The new birth is one of the most amazing and revolutionary topics in Scripture, but so rarely understood in much depth by Christians. This is often due to not understanding the different administrations in Scripture and applying Scriptures written to Israel or to the Gentiles to the Church. The entire Bible according to I Corinthians 10:32 is written to one of three categories of people, the Jews, the Gentiles or the Church of God. Confusing who a verse is “written to” has caused mass confusion in the church and misinterpretation of Scripture. So many verses in the Gospels, which were not written to the church but to Israel, have been applied to the Christian church and salvation after the day of Pentecost and have caused serious error concerning the doctrine of salvation and the new birth. The Bible calls it a new BIRTH for a reason. It is not a metaphor or a cleaver use of words. It is a literal spiritual birth just as real as the physical birth. A birth cannot be reversed. A birth cannot be lost. A birth cannot be undone. Not understanding that salvation involves a new birth has caused Christians to doubt their salvation and not rest in full assurance of the finished work of Christ. If salvation in Christ can be forfeited or lost, then it is not a birth for once a child is born, it always remains the son or daughter of its parents. If salvation can be lost or forfeited then it is not a gift, but it is of works. The grace of God is of none effect and salvation then depends on me and not on Christ. It is so hard for the human mind to understand for we feel we must DO something but Christianity does not start with the word DO but with the word DONE. It is finished! Salvation is based 100 percent on the work of Christ and 0 percent on me. I simply must have faith in the Word of Promise concerning salvation and how it is birthed God’s way.
John 3:3-8 (ESV):
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
“Born again” in the Greek text reads gennaō anothen, and literally means “born from above.” “Gennao” is the literal word used in the Greek when referring to a birth and to be begotten from a father and mother. We have two literal births here: the physical birth from our fleshly parents and the birth from God, our Heavenly Father, who is Spirit. To be born of “water” refers to the physical birth when the amniotic sac (a bag of fluid inside the women’s uterus where the unborn baby develops and grows) breaks at the time of the woman giving birth. The amniotic sac is mainly filled with water. To enter the kingdom of God, we must have both a physical birth and a spiritual birth. The spiritual birth is just as real as the physical birth. When we are born of the spirit we literally have been birthed a son or daughter of God by seed. It is not a nice label or a temporary nametag. Our spiritual birthright is an act of creation by God Almighty within our very being, where he creates within us holy spirit and we are born from above as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. How amazing and wonderful is this!! So few Christians really understand and take a grasp of this truth in their hearts. You are not just an afterthought or an unimportant part of God’s kingdom. You are a son of God by birth. You are a daughter of God by birth. Would you be excited if you were born the son or daughter of a President or King or Queen? How about if you have born into the family of God as a son or daughter of God? Should not our heart thrill! Shouldn’t we be excited beyond measure! This is the NEW BIRTH. This is to be BORN FROM ABOVE. This is to be BORN OF THE SPIRIT.
I John 3:1,2 (KJV): Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God (the Greek has the phrase “and we are!”): therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Phillips- Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called “children of God”—and that is not just what we are called, but what we are. Our heredity on the Godward side is no mere figure of speech—which explains why the world will no more recognise us than it recognised Christ.Oh, dear children of mine (forgive the affection of an old man!), have you realised it? Here and now we are God’s children.
The new birth is so amazing that God says “BEHOLD!” The new birth of a person dead in trespasses and sins into the family of God as a royal son or daughter of God is the most magnificent example of love the world has ever seen. We must understand and know that NOW are we the sons and daughters of God if we are ever to walk in the full assurance of our salvation. It is not a figure of speech to be called a child of God; it is what we are! Have you realized it? Do you believe it? Do you know the greatness of this truth of the new birth!
