Spurgeon mentions it here as well. And actually kind of "coins" the word, so he says, in this article. However, he says the soulish is unconverted.

Sensual is kind of like soulish is it not?

II. Thus, I have tried to help you to answer the first question—the inquiry, Have we received the Spirit? And this brings me to the CAUTION. He that has not received the Spirit is said to be sensual. Oh, what a gulf there is between the least Christian and the greatest moralist! What a wide distinction there is between the greatest professor destitute of grace, and the least of God’s believers who has grace in his heart. As great a difference as there is between light and darkness between death and life, between heaven and hell, is there between a saint and a sinner; for mark, my text says, in no very polite phrase, that if we have not the Spirit we are sensual. ” Sensual!” says one; “well, I am not converted man—I don t pretend to be; but I am not sensual.” Well, friend, and it is very likely that you are not—not in the common acceptation of the term sensual; but understand that this word, in the Greek, really means what an English word like this would mean, if we had such a one—soulish. We have not such a word—we want such a one. There is a great distinction between mere animals and men, because man hath a soul, and the mere animal hath none. There is another distinction between mere men and a converted man. The converted man hath the Spirit—the unconverted man hath none; he is a soulish man—not a spiritual man; he has got no further than mere nature and has no inheritance in the spiritual kingdom of grace. Strange it is that soulish and sensual should after all mean the same! Friend, thou hast not the Spirit. Then thou art nothing better—be thou what thou art, or whatsoever thou mayest be—than the fall of Adam left thee. That is to say, thou art a fallen creature, having only capacities to live here in sin, and to live for ever in torment; but thou hast not the capacity to live in heaven at all, for thou hast no Spirit; and therefore thou art unable to know or enjoy spiritual things. And mark you, a man may be in this state, and be a sensual man, and yet he may have all the virtues that could grace a Christian; but with all these, if he has not the Spirit, he has got not an inch further than where Adam’s fall left him—that is, condemned and under the curse. Ay, and he may attend to religion with all his might—he may take the sacrament, and be baptized, and may be the most devout professor; but if he hath not the Spirit he hath not started a solitary inch from where he was, for he is still in “the bonds of iniquity,” a lost soul. Nay, further, he may pick up religious phrases till he may talk very fast about religion; he may read biographies till he seems to be a deep taught child of God; he may be able to write an article upon the deep experience of a believer; but if this experience be not his own, if he hath not received it by the Spirit of the living God, he is still nothing more than a carnal man, and heaven is to him a place to which there is no entrance. Nay, further, he might go so far as to become a minister of the gospel, and a successful minister too, and God may bless the word that he preaches to the salvation of sinners, but unless he has received the Spirit, be he as eloquent as Apollos, and as earnest as Paul, he is nothing more than a mere soulish man, without capacity for spiritual things.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons04.iii.html?highlight=soulish#highlight

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Michelle

Here is an example of what I believe to be soulishness found in the Gospels:

Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Mat 17:4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Where did Peter get the idea of building three tabernacles from? He got it from his own mind (soul). His intentions were probably real good. However, his plan was not from God and he was basically told to shut up.
There are countless church committees that cook up all sorts of good works, but in the end, is God in it? I am not asking if it being done FOR God. I am asking is it being done by God's Spirit. The whole What Would Jesus Do campaign is the epitome of soulishness. I am not saying that what they do is wrong or sinful and I know they have the best of intentions. They could do a whole lot worse than WWJD. But they are doing what they think Jesus would do. In other words, they are imitating what they think Jesus is like. I will say again: what they are doing is not the problem so much as their method. The Bible say we are to walk after the Spirit and be led by the Spirit. First off, it has nothing to do with being led by emotions. Secondly, it is not done mindlessly but it is not purely a mental function. It comes from the heart and of course it is in agreement with the Bible. But is see too many people making the mistake of thinking that if they read the Bible and memorize all the do's and don'ts and practice them, that they are "walking in the Spirit". Instead of trying to imitate Christ (which frankly isn't that bad of an idea) we need the LIFE of Christ. Christianity to me is about Christ living in and through me instead of me cramming a bunch of doctrine and head knowledge in me and trying my best by sheer will power to steer a straight course. (I am not anti-doctrine by the way. It is absolutely essential we be grounded in Biblically sound doctrine.) But I will say it again: we need sound doctrine PLUS the Spirit and Life of Christ to live the Christian life.

