Is There Such a Thing As Soul Ties?

Subtitle: Can Christians become spiritually bound to others? Can we be attacked by evil entities because of spiritual ties to other people? Do these ties even exist?

Synopsis:

There is a newer teaching in Christian circles that says we can be spiritually bound to other people through sexual relations or other connections. This binding can supposedly open us up to demonic attacks or a number of other problems that stem from the spiritual influence of others. It appears that this idea comes from misinterpreting the Bible, the beliefs found in other religions, and a lack of truly understanding the power of salvation.

Key Takeways:

The idea of soul ties comes from Hindu, Chinese, and other pagan religions that influenced the New Age movement.
A handful of Bible verses have been misinterpreted to support the idea of soul ties.
There are many places in scripture that stand in direct opposition to the concept of soul ties and would make such a thing theologically impossible.

The Deep Details For Those That Want To Know:

The concept of a soul tie is something relatively new to Christianity. Research seems to indicate that it came from the “New Age” movement and slipped into Christianity during the 1970s-1990s. While the idea of being “spiritually bound” to another person is new to Christianity, similar concepts can be traced back to ancient Hinduism, Chinese, and African belief systems.

What is a Soul Tie?

The central teaching on soul ties is that a person can become spiritually bound to another person. It is believed that once a spiritual bond has been established, one person somehow has some supernatural influence over the other person. The emphasis here is that the influence is beyond the typical interactions between people in everyday relationships. It is true that one person can make another person happy, sad, angry, or joyful, but the concept of soul ties promotes the idea that a person can also affect the other person through spiritual means, not merely emotional, mental, or physical manipulation. It is believed that this spiritual manipulation can happen not only through the actions of a person, but through their lifestyle, or evil entities associated with them. It is also believed that this bond can also allow spiritual oppression and create a form of emotional bondage.

The idea of soul ties gained traction in inner healing and deliverance ministries near the end of the 20^th century. Originally, it was thought that soul ties came from a bond created by a sexual encounter, but later teachings were expanded to include abusive relationships, manipulative control by others, and occult practices. As the idea developed in Christian circles, it was thought that these kinds of spiritual bonds were not only between only sexual partners , but could be formed between parents and children, as well as extended family or other people. Today the teachings on soul ties often divide the spiritual connections into two types: “ungodly” soul ties- which include the types of negative influences we have already named, and “Godly” soul ties that promote spiritual growth or positive purpose in a person’s life.

What is Believed About Soul Ties?

The believed effects of such a bond goes something like this: two people have a sexual relationship and a spiritual bond is created. The soul tie can be created through long term relationship or a single encounter. Because of the sexual union, any evil spiritual association with one person can now have influence over the other person (even if they never see each other again). To make matters worse, some believe that not only is there now a soul tie and a spiritual connection between the two people that engaged in sex, but they may be spiritually connected to any other sexual partners either person has had in the past. In other words, some teach that having sex with someone creates a spiritual tie to everyone else that person has had sex with.

While the concept of a sexual union creating spiritual bondage may have been how the idea of soul ties first entered into Christian circles, some ministries have broadened this idea to include nearly every kind of human interaction. For example, if a person suffers from something like alcohol addiction, some well-intentioned teachers insist that a soul tie can exist between the addicted person and the the person that gave them their first drink. According to some teachings the addicted person may need to perform a sort of ritual to break any soul ties that exist between them and whoever introduced them to alcohol. Only then can they be free from the addiction.

Teachings on Breaking Soul Ties.

According to most teachings on soul ties, there is a specific series of tasks that must be performed n order to break that tie. First the person must confess and repent for the ungodly connection through prayer. This may include forgiving yourself and the other person. Second, you must then verbally renounce and pray to sever the tie in the name of Jesus. Thirdly, it can be helpful to physically remove any objects and delete any digital reminders (photos, e-mails, or messages) of the relationship while seeking ongoing spiritual support.

