Objection 73: Hebrews 12:23 proves that man has a spirit, which is the real man, and that with this spirit we shall have fellowship in our perfected state. In other words, this text proves that disembodied spirits dwell in heavenly bliss.
In this portion of Hebrews, Paul, the presumed author, is contrasting the old covenant and the new covenant:
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[Exodus 19:12,13] The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[Deut. 9:19]
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[Haggai 2:6] The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”[Deut. 4:24] Hebrews 12:18-28
The primary purpose of Hebrews is to show the superiority of the new covenant over the old, the superiority of Christ's sacrifice and heavenly ministration for the believer over the Aaronic priesthood. In verses 22 and 23 he is describing people under the new covenant on this earth, not in heaven. Paul would not belabor so obvious a point as that heaven is superior to earth.
But he knew it was necessary to remind the Hebrews that although the Mosaic dispensation, especially the presence of God at Sinai, was glorious and awesome, nevertheless the Christian dispensation, the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ, is yet more glorious.
That he is describing Christians in the Christian Era, not saints in heaven, is revealed by the fact that he says, “You are come ... to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.” Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant for us now, while we are here on earth. Though the language is in part figurative, it is not difficult to see that Paul is describing the state of the believer in this world.
The clarity that we have in the Christian era regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ—that Christ died for our sins giving us a salvation that we could never gain on our own—is what is making us perfect, perfect in the imputed righteousness of Christ and soon perfect in His imparted righteousness. This is one of the things Paul is pointing to, in his own inimitable style, as making the Christian era superior to the “Old Covenant.”
Why is the word “spirit” used here? For the same reason Christ said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again.” John 3:6, 7. Paul and Christ are both speaking of the converted man who is walking this earth in the flesh, but not according to the “flesh,” which is to say, he is not acting upon his inborn sin-contaminated nature; rather, he is walking according to the “spirit.” (Rom. 8:3-4).
The term “spirit” is used as a general term to describe the “born again” man who in controlled by the Spirit rather than by his inherited flesh. But there is nothing airy, ghostly, immaterial, about this born again man; even though it is said of him, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” he sits in a pew in the church!
If you view this passage through the lens of the believer in an immortal soul, then you may indeed have difficulty with it, and assume that it refers to departed saints, but not all non-Adventist commentators view the passage in that light. Some view it as we do. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, in their comment on this text, remark:
'“Spirit and spirits are used of a man or men in the body, under the influence of the spirit the opposite of flesh.” (John 3.6)
Adam Clarke, Methodist commentator, remarks on this text:
"The spirits of the just men made perfect, or the righteous perfect, are the full grown Christians; those who are justified by the blood and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ. Being come to such implies the spiritual union which the disciples of Christ have with each other, and which they possess how far so ever separate; for they are all joined in one spirit, Eph. 2:18; they are in the unity of the spirit, Eph. 4:3,4; and of one soul. Acts 4:32."