The Salvation of the Soul

 ...verses the Salvation of the Spirit

Man is a triune being. We were made in the image of God. God is triune and so is man. Angels and demons are spirits, I do not believe they have souls, but am unsure. Animals are dualistic, they are soul and body. Plants have body only. To see more about the Triune God:

  
 Click here

The Bible tells us we are triune:  

1 Thess 5: MKJV
23 ¶ And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blamelessly at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


The word "soul" in the greek is "psuche", this is where we get the english word psychic. It is often translated: heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.  

The word "spirit" in the greek is "pneuma", this is where we get "pneumatic tool" (a tool powered by air). It is often translated: ghost, life, spirit(-ual, -ually), mind.  

When Adam sinned, he died spiritually. God had told Adam:  

Gen 2: MKJV
17 but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.


When Adam ate from the tree, did he die physically (in the body)? No. Did his soul die? No, in fact his soul increased:  

Gen 3: MKJV
22 ¶ And the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil...


Therefore, Adam died spiritually. God communicates through the spirit, and when Adam died spiritually, God didn't "see" him.  

Prov 20 KJ21
27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of his being.

Gen 3: MKJV
9 ¶ And the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?


Because Adam sinned, all mankind fell into sin with Adam:  

Rom 5: LITV  
12 Because of this, even as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death passed to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.  

1 Cor 15: YLTV  
15:22 for even as in Adam all die...


Now every person is born into sin, spiritually dead:  

Psalm 51: MKJV
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 58: MKJV
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from the womb...

Eph 2: MKJV
3 among whom we also ... were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.


When a person accepts Jesus, and the work He has done for them, through His death, burial, and resurrection, they become spiritually saved. They gain eternal life and heaven. When this occurs, the Holy Spirit seals them:  

Eph 1: NKJV
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,


This salvation is not by any work of the believer, it is a gift of God, thru Jesus. We need only to accept it.  

Eph 2: LITV  
8 For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God;  
9 not of works, that not anyone should boast;  

Titus 3: MKJV  
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,


If you wish to become saved, or wish to know more about the Gospel of Salvation:  


 Click here

If you wish to learn about Repentance from Dead Works:  

 Click here

Once your spirit is saved, you can still see that your body has yet to be transformed into a new indestructible body. This I what I call the salvation of the body. This occurs at the rapture:  

1 Cor 15: MKJV  
35 But someone will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?  
36 Foolish one! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies.  
37 And what you sow, you do not sow the body that is going to be, but a bare grain (perhaps of wheat or of some of the rest).  
38 And God gives it a body as it has pleased Him, and to each of the seeds its own body.  
40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is truly different, and that of the earthly different;  
42 So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;  
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  

1 John 3:2 MKJV  
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.


To learn how to prepare yourself to be raptured (not every christian gets to go the 1st trip):  


 Click here

We can also see that our soul still is caught in sin after we are saved. The Bible tells us, that when we are saved, our sin nature is unemployed:  

Rom 6: ALT
6  knowing this, that our former person was crucified together [with Him], so that the body of sin shall be made useless [or, pass away], [so that] we [are] no longer to be serving as a slave to sin.


Rom 6: LITV
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, so that we no longer serve sin.


The work of the Cross has stopped sin in our spirit, but it is not eliminated from our being. Although, we are no longer slaves to sin:  

Rom 6: MKJV
17 ... you were the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
18 Then being made free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness.
19 ... for as you have yielded your members as slaves to uncleanness, and to lawless act unto lawless act, even so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto holiness.


Your spirit is no longer in bondage to sin, you now have a choice. Choice is your free will, that part which is in your soul. After being saved, you still can choose sin, and can still feels it's temptation. This is all in the soul.  

But there is good news. You can save your soul !  

Heb 10: NKJV
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Philp 2:12 NKJV  
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  


James 1:21 MKJV  
Therefore putting aside all filthiness and overflowing of evil, receive in meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.  


As you can see, scripture tells the christian, that his soul can be saved. Since this is written to christians, we know they are already spiritually saved. The salvation of the soul is progressive. It takes work, read Phil 2:12 again. Obviously, Philippians 2:12 is not discussing the salvation of the spirit, because we see in scripture that is not by works.  

We can also see what saves the soul in James 1:21. It is by receiving with meekness the implanted word. The Bible say's faith comes by hearing the Word of God:  

Rom 10: NKJV
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
 

In the very same chapter, it say's God's Word is in your heart and in your mouth:  

Rom 10: MKJV
8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart"; that is, the word of faith which we proclaim;


How did it get there? The Word of God isn't just written scriptures in a book, but the scriptures become the Word of God in the person. Jesus is called the Word of God:  

John 1:
1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Rev 19: MKJV
11 And I saw Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war.
13 ... and His name is called The Word of God.


I fully believe Jesus is the Word of God because He is God, and that the Father created the Universe through Christ. But I also believe Jesus is the Word of God, because He submitted to the Father in all things.  

When we are saved, the Holy Spirit enters us. This enables us to understand scripture:  

1 Cor 2: MKJV
10 But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
12 But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.


