The Spiritual and Physical Aspects of Salvation

[Robert Pate]

All that have come to Christ as repentant sinners to be saved by Christ are spiritually in Christ. God sees them as being "Complete in Christ" Colossians 2:10.

As far as God is concerned, they have been justified, sanctified and redeemed, 1 Corinthians 1:30. Spiritually they have been made to sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ, Ephesians 2:6. They are spiritually in Christ and Christ is in heaven. Colossians 3:3. They have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and are eternally saved. There is no unsealing, once sealed always sealed.

Physically, they are the chief of sinners, 1 Timothy 1:15. This can cause a great deal of stress in one's life. Simply because, "The flesh (Adam) lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit (Christ) against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would" Galatians 5:17. Christians are both saints and sinners at the same time.

We have not been totally redeemed yet. We are still in these sinful Adamic bodies that are prone to sin. We are waiting for the return of Jesus and the redemption of our sinful bodies, Romans 8:23. What is the solution to this problem? There isn't one. Paul said that we should walk in the Spirit or to be spiritually minded. To be spiritually minded is to believe the Gospel and to live in the Gospel. In the Gospel we are complete in Christ, Colossians 2:10.

 

[Robert Pate]

All that have come to Christ as repentant sinners to be saved by Christ are spiritually in Christ. God sees them as being "Complete in Christ" Colossians 2:10.

As far as God is concerned, they have been justified, sanctified and redeemed, 1 Corinthians 1:30. Spiritually they have been made to sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ, Ephesians 2:6. They are spiritually in Christ and Christ is in heaven. Colossians 3:3. They have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and are eternally saved. There is no unsealing, once sealed always sealed.

Physically, they are the chief of sinners, 1 Timothy 1:15. This can cause a great deal of stress in one's life. Simply because, "The flesh (Adam) lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit (Christ) against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would" Galatians 5:17. Christians are both saints and sinners at the same time.

We have not been totally redeemed yet. We are still in these sinful Adamic bodies that are prone to sin. We are waiting for the return of Jesus and the redemption of our sinful bodies, Romans 8:23. What is the solution to this problem? There isn't one. Paul said that we should walk in the Spirit or to be spiritually minded. To be spiritually minded is to believe the Gospel and to live in the Gospel. In the Gospel we are complete in Christ, Colossians 2:10.

There are dozens of holiness religions that want you to believe that by your works and your obedience to the law (religion) you will become acceptable to God. They don't believe the Gospel. In the Gospel Jesus "Justifies the ungodly" Romans 4:5 and reconciles them unto God, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. No laws, rules or religion needed.

Salvation is a work of God, not man. Most of these holiness religions are not aware that their theology is anti-Christ. They are trying to do in their flesh what God has already done in Jesus Christ. Paul said, "They are enemies of the cross" They do not believe that Jesus atoned for their sins, they want to deal with their own sins so that they will get the glory instead of Christ.

When I went to the organized church I hated testimony time. Some fool would stand up and try to convince the congregation that they had overcome some sort of a sin by the works of the law. This one fool said that he ran out of Gas in his pickup truck. He prayed and lo and behold God gave him a quarter of a tank. I always wondered why God only gave him a quarter of a tank, why not a full tank?