The process of salvation requires human effort and cooperation; Grace replacing grace as the Christian works out his own salvation with fear and trembling. In Paul’s words:
“If you live according to the flesh you shall die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you shall live”446
It is the human’s spirit or “inner man” that is in action in this context, not the Holy Spirit as many infer from this verse. For we do not operate the Holy Spirit; He cannot be a
faculty. The spirit is a part of us; the Holy Spirit is with us; the One witnesses to the other447.
The Spirit is the God who guides, instructing us to control our fleshly inclinations by responding to the inclinations of the inner man rather than the desires of its temporary housing. That is how we “crucify the old man” to preserve the soul448. Paul’s “old man” and
“new man” is the before and after of the soul. The old man was being “corrupted according to the deceitful lusts” arising from the concupiscence of the “body of this death” or flesh.
Now through the means of grace and with the mind renewed both by the Spirit and divine teaching, the Christian is to “put on the new man”. He himself must do it: “Therefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour; be angry and sin not. ” Now the “new man” the heart, soul and spirit of the Christian can be recreated in righteousness and true holiness. It is a virtuous circle: Charin anti charitos (Grace for grace). “Assuredly the same spiritual grace that is equally received in baptism by believers is subsequently either increased or diminished according to our conversation and conduct” 449. And all for one purpose:
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to POSSESS HIS OWN VESSEL in sanctity and honour”450
Peter’s teaching is in the same vein: the Christian has died to sin and now lives for righteousness451. In the current age it is the soul that is healed through the sacraments, not the body, either physically (as a norm) or in terms of its moral inclination: For if Christ be in 443 1Jn3:7
444 1Jn4:20
445 1Jn5:1-3
446 Rom8:13
447 Rom8:16
448 Cf. Heb10:39
449 The Epistles of Cyprian – Epistle 75 (14)
450 1Thes4:3-4
451 1Pet2:24
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you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because of righteousness452. Paul would hardly be asserting that the Holy Spirit is alive because of righteousness ( dia dikaiosunen); He could never be other than alive or righteous. The Christian’s spirit is alive because it is intrinsically sound and enlightened, unlike the body which remains disordered and inclined to sin. The Christian is no longer under obligation to his degenerative vessel to satisfy its whims and desires but needs to deny them by his spirit which has been united to Christ. For, says the apostle, to be bodily-minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace:
“Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts453
If the Holy Spirit were the Operator and salvation all of grace, such an exhortation would be superfluous. Rather He is the Comforter and Facilitator – the spirit/will/inner man must apply itself, then the Spirit will provide aid. The evidence for such symbiosis is our
fellow Christian: each believer does not achieve the same degree of sanctification in his lifetime, and it is clearly not perfected in all. For the believer is required to purify himself:
“Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God”454
The Christian is to become perfected or complete through personal effort and endurance aided by grace, perfected that is in love such that we become “like God in the world”455.
Salvific synergy in the language of Jesus
Jesus is equally clear that those who are to enter the Kingdom of God do not rely on grace alone:
“If your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, in which their worm will never die nor their fire be put out. For everyone will be salted with fire - salt being a good thing but if salt has become insipid, how can you make it salty again. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another”456
Jesus’ teaching has a timeless quality and value, yet one must remember it was addressed to the fellow Jews of His day. Just as we saw Paul speaking of the necessity to put to death the deeds of the body by “crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires”457 so Jesus was referring to the need to control those bodily members relating to sight and action which might result in mortal sin458. But in the language of Jesus, there is no confusion about 452 Rom8:10
453 Rom6:12
454 2Cor7:1 – Another clear reference to the human spirit, for how could the Holy Spirit be defiled?
455 1Jn4:17
456 Mk9:45-50
457 Gal5:24
458 1Jn5:16
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who is to exercise the control. For those who physically die in a state of mortal sin would have to be “salted in fire”. Purgatory is indistinguishable in Scripture from Gehenna; something that, for example, someone who seriously insults his fellow believer may be required to experience459. The burning away of dross necessary for purification cannot be measured in earthly time or degree. Such concepts have led to deformed practices packaged as indulgences, something which helped trigger Luther’s revolt and were rightly condemned.
The process of purgation can commence during one’s earthly life and be completed within it; the need for such arising from the fact that even freed from the mortal body, a soul may be polluted with sins of the mind such as pride, resentment, jealousy, prejudice or an unwillingness to forgive. Such dispositions have no place either in heaven, where only the pure in heart may see God, or in a glorified body; they must be dealt with if the soul is to be redeemed and play a part in a “new heaven and earth where righteousness dwells”460.
That is why it is better to keep one’s body and mind in check and “have salt in oneself”461.
Jesus and Scripture are unambiguous that all mortal sins apart from that against the Holy Spirit can be forgiven in this age and the next462. Confusion has arisen here from the fact that those who continually practice mortal sin will not inherit the Kingdom of God:
“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers – none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God”463