The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to scripture, but more than that, because Jesus is the Word of God, and because He lives in the believer, the Word of God is found in us.  

Often times, the believer will be sparked with life and truth by hearing or reading scripture, or when a minister or fellow believer speaks something spiritual. This is the implanted Word operating in the believer from James 1:21.


James 1:21 MKJV  
Therefore putting aside all filthiness and overflowing of evil, receive in meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.  


The work of Philp 2:12 is doing what James says in 1:21, that we need to receive with meekness the engrafted Word. Receiving with meekness, is cooperating with the work of God in your life.  

Phil 1: MKJV
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,


God began the work in you by saving your spirit. He then implanted His Word into you to guide you to the salvation of your soul. But we must cooperate in this, "receive in meekness" and "work out your own salvation".  

Receiving the Word and work of God will renew your soul. It will cleanse it:  

Eph 5: MKJV
25 ... as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,


2 Cor 4: MKJV
16 For this cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.


When God tries to correct us, guide our actions, sometimes we tend to "faint" or think we won't make it. But 2 Cor 4:16, tells us not to, even when we see our body isn't saved yet. But our inward man, our soul, is being renewed every day. This is not our spirit, because our spirit is completely saved. Jesus and the cross have done their work. Now we need to let that work renew our soul.  

Rom 12: NKJV
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  


We must not follow after the world, but renew our mind, which is part of our soul, so that we can know and do God's will.  

Titus 3:5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

This verse shows us 2 parts of salvation. First the regeneration of our spirit, thus we know it is not renewed day by day, because it is regenerated. Then, God works in us by renewing thru the Holy Spirit. The regeneration is a COMPLETED work, the renewing is a CONTINUED work.  

The Old Testament prophesied of this new covenant:  

Ezek 36: MKJV
25 ¶ And I will sprinkle clean waters on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.


Getting your soul saved, is not going to be easy on the soul. The soul is the mind, the will, and the emotions. The soul will rise up and say, "I want...", but we know in our spirit what is selfish and what is sin. But God grants us the power to overcome, we must not faint.  

Gal 6: MKJV
9 But we should not lose heart in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not faint.


It won't be too difficult because we have the Holy Spirit:  

Math 11: MKJV
29 Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.


Nonetheless, it is a work to be done. Jesus spoke about saving the soul:  

Math 16: NKJV
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  


The word life in 25 is "psuche" in the greek which better translates as soul, as in verse 26. Look at this verse:  

Luke 9: MKJV
23 And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.


While the word "himself" is not the same word "psuche". The same thought applies here, we must deny our soul.  

This denying of one's self, is an integral part of Brokenness, of which I discuss in detail here:


Brokenness: Finding God's Will, Way, and Method

Some may say, "Oh, my salvation is guaranteed. I don't need to deny myself." True, your spirit will be saved and go to heaven, but unless you get your soul saved before arriving there, God will break your soul. So Jesus gives us this choice:  

Math 21: MKJV
44 And he who falls on this Stone shall be broken, but on whomever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.


You have a choice, to either willingly break your own soul, or let Christ smash it to tiny bits. There will come a strong judgment of fire upon the unfaithful believer. Not a fire into hell, but they shall be saved:  

1 Cor 3: LITV
15 If the work of anyone shall be consumed, he shall suffer loss; but he will be saved, but so as through fire.


I discuss in great detail, this judgment of the unfaithful believer (this is NOT purgatory) here:  


 Eternal Judgment: of the Believer

I have good news, there is a truth that has been revealed to me, and found in the Parable of the Sower. Once you are Born Again, your soul is at least 30% saved. This is an amazing teaching and the grace of God. Please read more here:

When you are Born Again, your soul is at least, 30% saved


Some take the salvation of the soul too far. They believe the soul should be destroyed, and not preserved. The following page is a continuation of the teachings found on this page. I discuss this error here:

 Shall the soul be saved or destroyed?

When you begin saving the soul, you begin to walk in the Spirit. I discuss this here:

 Walking in the Spirit

The saving of the soul, could be considered a "by-product" of discipleship. The denying of the soul is a major element in discipleship. I discuss the 9 Biblical requirements of discipleship here:  

 Click here

The salvation of the soul is also a key element of the Gospel of the Kingdom. We have seen that the Gospel of Salvation saves the spirit, it is thus part of the Gospel of the Kingdom which saves the soul. I discuss the differences of the Gospel of Salvation and the Gospel of the Kingdom here:  

 The Gospel of The Kingdom - part one 

And once again, a continued discussion on denying one's self in Brokenness:

Brokenness: Finding God's Will, Way, and Method


Links to other websites

These are some nice websites which discuss the salvation of the soul, but these are not my articles. There may be some teaching or links to others I do not endorse, so be careful and weigh everything to the Scriptures, even my own teachings! Some of these links are to entire books you can read for free from Watchman Nee.