Romans 8:15,16 (Amplified): For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! 16 The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
Galatians 4:6,7 (ESV):And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
The Aramaic word “abba” is an intimate family expression that denotes the tender address of a child to its father. It could be translated “dear father”, or “father, father” and in today’s modern vocabulary would mean “daddy” or “papa.” “Abba” signifies the deepest bond of love and affection and the intimate, close relationship of a father and child. The Greek word “cry” means: a loud cry expressing deep emotion and confidence. God sent His Son to purchase our freedom and bring us into a deep intimate relationship with the Father as His cherished son or daughter. Any moment you pray, converse, talk or fellowship with your Heavenly Father, you can express the deepest emotions of love and adoration and call Him abba, dearest father, daddy or papa. Only Jesus Christ makes this type of intimacy available with the Father, and God desires above all else that your relationship with Him is this close, this personal, this warm, and this intimate every second of the day. This type of intimacy is only available to those who have experienced the New Birth and have been birthed into the family of God as sons and daughters.
In the Old Testament, the new birth was not available. They were servants of God at the best but not sons of God by birth. The new birth rests upon the finished work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. It was available to be born again for the first time on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. What a privilege we have in the Administration of Grace to receive the full benefits of the new birth as a gift from God. It was God’s wonderful plan before the foundations of the world to call you forth as His son or daughter and place His seed within you.
God’s use of “birth” to communicate what happens in Christian salvation is amazingly clear. Of course, there are some differences between human birth and birth from God. For example, the seed from a human father takes nine months to develop in the mother before the birth, while divine birth is instantaneous. The very second God puts His imperishable, spiritual seed in a person, he is born again.
As every parent knows, the predominant truth about a birth is the presence of a baby, who is “permanent.” The birth cannot be undone. God uses two other Greek words in relation to the new birth: Paliggenesia from palin, “again” and genesis, “genesis” or “origin.” It means to have an origin again, a new genesis, and it occurs in Titus 3:5, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth….” Also apokueo from the Greek prefix apo, “away from,” and kueo, “to be pregnant.” It means “to give birth to,” and it occurs in James 1:18, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth….” Surely God would not use three different words for “birth” if there were not an actual birth, or if we could not apply the concepts of birth, such as permanence, to what happens when a Christian is “born again.” “Birth” is permanent, both in the flesh and in the spirit. In birth, the nature of the parent is passed down to the offspring, and so in the new birth the nature of God is passed to believers. The “seed” of God is His nature. God is “holy” and God is “spirit,” so we should expect to see something in the Church Epistles about His nature, also called “holy spirit,” being in, or part of, the Christian, and we do.
When a person repents and acts on Romans10:9,10:(That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation) and confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead, God our Father puts a spiritual seed into that individual. The person is born again and receives the new birth. The epistle of 1 Peter tells us about both the seed and the birth.
1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable (corruptible) seed, but of imperishable (incorruptible), through the living and enduring word of God.
Now what is unique about this New Birth? First, there is no mention of God’s spiritual seed outside the Epistles to the Christian Church. Spiritual “seed” cannot be found in the Old Testament, the Four Gospels, or Revelation. Only Christians have spiritual seed. This should immediately alert us that God is doing something for Christians that He never did before.
Second, God calls the seed He puts inside Christians “imperishable,” because it does not die or go away. It stays in us forever, so its effect, our salvation, is “imperishable” too. Third, there is no New Birth outside the Administration of Grace. It began on the Day of Pentecost, and will end with the Rapture of the Church. It is only for the Age of Grace. The New Birth is the hallmark of this Administration of Grace and was previously known only to God. This is why it is called the great mystery in the church epistles ans was not known until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3, Romans 16, and Colossians 1).
Imperishable (aphthartosj from a = negates what follows + phtheiro = to corrupt) describes that which cannot be ruined, that which is not subject to death and decay, that which endures forever.
