Body, Soul and Spirit Salvation.

1Corinthians 15:22 says For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  Think about this folks.  We all die.  We all die because we are descendants of Adam and inherited his sin nature.  God uses the Bible to tell us that we can be made alive  if we are in Christ  and receive His sinless nature.  We can be alive but must accept a new nature from God in order for that to happen.

1Corinthians 15:41-45 says There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.  So also is the resurrection of the dead.  It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.  There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

When our passage says: sown a natural body,  it is talking about death.  When it says: it is raised a spiritual body,  it is talking about us being made alive...in Christ,  like our prior verse said.  All living things change over time.  If you're not willing to let Christ  change you to be spiritually alive and more like God then He will not save you.  God gave you a free will and will not take it away.  Unless you, of your own free will, agree to accept the changes that come when Christ  makes you spiritually alive,  then God will leave you spiritually dead  and you will spend eternity in the lake of fire.

So with this in mind, let's see what the Bible says about being made spiritually alive,  or, as many people say it, being saved.

In our passage we see the comparison of two people with the phrase the last Adam  referring to Christ.  We also see the comparison of a soul  and a spirit  and a comparison of the verbs living  and quickening.  So our passage is telling us that the main emphasis of Adam was his soul  and the main action of Adam's soul  was living.  The main emphasis of Christ  is His Spirit  and the main action of His Spirit  is quickening.  These are important doctrinal differences.

As humans, we were made in the image of God which means, among other things, that we are a triune being.  That is a fancy word which means we have a body, a soul and a spirit.  Most people don't know the difference between the soul and the spirit, but the Bible tells us this difference and I will explain it.  However, we first need to realize the difference between our body and our spirit.

2Corinthians 4:18 says While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  Also, Hebrews 11:3 says Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.  What we see here is that God, as a Spirit, took stuff from the spiritual reality and formed the physical world from it.  This physical world is only a temporary place that was created to test our spirits.  Our spirits  are still in the spiritual reality and are attached to our body at conception.  Our spirit and our soul are separated from our body at death.  As will be explained, our soul  is developed while we are in this life.  The main point here is that while our spirit  is attached to our body,  the two are different.  in addition, our spirit  is in the spiritual reality while our body,  is in this physical reality.

Scientist who have studied our body tell us that they can see how our body was designed to last forever but that something corrupts the cell reproduction.  They hope to find the cure to that problem and cure death so that we can all live forever.  Unsaved men think that they can fix the results of sin using their own power.  Death is one of the results of sin.  Our Bible tells us that only God can fix what sin destroyed, but lost men believe the lie from the devil that they are as great as God.  So, they think they can fix the problem.

Even if they could fix death then they still have other problems to deal with.  Some men say that if no one dies then we will run out of resources so we have to do things like limit our birth rate or do something else to limit this cure  to few people.  Still others say that there is lots of real estate in the universe and we only have to get there and we have lots of science fiction books based upon people living on lots of planets.  However, all of these are fiction and all are based upon the hope that man is as powerful as God.  All hope that men can fix what only God can fix.

Even if men could fix what makes us all die and even if they could take care of the problem of limited resources, they are still ignoring, or assuming we can work around the basic character flaw that is due to sin.  Sin causes people to want to hurt, kill, enslave and generally do mean and nasty things to other people.  Yes, they recognize that we have those characteristics but just assume that they will be controlled at some time in the future and that control will be far greater than we have seen any time in man's history.  The only time in recorded history that men were not engaged in active war some place on this Earth was while Jesus was alive.  Sinful men cannot live in peace with each other.

Even if these solutions were to become possible and work as well as people dream they still deny the reality that people get sick of all of the constant problems in life and just want to die.

The fact is that these people are indirectly acknowledging the corruption that is within each of us and that this corruption affects our body, our soul and our spirit.  The Bible tells us that this corruption is the result of sin.  Sin started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan that if they got religion their opinion would be as valid as what God said.  They did not eat an apple but ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil  (Genesis 2:9, 17).  A formalized set of learning, such as a series of math classes, is called a tree of knowledge.  The formalized set of learning about good and evil  is called religion.  Further, when Satan said ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil  (Genesis 3:5), he was promising that their opinions would be as valid as God's Word.  Yet when we look at all of the history of the world what we see is that religion causes wars and causes men to kill each other.  Religion brings death, not life.

War is social corruption that matches the corruption of our body.  All of this corruption started with man believing a lie from the devil.  Further, all of our history shows that men cannot fix what sin broke.  All of it started with Adam and Eve believing a lie and history has shown many lives wasted as people tried to make the lie work.  All who have tried to fix sin in their own power have failed and wasted their lives.  While neither man nor devils can fix the corruption caused by sin, God can.  God says that fix is having our basic nature changed by Christ  and this change is the result of being truly Biblically saved.

However, even when people are shown the failure of man all throughout history, they still hold to the way of sin through pride.  The Bible calls these people fools.  When they are shown what God can do they still refuse to give up their sin.  The truth is that people saw countless miracles done by Jesus but still refused to believe Hium.  They claimed that they would believe if He did just one more miracle and came down from the cross.  Yet the truth is that even if He did that they would not believe.

So the question is: are you a Biblical fool  or not?  The Biblical fool  refuses to obey God and the Bible because of pride.  People who are truly Biblically saved must swallow their pride and agree to obey God and the Bible.

Luke 16:20-31 tells us the true story of Lazarus and the rich man.  It ends with Moses telling the rich man If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.  These liars refused to believe even when Jesus rose from the dead.  The fact is that there is overwhelming evidence that the Bible is the word of God and that all things which oppose it are lies and that all people who reject the truth that is in the Bible do so in spite of all of the evidence that what they believe is a lie.  People who refuse to believe the Bible will never believe the truth no matter what evidence you give them.

Therefore, we could waste our entire day answering lies and still not convince anyone.  Instead we will accept that the Bible is the word of God and see what the Bible says about this problem of corruption that affects each and every one of us.  If you accept the evidence that the corruption within our body will eventually kill us from old age if nothing else does, then you should also be able to understand that the corruption that is in our soul and spirit.  If we also accept that the Bible is the word of God, then we can look to it for God's solution to our problem of a corrupted body, soul and spirit.

God calls the source of this corruption sin.  God tells us that the end of sin is death (Romans 6:23; James 1:15; 1John 5:17).  Further, God says that people who do not accept His solution to sin not only will die physically but will suffer the second death,  which is to spend eternity in the lake of fire  (Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8).  God says that He will save us from this fate but only if we do things His way.  People who refuse to do things God's way prove that they are still holding onto the lie from the devil that started all of our problems (Original Sin).  Anyone who holds onto that lie will cause the same problems to happen again even if someone did fix them.  Therefore anyone, who is not willing to do exactly what God says to do, will not be saved by God.  Further, they will end up where everyone goes who refuses to accept God's solution to sin.  They will suffer forever in the lake of fire.

The first thing that God wants us to do is to agree with Him that we need a Saviour.  Then He wants us to agree to do exactly what our Saviour tells us to do so that we can be saved.  This is because God gave each of us a free will and He won't take it away.  However, all sin is addictive and takes away our free will.  Satan is the father of lies  (John 8:44) and claims that God takes away our free will just like Satan and sin do.  Therefore, God demands that we prove to Satan that we asked God to work in our life every time that God does.  Every act of faith requires us to believe the promise of God and to do the small thing that God says for us to do.  This small thing has nothing to do with the end result but proves to Satan, to the world and to God that we are asking God to do this thing and that we are asking while using our own free will.  In this case God wants us to admit that we are completely corrupted by sin and need God to save us and are willing to give up Original Sin, stop thinking that our way will work, and do exactly what God tells us to do.  That is why the Bible says For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  in Romans 10:13 and other places of the Bible.

Notice that this does not say to: 'ask Jesus to be your savior'.  When we call upon the name  we are calling on the power and authority of that name.  When we call upon the Lord  we are accepting Him as our personal Lord  and agreeing to obey Him in everything and accept His judgment of us and rely upon Him to provide for our needs.  Since there is a spiritual war between God and the devils, we are effectively changing sides in a time of war.  We are swearing an oath to join the army of God in this war and to accept any punishment that He decides upon if we disobey or turn traitor.

Once we accept Him as our personal Lord,  God provides for the salvation of our body, our soul and of our spirit.  This is what we started out talking about everyone wanting to find.  However, we need to notice that now we are looking at God's plan and not the plan from sinful men.

God has a different plan of salvation for each part of us.  God's plan for saving our Body is different from God's plan for saving our soul and both are different from God's plan for saving our spirit.  Therefore, we need to look at each of them and understand the differences.

The devil can't keep God from saving us but he can, and does, try to keep us from getting all that God wants to give us.  Satan does this by getting people to tell us lies so that we do not completely obey God.  When our obedience is less than what God wants then our rewards are also less than what God wants to give us.

The first lie that Satan tells people is that all of our salvation is complete when we do this one-time act of saying a prayer.  If that were true then our bodies would instantly be cured of all disease and old age.  That makes the concept of an instant body salvation an obvious lie.  So, most people accept that body salvation occurs in the future.  However, the Biblical truth is that our flesh is so corrupt that God is not going to keep any of it.  Instead of saving out body God will give us a new body.  The only person Who will have their original body is Jesus Christ  and that is because He never sinned and never brought the corruption of sin into His body.  Everyone else gets a totally new body.

Since it is obvious that our body is not instantly saved then Satan gets people to believe the lie that you are not saved until after you die when your body, soul and spirit can all be saved at the same time.  He has preachers teach the lie that until you die, you must keep a bunch of religious rules in order to earn your salvation.  The Bible clearly says that we cannot earn our salvation in places like Ephesians 2:8-10.  Rather than go through other lies I will simply say that the Bible teaches that our body, our soul and our spirit are each saved different ways and at different times.

The Bible says that our body salvation will occur with the resurrection of the dead.  1Corinthians 15 explains the details about the resurrection of the dead.  Please note that this means that we must reject the lie of reincarnation, or of there being no resurrection or of anything else which goes against what God exactly says in the Bible.  The most important verses on this subject are 1Corinthians 15:42-45, which say So also is the resurrection of the dead.  It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.  There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  This was the verse that we read at the beginning.  Now we see that the whole section is comparing what we get from Adam to what we get from Christ and is showing us that what we get from Christ is far better than what we get from Adam.  Thus we are far better off being saved and getting what comes from Christ even if we can only get those things God's way.

In addition, to that, 1Corinthians 15 also tells us how our bodies will be saved from death and corruption like disease and old age.  In 1Corinthians 15:35-36 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.  Then further on, in 1Corinthians 15:53-55, it says For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  of death, where is thy sting? of grave, where is thy victory?  Thus we see that after we die we will get a new incorruptible  body.

But the Bible doesn't leave the time to be some unknown time after we die but it says Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  in 1Corinthians 15:51-52.  So we see that this will happen as a part of the 'Rapture'.

That takes care of our body but we still have to deal with our soul and our spirit.  But before that we have to recognize the difference between the soul and the spirit.

John 4:24 says God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.  Notice that the first Spirit  in this verse is capitalized because it belongs to God.  However, the second spirit  is lower-case because it belongs to us.  Without going into all of the verses I will tell you that our inner-most being is our spirit  and that our spirit  is in the spiritual dimension with God and other spirits.  Our spirit  was attached to our body at conception and will stay attached until our death when our spirit will take our soul and leave our body and go before God to be judged for how we lived in this life.  Your spirit  is what keeps your body alive because when it leaves your body your body dies.  Therefore, your spirit  is what is really the true you.  Ephesians 2:5-6 says Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  This is talking about what God does for the saved.  Notice that the phrase when we were dead in sins  is talking about our past when we were lost.  Now notice that phrase hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus  is talking about what was started in the past and is still going on now, even though the reader is still alive in their body.  The only part of us that can, right now, sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus  is our spirit.

While I could go into other verses I will save time and simply say that our spirit  is saved and taken to Heaven the instant that we accept the Son of God as our Lord.  That is why people can talk about being saved right now.  Their body will be saved in the future but their spirit  was saved when they accepted Jesus as their personal Lord.  Thus, people who are Biblically saved  already have their spirit  in Heaven and are promised a new incorruptable body  at the 'Rapture'.  However, that leaves our soul.

That leaves us with our soul to consider.  People have defined the soul as our mind our will and our emotions.  However, that is only partially correct.  It is more the way that we think and the way that we react emotionally to circumstances of life and it is the way that we make most decisions.  In addition, the Bible says that these are also part of our heart.  The truth is that our heart  is the where we do these things in the moment-by-moment of life.  God adds up all of the short-term acts of our heart  to make up our soul.  Thus, the more we think in our heart  like Christ  tells us to, the more our soul  becomes like Christ.  However, the more we think in our heart  like the world, the flesh and the devil  tells us to, the more our soul  becomes sinful.

Think of a child who usually gets their way any time that they throw a temper tantrum.  They will throw a temper tantrum every time they don't get their way.  However, if they start getting punished every time that they throw a temper tantrum and their punishment gets worse as their temper tantrum gets worse, then they will eventually start listening to instruction on how to get what they want.  Only after punishment for wrong behaviour are they willing to listen to how to act right and avoid punishment.

it takes time and correction to change the way that a child thinks and acts when they don't get their own way.  This is also true with the child of God.  Matthew 1:21 says And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.  In order for Him to save us from our sins  He has to get us out of our sins just like He had to get Peter out of the water when Peter started to sink after walking on water.  The job that Jesus gave to Paul included To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.  (Acts 26:18).  This is still the job of the church today.  What's more, the way that we turn  is to change how we think and how we feel and how we make decisions.  This type of change is the ongoing salvation of our soul that happens after our spirit gets saved and before we die and have our body saved.

This ongoing change in the way we think and in the way that we make decisions and in the way that we react to circumstances is what the Discipleship Program is about.  The Discipleship Program is designed to help save your soul by making your soul more like Jesus Christ.  That salvation of your soul is part of the reason why God leaves us here after our initial profession when He saves our spirit and moves our spirit into Heaven.

Notice that, in our verse, Paul was told to first turn people from darkness to light.  That means to get them to turn from following the way of sin and Satan, which the Bible calls darkness  and get them to turn to following the way of God, which the Bible cans light.  Secondly notice that our verse says that saved people are to turn from the power of Satan unto God.  When we sin after we get saved we submit to the power of Satan  which tries to get us addicted.  A saved person can still get addicted to drugs or drink or any sin if they do even though they are saved.  Turning like this is true Biblical repentance and is something that we must do even after getting saved.

Our verse tells us that when saved people do this they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance.  After our spirit is saved we still sin and must be punished in this life or when we get to the judgment seat of Christ.  This is a different judgment than lost people go to.  Since saved people are the children of God, God deals with our sins as a loving parent deals with the wrong that their child does.  God punishes our sin and rewards our obedience so that we will change how we act.  This is exactly how we talked about dealing with a child who throws temper tantrums.

Further, notice that our sentence says that saved people may receive inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.  The word may  means it is not guaranteed.  The word inheritance  is used in the Bible for what we get in Heaven and have for all of eternity.  Notice that this inheritance  is among them which are sanctified by faith.  Saved people who do not get sanctified by faith  do not get this inheritance.  The word sanctified  means set apart for God's use.  That means we must let God use us in His work or we do not get any inheritance.  It is bad enough to be a poor farmer in this life.  It would be even worse to be poor for all of eternity because you never let God use you in this life and never had an eternal inheritance.

Finally, our verse says that our faith  must be in God.  John 1:1,14 tells us that the Bible is our picture of God.  That means that our faith  must be in what the Bible says if we want it to be in God.

What all of this comes down to is that our spirit is saved as soon as we receive Jesus as our personal Lord.  Our body is not saved until after we die and receive our new body.  However, from the time that we receive Jesus as our Lord until we die He is working on saving our soul.  He does that by turning us from the ways of sin and Satan to the ways of God.  In addition, the more we let Him turn us the less punishment we get in this world and the more eternal reward that we will have.  Saved people who refuse to let Him make this change in their life will live in poverty for eternity even though they are in Heaven.  The people who let God change them the most will have the greatest riches in Heaven for eternity.

One of the main reasons for church is learn about God and His Word and how He wants to change us so that we can avoid punishment and get eternal treasure in Heaven.  People who only come to church on Sunday morning only get a little help.  People who come to all church services and participate in things like soul winning get a lot more help from God and get a lot more riches stored up in Heaven for them to use throughout all of eternity.  Therefore, when you don't come back to Sunday afternoon service or to midweek service you are telling God that you want to be poor for all of eternity and you want God to punish you when you do wrong because you don't want to learn how to stop your sinning and how to do right.  People who want to avoid being poor for eternity and want to stop being punished for doing wrong need to come to the altar and pray for God to help them to come to the other services and to help them do more in the service of God.

Contact:  Webmaster@LJC1611KJV.com.  Member of Tower Road Baptist Church, Abq., NM, U.S.A., 87121.  Copyright 2009 Lord Jesus Christ in the 1611KJV.  All rights reserved. Revised: 10/31/24.