THE NEW BIRTH

A new report published this year by the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, finds that 75% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Despite these findings, only about 40% of Americans confess that they have been "born again." This seems to reveal a widespread misunderstanding about the necessity of the new birth to those who would desire to know God. I would like to offer here an explanation of the new birth which, I hope, will be helpful in clearing up some of the mystery about it for those who have not experienced it, or who are not sure if they have.

The necessity of the new birth is clear enough. Jesus Himself said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) This is a step that cannot be skipped or avoided if we expect to have a place in the kingdom of heaven. In fact, it is the very first step that we must take in our quest to know God. Every other step is meaningless if we have not first been born again. Baptism will be pointless, church membership will be ineffectual, and good works will just be a poor substitute in bringing us closer to God. Even reading the Bible will prove dry and unhelpful to point us to our need. It is essential, then, that we be born again before we can even begin to understand or please God.

To understand why the new birth is so necessary in establishing a relationship with God, we must understand why that relationship was broken in the first place; and in order to do that, we must go back to the garden of Eden.

When God made the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, they were in full harmony with Him. Man enjoyed full fellowship with his Creator and communed with God on a regular basis. All of man's spiritual needs were fulfilled. God was his guide, and his inner compass. At a certain point, however, all of that changed when man disobeyed God and committed sin.

God had told man not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; but man was tempted and deceived by Satan, and he disobeyed God. God had said that if man would eat of this tree, he would surely die in that day; and yet, after Adam and Eve ate of the tree, they continued to live for many years. It was not their soul that died that day, and it wasn't their flesh, although there began a slow, deliberate, wearing down of their bodies that eventually resulted in their physical death. No, it was their spirit that died. The very part of their being that made it possible to connect intimately with God was rendered useless. This was one of the greatest of all tragedies in man's tragic history because this same judgment that fell on Adam fell on every one that was born of Adam down through history. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) By their act of disobedience, Adam and Eve opened a Pandora's Box that brought sin upon all of mankind.

God created man as a triune being. He possesses a physical body, a soul, and a spirit. Each of these has specific functions, and each is necessary for man's overall well-being. The flesh is the most obvious of the three and functions as a vehicle for the other two. The soul is the inner man, and its functions include the will, the intellect, and the emotions. The spirit, then, is the innermost man, and its functions include the conscience, intuition, and the capacity for receiving, and sharing, the life of God. It was this life that man rejected in the garden when he chose to eat of the wrong tree. The Tree of Life would have sustained his spiritual health forever had he chosen it instead. Now, that life has become dormant inside of us and must be awakened. Jesus said, "Except a corn [seed] of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12:24) As any gardener knows, if you don't bury the seed, the life inside of it will never germinate. It can sit in the packet forever and never fulfill the potential of becoming a mature plant, capable of bearing much fruit, and bearing many, many new seeds.

We are the seeds that Jesus was referring to. Because we stubbornly refuse to submit our will to our heavenly Father, we can live our whole lives without our spirit ever being awakened to new life. It requires a deliberate choice on our part to believe and receive what God tells us about His Son Jesus Christ. We must believe that we are sinners, not because we have sinned, but because we have inherited the trait from Adam. It has rendered us unable to commune with and really know our Maker. We must believe that the only remedy for this condition is the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1Corinthians 15:22) "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Romans 5:19) By His obedience, and the shedding of His innocent blood, Jesus has secured God's favor for all those who choose to believe. This is the new birth. To put it more simply: in Adam we are all dead spiritually; but in Christ, we are made alive. Once we accept this gift of God's grace by faith, we are transformed, our spirit is reawakened in us, and we are born again. God also sends His Holy Spirit to commune with our spirit. God's Spirit then begins the process of instructing us in His ways, and changing us into His likeness.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Many things change after we are born again. We are much more sensitive to spiritual things. Our conscience becomes more attuned to God's will. The Bible becomes strangely alive to us, and speaks to us in intimate ways. We desire fellowship with those who have also experienced the new birth. We become aware of God's closeness to us, and it becomes easy to talk to Him and hear Him speak to our hearts. Our understanding of truth is quickened. Also, we begin to be made aware of the spiritual warfare that is taking place for our soul. All these things, and much more, begin to change in our lives. Others may begin to notice the change in us even before we ever utter a word about it. It is because this new divine life that is in us becomes like a light in the darkness, and it cannot be hidden.

I hope that this has been helpful to those who have been unsure of what the new birth is all about. I pray that, if you have not experienced it for yourself, you do so today. If you would like to hear more about this subject, or need help taking the next step on your spiritual journey, feel free to contact me at this email address. May God truly bless you, and open the eyes of your understanding.