There you have it. The Christian salvation is not a legal state in which God regards us as being something we are not. While the state of imputed (ascribed) righteousness is employed as a legal device to enable us to enter the processes of redemption, the actual redemption itself consists of a death and judgment of the entire first personality with the end in view of releasing it from the bondage of sin.

God will not save the first creation. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

In the Christian redemption the conscious "I," the unique identity of the believer, passes from being in charge of a living soul (in which it often is bound and helpless) to being in charge of a life-giving spirit (in which it rejoices in the glorious liberty of the children of God).

Salvation Comes Through Judgment

At the beginning of our discussion we mentioned the parallels contained in Hebrews 9:27,28. As men die, so Christ was once offered to bear our sins. As men are appointed to be judged after they die, so Christ will appear without sin unto salvation to those who look for Him. Salvation will come in the last days as a result of our being judged.

Salvation comes by means of judgment. The removal of sin, the destroying of the body of sin, is salvation. The removal of sin is accomplished by Divine judgment.

The conscious "I," the unique identity of the person, will not be condemned if it puts its trust in Jesus:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

This verse is a much used passage of Christian theology. It is being employed as a "key verse". The conclusion is being drawn that the believer will not be judged; in fact, will not even suffer. To this extent we do not understand the Christian redemption.

The fourth chapter of the Book of I Peter makes it clear that we Christians are judged, that the judgment is in the form of suffering, and that the end result of our judgment-suffering is our deliverance from sin (I Peter 4:2). How do we reconcile the fourth chapter of I Peter with John 5:24?

The seeming contradiction has to do in large part with who the "he" is, in "He that heareth my word". The "he," the central consciousness and will of the person, will not come into condemnation; will not experience the wrath of God. Christ's death was for the purpose of saving the conscious "he."

The "old man" of the person, with its body of sin, indeed shall be judged. The old man, the living soul, is condemned to die on the cross with Christ. God repeatedly will send tribulation on our first personality. Such tribulation is Divine judgment on the old man with the intention of conforming him to the death of Christ on the cross so our entire personality may be raised again as a life-giving spirit (Philippians 3:10,11).

We are saved by judgment, by a baptism of fire on our personality—spirit, soul, and body. This is why so many passages of the New Testament mention the sufferings we must experience, admonishing us to crucify our first personality.

To be continued.