I was taught that Salvation has 3 parts as we have 3 parts (spirit, soul and body as shown in 1 Thess 5:23). When we believed in Christ, our spirit is saved. We have eternal life and will not be in the lake of fire. However, our soul (emotion, mind and will) is slowly being saved by denying oneself and transforming more to be like Christ. Phil. 2:12 says we must work out our own salvation (of the soul) with fear and trembling) as we have to face the judgment seat of Christ when the Lord returns. If we don’t, we will face the outer darkness and not have a part to reign in the millennium kingdom (but only have a part in the new heaven and earth in the new Jerusalem). Our bodies are finally saved when they are transformed at the second coming of Christ. Can I have your comments about this?
Since spirit, soul, and body are all parts of one unit, this view means that we would be limited to the state of the “least saved” part of us. Also I fail to see how a saved believer can be consigned to the “outer darkness” when the whole idea of salvation is to spend eternity with the Lord. And Rev. 21:25 says there will be no night in the New Jerusalem so how could we be there and in the outer darkness at the same time?
Ephes. 1:13-14 and other places say that we were included with Christ at the moment we first believed and were given the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. All this happened before we had a chance to do anything, good or bad, to determine our destiny. This is another of the “saved but not in the kingdom” positions that can’t be supported by a literal interpretation of scripture.