And in so doing, "the three salvations" of the spirit, the soul and the body, by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, produces in man a COMPLETE work by a COMPLETE God!

     God likes doing things in "three's". Besides being a tripartite God, this pattern dates right back to the very beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” - JOHN 1:1. And it continues throughout the Word. For one, God says, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” – MATTHEW 22:32. He also says, “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” – MATTHEW 28:19. And even at the end, God describes Himself in these three ways, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” – REVELATION 22:13.

     In continuing with the theme of "three's", just as He who created us is one God existing in three different Persons, all individually distinguished from each other throughout scripture, man himself is likewise a three-way entity, all distinguished separately from each other in scripture too. Whereas there is a relationship of complete unity between the three Persons of the trinity that is the one living God, the purpose behind the pilgrimage that is "man’s life on earth" is a two-fold transformation journey that serves to not only bring the three parts that make up the singular person that is man into unity, but to bring all that is man into unity with all that is God too, so that we all may be one. ”That they may all be one; as you Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us.” – JOHN 17:21

     The key to the solidarity between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is that there is a relationship of unity through subordination in the Trinity. Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and to the Son, and that the Son is subordinate to the Father. In this pattern of subordination, there is a relationship of love and agreement between the three Persons, and a perfect harmony that coalesces, firstly, into the complete bond that exists BETWEEN the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and secondly, in expressing the perfect love of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit FOR His offspring, namely man. In fact, the nature and degree of the solidarity and unity between the Trinity reinforces the integrity of the singularity of God. What DISTINGUISHES the three Persons is “their relationship”, as well as the order of subordination. What UNITES them is “their love”.

     In comparison with God, and in contradiction to the bond of love and unity between the three Persons of the Godhead, it’s only the pride of man that has an issue with subordination, and as such is a house divided unto itself. On the other hand, there is no pride between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are one. Both in love and agreement. And in spirit and truth. As such, in all ways, and in all truth, and in all life, the Trinity has perfect oneness of heart and oneness of mind. With that in mind, the three salvations, as they pertain to man, are an act of cumulative grace and love that would so incline the working parts of man to come into a similar unity and bond. Not only between that which makes up all that is man, but also between that which is man and all that which is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit too.

     In as much as God is complete, the spiritual meaning of “three” is COMPLETION. And in the three salvations, man finds his COMPLETE salvation. Which begins with wisdom. In the pursuit of wisdom, God says three things. "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” – MATTHEW 7:7. There are 27 books in the New Testament, which is a function of “3 x 3 x 3”, or completeness to the third power. To the "power of three" means to the power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the same way, a more complete way of explaining the Trinity is not “1 + 1 +1”, but “1 x 1 x 1”. Whilst there is a three-way operation of multiplication, the end result is always still one.

     When it comes to man’s three salvations, firstly the Word of God decrees:

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you COMPLETELY; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

- I THESSALONIANS 5:23 -

     The “coming of the Lord Jesus Christ” represents that pivotal moment in eternity, that singular event that will change everything for all of mankind in three ways – past, present and future. It also heralds the precise moment when the three hallowed words of "Thy Kingdom Come" will be consummately expressed and accomplished. In fact, 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 is a distilled phalanx of all that makes up the words, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” At the same time, it is a determined call of a Father unto all His sons and daughters to be READY for when He comes.

     A second thing the Word says about man’s salvation are these challenging words:

"For whoever seeks to gain his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, 
he is the one who will save it."

- MATTHEW 16:25; LUKE 9:24; MARK 8:35; LUKE 17:33 -

     As with whenever the LORD repeats Himself, His many statements about "saving one's life" are clearly a queue to something man should regard as being of premium importance. Having said that, on the face of it, it would also appear to be somewhat counter intuitive that whoever seeks to accomplish the very thing that is important enough to repeatedly mention, that they will actually accomplish the opposite, and in fact LOSE their life rather than save it? To lose one's life when you are trying to save it appears to be very confusing, and to have a contradictory logic. But, as God has repeatedly demonstrated, God is not a God of confusion (1 CORINTHIANS 14:33). In fact, God has flawless logic, and impeccable powers of reason.

