out my thoughts and motives" is so active, such an invasion of my "personal boundaries" [or personal space that we all think we should have], that it makes me a little uneasy. Not because I don't want Him to but because it's a hardcore reminder that I hide nothing from Him. He'll sniff everything out like a bloodhound, but not to rat me out to hunters…to get me to see it so He can change it.
I'm just gonna let this settle over me for a bit this morning…