01.02. The "Soul" (psuche) And Its Functions
The next point for consideration is the question, What is the ` soul’ in distinction from the spirit, and what are its functions ? " Here some quotations from other writers will help us before we turn to the Scriptures, to discover what the Apostle means by the " dividing of soul and spirit ", and thus more clearly understand howspirit, soul and body " can be sanctified, and preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord. Tertullian, one of the Fathers who wrote in the early centuries of the Christian era, calls the " flesh "-or physical being-the " body of the soul ", and the soul thevessel of the spirit ". The soul stands between thespirit and the body, for " direct communication between spirit and flesh is impossible; their intercourse can be carried on only by means of a medium " *-the " soul " being that medium. The " soul was the meeting place, the point of union between body and spirit ", also writes Dr. Andrew Murray. " Through the body, man-the living soul (Genesis 2:7)-stood related to the external world of sense "; through the " spirit he stood related to the spiritual world ".
Pember explains the function of each very clearly when he says, " The body we may term the sense-consciousness; the soul the self-consciousness; and the spirit the God-consciousness ". Again he says, the body " gives us the use of the five senses "; and the soul, the " intellect which aids us in the present state of existence, and the emotions which proceed from the senses ", whilst the spirit is the highest part which " came directly from God, and by which alone we apprehend and worship Him ".
Dr. Andrew Murray accords with this, when he writes that the gifts with which the soul was endowed when man became a " living soul ", were those of " consciousness, self-determination, or mind and will "; and these were to be but the " mould or vessel " into which the life of the spirit was to be received. Dr. Murray also says " The spirit is the seat of our God-consciousness; the soul of our self-consciousness; the body of our world-consciousness. In the spirit, God dwells; in the soul, self; in the body, sense ".
Again, Pember writes concerning the creation of man, and how the tripartite being was formed-" God first moulded the senseless frame, and then breathed into itthe ’ breath of lives ’ (Genesis 2:7. The original is in the plural)," and this " may refer to the fact that the inbreathing of God produced a two-fold life-sensual (in the meaning of pertaining to the senses) and spiritual...." He adds, in a footnote, that possibly the meaning of the use of the plural in the " breath of lives ", is that " the inbreathing of God became the spirit, and at the same time by its action upon the body, produced the soul ".
Briefly, we see that all these writers practically define the " soul " as the seat of the personality, consisting of the will and the intellect or mind; a personal entity standing between the " spirit " with its openness to the spiritual world, and the " body "-open to the outer world of nature and sense-having the power of choice as to which world shall dominate or control the entire man.of For instance, when Adam walked in the garden of Eden, the spirit breathed into him by God dominated his " soul "-i.e., intellect, mind, will-and through the vessel the " soul " shone out in, and through, the earthly tabernacle of clay-the body-making it luminous with light, impervious to cold and heat, and able perfectly to fulfil the object of its creation.