I have several friends that have a thing about soul ties. Have you ever heard of this? They seem to think any ex or lover or whatever you’ve touched leaves you bound to them in some way. Emotionally, spiritually, just whatever. And of course it must be dealt with, and from what I can gather it’s a painful and difficult ordeal.
The phrase “soul ties” does not appear in the Bible. Neither is the concept a Biblical one in the way it’s being applied. It’s a man made idea combining Biblical principles with secular psychology to explain certain kinds of dysfunctional relationships.
Verses I’ve seen used in support of soul ties require varying amounts of re-interpretation to fit the model. Most of advocates of the soul tie principle use Genesis 2:24, about a husband and wife becoming one flesh, and 1 Samuel 18:1, which describes the close friendship between David and Jonathan, as their models. But then they go on to show how all kinds of unholy attachments can be formed through illicit sexual partnerships.
The husband and wife relationship is a very close one, but they become “one flesh” in the literal sense through their offspring, who combine the traits of both into one being. David and Jonathan were in a covenant relationship, which made them even closer than brothers. Covenant relationships were fairly common in Biblical times, and still are in some parts of the world today.
The idea behind “soul ties” is to show that the enemy can twist these Biblical models around, making them into something that’s destructive and can only be dealt with in the spiritual realm.