Speaking With My Soul

Psalms, in a very special way, throw light on the relationship of the soul with itself and with God.

Roberto Sáez

"He will comfort my soul" (Psalm 23:3); "to you, oh Jehovah, I will lift my soul" (Psalm 25:1); "why art thou cast down my soul?" (Psalm 42:11) "...upon God alone doth my soul rest peacefully" (Psalm 62:1) "...unto thee do I lift up my soul" (Psalm 143:8); "praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits" (Psalm 103:2-5).

In Psalm 103 we can appreciate one of the many monologues of David. Often he can be seen to be speaking to himself, and at the same time speaking to God in the different states of his soul. This is something inherent to all men. All the religions encourage these practices because man universally has great queries inside himself. The Psalms in the Bible, in a very special way, throw light on the relationship of the soul with itself and with God. When approaching them we can appreciate how the soul behaves in the summits and valleys of life and how amid these experiences they seek after God for orientation.

We cannot observe the soul as one would a surgical cut in the brain; nor can we touch the soul with the fingers of our hand; however, the psyche is the object of study in Psychology and Psychiatry; Psyche, being part of the soul. The Greek word psyche is the one that is translated as soul in the Bible. The Bible makes a notorious difference between soul and spirit, something that science does not because its paradigms are based on Greek philosophy whose anthropological thought is dual; that is to say that it conceives of man as a being that it is constituted by soul and body, and the spirit being a synonym of the soul.

This has generated tremendous discussions through the centuries between the theologians and interpreters of the Bible; however a serious linguistic study, made by anyone who is an expert in the study of Biblical Hebrew and of the Greek of the New Testament, confirms that without doubt the Bible recognizes the human being as a tripartite being with spirit, soul and body. The problem is that man's spirit doesn't work because of sin and man's fall. Until, that is, Christ came and sent the Holy Spirit to regenerate the spirit of those who believe in him. But as this is something that only believers experience in Jesus Christ, science sees it as something religious and doesn't dare to consider the matter as it is not universal.

The salvation of God happens in man's spirit

Most evangelical language refers to salvation as a phenomenon that occurs in the soul. It is true that the Bible speaks of the salvation of the soul, but this does not interpret the term correctly because the salvation which the Bible speaks of in relation to the soul is a salvation that happened, is happening and will happen. When the Bible speaks of salvation in the perfect past, it refers to the salvation from eternal condemnation; when one speaks of being saved (gerund tense), it is speaking of a present salvation and this has to do with being saved from fear, from enemies, and from all the contingencies of ordinary life today; and when it speaks of us being saved in the future, it refers to the coming wrath that must be manifested in the world and which will not touch believers. The salvation of the soul according to the Bible has to be understood in this way: We were saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved.

Strictly speaking, salvation happens in man's spirit; that is where regeneration takes place or as it is otherwise called, 'new birth'; it is also known as 'conversion'. Paul tells us that we are "a habitation of God in the spirit" once we are "the temple of the Spirit" (notice that the word spirit is spelt in lowercase and uppercase, because it refers respectively to man's spirit and the Spirit of God).

The soul is benefited by the salvation in the spirit, from there and starting from conversion, the soul will begin to be dealt with by God, through the Holy Spirit together with the believer's spirit. Although the spirit is saved and the soul is also saved from eternal condemnation by the single fact of having been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, from now on it will begin to be corrected by the spirit, disciplined and taken to deny itself by means of the cross so that the believer doesn't live by the soul any longer, but by his spirit together with the Holy Spirit of God.

We can therefore understand why many Christians have not experienced spiritual growth in spite of being genuinely saved: it is due to not having experienced a true liberation of the spirit toward their souls; that is to say that the wealth of the life of God that is now in the believer's spirit has not been transferred to the soul. Why? Because of many factors which intervene in the development of the spiritual life and regrettably many Christians have not seen. For example, little or nothing is spoken of about Christ's cross in relation to the dealings of the cross with the soul of the believers - but much of the gospel of prosperity is spoken.

Our souls are being saved

This subtitle could be disconcerting for those who understand that salvation is something definitive in the life of believers. It has been taught in churches not to doubt salvation and that is fine. When saying that the soul is being saved we do not mean that salvation is lost, or that God has not still done a perfect work as so that we have the certainty of salvation. We can be assured that the work carried out by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross is a perfect work so as to provide us with certainty of our salvation beyond any doubt. We are not attempting to go against the security of salvation; rather we assure that the salvation is an accomplished fact for those who take hold of Christ's work. But this salvation has been done in the believer's spirit, and from there it has to manifest itself in the soul and, in this sense, the soul is being saved.

The biblical expressions mentioned above, such as "lifting the soul", "gain your souls", "save your souls", overseer of your souls", besides being monologues of the soul, clearly insinuate that the soul is being saved. It is not a completed product, but something that is being elaborated. When souls are neglected, they slip from the will of God and run the risk of being lost to worldliness. God sends tests and breakings to the soul so that it fears and clings to God, but many times the soul becomes hard in its haughtiness and it is not given to the edification of God. It is the case of numerous lukewarm, immature and carnal Christians.

