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James 1:21
21 Wherefore [dio] lay apart [apotithemi] all [pas] filthiness [rhuparia] and [kai] superfluity [perisseia] of naughtiness [kakia], and receive [dechomai] with [en] meekness [prautes] the engrafted [emphutos] word [logos], which [ho] is able [dunamai] to save [sozo] your [humon] souls [psuche]. KJV-Interlinear
21 Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. NASB
The terms filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness, refer respectively to the passionate sins or sins of the moment, and the malignant or well-entrenched patterns of sins in your life.
Here is your command to set aside the old life, the life which pursues or resides within the pattern of the sin nature, and replace it with a life spent within the fellowship sphere.
The old things are put aside, making room for the new. The carnal self is ended and the new spiritual self is initiated within your life. We quit the old and begin the new. We separate ourselves from the sin nature and commit ourselves to the spiritual pattern of life. We divorce ourselves from the old, and join a new marriage to the new. We leave behind us, that which was decayed, and begin afresh that which is brand new.
You can probably come up with several more phrases which demonstrate this principle.
The sin nature commands the body and through it commands the soul. The sin nature is not good, it is poison to the soul. It breeds death in various forms.
One death may be the lack of salvation by preventing one from believing in Christ. Another form of death is sin for the believer which keeps him out of fellowship and thus renders his spiritual life, and thus spiritual growth, dysfunctional.
By putting sin behind you through confession, then you are able to take in spiritual food (Bible doctrine), and thus feed your soul with good nourishment.
Salvation (through faith in Christ) saves the soul of the unbeliever, but once saved, doctrine saves (transforms, makes productive) the soul through spiritual growth and production.
The soul thrives on spiritual food, but you must be in fellowship for it to work and be beneficial in your life.
Living outside of the spiritual sphere of fellowship, the soul does not receive its proper portion of spiritual food. Lacking nourishment leads to illness (spiritual illness) and this will overflow into the physical condition of the individual. Likewise, lacking spiritual food, leads to a malfunction of the soul, a scaring over of the exterior of the soul, limiting clarity of discernment as well as a diminished orientation to life.
The sin nature produces a filth, which 'cleaves' to the soul and this cleaving leads to a hardness (scar-tissuing) of the soul. As the soul crusts over by living an out-of-fellowship life, departure from reality and truth becomes greater and greater, and the beliefs and ideas of life become more and more absurd.