      This aspect of man’s salvation speaks to the nature of fallen man. In the fallen nature, man’s spirit has become, firstly, separated from the life and conscience of God. Secondly, with the fallen nature, man’s spirit has become subordinate to his soul and body. For those who seek to preserve this life, which means for those who seek to preserve this order of things, and to maintain this fallen nature, where man’s soul is sovereign in the house of man, where he lives a spirit life separate to the conscience of God, and a soul life independent from God, man may temporarily save the status quo of that life for this time on earth, but in seeking to save his soul life, he will ultimately lose his soul. The salvation of the soul pertains to firstly removing everything that would render man independent from God, and to secondly, restoring the soul of man as subordinate to his spirit, and his spirit as subordinate to the Spirit of God, as was the order and nature of man before the Fall.

    And third, but not least, the Word of God also says,

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and all its righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you."

- MATTHEW 6:33 -

     The key here is that by seeking the kingdom of God first, AND its righteousness, all these things shall be added to you, being in the context of righteousness, that our salvation, in all three dimensions of its complete and perfect work, will be added to us.

     Returning to the anchor scripture of the three salvations of man in 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23, this scripture irrefutably shows that, as humans, we are made of three distinguishable parts: spirit, soul and body. At the same time, other scriptures mention that we have been made "in the image and likeness of God”. One of the ways man has been made in the "likeness of God" is that, just like God is a tripartite God, we too are a tripartite being. God is a triune God, being the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are a tripartite being, made of spirit, soul and body. Through the three salvations of man, which begins with the rebirth of man’s spirit, and follows with the salvation of man’s soul, culminating in the salvation of man’s body, man will return to the "image of God" in which he was first made before the corruption of the Fall. For at that time, the three parts of man will no longer be a house divided against itself, but will instead subordinate itself in a relationship of unity and agreement, just like the Holy Trinity, beginning with the spirit being sovereign, and following with the soul and then finally the body.

     God specifically says that our WHOLE being, not just some parts of ourselves, must be preserved blameless at the coming of the LORD. And we know that being “preserved blameless” pertains to “being saved". The Word also says, "May the God of peace HIMSELF sanctify you COMPLETELY." That means our whole being. By this statement, and others, we also all know that it is Jesus alone who saves us. It is a work that is entirely His. We can take no merit for what is His great accomplishment entirely. This is reinforced in the very next ensuing scripture in 1 THESSALONIANS 5:24, where it says "He who calls you IS faithful, who also will do IT." In PSALMS 138:8 it says, "The LORD will perfect that which concerns me."

     There are three dimensions to sanctifying us "completely", or three dimensions to our WHOLE person being preserved blameless. In fact, as with the three Persons being one God, the three salvations of man make up our complete salvation. And in the theme of threes, they also represent, firstly a sequence in time - first, second and third - as well as a chronology of past, present and future.

- PAST TENSE - we have been saved from the PENALTY of sin (The first salvation) - "SPIRIT"

- PRESENT TENSE - we are being saved from the POWER of sin (The second salvation) - "SOUL"

- FUTURE TENSE - we will be saved from the PRESENCE of sin (When our bodies are glorified) - "BODY"

     Three scriptures to triangulate “the three salvations of man”. And when speaking of triangles and threes, and of three salvations, if one takes a look at the flag of Israel, being the literal and spiritual symbol of the land and the kingdom of God's people, the symbol is the image of two triangles superimposed on one another as a single entity. These two triangles represented as a single entity, depict on one hand, the triangle of the trinity of God, being one in their unity, as well as the triangle of the trinity of man on the other hand, also all in unity, with both triangles being in perfect unity, harmony and solidarity with each other, thereby fulfilling the Lord’s decree in JOHN 17:21. ”That they may all be one; as you Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us.”

     And in so doing, "the three salvations" of the spirit, the soul and the body, by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, produces in man a COMPLETE work by a COMPLETE God.

“This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
‭‭- II TIMOTHY 2:11-13‬ -

- To God alone be all the glory. Forever and ever. Amen and amen.

- God's richest blessings, Wayne Biehn