The first time we were born it was of corruptible seed. Corruptible means it decays, it rots and it will eventually perish. Because of sin that entered into the human race through Adam and is passed down in this corruptible seed, the sentence of death has passed to every human being on earth. Eventually, if the Lord tarries, every person will age and die because the physical seed of mankind passed on in every birth upon the earth is corruptible. But when we are born again, the seed it is incorruptible, imperishable and immortal. It cannot rot, it cannot decay. It cannot corrupt. It lasts for all eternity. This incorruptible seed is the new birth which is born in us at the time of our conversion. It is created within us by God Almighty as we now bear His namesake.
Ephesians 1:13
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
This verse contains a number of significant truths. First, we received holy spirit at the time we believed. Second, each believer is “sealed” with holy spirit. This is new! No one in the Old Testament, Gospels, or Revelation is said to be “sealed.” Quite the opposite! God took His holy spirit from King Saul when he sinned (1 Sam. 16:14). Psalm 51:11 records that after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having Uriah killed, King David asked God not to take holy spirit from him.
Third, the word “sealed” indicates that we are permanently sealed with holy spirit. Someone might say, “Well, if you sin, God breaks the seal and takes holy spirit away.” If that were the case, why say we are “sealed” at all? Why not just continue the terminology of the Old Testament and Gospels and say that holy spirit is “upon” us? Logic demands that if God uses a totally different vocabulary that is unique to the Administration of Grace, He must be letting us know that something is new and different. Fourth, the holy spirit we receive is the “promised” holy spirit. It was promised in the Old Testament for the Millennial Kingdom, the 1000-year reign of Christ, but given to us now as a surprise by God’s grace. The very fact that it was promised in the Old Testament and Gospels means that the people of those times did not yet have it.
Sealed: sphragizo from sphragis = seal, engraved object used to make a mark – denoting ownership, approval, or closure of something normally done by pressing into heated wax usually attached to a document or letter) means to set a seal upon or to mark with a seal. To mark so as to certify that something is so. Seals were used to make something secure, to serve as a guarantee of the correctness of the contents, to indicate authenticity, to indicate ownership. Sacrificial animals were examined and sealed if perfect. Jars, sacks of fruit or grain were sealed. To mark with a seal as a means of identification in Greek secular writings was used to mark all kinds of animals, so that the mark denoting ownership also carries with it the protection of the owner.
It is the guarantee that you are His forever. It denotes complete ownership and authenticity as a child of God. If God sealed you with His holy spirit nothing we can do will unseal it. The gift of holy spirit is now a part of our very being, created uniquely for our body and identifies us with God as his birthed child. It remains a part of us all the days we draw breath on the earth. It cannot leak out. It cannot go away. It is sealed with the seal of God Almighty in the blood of Jesus Christ as we are once again a threefold being of body, soul and spirit; a heavenly child of God with full legal right to come boldly before the throne of grace at any time.
If we have spiritual seed, holy spirit, are born again, and have been sealed by God, then our salvation is guaranteed. Scripture says exactly that.
2 Corinthians 1:22
[God via Christ] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit [spirit] in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 5:5
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit [spirit] as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Ephesians 1:14
who [the holy spirit, which] is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Those three verses say that our future is guaranteed. There are none like them in the Old Testament, none in the Four Gospels, none in the book of Revelation. God has done something new and different for the Church. There are versions of the Bible that do not translate the Greek word arrhabon as “guarantee,” but instead use “earnest,” “pledge,” “deposit,” or something similar. The Greek word arrhabon means a deposit in advance that guarantees the full payment to come. For Christians, that means we are guaranteed being raptured into heaven and given new, immortal, bodies.
Because the Christian is uniquely born again of God’s imperishable spiritual seed, sealed with holy spirit, and therefore guaranteed salvation, the very presence of holy spirit permanently born in us gives us a divine nature, as Scripture verifies:
2 Peter 1:4 (KJV) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,…
Be= (ginomai) means to come into existence. Ginomai is in the middle voice which is “reflexive” and conveys the idea of “you yourself”. YOU become a partaker of the divine nature. Partaker –koinonos– one who participates with another in an enterprise or matter of joint concern. It is one who fellowships and shares something in common with another; to share fully. At the time of the new birth, we share fully in the divine nature by the birth of God’s seed within us, the gift of holy spirit.
