This article discusses the first stage of our salvation which is the redemption of the human spirit when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by faith, through belief in the heart unto righteousness and confession with the mouth unto salvation Romans 10:10. Subsequent articles detail the salvation of the soul and body which are purchased but not saved in this stage of salvation.
In the first stage of salvation, God saves our human spirit through the faith He gives us as a result of His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), but the subsequent stages require that man renew his mind (Romans 12:2) and spirit of the mind (Ephesians 4:23-24) by the Word of God, and continue in the faith and trusting what Jesus achieved for mankind through His faithfulness as proclaimed in the Word of God. The extent of the success of the soul’s salvation in this life, where joy, love, and peace become established, depends on our continued walk of faith in what Jesus did, up until the last day when He will raise us into eternal life which is the salvation of the body. Mankind however has free will to either obey or reject God’s Word because no one can force us to read and study the Word of God. Those who neglect the Word of God after being saved by the spirit will struggle with understanding why things happen to them as believers as their souls will remain in carnality, though they may maintain their faith and still attain the salvation of the body on the last day when Jesus returns, assuming that they do not live a lifestyle of sin.
The Old Testament was about enforcing laws through compulsion, where failure to comply required that punishment be administered, or sacrificing of animals was necessary to forgive sins, whereas the New Testament is based on the grace of God where we are forgiven of sins because we are justified by faith and sanctified as we walk by the Word of God through faith in Jesus Christ’s faithfulness. We could say that in the Old Testament, we TRY to be righteous by fulfilling the law which no one can achieve (Acts 15:5-11), but in the New Testament, we BECOME a new person by His grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit who sheds love in our hearts (Romans 5:5), for love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8), and the goodness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). It is therefore submitting to Jesus Christ (Word), repenting of sin because of God’s goodness, believing in His faithfulness and not our works of the law, and the love shed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that transforms us.
Aspects of the human spirit
The human spirit consists of three aspects:
- The conscience
- The fellowship
- The intuition
The spirit or breath of God is what gives us life, i.e.: our dead bodies become alive or animated. The consummation of spirit and body (Genesis 2:7) gives life to the soul which is in the blood, Leviticus 17:11.
The conscience aspect of the spirit is essentially where we know right from wrong and will either justify or condemn us based on our soulish actions (1 John 3:20 and 1 John 5:14). I believe that the conscience can also justify or condemn us on intended actions based on desire. The conscience is also an aspect of the heart which includes the three aspects of the soul, i.e.: the heart incorporates the conscience, the mind, the will, and the emotions. In other words, our heart is convicted of right or wrong based on the conviction of the conscience, which knows right from wrong, based on what the soul believes, wills, feels, and acts upon, or what we intend to act upon. Therefore, the heart consists of aspects of the spirit and the full aspects of the soul.
The fellowship aspect of the spirit is the aspect where we can contact and have communion with God and thus from which we build our relationship with God, see John 4:24 and Romans 1:9.
The intuititive aspect of the spirit is where we feel or sense the spirit and therefore perceive/know God’s truth, unlike the soul which requires us to reason based on circumstances. In 1 Corinthians 2:11, we understand that our spirit can know what our soul cannot.
Salvation of the human spirit
To be born again by the spirit, or to have our spirit regenerated, is the second step in the process of salvation after we have gained some knowledge and faith in the Christian faith. Regeneration of the human spirit is done by the indwelling Holy Spirit so that we can have access to the Kingdom of God here on earth in our mortal bodies, see John 3-1-5. The Kingdom of God is not some physical place we go to or see but is the heavenly atmosphere created by the Holy Spirit in our hearts which is confirmed by Jesus in Luke 17:21. When we believe with our hearts unto righteousness and confess with our mouths unto salvation (Romans 10:10), we receive the Holy Spirit (Spirit of Christ) within our hearts to regenerate our human spirit and the Holy Spirit is sealed in our hearts until the redemption of the purchased possession, see Ephesians 1:13-14.
The purchased possession is our entire being of spirit, soul, and body, which God has fully purchased, implying we belong to Him, and He has also given us the Holy Spirit to assist us in our walk with God until we are fully redeemed (saved). This means that our salvation has stages of redemption for each aspect of our entire being (spirit, soul, and body) until we transform our character, where the final aspect of our salvation is the transformation of our mortal or corruptible bodies to immortal or incorruptible bodies at the second appearance of Jesus Christ when death is defeated, see 1 Corinthians 15:50-55, 1 John 3:2, and Philippians 3:20-21.
The steps to attain salvation of the human spirit are as follows:
- The first step is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Saviour of our lives. This can only be done if we have someone to teach us or to visit a church that will, over time, give us this assurance as unbelievers. If we are not open to listening, we will find it difficult to believe in anything spiritual. In my case, it was a Christian whom I had not seen for about 10 years, who wanted to reconnect but feigned love for God but in reality was a Satanist.
- The second step in the salvation of the human spirit initiates the entire salvation process, Generally, to be saved or regenerated in the spirit, people confess with their mouths that they have sinful lives, ask God to cleanse them of all sin and unrighteousness, and ask Jesus Christ to become their Lord and Saviour. This must be done in heartfelt faith that God will honor their request. It does not have to be done in a church as individuals can do this at home, but it is advisable to do it in church as it is equipped to teach the doctrines of Christ and also because the next steps are more likely to be in church. I have found that in my situation, issues such as the occult need to be confessed, repented of, and renounced.
