PASTOR BOLA BELLO:
I PETER 3:18-22
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto [even] baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”(KJV)
I CORINTHIANS 15:45-49
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit. Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (KJV)
The New Testament saints became quickening spirit rather than living souls as a result of the workings of the testament. Christ suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh but quickened in spirit. The first Adam could commune with GOD because he was spiritual. He transformed from the spiritual to the natural because of the fall. Then man became earthy. The ultimate goal of the New Testament is to transform us from being earthly to being heavenly. For us to bear this image, we need to first bear it here on earth. The difference between the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints is the testament that was presented to them.
The death of Jesus Christ is to teach the New Testament saints that they must suffer before they become quickening spirits. It is all believers’ responsibility to come terms with this truth. To be carnal is to have all our faculties activated towards ethereal and ephemeral things. We are earthly but not earthy, we must always maintain the balance between being earthly and being heavenly. Jesus went to preach to spirits which were imprisoned, he led captivities captive. They became the first fruits of the New Testament. The configuration of Jesus of Nazareth did not have capacity to bring us into the New Testament until he tasted death and rose again.
We have liberty which is predicated on the New Testament. Though we have been called into liberty, it is within the ambits of the New Testament. We have the liberty to live according to the dictates of the testament. Nothing can actively groom us like the New Testament.