The first time The Lord brought saving of the soul to my attention was in 1 Peter 1:9 "[9]Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." That got my attention and I asked The Lord what salvation of the soul meant because i had thought I Had received my salvation and I did, but only in part as The Lord showed me. He showed me in Scripture man is made up of 3 parts 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “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." In this Scripture Paul makes a distinction between the 3 parts of man, spirit, soul and body, more Scriptures show this distinction Hebrews 4:12 says The Word of God divides between soul and spirit “[12]For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of *soul and spirit*, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Matthew 10:28 "[28]And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Ecclesiastes 12:7 "[7]Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." James 2:26 "[26]For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." Luke 1:46-47 "[46]And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
[47]And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Mary mentions both her spirit and soul in this verse. So man is made up of 3 parts and Paul's prayer to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is that God would sanctify them wholly, all parts of them, spirit, soul and body.
Our spirits got saved immediately after we accepted Jesus as our Lord and were born again, at that moment our spirits were made perfect in the image of Jesus but our souls still carnal, at that moment we accepted Jesus, were not saved. And that was evidenced by the fact we didn't immediately soon after getting born again, start walking, talking and acting like Jesus right away. Externally there was no change though our spirits were in the image of Jesus. The reason this is, is because our souls have to catch up with what The Lord did in our spirits and that's where the salvation of the soul or saving of the soul comes in. The soul (mind) has to be taught it's new reality and agree with the transformation in our spirits, which is that it is now in the perfect image of Jesus and should think accordingly. The mind is part of the soul, the soul is made up of mind, emotions and will. The soul (mind) catching up with the spirit happens by the process of the renewing of the mind by The Holy Spirit Who reveals and teaches us all things.
The salvation of our spirits was only the beginning, our souls need to be saved as well and this salvation received after we accepted Christ, is what makes us live out our inner transformation, so we walk and talk and think like Jesus. Before the fall Adam's spirit, soul and body were in perfect harmony but after the fall, sin gained access to the soul and there was a split, internal wars were born, something everyone is familiar with. Internal struggles that at times pull you this way and that. Paul puts it clearly when he says he doesn't do what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do, he does. David speaks to his soul with a separate part of himself when he says in Psalms 42:11 “ [11]Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." These Scripture show there was an internal split after the fall but in Christ, spirit, soul and body are brought back together in perfect harmony if we will submit to The Holy Spirit and let Him renew our minds and if we will look to Jesus becoming more and more dependent on Him.
Before we receive the salvation of our souls, the mind has to be renewed by The Holy Spirit, Who teaches through Scripture who we are now in Christ, and who we are not anymore, He shows us the old sinful nature is dead and buried and teaches us to live in the Truth of our new reality, fixing our eyes on Jesus and on things that are eternal. Understanding is given and comes only by The Holy Spirit, it doesn't come by mental effort on our part. If understanding has to be given that means Scripture isn't as straight forward as we think, there are depths that only The Lord can reveal, layers that only He can peel back. The Lord gives a knowledge of who we are so we can live our true identity in Christ authentically and not let it be buried under an old sinful nature that we were before getting born again. One of the things that keeps from walking, talking and living just like Jesus as the new creature he created, is the mind not being renewed to who we are in Christ. The Bible could be read everyday and yet the ways of the old man the sinful nature and same lifestyle, still very present because The Bible is read with our own understanding which Scripture says we should not lean on. Prayer for understanding is found in Ephesians 1:17, Paul tells us to pray for The Spirit of wisdom and understanding which is a manifestation of The Holy Spirit, and He will show us what is the hope of our calling.
Few Scriptures about the salvation of the soul, 1 Peter 1:9 "[9]Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Hebrews 10:39 “[39]But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the *saving of the soul."* Thessalonians 2:13 " [13]But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you *to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:" Also mentioned in Scripture is Jesus being the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls and in a number of Scriptures, we are told to put on as believers the helmet of Salvation everyday, so this is a salvation received after we got born again. You might ask, what are our souls being saved from? Just like our spirits were made right with God and are now in the perfect image of God, and as a result, we have escaped the coming wrath of God and been saved from going to hell, our souls are saved from the ways of the old sinful man, and made to authentically live out the new creatures we are in Christ.
