For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:6)
We must know about the spirit, the soul, and the flesh in dealing with a question of salvation. It needs for understanding ourselves, because those are in us. Generally speaking, we use a word ‘the Trinity’ to express the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God. We can understand it easily when we think that there are the spirit, a soul, and the flesh in us making one personality. We have to know that these three characteristics are close to salvation.
When we talk about salvation, we represent it as the salvation of soul. It means that the target of salvation is the soul. Then, what about the spirit and the flesh? The Bible already gave the answer; we can find it easily when we understand where those came from.
As we know, flesh made from soil. We can’t do any things with our body; it is just a clod. People make various things with soil. Like this, we are the work of the Lord, so it is no wonder that our body revert to soil. This fact is said in the Bible.
Then, where did the spirit come from? It is from God. God formed Adam of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The breath means the spirit, and belongs to God in essence. If so, how about the spirit after the death of the flesh? It will go back to the Lord for sure. So, the Bible says that it is for following God by the spirit to evangelize to the dead. That is, the Lord is calling every spirits into him again.
As mentioned above, the target of salvation is the soul. This is the God’s personality completed by breathing his spirit into the flesh, so the essence of man is the soul. What goes to heaven or hell is the soul. Sometimes it is expressed as our thinking, mind, intelligence, emotion- it is all we have. Occasionally, it seems that the Bible says what we can’t understand, but it isn’t difficult to understand this matter when we comprehend rightly the relationship among the spirit, the soul, and the flesh. I want you understand your own feature and walk on the way of salvation.
