Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God has magnified His Word above all His name. It is His chosen instrument for reclaiming a world to Himself, and stamping the beauties of holiness upon those who are now covered with wounds and bruises and horrible sores.
Now that Word is quick. It is a living thing. It proves its vitality and vigour by the fact that it either warns man to flee from the wrath to come, or, if the warning is slighted, it becomes a saviour of death unto death.
It is powerful also. Men may resist it, or attempt to dash it from them, but still it holds them fast. It either drags them to judgement, or directs them to the cross.
And it is sharper than any two-edged sword. Such a sword can mutilate and mangle the body; it cannot touch the soul. But the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit. It separates what man possesses in common with the beasts which perish, or mere animal life, from that which he may enjoy in common with Godhead, or spiritual life. Like the all-seeing Eye, it penetrates everywhere, and it pierces everything.
Moreover, it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It detects the sinner; it unmasks the hypocrite, while, like the father of the prodigal, it sees the penitent though he is still a great way off. It takes him by the hand; it speaks words to his heart and guides him to the spot where his God and he walk together again like those who are agreed. In accomplishing all that, it may operate like the surgeon’s knife, dividing asunder the joints and marrow; but the pain is salutary, and spiritual health is the result when the Spirit blesses the means.
Is it true then that any soul has felt that keen edge and said, Let the righteous smite me? Is it true that the Word of God is my soul’s daily bread, or the man of its right hand? Then God has visited it and the entrance of His Word has given light; it will do for the soul what it was blessed to do for the world in apostolic times, and again at the Reformation, when the churches rejoiced in the truth of God and rejected the lies of man.1
1Taken, with editing, from Tweedie’s volume, Glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace.