Saved, Scheduled, and In Process
Salvation on 3 Levels
The human being is the most marvelous creature in all of existence. He has a purpose far beyond that of any other created being. With a great intention in mind, God has created us in a special way. Man is created with our being as three distinct yet merged elements.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Thess 5:23)
This is an earnest prayer of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. He wants those people listening to him or reading his letters to appear complete and whole when Jesus comes again. He wants us to be entire, completely as God intends in spirit, soul, and body. If such a thing is a guaranteed given, why pray for it? If it is going to happen regardless of our cooperation, why make it important? Why take up precious space in the Bible with something that is going to happen whether or not we understand it or believe it?
Salvation of the Spirit
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2Cor 5:17)
Paul is talking about our spirit. Everything old that was in our spirit is gone. Everything in our spirit is new.
...that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)
This new birth has not touched our flesh, if you have noticed.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh;... (v. 6)
Paul's prayer that we would be complete or entire is not about our spirit since that is already 100% complete.
And ye are complete in him (Jesus), which is the head of all principality and power: (Col 2:10)
His prayer is for the person, that they would be entire in all their aspects. The spirit is joined to the Holy Spirit. There is no baby spirit. We are complete and mature in Christ. Our spirit is exactly like Him, therefore we are identical to all other Christians. There is no partial salvation in our spirit.
Schedule of the Body
While the salvation of our spirit is complete, the other elements of the construction of the human being are not exactly like that. In fact, God in His wisdom has left two-thirds of our being unregenerate in this lifetime (if you have noticed).
Our bodies are scheduled for transformation someday.
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. (1Cor 15:52)
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His (Jesus') glorious body,...(Phil 3:21)
We shall all be changed into having a resurrection body like Jesus'. Paul says, “a glorious body”. Though it is a body of flesh and bone, it is also a body of light. We all will be like Jesus' glorious resurrection body with one major exception.
...for one star differeth from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead... (1Cor 15:41-42)
In the resurrection body we all are different in “brightness”. This is probably related to our level of works for Christ since becoming a Christian. Daniel seems to refer to this in 12:3. Paul's prayer for our completeness involves our resurrection body being all that it is supposed to be.
Soul, in process
While the reborn spirit is created in completeness, and the body is scheduled for transformation someday, the remaining element of our being is somewhat in question. It seems that the biggest issue is: Did we exchange our natural opinions and inclinations for God's words. Did His word, through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit, have any effect in our daily lives or did we simply ignore it? Did we live our Christian life for ourselves or for God? Pretty basic, really. It does not sound difficult to be approved by the Lord for how we lived our time out on earth. Simply put, Did we obey God or ignore Him?
Looking at Paul's prayer for our lives, we see that it is not automatic that we reach God's intended destination for our entire being. It is a great encouragement, however, to realize that God has made this possible. Determine to be a person that reaches your eternal destination whole and lacking nothing.
Mar. 1, 2024