Dearly Beloved,
The Scriptures are full of the stories of men and women whom God breakdown from the altar of pride and produced in their lives an exemplary life of humility. Moses was such a man in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we have the apostle Paul. Paul (formerly named Saul) grew up in a privilege background. He was brought up at the feet of the foremost scholars of his time, Gamaliel, and rose to be a Pharisee (considered by secular society of that time to be the top rank in society) and possibly even to be part of the Sanhedrin council (Acts 22:3). He was a brilliant man who excelled beyond his contemporaries (Galatians 1:14).
There is no doubt that Saul, Paul's name before his conversion, was a very proud and religious man. He was instrumental in obtaining letters from the high priest to persecute and pursue the Christians (Acts 9:1-2). He was the man behind the death of Stephen and all the persecution of the Christians, for when he was converted, the persecution ceased (Acts 7:58; 8:3; 9:31). Paul, himself, admits that he was a persecutor, a blasphemer and an insolent man (1 Timothy 1:13). The root word "hubristes" from which the word "insolence" is translated speaks of one who is violent and who insults others. Paul was like a gangster and a big bully – all symptoms of an over-inflated ego and pride uncontrolled. He wanted to dominate and subjugate others to his thinking and beliefs. God cannot use him until he is broken.
Like a wild horse that is no use to the owner, Paul was no use to God until he was broken. An unbroken wild horse will not do what the master wants nor be willing to go where the master wants it to go; it must be broken first. In analysing the details of the breaking down of a man or horse, it is not the spirit that needs to be broken but rather the stubborn will. Break the will but not the spirit; this principle applies to bringing up a child in the ways of the Lord. The spirit of the horse or man that loves adventure, that is brave, that is courageous, that is persistent, etc.; all these good qualities must be preserved otherwise the horse or man loses the uniqueness that God has gifted the individual.
In the Old Testament, it speaks about the breaking of the spirit – a broken and contrite spirit God will not despise (Psalm 34:8; 51:17). It also speaks of a broken heart. Surely God does not want us to go around with a broken heart but a heart healed and whole. The Old Testament has two great differences from the new: firstly, the concept of the tripartite man (spirit, soul and body) is neither clearly revealed nor expressed and secondly, the concept of the new spirit (which must not be broken) was reserved for the New Testament era possible only in Christ. It is such that in the Old Testament, when it speaks about anger, which is a product of the soul and not the spirit, it uses the word "ruach" or spirit rather than "soul" (nephesh) (Proverbs 16:32; 19:11; 25:28; Ecclesiastes 7:9). Yet at the same time the Old Testament advocates a wholeness of spirit as being an important part of one's attributes to health and life (Proverbs 15:13; 17:22). Surely, it is not the will of God that one goes around with a sad sorrowful spirit that causes sicknesses or a broken spirit that dries the bones. We need to understand that the Old Testament has a way of using the word "ruach" translated "spirit" in a general sense like that of the English language. For example, when we use the phrase that the "spirit of a place is depressing" or that "the person has a wrong spirit," we do not necessarily mean that there are demons involved or a person is possessed. Rather it could be used in reference to the attitudes of a society or community or a person; which strictly speaking and technically, would be more a soul quality rather than a spirit quality. In Aramaic which was literally translated into Greek, Jesus said to His disciples, who wanted to call down fire on a village that rejected Him, that they do not know what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55-56). The problem was not in their spirits but it was in their judgmental and anger-vengeance type personality of their soul. And remember, that one of them was John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. So we can definitely surmise that the fiery temper of John had been broken and conquered before God used him to be the apostle of love. Thus we can conclude that the Bile usage of the word "spirit" especially in the Old Testament sometimes refers to attitudes and perceptions of people's souls and technically not their spirit per se.
