Mike,
Hi again, I just wanted to send another email because I want to clarify what I am unsure about in better terms.
I take a statement like this “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” and I think, from your teaching, that I need to apply that inwardly. If Christ’s teachings were all inward and not outward, then what is the inward application of “Flesh and blood.” It can’t be my hair, and skin and toes, etc., because that’s outward and physical. Jesus word’s are spirit.
So I think of this:

Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

So if Jesus was speaking spiritually and inwardly about “flesh and blood” then from these scriptures it appears that  the inward “flesh and blood” is carved away by the Spirit which results in Paul saying this:

Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Jesus said “flesh and blood” cannot inherit the kingdom of God. If he was speaking spiritually and ONLY inwardly, why do we apply that “flesh and blood” to the outward physical flesh and not the flesh which surrounds our heart spiritually? Paul says that by the righteousness of Christ we can “reign in life.” Who reigns but a king.
Jesus said that :

Joh 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Jesus was both on earth in the flesh, and also in heaven. Both these things were true simultaneously which is what is so beautiful about the Gospel. Jesus was in the flesh but “the Spirit of God did dwell in him.” So spiritually, he was not in the flesh.
It seems that if  “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” is speaking inwardly, we should not be applying that outwardly regarding physical things, but should be applying it inwardly regarding spiritual things, like the flesh of the heart cut away so that we are not in the flesh “if the Spirit of God dwells within.”
This is what led me to ask you about the inward and outward application of Scripture. God says that he will be all in all, after all enemies are put under his feet. If I apply that ONLY inwardly concerning myself, regarding the enemies in me put down, then what Biblical proof do I have that all outward human beings will be saved?
S____

Hi S____,
You ask,
“God says that he will be all in all, after all enemies are put under his feet. If I apply that ONLY inwardly concerning myself, regarding the enemies in me put down, then what Biblical proof do I have that all outward human beings will be saved?”
“Outward human beings will not be saved, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. “It is sown a natural body and it is raised a spiritual body.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

As you pointed out this is already true in down payment form and “in spirit,” we are even now dead with Christ, raised from that death and walking in newness of life.
But being “born again” is not a reference to physical versus spiritual birth, but rather a reference to the spiritual “seed of the serpent” versus the spiritual “seed of the woman.” It was not unbelieving Jews who Christ told, “You want to kill me… You are of your Father the devil,” it was “those Jews that believed in Him.” Our initial spiritual birth, as wonderful and needful as it is, is still into a spiritually carnal mind such as that great spirit Satan possesses. After all when we are in Babylon we “are of our Father the devil.”

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [ then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
 
Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [ even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? [ even] because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

All of these words proceeding out of the mouth of God are being spoken to “those Jews which believed on Him,” but who “cannot hear my word.” This whole scenario is repeated in the first three chapters of 1st Corinthians. The Corinthians are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, coming behind in no gift… carnal babes in Christ.”

1Co 1:2  Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called [ to be] saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
1Co 1:7  So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [ there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

As “carnal babes in Christ… Jews that believe on Him,” we are acturally “nothing more than slaves to sin… born of our father the devil,” and in need of “being born again.”
Salvation is not outward for anyone. The psuche, the soul, is inward. That is why Christ said:

Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

It is evil souls which are resurrected with “terrestrial glory” in the lake of fire. Those souls, like all souls, are destroyed in order to find life just as Satan himself is saved through his destruction:

1Co 15:40  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
1Co 15:41  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: f or one star differeth from another star in glory.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

I hope this all helps you to see that there is no contradiction between saying we live by every word of God spiritually, even as we live in this world, and that those who come after us will do the same in “the terrestrial glory” of their spirit bodies, being purged of their carnal minds just as Satan will be purged of His carnal mind, through their destruction, “through death.”
That is the outward dispensational, will be, application of scripture, and it is not the purview of God’s elect or even others when the time comes for salvation. Whenever salvation comes, be it now or in the lake of fire, it is here and it is now.

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
2Co 6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Your brother in Christ,
Mike
Mike,
Thank you for your email. I understand better now the difference between the likeness of resurrection lived now and the promise to come. That understanding really makes things clear. When I said “outward human beings” I didn’t mean them being saved in the flesh. I was talking about the difference between the IS and the WILL BE of scripture. I was talking about viewing scripture in both the inward and seeing the dispensation of the fullness of time in it. For example, the prophecy said that Jesus would be sold off for silver. This happened “outwardly” in Judas, but it happens inwardly when I substitute my “good works” (silver) for Jesus. Paul sacrificed his good works on the altar when I said “yet not I” when referring to the good works he did. Here is how I see it regarding the likeness of Christ’s resurrection, and the kingdom to come: We ARE inheriting the kingdom, we DID inherit the kingdom, and we WILL BE inheriting the kingdom. I see all three applications as truthful when understood in the right application regarding “flesh and blood.” Thanks for taking the time. God bless you. S____>