Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

* Hebeews IV. 12. 403
essence, immortal ; the chief endowment whidi he has brought
along with him is that of self-consciousness in the higher sense, and
with this the consciousness of God ; thus his nature possesses the
internal necessity of developing itself on the basis of individuality
given by nature, to a self-determining ^ersowaZ%, io fill itself with
an endless existence. And thus the same centre of life, viewed as
self-conscious, bears the name of nvevna. The nvevfia is V'^A^^ in
respect of its fundamental quality derived from nature, the 'ipvx^] is
nvevfia in respect of its personal development. This then affords also
a complete explanation of the passage in 1 Thess. v. 23. The whole
man,—spirit, soul, and body, is to be preserved blameless. The
keeping blameless of the soul can certainly be distinguished from
that of the spirit, without its being necessary to infer from this, that
the soul is a second substance separable from the spirit. The body
is kept blameless, when it is shielded from disease and preserved
from vicious defilement, the soul, when it is preserved from insanity
(distraction of the soul, frenzy), and pollution through unregulated
instincts and passions, the spirit, when it is protected against error
and sin.
We cannot, therefore, speak of a separation of the soul from
the spirit (and with this the possibility falls to the ground of comprehending
the fiepionog, etc., under the figure of the sword). On
the other hand, an excellent sense is. evolved when we regard the
soul as something lying deep within man, the spirit as lying still
deeper, and the word of God as penetrating into the soul, and thence
still deeper, even into the spirit.
For, the first and more superficial
effect of the gospel is, that it in many ways stirs and moves the
mind,—the complex assemblage of feelings derived from nature,—it
involuntarily seizes the mind, binds and disturbs it. This stirring
and arresting effect on the ipvx^ it exercises in wider circles, even
among the unawakened ; it exercises this effect in national churches
upon the nation, sinks itself into the heart as a still slumbering
seed-corn, keeps hold of the man although he may not yet, by any
free act of his own, have decided in favour of the gospel and its
reception, and works on in the sphere of the soul, produces a strange
and unaccountable uneasiness, and again gives comfort like a soft
balm; in all this, it is only the 'ipvxv which has experienced its
power. Soon, however, it penetrates still deeper, works no longer
merely in the sphere of the involuntary activities of the soul, where
no conscious resistance is made to it, but penetrates into the watchfully
conscious life of the thoughts, passes from the svdvuriaeig to the
ewoiai, obtains for itself a place in the sphere of the conscious will
and voluntary thought, and carries on its plea with the old Adam
in the clear light of day, until the man is driven to a final decision
for or against the Gospel.