-Daniel

Soulishness is more the non-obvious works of the flesh that masquerade as "spirituality". Such as soulish dreams and visions that are attributed to the Holy Spirit and "God talking to me" yet generated by yourself.

Soulishness is "highly spiritual" leadings that are generated from our own selves and attributed to God and used to lead (manipulate) us or others into a certain direction which is not towards God but yet not immediately discernable.

That is the best way I can explain it.

What does the Word of God, (Christ) divide, even to the deepest part of man?

"Even to the dividing of the soul and spirit".

Soulish is not spirit. What is born again in us? The spirit, not the soul. That is why we must renew our soul-mind to the mind of Christ who is not our spirit and Life.

The soul-mind controls the body, (flesh). The Spirit controls the soul. We don't have the soul of Christ, we have the Spirit of Christ, which is the Word of God being the Incorruptable Seed of The Father which is Jesus Christ.

Soulish is where the old man must learn the new man, which is Christ centered not self and Satan centered which is the soul of man and the spirit of the old man. The Spirit of the new man is the Spirit of Christ and the soul-mind is now the Mind of Christ which we now have. What are we to renew? What has the Father renewed? We must renew the mind, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit where He does His work, renewed to the mind of Christ which is Spirit where He has completed His work. We now have the Spirit of Christ, if not, we are none of His.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again

1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

This is our soulish part that has been purified through the Spirit, We learn unfeigned love of the brethern.

The Spirit of Christ now is our nature and we are learning this nature by the Holy Spirit teaching what Christ has said.

Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

We must separate the Holy Spirit, the Another Comforter, Teacher of New Life in Christ, from the Life Himself, even though they are One, in essence of the God Head, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God. We see not separate from each other but separate in the work of the tripartite man in John 14,15,16,17.

Who is our Teacher? John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 14:26-27 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The Holy Spirit teach us in our soulish part, the Spirit of Christ is our Life in the Spirit of God our Father who is all in all and all things will be returned to the Father, even by the Son that we will see God who is our total and all that we come to be by God the Father having son's in His house, which is total of all that has happened from Genesis 1 to the End of Revelations.

Life in Christ and by His Spirit and change in soul-mind by the Holy Spirit Comforter Teacher (Parakleet).

PHillip

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Phillip

Very well put!

The battle is in the "mind" part of the soul, in order to control it, along with the will and the emotions.

The soul:

Our mind must be renewed by God's Word, so that we are not led around by our "own understanding" or manipulated by words that are smooth and believable, but yet lies, nevertheless.

Our emotions must come into subjection to our spirit which must be controlled by the Holy Spirit. We are controlled by the Holy Spirit when we are in agreement with the Holy Spirit. We are not to be led by our emotions. The Holy Spirit stabilizes our emotions by the renewing of the mind. Emotions can be manipulated, and we must have full control of our emotions in order to do His will. No man or demon must be allowed to manipulate or control out emotions.

Our will must come into subjection to His will. No man or demon must control our will. No man or demon must be allowed to violate our will.

When you are born-again your soul has not changed. Your spirit which was dead in trespasses and sins has been made alive in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2.

But our soul needs to be renewed, sanctified and purified. This is a walk that all must walk. It is an experiential walk. You must possess the land of your mind, will and emotions. You will need deliverance from different enemies. And the Lord is your Deliverer as you look to Him.

The Lord does not want any enemies left in the land of your mind or will or emotions. You go from glory to glory and faith to faith as you walk with Christ and experience victory, little by little in your soul.

There are so many things that control and manipulate us before we are saved and after we are saved, and God has moved in, it is time to move the enemies of our soul, out.