At the risk of seeming repetitious, no one in the Old Testament, Gospels, or Revelation is ever said to receive, or “partake of,” a divine nature, not even the prophets, who had God’s gift of holy spirit upon them. By the way, because Christians have both a new, divine nature and an old, sin nature, these antithetical natures struggle against each other within us. Only in Scripture addressed to the Church does the Bible say that the sin nature (or “flesh”) and the divine nature (or “spirit”) “are in conflict with each other,” (Gal. 5:17).Because we have a divine nature, the Bible refers to all Christians as “saints,” although a better translation would be “holy ones” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:1). God created His nature in us, so we are new creations in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
The phrase “new creations” is literal, and is 100% accurate because the new nature, our holy spirit, was created in us by God. Although some translations say “new creatures,” the Greek word is “creations.” Our first birth was not a creation, but our new birth is, because when we believed, God “created” new life within us. People in the Old Testament and Gospels believed God, but they were never “created” anew. When Abraham believed, God considered him righteous, but he was never “created” anew and given a divine nature, nor was anyone else before the Church began on the Day of Pentecost. Other verses, such as Colossians 3:10, also indicate we are new creations. The Administration of Grace began on the Day of Pentecost when Christ poured out the new gift of holy spirit (Acts 2:33) and people were born again. It will end with the Rapture, when dead Christians are raised, living Christians are changed, and both groups are taken to heaven in new bodies that are like Christ’s glorious body (Phil. 3:21; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-54). The Rapture is a new concept, occurring only in the Church Epistles. Only Christians are in the Rapture. It is unique to God’s children by birth.
What a breathtaking truth that in Christ we are a new creation; we have a new divine nature; The word “creation” in the Greek means: to bring something into existence that has not existed before; the act of founding, establishing, and building through creation, and refers to God’s creative action. The word “new” in the Greek means: that which is new in kind or quality, and is something unprecedented, novel, uncommon, and unheard of. It relates to something not previously present. This word “new” does not mean that something is simply renovated, but something that it is entirely new in species and character.
By the divine act and will of God, He founded, established, and built a new spiritual nature in all born again believers. This new creation is of perfect quality and character, because it originates from the creative heart of God. It is absolutely unprecedented in the nature of a person because it is a divine seed planted by God. We become partakers of the divine nature, and in Christ we have a dynamically powerful new spiritual nature. This is a spiritual birth and the seed of God within us is permanent, incorruptible, and indestructible. Once you are born of your earthly parents, you are always their child because you have their seed within you. The same holds true for the spiritual new birth in Christ, as this incorruptible seed of God is created within you, and you forever become God’s new spiritual son or daughter of God.
Bullinger, in his article “A New Creation” expounds on this new creation:
What is it to create? Not to change, not to
renovate, not to reform, not to improve,
not the old nature adorned and beautified,
not the flesh with its corruptions and lust
trimmed and trained; but it is the new and
Divine nature imparted, with all its spiritual
blessings and holy privileges. It is not the
old Adam made clean or religious, clothed
and adorned. No! It is something altogether
NEW. Therefore in Christ Jesus, I am a partaker
of the Divine nature; I am a partaker of His
Resurrection-life, according to the Father’s
promise…A new Divine nature is not a mere
influence, is not a mere passing religious
feeling induced by ravishing music or pathetic
story, but a real existence in living union with
a crucified, risen, exalted, glorified, coming
Lord. What a glorious union!
The sin nature has no power, no authority, and no mastery over the New Creation. Every spiritual blessing we have in Christ is wrapped up and inherent in this New Creation. No work of the devil can defeat or diminish or conquer this New Creation. This is why God exhorts us to live and walk by the spirit which is our new nature in Christ and not walk or live by our old nature, the sinful flesh. Why would we ever want to live by the flesh or our sin nature when we have been born again and bear the seed of our heavenly father?
