(1) Beginning with the Story of the Kingdom of God

 

1. It is insufficient to represent salvation through the overall picture of the Bible.

 

(1) Beginning with the Story of the Kingdom of God

In the section on Anthropology (Chapter 1, Section 1) of *Introduction to Christian Theology* by biblical scholar Lewis Berkhof (translated by Shin Yun-bok), the explanation regarding the origin of the soul states: “There are three theories regarding the origin of each individual’s soul: creationism, pre-existence, and heredity.

First, creationism holds that when the body comes into being, God creates the spirit and breathes it into the body. It is a theory that God directly created each individual’s soul, and that its origin can be found in the direct act of creation at that time.

Although the soul is initially created pure, it enters into the structure of sin inherent in whole humanity, leading to the assumption that it was sinful even before birth. However, this theory makes God at least indirectly responsible for sin. It states that this is because God places a pure soul into the structure of sin, ultimately causing that soul to become corrupt.”

Second, pre-existence is the confinement of the sinful spirit within the body in the Kingdom of God. Some speculative scholars [argue] that the human soul existed in a pre-existence and And they claim that these souls that existed in the past have become the souls of the present.

In the past, this view was thought to provide the most natural explanation for the fact that all humans are born sinners. However, today, this theory is hardly welcomed.

Third is the theory of heredity. The theory of heredity posits that the soul is formed as knowledge and wisdom grow, while the body is received from the parents. A person's soul reproduces along with the body at birth, and therefore, it is transmitted from parents to children. However, if it were claimed that Jesus received both his body and soul from the sinful Mary, a major obstacle would arise. This is because it would become impossible to defend Jesus's innocence.

Among these, the second is theoretically the most reasonable, yet today, most advocate the theory of the creation of the spirit.

Humans are beings born into the world through the union of spirit and body. A being in which the spirit is united with the body implies that the spirit is trapped within the flesh. Humans became sinners from birth, and being a sinner means becoming a being spiritually severed from God. Being spiritually severed means being spiritually dead. Therefore, to be born From that time on, humans became beings who neither knew nor understood God.

In 2 Peter 2:4, it is stated that God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them into hell and confined them to dark pits to be kept until the day of judgment. It can be said that these dark pits represent the human body. Similar content appears in Jude 1:6.

Ephesians 2:2 states, “In those days you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

The nuance of the Greek Bible differs from that of the Revised Korean Version, which is a difference in translation.

Looking at the Greek, it reads: “En heis pote periepathesate kata ton aiona tou kosmou tou / kata ton archonta tes ekousias tou aeros tou pneuma tos tou / nün energuntos en tois huiois tes ateideias.”

The Greek can be translated by dividing it into three parts. First, the opening part is “En hais pote periefatesate kata ton aiona tou kosmu tutu,” which means “at one time you walked according to this material age.”

Second is “kata ton archonta tes ekushias tou aeros tou pneuma tos tou,” which means “you walked according to the spirit that is the ruler of the power of the air.”

The third is “Nun energuntos en tois huiois tes ateideias,” which translates to “now you are walking in the son of disobedience.”

The first and second parts are not explained in sequential order, but rather refer to what was walked in each respective era. The intention is to convey the message between the first and third parts. It is a Hebrew chiasm, a sandwich structure. Ultimately, it emphasizes walking according to the spirit that is the ruler of the power of the air. While the spirit that is the ruler of the power of the air is generally referred to as Satan, it actually signifies the evil spirits that oppose God. It implies that these evil spirits have a representative, and there are numerous evil spirits that follow him. His name does not appear in the Bible.

Since God confined these evil spirits within the flesh, they came to walk in the material world—the first part—that is, became human beings with flesh; and the third part is that they are now walking in the Son of Disobedience. The Son of Disobedience represents a spiritual being unrelated to Jesus Christ, as they were originally sons of God but disobeyed Him.

Ephesians 2:3 describes the state of man before receiving Jesus Christ. It states that they lived according to the desires of the flesh and did what the flesh and mind wanted, and were by nature children of wrath, just like others.

Genesis 6:1-3 tells the story of the sons of God seeing the beauty of the daughters of men and taking as wives the women they chose. Consequently, God became wrathful and judged humanity with a flood. “The Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not remain with man forever, because he is flesh.’”

Regarding this story, I have heard sermons claiming that evil angels from heaven descended to Earth, admired human women, and married them. However, while angels do appear in human form, the Bible states that angels do not possess bodies capable of marrying like humans.

