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James is saying that the Word of God is the only thing that will save the believer's soul—his mind, will, and emotions. Then James goes on to tell believers how to get their souls saved or renewed.

James told believers that receiving the engrafted word will save their souls. What does the Bible mean by the "engrafted" Word?

According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, the word "engrafted" means to implant.¹ The word "engrafted" carries the idea of a seed rooting itself and causing growth. So the Word of God implanted or engrafted into the soul of man has the ability and the power to change or "save" man's soul.

That scripture used to bother me because I thought man's soul was already saved in the new birth. But then I found out that there is a difference between man's spirit and his soul and that the soul isn't recreated—only the spirit is. Actually, the saving of man's soul is an ongoing process throughout a person's life.

In studying demons and their influence on mankind, why is it important for the believer to know that his soul isn't saved yet? Because what many Christians are attributing to Satan is really a problem of their souls not being saved—their minds and emotions not being renewed with the Word of God.

An unrenewed mind is a major area where believers can give Satan access to them. Therefore, the believer needs to understand how to receive the engrafted Word to save his soul, so he can close the door to the devil.

The word "save" in James 1:21 is the Greek word

1 W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985), pp. 200,201.

sozo. Sozo is defined as to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, make well, and make whole. So we could read James 1:21, "... receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save, heal, deliver, protect, preserve, make well, and make your soul whole."

That means as you actively feed on God's Word, it saves, delivers protects, heals, preserves, and makes whole your soul, which is one of your greatest defenses against Satan.

You see, if renewing or restoration needs to be done on the inside of the believer it would have to be in his soul—in his mind and emotions—not in his recreated spirit. If a person's spirit has been recreated in Christ, he doesn't need any restoration in his spirit.

Is receiving the engrafted Word the only thing the believer has to do to get his soul saved? No, look at the next verse: "But BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22). You not only have to hear and receive the Word, you also have to act on it before it will do you any good.

Hearing the Word and acting on it is a powerful defense against Satan, because the Bible says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). When you are submitted to God's Word, you are submitted to God. And as you keep your soul strong and renewed, it's easier to resist the devil on every front.

1 PETER 1:22

22 Seeing ye have PURIFIED YOUR SOULS in OBEYING THE TRUTH [the Word]

through the Spirit....

You'll have to be a doer of the Word before it will profit your soul. Your soul will be saved, delivered,

protected, healed, preserved, made well and whole by receiving and by doing the Word.

That puts the responsibility on the believer if anything is going to be done to his soul, doesn't it? And it puts the responsibility on the believer if Satan is going to have an inroad to him through his own soul.

That's exactly what the Bible is saying. Believers themselves have to do something about the saving of their own souls. As they undergird their souls with the Word, Satan won't have an open door of access to them.

The major way believers close the door to the devil is to get their minds renewed with the Word and by practicing the Word. Many people are trying to cast the devil out of believers, when the problem is not demonic.

The believer has just never learned to renew his mind, so he keeps on thinking like he did before he was redeemed when he was under Satan's dominion. Then eventually he will start acting in line with his unredeemed thinking, and soon he'll be dominated by the devil instead of standing in his authority against him.

Actually, the "saving" or the renewing of the soul is the greatest need of the Church today—not casting devils out of believers. Since the believer's spirit is the only part of him that is born again or recreated, his soul and his body are unchanged and still have to be dealt with if he is to successfully withstand the devil's attacks.

If the believer doesn't deal with his soul and body, he will continually be opening a door to the enemy. Only the believer himself can do something about renewing his soul and bringing his body into subjection to his spirit. And this is where the believer's major "battle" is fought.

There are many Christians who have been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit for many years, whose souls are not yet saved. Some Christians have lived and died and their souls have never been saved, and they've been tossed to and fro by the devil because of it. That's absolutely the truth! Their souls weren't renewed, restored, or made whole by the Word of God, so they couldn't stand successfully against the attacks of the devil.

Now don't misunderstand me. Just because Christians haven't renewed their minds doesn't mean they won't go to Heaven when they die. Of course they will go to Heaven because their spirits are born of God

—they're children of God. But Christians who have failed to renew their minds forfeit the privilege to enter into all that belongs to them in Christ while they are here on earth. And even though they have victory over the devil in Christ, they never understand how to successfully stand in that victory because of an unrenewed mind.