- The third step is water baptism which should be done in the name of Jesus Christ to reflect the dying of our sinful nature (old man) by being submerged under water and being made alive into a new life in Christ by coming out of the water. Water baptism is our pledge of a clear/good conscience towards God and should not be overlooked, see 1 Peter 3:21.
- The fourth and final step is not essential for salvation but we miss out on the power of the Holy Spirit and thus our ministry will not be managed or run to its full potential. Nevertheless, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire the individual should ask the Holy Spirit in faith to come and fill them up with His presence, after which they start speaking in tongues, though not everyone will do this immediately, and not everyone will speak in tongues because I believe that some give up. Being baptized with the Holy Spirit is for power but fire represents the passionate burning we have for Christ and the gifts and wonders that we may perform. Fire also has to do with the purification of our character just as gold is purified in the fire which removes the dross. Tongues are a sure sign that we entered the Kingdom of God here on earth and that salvation of the human spirit was attained, but not all people will speak in tongues as proven in 1 Corinthians 12:28-30, so do not worry, other manifestations such as God’s heartfelt love will be felt as happened to me. Note that there are false tongues and one should be cautious as to which church they choose to attend. Any church that preachers another gospel instead of the true gospel of Jesus Christ must be rejected. I would say that one should also avoid legalistic churches at all costs.
The last three steps can all be done on the same day but the believer should have come to the realization that they have faith in God as opposed to being anxious or excited about what they might receive regarding gifts, ministry, or prosperity, which only serves to raise the ego and subsequent disappointments when things do not go as expected. If the individual discerns that they are excited about the benefits rather than the faith in God, I suggest that they wait until they have a better understanding of the scriptures. Remember that God is about to change or mold the heart which might take some pain. Added to that pain, ex-relationships might go sour when they realize that you are no longer walking in their way and take offense at your newfound realities which will not agree with theirs (1 Peter 4:1-4). They will call you a bigot because they misunderstand the word itself, as they themselves are bigots for having the same principles regarding their own beliefs, but now they dislike you even though you don’t dislike them. Understand that the secular person thinks that they are broad-minded because they accept anything but are actually walking down the road of perdition due to foolishness, i.e.: If all religious people believe that God is good and full of love, why would He have created many religions that contradict one another resulting in wars. There are no “holy wars”. Love covers sin (1 Peter 4:8) and God is not schizophrenic that He would create many religions of standards of morality.
Note that once saved in spirit we still have to undergo the salvation of the soul and the body.
Why should we be born again by the spirit?
The reason we should be born again is to renew our human spirit because it was subdued by the carnal desires of the soul, i.e: when the mind/will (soul) regularly overrides the prompting of the conscience (spirit/heart) for a particular issue, the conscience becomes seared or hardened for the issue in question and therefore no longer prompts the person. For example, if I like stealing, my conscience (spirit/heart) will prompt the mind (soul) of wrongdoing, however, if the benefit of what I am stealing is a greater desire in my will (soul) than doing what is right, my will (soul) might override the prompting of my conscience (spirit/heart) and thus I will steal anyway. If this happens regularly, my conscience (spirit/heart) is overridden and therefore defeated by my will (soul), thus terminating the prompting of the conscience (spirit/heart) permanently. The person then replaces truth with their newfound acceptable desire where stealing becomes the norm even though they have to do it covertly to avoid the penalty or even prison.
1 Timothy 4:1-4 speaks of a case where ungodly people forbid marriage or eating meat, which according to God is good, but people will go against God’s principles through rebellion or ignorance, as we are experiencing in current times. These ungodly instigators end up with consciences that are seared or hardened, meaning that they will never again even consider marriage or eating meat as a good thing, and thus infect others with heresies, especially if they are influential people, and we know that it is generally people with lots of money and status that influence others. The same is true for LGBTQ, transgenderism, abortion, or anything that goes against the Word of God.
I believe that repetitive beliefs and actions, whether good are bad, are recorded in the spirit of the mind (subconscious mind) especially when we go to sleep, and I believe this happens during REM sleep. When those beliefs and actions are etched in the spirit of our mind (subconscious mind), we react to situations without thinking because they become part of who are. It is therefore imperative that we understand that reading, meditating, understanding, and acting on the Word of God has a similar effect on the spirit of the mind (subconscious mind) but from a positive point of view. When the spirit and the spirit of the mind are in sync and agreement, we can say we are walking with God. I also believe that the spirit and the soul form the inner man discussed in Ephesians 3:16, however, it is the soul, which includes the subconscious and conscious mind, will, and emotions, that requires strengthening because the spirit should already be regenerated and therefore strengthened, besides, the spirit does not change as its God’s spirit within mankind. The soul is also strengthened as we learn and act on our new understanding of the Word which grows us gradually into the stature of Christ, ie: we move from glory to glory because being in the Word is like looking into a mirror and beholding Christ (the Word) who changes us, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
When we are born again by the spirit we start to see and therefore understand the Kingdom of God more clearly as the scriptures come alive to us as we read and minister to others. The Holy Spirit also assists in transforming our character as He reprimands us of sin, righteousness, and judgment, see John 16:8. If we ignore the conviction or reprimand on a regular basis we sear our consciences and no longer get prompted, thus stagnating us in that area and possibly manifesting problems in our life.
When we start to see (understand) the Kingdom of God, and if we start to act upon the Word through worship, praise, or service to God, we enter the kingdom where righteousness, joy, peace, love, etc, start to manifest in our lives, as per Romans 14:17, for the Kingdom of God is within us, see Luke 17:21.