Ultimately, this story symbolizes the spirit of a sinful angel from the Kingdom of God becoming human by combining with the earth of the world (symbolizing the woman of the world); since the spirit is dead, it implies that God is not with them.

One might ask: if God created the spirit clean, how can it be defiled by human sin? There is no passage in the Bible that mentions the spirit created by God being defiled.

It makes no sense to suggest that a spirit, which God made clean and placed within humans, could be defiled by any factor. If that were the case, it would imply that God created a clean spirit but placed it within matter, resulting in an impure spirit. Therefore, the theory of the creation of the spirit is problematic when humans are born.

The validity of the doctrine of the pre-existence of the spirit is demonstrated by the fact that Jesus pre-existed as a spirit. In Philippians 2:6-7, Jesus is described as the very essence of God. In John 6:61-64, the question is asked: "What would you do if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" The place where he was before becomes the Kingdom of God. This implies that the spirit ascends to the place where he was before. Therefore, it is said that the spirit must be revived.

Jesus was conversing with the Sadducees about the resurrection, and He stated that at the resurrection, one would become like an angel. Angels are spiritual beings. They appeared unable to believe the statement that a person would die, be resurrected, and become like an angel, a spiritual being. It implies that one was originally an angelic spirit, was confined within a human body, and is now returning to being an angelic spirit.

In Luke 20:35-36, Jesus stated that the resurrected cannot die again, are equal to the angels, and, as children of the resurrection, are children of God. Jesus also reveals that John the Baptist came with the spirit of Elijah.

John the Baptist came before Jesus and said, "The kingdom of heaven is near; repent." He was the one who prepared the way for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus. He was beheaded and died before Jesus. His death serves as a foreshadowing of Jesus' death on the cross.

Likewise, Elijah serves as a foreshadowing of Christ's resurrection, and Elisha serves as a foreshadowing of those who believe that the disciples will be united with Christ and resurrected. John the Baptist was a prophet who came into the world in the spirit of Elijah to testify to the coming of Jesus Christ and His ministry.

It is incomprehensible that speaking about the salvation of the spirit within the church community today is regarded as heresy. While there may be some believers who do not understand the concept of the spirit, it is truly regrettable to see that many display an attitude of unwillingness to even seek to understand it.

Many believers think of the "soul" instead of the "spirit." In ancient times, it was believed that the human body contained a soul or spirit, and that upon death, the soul or spirit would leave the body to go from this world to the next. Consequently, many believers today also perceive the spirit as the soul. They consider the soul or spirit to be something that naturally arises simply because a physical body exists.

The term "soul" is a translation of the English word "soul," and not only believers but also many pastors mention it. Therefore, some people even claim that humans are beings composed of flesh, soul, and spirit. However, this statement is incorrect. The English word "soul," translated as "hon," corresponds to the Hebrew *nephesh* and the Greek *psyche*, which are merely (limited) mortal lives.

This demonstrates just how much resistance there is still among believers regarding the concept of the spirit. To help believers understand, let's take the example of a robot. The robot age is beginning today, and a chip is embedded to enable these robots to operate. However, for a chip to function, it requires energy. If a battery is installed, it will move just like a human.

Robots are evolving in various ways, from those performing simple tasks to intelligent robots; considering that they are equipped with artificial intelligence, it can be seen that robots possess intelligence and thoughts similar to humans.

Here, we can compare humans and robots. The spirit corresponds to the chip installed in the robot, the battery represents the physical life (soul), and artificial intelligence represents the knowledge that enables the robot to demonstrate the remarkable ability to behave similarly to a human.

If the chip embedded in the robot malfunctions, the robot becomes inoperable. No matter how good the battery installed, it will become a useless battery. The same applies to the spirit. If the spirit is separated from the body, one becomes a dead person.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 states, "Remember that the dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."

When the body dies, the spirit that has departed from the body must put on a body of life; if it fails to do so, it enters into the fire. Depending on whether a person is united with Christ or not, there are two possibilities: receiving a body of life or a body of judgment.

John 5:28-29 states, "Do not be surprised at this, for the time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

Ultimately, the spirit putting on a body is resurrection, and this resurrection can be divided into the resurrection of life or the resurrection of judgment.

The Bible teaches that if the spirit puts on a body through the resurrection of life, it returns to the Kingdom of God where it originally resided; however, if it puts on a body through the resurrection of judgment, the spirit enters the grave of fire and judgment.