On the surface, this may seem harmless, but it comes from an underlying belief that our redemption through Christ is not enough to completely free us from the bad things in our lives and that we are not fully reborn when we become Christians. It supposes that even though scripture says we are free, we are not. The idea of soul ties seems to be in direct conflict with verses like 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

Verses like the one provided above strongly support the idea that if there were anything like past soul ties binding Christians they would be broken when we receive salvation. Some might argue though, that we could still be bound by acts that occurred after we were saved. This will be addressed later in this chapter. For now we are focusing on whether or not the teachings about soul ties are sound.

It should also be noted that nowhere in any older Christian writings is there mention of anything like soul ties. This is a very new belief among Christians and not something that was even considered in the thousands of years before this teaching was introduced.

Where Do the Ideas on Soul Ties Come From?

As mentioned in the first part of this chapter, soul ties and similar concepts come from the New Age movement and ancient pagan religions, but there are also several scriptures that are often used to support the belief in soul ties. We will look at each of these in turn.

1 Corinthians 6:16

16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:17-20 ESV )

A casual reading of 1 Corinthians 6:17-20 seems to support the idea that some kind of sexual bond can be formed that is related to soul ties. This section of scripture is often offered as proof of the existence of soul ties, but a more careful reading shows this is not what is being discussed. In order to better understand the warning we are given here, we will break down several of the quotes.

The first thing to pay attention to is the fact that Paul defines a clear difference between the two connections.

he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her
he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him

Paul goes on to reason that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you and that we should glorify God in our bodies. He is separating the physical from the spiritual, but is making the statement that we should keep both pure. Using the Temple as an analogy, Paul is saying that the Temple is holy and that we should not attach other buildings (like brothels and gambling dens) to it. No where is he warning that we are creating a spiritual connection between ourselves, another person in a sexual encounter, and Jesus. Yet, many interpret these scriptures to mean just that with the idea that becoming one flesh in an act of sexual immorality creates spiritual bondage (as opposed to a connection in the flesh).

There is no doubt that a sexual relationship creates a connection in the flesh. This is supported by several other scriptures:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.(Genesis 2:24 ESV)

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.(Ephesians 5:31 ESV)

and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? (Matthew 19:5 ESV)

But what does one flesh really mean? This can be interpreted in a number of ways and it can be useful to further explore those ways in the context of soul ties.

One common way the concept of one flesh is interpreted is that it refers to procreation. The idea is that a child produced from a man and woman is one flesh from their union. While this makes sense to us in the 21^st century (given what we know about DNA), there is no mention or reference to children in the Bible verses where the terms one flesh are used.

In Ephesians 5:32, Paul brings up the concepts of one flesh and pronounces that this mystery is profound, meaning that it is an intellectually deep concept. But he does give us some more information. In his explanation in Ephesians, he uses the Genesis 2:24 quote presented above to draw a comparison between Christ and His people.

28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.(Ephesians 5:28-33 ESV)

By the same way that Paul uses the quote from Genesis to explain our relationship with Christ, we can also use what Paul says to help us better understand what is meant by the one flesh reference in Genesis. In essence, we are to treat our spouse as if they are part of ourselves. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

This does not say anything about a hidden supernatural bondage to the other person. The connection is based on relationship. That being said, there is no doubt that a husband and wife in a Christian marriage can have spiritual influence over one another. They certainly do. But there is no extra metaphysical connection implied anywhere in scripture that two or more people are tied in the spiritual realm or that they become one spirit instead of only one flesh.

Some that teach the concept of soul ties might take exception to above statement and point to another scripture that is often used to “prove” that we can be supernaturally bound to another person. This is found in 1 Samuel 18:1.

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.(1 Samuel 18:1 ESV)

If taken at face value, this quote seems to be saying that it is possible for two souls to be joined. But it is also possible that this verse is using an expression or a figure of speech. The verse might not mean that Johnathan’s soul was somehow actually connected to David’s, but that they became close friends. The key to an accurate interpretation to this passage is found in the translation.