The Tripartite Man -
https://web.archive.org/web/20161022135918/http://www.tripartiteman.org/

God’s salvation and the three parts of man - http://www.godssalvation.org/salvation/transform.html

The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee - https://web.archive.org/web/20161227020443/http://www.worldinvisible.com:80/library/nee/5f00.0638/5f00.0638.c.htm

LOVE NOT THE WORLD by Watchman Nee - https://web.archive.org/web/20170218225445/http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/nee/lovenottheworld/contents.htm

My favorite book ever (besides the Bible of coarse) The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee - https://web.archive.org/web/20160904171144/http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/nee/nchrlife/nclcont.htm


Watchman Nee is my top foremost spiritual father. And there are many books by him out there. But in reality he only published 1 book, "The Spiritual Man". All the other books in his name are actually articles or sermons by him published into book form after his death. There are 2 major things I disagree with Nee on; one is his belief of the partial rapture based on works and I discuss that here: Preparing for the Rapture

The second major thing I disagree with him on is his stance on entertainment. He doesn't believe in any games of chance. To him ALL games must be games of skill, he didn't endorse even a mixture of skill and chance in a game, so he would condemn Candyland and even other board games because there is a spinning of a wheel or the rolling of dice. His mother was addicted to gambling and this made his view imbalanced. The next link(s) are of his book The Spiritual Man. In the notes to this book he discussed he almost didn't publish the book because it is to packed full of knowledge. And to much knowledge can often bypass or hinder spiritual revelation. And this book can do this. I agree with him. I never finished the book. The knoweldge is to much. At least for me. But much can be gleaned from it, even if you don't read all of it, or just skim it. And before I give these links, there is one other issue I had with Nee. You can find 2 books by him on his teachings from the book of Revelation. One is from his early days, the 2nd is from his later days. The 2nd book, he dismisses or changes his mind on the teachings of Revelation from the 1st. His 2nd book is a bit too odd for me, I think he talked about one of the dead Caesar's literaly coming out of the grave to become the anti-christ. At this time in his life things were going a bit sideways in my belief, where house churches became to political and church leaders had to much power bordering on the Shepherding Movement. In fact you will find 2 major movements from Nee because of this time period. 2 of his followers disagreed with each other after his death and one group got into the sheperding movement (Witness Lee) and the other did not (Stephen Kaung) . (In fact I personally made a phone call to Stephen Kaung around the year 2000) That was because of this time period in Nee's life before Communism overtook China and the changes taking place. When he was given authority over busineses before communism took over and threw him in prison. I think the communists helped him from crossing into those ideas before it was to late. But not to late for them to take root in some of his followers. Without further ado, here is the only book Watchman Nee actually published:


The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee Volume 1 - https://web.archive.org/web/20170305211316/http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/nee/sprtmnv1/1968cont.htm

THE SPIRITUAL MAN Volume II - https://web.archive.org/web/20170305210700/http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/nee/sprtmnv2/1969cont.htm

THE SPIRITUAL MAN Volume III - https://web.archive.org/web/20170305173410/http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/nee/sprtmnv3/sprtmnv3cont.htm

I haven't actually read all of The Spiritual Man, and understand Nee's own scepticism of the book, as he states in the prelude or so, that he almost did not publish it because it is very intelectual. This is why I prefer his other books, which he actually didn't write but are based on his sermons and teachings as they are briefer and/or more spiritual.

I have 2 videos to share. The 1st one is mine, which is just a shorter teaching found don this webpage. The other is Randy Shankle's teaching on the saving of the soul.

Randy teaches (or used to) that the born again christian is without sin. He teaches that it is the soul that sins, but the believer is now sin free in his spirit and Randy calls this the divine nature.

This Divine Nature teaching has caused a ruckus by many, thinking Randy teaches that humans become gods. That is NOT what he teaches at all, but that sin nature leaves and God Himself dwells in the human spirit. The Divine Nature is God Himself.

Believers are indeed the temple of God, but we still have sin in our person. Nee proves this point by using one of Randy's own teachings against this. 

Randy has another teaching called "The Fruit of it's Kind". Nee say's if 2 born again christians got married and had a baby, that if they truly were without sin, their baby would be born sinless. It would be a fruit of its kind. This of coarse does not happen. Because, the parents are not without sin.

Watchman Nee proves this further with scripture:

Rom 6: 
6: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.


The word destroyed gives the wrong impression, it actually means "unemployed" according to Nee, in Greek.


For a 2nd witness there is this:

 The New Testament Greek Lexicon

1) to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative

  a) to cause a person or thing to have no further efficiency

  b) to deprive of force, influence, power

2) to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul, abolish

  a) to cease, to pass away, be done away

  b) to be severed from, separated from, discharged from, loosed from any one

  c) to terminate all intercourse with one 

 

The work of the cross, unemploys sin. It is still there, it has been made without working power. But it is still there for you to choose, and choose daily if you so desire. I suggest reading the rest of Rom 6.

Nee died in like 1967 or so, long before Randy ever came to ministry, Nee through his teachings, shows the error that Randy took up in this area. But besides that, I believe Randy's Merismos teaching is very good, Watchman Nee teaches similar things.


---------------------------------

Once again, an update to this teaching I recommend highly:

When you are Born Again, your soul is at least, 30% saved

Here is a video of Randy Shankle's teaching on the Saving of the Soul (just remember the error I shared above):
 




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