The soul needs to be taken to the cross for its refinement. It is not about beating the soul until it is extinguished, but driving it toward the negation of itself so that it gives control to the spirit. This is not so easy, because it was accustomed to living an egocentric life, independent of God and of others. From the beginning of man's creation, when he sinned, his soul was developed to an extreme and came off its central axis, which was God, its creator.

Peter says that we have now returned "to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls." This means that our souls have a new direction again. To subject our souls to Christ's dominion is a form of saving the soul. To take up the cross and to follow after Christ is another form of saving our souls. The testings and disciplines that God sends us are also another form of saving our souls. "The purifying of the washing of water by the word" is another form of saving. God has put us in the school of discipline in order to get the subjection of the soul to the spirit. This will bring about the maturity needed to enter in to inherit His Kingdom. If this is not completed there won't be prizes or rewards at the judgment seat of Christ.

All humanistic activity has its origin in the soul and not in the spirit. There is no spirit in human letters, but there is a lot of inspiration from the soul. There are people who find "spirituality" in art; they cry when listening to a classical interpretation on a piano. People confuse that which is of the soul with that of the spirit because, as we said, the Greek culture spiritualized the soul. The Greek culture prior to Christ knew nothing about the regeneration of the spirit. And later, the wisdom of God in this respect was trapped in Aristotelian concepts about man's duality, and so ended up influencing great theological teachers, such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas of Aquinas.

Rewarded souls and punished souls

The Scriptures broadly teach the idea of rewards and punishments for souls. The texts are so numerous about the matter that it has led many to doubt the security of salvation in the New Testament; without realizing that the spirit is saved by faith without works, but that the soul, although also justified by the same faith, is exposed to the obedience or disobedience of the requirements of God.

Salvation is by faith and by grace, but that doesn't exclude the soul from the responsibility of obeying the faith. It is not that at the judgment seat of Christ everyone is tested as to who is saved and who is not, because all those who appear before that judgment seat are saved by faith; but yes it does warn that that judgment will be based on works and that whoever presents themselves with works of the flesh, their works will burn, but they themselves will be saved "as through fire." It testifies that those who present works whose materials are of gold, silver and precious stones will be rewarded. Those rewards are incentives so that we believers today motivate ourselves to sanctify our souls, denying the soul of its taste for carnal passions. It speaks of lashes for those servants who knowing the will of their Lord didn't get ready and they didn't act according to His will. The lashes are a form of punishment, not eternal but temporary, for not being prepared. From this we can gain an understanding that souls need to be channelled into the obedience of the spirit.

The Christian life is outlined in warlike terms: war, fights, weapons, combats, soldiers, battles etc. being thus, the behaviour of our souls is being evaluated from the heavens and it is impossible that those who make an effort in the grace and are faithful in taking up their cross every day to favour the interests of God, have the same results as those who lived the Christian life carelessly. There will be rewards for the faithful and punishment for the unfaithful.

Conversing with the soul

We can see, from what has been illustrated, how much need we have of speaking inward toward our being, in a monologue from the spirit to the soul - like David. We sometimes find that the spirit sees the errors in the soul like a brother sees his siblings' errors. But he meets with the problem that his brother doesn't accept his reproaches or reprimands because he considers himself superior to him. He looks down on him. Not only does he not see any of his own faults, he doesn't like anyone to tell him them either. The soul is complicated and very complex; it is full of abilities and, in fact, has very great powers which are out of place and that by activating them, only bad comes of it.

In states of defeat, the soul hides, withdraws, it is locked in labyrinths. It is then when it is necessary to say, like the Psalmist: "My soul, why are you so cast down inside me?" David advised his soul: "Wait on God because I must still praise him." He spoke with his soul like a fellow soldier, encouraging him or reminding him that he is to raise himself up toward God and not to fear and not to forget the many benefits that he has received from God. He maintained a communication with his interior life like this; which we would do well to imitate, since those same things usually happen to all men, at all times.

Some, or perhaps many, are indulgent with their souls. These, we could say, are those who love themselves too much; they prefer themselves so much that they never give way to others. How healthy it is to be judged by oneself, to be evaluated by the light of the word of God and by the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. Those who judge themselves here will be justified there. Those who do not, will be embarrassed because their bad works and hidden darkness will be exposed by the light of all those present at the judgment seat of Christ.

"...for whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it" (Luke 9:24). In this text, Jesus teaches that those who prefer themselves -that is, to prefer the life of his soul that consists of being centred in the 'self' - will make a terrible exchange: they will lose it. But those who lose their life preferring that of Christ before that of theirs will save their souls.

As we can see, there is a salvation from eternal condemnation by Christ's work, and there is a salvation from being absorbed with one's own soul to the point of losing the rewards in the day of Christ- which is the responsibility of each person. Eternal salvation is something great, but we must not conform with salvation alone; we must aspire to reign with Christ. Atrophied souls won't grow in eternal life; growth and maturity are achieved here. There is no such thing as that of an instantaneous perfection which is achieved simply by leaving this world. If you are indulgent with your soul instead of exhorting it, you are spoiling it, and instead of denying it of its appetites you give it loose rein, it will weigh you down for all eternity. Speak to your soul! Order it to get up!