As born again, redeemed and sanctified children of God, there is a war against our soul that Peter mentions 1 Peter 2:11 "[11]Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" Peter says fleshly lusts war against our souls, the flesh can be used by the enemy to keep us in sin, in the ways of the old sinful nature, which keeps us from experientially living out the life of the new creature we are in Christ. Romans 8:6 says, there is a "mind of the flesh", a sin orientated mindset that remains if we don't have our minds renewed by The Holy Spirit. The flesh aided on by the enemy will try and resurrect the ways of the old man the sinful nature any chance it gets, so our souls have to be saved by the very Life of Jesus in us and His Life manifested will authentically live out holiness, righteousness, purity because these are attributes of His Nature, a nature He made us partakers of. When our minds have been renewed we can expect the enemy to fight us and try to challenge what our minds have been renewed to, and it will use situations, or people to get us to keep our eyes not on "it is finished," but on the things it hatches in the natural like bad situations, difficult people etc, so we have to keep the understanding we received from The Holy Spirit before us, not falling for the enemy's lies but keeping Jesus The Word of Truth before us. We fix our eyes on "it is finished" and believe that by faith He already has a solution.
Jesus didn't temporarily give up His glory to come as man on earth, be rejected, abandoned, persecuted, reviled, hated, tortured and eventually crucified just so He could save us from going to hell. He came to save us not just from hell but to restore what the enemy stole from Him, fellowship with man, Adam was in the very image of God, but fell and we have been restored to that image by Jesus. Because of His sacrifice, Jesus expects us to remain steadfast and live out what He died to give us, because there is a war against our souls. Revelation 12:17 “[17]And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and *went to make war* with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." It is a war mentioned plainly in Scripture that's why Paul tells us to fight the good fight of faith. We fight lies with Truth and we stand on it refusing to budge no matter what we see. Every believer quotes "Jesus died for our sins" and that's true but because He died for our sins He expects us to live a holy life and He has made that possible by His glory in us. His indwelling glory saves our souls when it is manifested and we are living more and more in the reality He died to give us. Living in the ways of the old man, the old nature, is living in a past that doesn't exist anymore because Scripture says in the new creature, *ALL* things are of God" not just some things." Jesus is the life of the new creature that's why it's "created in true righteousness and holiness" that Nature belongs to God alone because only He is righteous and holy, and it says Jesus has become unto us *all things* and all things are of God. Jesus's spotless Nature saves our souls, by displacing what is not of Him, displacing sin, when He is manifested. Scripture says for every temptation there is a way out and Jesus is the Way out if we'll seek Him. The new nature which is of God overcomes whatever the enemy might throw at us, or whatever the flesh might try to tempt us into doing. This beautiful Scripture sums it all up nicely Titus 2:11-14 "[11]For the grace of God that *bringeth salvation* hath appeared to all men, [12]Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [13]Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; [14]Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Scripture says because we have received The Salvation by grace through Jesus Christ that keeps us from ungodliness and worldly lusts, we Should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world, because this is the reason Jesus died for us, He died so He could redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a people zealous for good works. And it says we deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, looking to the appearing of Jesus, which means looking to His indwelling glory manifested in us, to displace what is not of Him, to displace sin.
