Two Souled
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. (James 4:8)
James was very blunt in his only letter that we have today. He may have been the half-brother of the Lord and was a leader of the early church in Jerusalem. He was writing to the 12 tribes of Israel. Since all things (in the Bible) were written for our instruction, the Church can learn from this book. Some, perhaps mistakenly, have stated that Martin Luther (1483-1546) disliked the book of James. He certainly recognized its nature of being very different in purpose from the gospels. The man who had the revelation of “the just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17) saw the uniqueness of this book as being very practical, even painfully so.
James' purpose here is not to establish any doctrine of salvation as the apostles did. He deals with very concrete, practical matters. He would not write to unbelievers telling them to purify their hearts. He says this to believing Jews and Gentiles. Someone will say, “I thought that it was God that purifies us”.
...And he (God) shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, ...(Mal 3:3)
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he (God) saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)
That is correct. Then after a person is firmly grounded and established in the grace of God, James tells them to not be double minded or “two-souled”. Our inner man has two aspects. This is developed in A House of Two Rooms. This 92 page book may be read online free.
We are born from above in our spirit. We also have an unregenerate aspect to our inner man called our soul. The transformation of the soul happens when we allow what is in our spirit or in the Scriptures to have dominance over our natural mind. If we partially let this happen, we have compartmentalized our soul. We sort of allow God's thoughts to have some influence but at the same time we hold onto our natural, personal opinions. We are doubled-minded or two-souled in this condition. We fight against releasing our own thoughts but do also hold onto some of God's thoughts.
Get off the fence. Come in or go out but don't stand there with the door wide open.
When we decide to embrace what God says on a particular topic we allow transformation of the soul. We allow, in a sense, our hands to be cleansed and our hearts to be purified – in a practical way. Only God can clean us but we can allow or refuse this new life to have any effect on the unregenerate part of our us, our soul.
In John 13 Jesus is going to wash the disciples feet. He began to wash their feet and He came to Peter. Peter was incredulous. Jesus was not really going to wash Peter's feet was He? That was servant work.
Peter said to Him, Never shall You wash my feet! Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. (John 13:8 NASB)
Peter never volunteered to wash the feet of the disciples but he was definitely not going to allow Jesus to do servant-work for him. Jesus tells him that unless He washes him, Peter will have not part with Him. Peter panics.
9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus said to him, He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean:... (John 3:10 NASB)
Jesus said that He had washed them. Because of that, the only thing that would be necessary was the feet. The feet are the part that touches the ground, the earth. We are completely clean because Jesus has washed us. There is a part of us that touches the earth. In the analogy of the natural body, the person who bathes, then goes to a feast at a friend's house will arrive with dirty feet, yet he is completely clean (everywhere else).
Looking at the spiritual reality, if we are cleansed by the work of Jesus we are completely clean. However, there is a part of us that interacts with this world in this life. Our spirit is completely clean yet our soul (and body) touches the sin cursed world as we “walk” through it in our normal daily life.
We purify ourselves by the washing of the Word. We do not and cannot add to the work of God in our spirit.
The person who is not firmly grounded in the fact of Jesus' work cannot understand this (which is 95% of Christians in our day in the West). We choke on the truth of Christ's complete work. We do not really believe it fully. This is where Jesus command comes in,
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Jesus was saying, As I have washed your feet (physical) you ought to wash one another's feet (spiritual). We must forgive them for their weakness, for their humanness. We must have the same patience and love for the brothers as Jesus has for us.
I would be ashamed to tell you how many years (or decades) I have been a Christian without understanding this. Therefore I cannot have any impatience or anger toward another brother in the Lord. Neither can you. We have not “walked” through the filth and problems that others have. We must “wash their feet”, that unregenerate aspect of the human being that is in daily contact with a unclean world.
Has God had any mercy on you? Then you can easily forgive those who have offended you. That does not mean that now you call evil good. Many get the idea that if I forgive someone, now adultery, abuse, and such sin is just fine. No! It means you have released the matter into God's hands.
If you have been washed by Jesus you are “completely clean”. It is only the part of you (soul) that contacts the world that needs to washed. You are completely forgiven yet you need to be forgiven. You are completely clean yet you need wash your “feet”. This can be so confusing to us. All things are complete in your spirit. Now you have to allow this revealed truth to affect your self-consciousness (soul) as well and for it to change your opinions from what they are naturally to agree with God.
As you extend this mercy to others, you yourself will experience a transformation. You will be washing your feet and the feet of others.
Jan. 20, 2024