To lose our soul in this age is to save our soul in the coming age. When the Lord Jesus returns, He will exercise judgment upon all His believers to determine whether or not they will receive dispensational punishment. To save the soul is to be saved from dispensational punishment in the coming age and to participate in the joy of the Lord; to lose the soul is to undergo dispensational punishment in the coming age.
First Peter 1:9 says, “Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This salvation is the full salvation in three stages: the initial stage, the progressing stage, and the completing stage. Our spirit was saved through regeneration (John 3:5-6). Our body must wait for the Lord’s return in order to be saved and redeemed through transfiguration (Phil. 3:21; Rom. 8:23). Whether we save or gain our soul at the Lord’s appearing depends on how we deal with our soul in following the Lord after being saved and regenerated. If we are willing to deny our soul, that is, our soul-life with all its pleasures in this age, we will gain the soul in the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming age (Matt. 10:37-39; 16:24-27; Luke 17:30-33; John 12:25).
We, who are gradually being conformed to the death of Christ, have been crucified with Christ from the elements of the world, the worldly ordinances which are according to the teachings of men. Every religion has its ordinances, regulations, rules, and laws. These are the religious ordinances taught by men. In Christ we have died to all these matters.
In Colossians 2:20-22 the apostle Paul says, “If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances; do not handle, nor taste, nor touch (regarding things which are all to perish when used) according to the commandments and teachings of men?” The elements of the world include Jewish observances, heathen ordinances, and philosophy; they also include gnosticism, asceticism, and mysticism. The elements of the world are the elementary principles of worldly society, the rudimentary principles invented by mankind and practiced in society. With Christ we have died to these elements of the world. When Christ was crucified, we were crucified as well. In His crucifixion we were released from the elementary principles of the world.
For us to be conformed to the death of Christ, we need to bear the cross, accept the fact that the old man has been crucified, crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, put to death the practices of the body, deny the self, lose the soul, and also experience dying with Christ to be freed from the elements of the world. Here are six negative things that must be dealt with: the old man, the body of sin, the flesh with its passions and lusts, the practices of the body, the self, and the soul (the natural life). None of these can remain in the mold of Christ’s death, because the death of Christ cuts off, kills, and annuls them. Therefore, in the mold of Christ’s death no trace of these six things can be found. In actuality, to be conformed to Christ’s death is to deal with these six negative things. The more these things are dealt with, the more we are conformed to Christ’s death and the more we are conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. God’s Firstborn has the human nature, but He does not have the old man, the body of sin, the flesh with its passions and lusts, the practices of the body, the self, or the soul (natural life). To be conformed to the image of Christ, we must be dealt with by the cross to be conformed to the death of Christ.
The believers, by being conformed to the death of Christ, experience and enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the divine transformation. To be conformed to the death of Christ denotes that the believers need to take Christ’s death as a mold for their living. The mold of Christ’s death refers to His putting to death His human life continuously so that He might live by the life of God. Unless the believers are conformed to the death of Christ, they cannot be conformed to the image of Christ. Therefore, when the believers experience the process of transformation and conformation, they are being conformed to the death of Christ. The death of Christ was present in Him throughout His entire life; therefore, the believers also must daily experience being conformed to Christ’s death.
Our conformation to Christ’s death is by taking up the cross and staying under the killing of the cross so as to be identified with the crucified Christ and to remain in the death of Christ. We must also realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ, that the body of sin has been annulled, and that we no longer serve sin as slaves. On the basis of the old man having been crucified, we need to apply the cross of Christ to our flesh by the Spirit, crucifying our flesh with its passions and lusts, thus practically experiencing the death of Christ and being led by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, to be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ, God’s firstborn Son.
To be conformed to the death of Christ, we need to put to death by the Spirit the practices of the body, that is, to turn our mind to the spirit and set our mind on the spirit, putting to death all kinds of practices of the body and not living habitually according to the flesh. We also need to deny the self, that is, our soul-life, our human thoughts and opinions, and through the application of the cross, we need to experience the death of Christ and not live in our “I” but live only in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to be conformed to the death of Christ.
We are also conformed to the death of Christ through losing our soul. This is the reality of denying the self and bearing the cross, causing us to experience the death of Christ and not live in our natural life so that our love would be absolute for the Lord. Ultimately, this is to save our soul, that is, to gain the salvation of our soul, the gaining of our soul in the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming age. Finally, being conformed to Christ’s death is to die with Christ from the elements of the world, that is, to be freed from the worldly ordinances according to the teachings of men. Being conformed to the death of Christ deals with all these items.