We are without excuse because the salvation of our souls or saving of our souls that enables us live godly and righteously Has appeared by Jesus and because it has, our lives should reflect the new creature we are in Christ. Jesus died for our sins true, but it continues and says He died so He could redeem us from iniquity from a life of sin, purifying us making us just like Him and zealous for good works. Jesus saves us by His Life. He is absolutely Wonderful and can't be remotely compared to. Praise Him. Jesus's Life makes us holy, He said be holy because I am holy, He is Holiness in us, and righteousness and "all things are of God." Titus 2:11 quoted above says, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation (Jesus) hath appeared to all men," by His Life and indwelling glory. Jesus is The Author of our salvation Hebrews 2:10 "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the *captain of their salvation* perfect through sufferings." Jesus didn't just save our spirits at the time we got born again, salvation continues to the saving of our souls as Romans 5:10 points out, "[10]For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, *we shall be saved by his life.*" Powerful Scripture that shows the salvation of the soul, it says "being reconciled (past tense)" meaning now that we have been reconciled, now that we are born again, we shall be saved by His Life. We are partakers of Jesus's Divine Nature by grace. This salvation is manifested when we call upon the Name of The Lord in moments of weakness like Scripture says whoever calls on The Name of The Lord will be saved. Jesus is The way out of temptation to sin, if we will seek Him and not turn to the flesh's solutions but submitting to Jesus, acknowledging He is Life and Truth.
In a nutshell, man is made up of 3 parts, spirit, soul and body. Our spirits were saved immediately after we got born again but the soul remained carnal so to authentically make us live out our inner spirit transformation, the soul needed saving. The process of the saving of the soul begins by asking God for The Spirit of wisdom and revelation, Who is The Holy Spirit and The Holy Spirit by His power gives us understanding, and this understanding which is from God and not our own, helps us know who we are in Christ and what we already have by Him. After we have received this understanding we apply what we have been taught by the promptings and leading of The Holy Spirit, remaining and abiding in The Truth Jesus no matter what the enemy throws us, when we seek Him Jesus appears to the saving of our souls, displacing lies of the old nature, or temptation to sin by His very Life manifested in us. Jesus didn't come just to save us from going to hell and die for our sins, He died so we could partake of His Nature, a nature and image Adam lost when he fell, but that has been restored to us by Jesus. We are without excuse because "the grace of God that brings salvation has come." To quote 1 Peter 1:9 again, "[9]Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." The beginning of our faith saw our spirits receiving salvation, being made and restored to the perfect image of God, and being saved from the wrath to come, the end of our faith is the salvation of our souls, the saving of our souls. Most believers unfortunately stop at the beginning of their faith but as this Scripture points out our souls must be saved as well.
The Lord showed me what it's like to submit to Him and yield to Him to save our souls, through the beautiful Psalm 23, David illustrates what happens when we submit and yield to Jesus not only looking to Him as an external help but looking on His indwelling Life to save our souls. David illustrates what happens when we call on The Name of Jesus or speak The Word Jesus and let Him accomplish what He promised He will if we will turn to Him and not flesh or wordly solutions. Psalm 23 perfectly illustrates what happens we submit to Jesus...
Psalms 23:1-6
[1](A Psalm of David.) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2]He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
[3]He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
[4]Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
[5]Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
[6]Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever." Few things to note, Jesus is the Bishop and Shepherd of our soul mentioned in verse 1 and because He is our Shepherd we lack nothing and David expounds on that in the rest of the Scriptures, 'the valley of the shadow of death' isn't just an external turbulent situation but an internal as well, Jesus will comfort and protect our souls by His Life in us, restoring our souls by His peace, joy, strength, He is 'the table before us in The presence of our enemies,' Jesus is The Bread of Life and Rivers of living Water, whatever the enemy throws at us we can 'feast' on Jesus on His indwelling Life in life's difficulties and when we do more and more of Him is formed in us increasing His anointing in us till we are saturated with His Life and overflow. His goodness and mercy become our constant companions because of totally depending on Him, His goodness and mercy become a daily experience. 1 Peter 4:19 tells us to commit our souls to our Faithful Creator, "[19]Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" knowing because His Name Is Faithful and True, we can rely and trust on Him every single time Psalm 91:4 " He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; *His faithfulness is a shield and rampart *."
