ULast time, we discussed the fall of man (Gen. 1 – 3), how Man’s spirit died and this in-turn corrupted his soul and transferred death to his body. This week, we consider the salvation of the soul. As we established in the previous article, Man is a spirit, he has a soul and lives in a body.

Before we begin it is important to explain what exactly the soul pertains to. The soul is the seat of Man’s intellect; the mind, it’s the place where he makes decisions. Scripture refers to the soul in a number of ways as we will explore today but it is clear that the soul is precious to God and the breath of God makes Man a “living soul”. The soul encompasses the essence of Man, i.e. it is our very being, and it can be living or dead as expressed in the state of our body. Scriptures often refer to the soul using the words heart, mind, emotions, will.

Scripture says:

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23 NIV)

Everything you do, flows from it. Yes! Everything! So if the soul, or let me say the mind is sound, correct, pure the actions produced from a person, would be sound, correct and pure. And if Man needs to be saved, not only does his spirit need to be regenerated, his corrupted mind needs to be renewed. Let’s see how Man was in the beginning.

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;” vs 21

“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” Vs 22

“And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Vs 23

In Gen. 2:21 – 23 above, we see the state of mind of Man before the fall. He was so in tune with God that even though he was asleep when God took the rib, and formed woman, immediately he saw her, he knew. Adam had a sound mind. He didn’t take eve to be one of the animals. There was no fear, nor worry in his mind. Fast-forward to after the fall, here is scripture’s description of Man:

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5)

We can rightly conclude that at the fall Man inherited the nature of the devil, his soul – was now contrary to God’s nature. His mind was corrupted. He was no longer capable of producing godly thoughts. Even much later scripture says:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9)

The heart is desperately wicked. And yes, we see several acts of wickedness by men in scriptures, starting from Cain killing his brother, to many actions of jealousy- leading to death, greed, pride, discontentment, lies, lawlessness and several others. Even today, our society is full of crime and violence which are manifestations of the wicked and corrupt state of the heart of man.

Man became a corrupt program, behaving in the direct opposite of God’s intended purpose. There is an adage that says “the day a mad man knows he is mad, that’s the day he gets healed”.  I think God applied this adage first. He introduced the Law; the Law was intended to act as a Mirror; Keeping instructions and demanding strict obedience which Man could not keep because of his weak state, so Man could see that he was sick and needed help in the coming of Christ.  

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; (1 Tim. 1: 9 – 10)

Unlike the salvation of the spirit, the salvation of the soul doesn’t happen at once, it’s a continuous and deliberate activity. In-fact, I believe everything about the Christian walk is geared towards this; the restoring of the soul by the renewal of the mind.

“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39)

The use of the word “saving” indicates that the salvation of the soul is continuous. Changing us from who we were to who God wants us to be. You know, if you change the mind, you change the person.

That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph. 4: 22 – 24)

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

As we engage in spiritual activities, listening to sermons, meditating on scriptures, praying (in tongues), our mind is being renewed, restored, refreshed. We become a new person. We take on the new nature of our spirit. Continuous fellowship with the spirit, makes our soul inherit the nature of the spirit. Our soul can then learn love (the nature of God). We can love the brethren, our families and most importantly love the Lord. Our soul then produces godly fruit through this fellowship manifesting in love, peace, joy, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance etc. (Eph. 5: 22 – 23). And then it can be said of us

“God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7)

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied” (1 Pet. 1:2)

I believe the scripture above describes both the salvation of the spirit (sanctification of the spirit) and the salvation of the soul (unto obedience). We were saved unto obedience. Obedience is key to the renewal of our minds. We must be ready to obey every word of the scriptures. As we do so we strengthen our walk with the spirit. If we must renew our minds, we must study the scriptures carefully, understand it thoroughly and obey it completely.

Next time, we’ll consider the salvation of the body.

Be a doer.

I Call You Blessed

Samson Afolabi