To better understand this we will examine the original words used for each instance of soul.

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul (bə·ne·p̄eš ) of Jonathan was knit to the soul (wə·ne·p̄eš )of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul (kə·nap̄·šōw ).

Here three different words have been translated as “soul” in the English version of this verse. But these same three words are also interpreted very differently in other parts of the Bible.

bə·ne·p̄eš -life, body, desire and will,
wə·ne·p̄eš – person, being, lives
kə·nap̄·šōw – himself

In other words, this quote could also be interpreted to read:

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the desire and will of Jonathan was knit to the personor lifeof David, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

Several different English language translations of the Bible interpret this verse in much the same way. That doesn’t mean the English Standard Version is incorrect. It only means that the original Hebrew language of this verse makes more of a distinction between each of these words than the English word “soul”.

An example of this can be found in the New English Translation (NET) version of the Bible. The goal of the NET translation is to balance literal word-for-word accuracy in a way that is clear to modern readers. It is favored by Christian scholars due to its extensive footnotes and its attention to the original languages. In the NET version, the same verse reads like this:

When David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship. Jonathan loved David as much as he did his own life.(1 Samuel 18:1 NET)

Scriptural References that Refute the Concept of Soul Ties

There are many quotes from scripture that refute the concept of soul ties. One of the strongest is found in three parallel verses: Matthew 22:23-30, Mark 12:18-27, and Luke 20:27-40. In each of these sections from three different Gospels, the Sadducees (a Jewish sect that did not believe in the Resurrection of the dead) are trying to challenge Jesus on the Resurrection. They are asking Jesus a loaded question in an attempt to publicly embarrass Him. The question they ask is a logical fallacy based on the idea that a husband and wife are somehow bound to each other spiritually, in a way that would carry over into the afterlife. Not only does Jesus answers the question directly, He also provides us with some additional insight.

23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:23-30 ESV)

The implication in the statement made by Jesus is that any personal bonds (such as marriage) that are formed on Earth do not transfer to the afterlife. Keep in mind the Sadducees do not believe in a resurrection and they are attempting to challenge Jesus with what they think is a logical paradox. They are implying that if there really will be a Resurrection, that the souls or spirits of married couples would still be bound to each other. But Jesus states that is not true. While some people might argue that any soul ties would be broken by the Resurrection, this argument still makes the same assumptions about soul ties that the Sadducees were trying to use. The idea of soul ties is not supported by the Bible and any assumptions about them are simply adding to doctrine what is not there.

As far as additional scripture that refutes the superstitions about soul ties, the strongest are those that direct address our redemption. These make clear statements about our salvation and our state after accepting Jesus and becoming a believer. Verse after verse in the Bible declares that we are a new creation and free from the chains of sin. Nowhere is it stated that we are mostly free, but still yet spiritually bound to other people because of past mistakes. As you will see in these verses, this can include those things that some would claim create soul ties after a person has received salvation and forgiveness. What follows are just a few of the many scriptures that proclaim this:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.(2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.(2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV)

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.(John 8: 34-36 ESV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:9 ESV)

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18 ESV)

The Conclusion on Soul Ties

If any of the above verses are true, then there can be no such thing as being bound by soul ties for Christians. It comes down to a simple question: Did Jesus set you free from sin, cleanse you from all unrighteousness, and make you a new person? If we are still in spiritual bondage to other people then we are not free, cleansed, nor a new person.

If we as Christians subscribe to the idea that we can still be bound by soul ties, then we have either not fully accepted what Jesus did for us or we do not fully believe what He said about Redemption. In essence we are doing the exact thing that Galatians 5:1 warns us against. We are putting ourselves in bondage again to something that does not affect us.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.(Galatians 5:1 ESV)

While Paul was specifically preaching against ignoring the freedom that Christ provided and turning back to Hebrew law, the same applies here. Do not believe in anything that supposedly puts you in spiritual bondage after you have been set free. This includes soul ties.

References

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