Satan had been the master of the human race from the Fall to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the resurrected and ascended Christ, a new day dawned for the world. The power of the great enemy, the crafty serpent, and deceitful slanderer has been permanently broken, crushed, and defeated in our wonderful Lord Jesus. We are a new people, a called out mighty seed, a glorious new creation clothed in righteousness, and holiness. We have a new Lord, who has ushered us into a new age of spiritual, mental, and physical freedom and the crushing of every yoke of bondage that has held us in its grasp. We have a new destiny, as sin and death are no longer our emperors and rulers to whom we must bow and serve. We are the blessed progeny, the new humanity, the new species, the seed of Christ, and children of the living God. We have the gift of holy spirit born within and the resurrection life of Jesus Christ pulsating and energizing every ounce of our being. We are infused with spiritual power from on high and the very divine nature of God. This is what the human heart has been craving for since the fall of Adam: a new creation, authored by God Almighty, that fundamentally changes who we are, and who we will be in the future. We have passed from death unto life, from sin unto righteousness, from condemnation to justification, from separation to reconciliation, and from enemies to beloved children.
Colossians 1:27b “Christ in you the hope of glory!”
We are new creations in Christ, because he set the pattern of who we become when we are born again in both resurrection life and a new glorious body at the Rapture, along with the power and ability to do his works and to walk like him in thought, deed, heart, and action. We have the mind of Christ, the heart of Christ, the ability of Christ, and the power of Christ born within us at the new birth. We can now touch and reach out to the world with the goodness of God. Our good works are rooted and grounded in Christ, and our new birth transformation. We can deeply affect the lives of so many people, because Christ Jesus lives through us. The goodness of God, the love of God, the mercies of God, the compassion of God, the tenderness of God, and the forgiveness of God are energized in us through Jesus Christ, so that we can go into all the world and preach the good news to every person. Everything that God was in Christ is in us. It is Christ in us the hope of glory and that is the new birth!
Inside the gift of holy spirit, the spiritual seed of the new birth, lies everything we have ever been given in Christ, every spiritual blessing, to enable us to have fellowship with God and walk in the spirit according to the Word. Everything that God is, is wrapped up in the incorruptible seed as figuratively we have been impregnated with God’s seed. His love, His righteousness, His mercy, His kindness, His patience, His tenderness, His compassion and His power all reside within that seed waiting for us to unleash them in our lives by faith and obedience to His Word. It is a growth process just like a baby is not born a full mature adult but must grow and mature first. I Peter 2:2 tells us this; “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” We grow as we feed off the Word of God, spend time with God in prayer and walk with Him and follow His commandments. We must have the pure milk of God’s Word if we are to ever grow. That is why it is so important to study, read, confess, meditate and memorize Scriptures as it is essential to our growth as a Christian. The Word of God must have priority in our lives.
The new birth brings three amazing truths and realities to our life and rests upon these three important truths. In this new birth process we are redeemed, justified and made righteous. I want to take a look at these three words briefly that will enrich our understanding even more of the greatness of the new birth. The first great truth is redemption. In Christ comes complete, full and beautiful redemption. Ephesians 1:7: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Redemption- from apo = marker of dissociation or separation + lutroo = to redeem <> from lutron = ransom <> from lúo = loosen what is bound, loose any person tied or fastened) is the payment of a price to ransom (lutron = money for a ransom = ransom or price paid for a slave who is then set free), to release (of someone from the power of someone else), to buy back or to deliver one from a situation from which one is powerless to liberate themselves from or for which the penalty was so costly that they could never hope to pay the ransom price. In other words, the idea of redemption is deliverance or release by payment of a ransom. Redemption means to set a prisoner free, figuratively referring to the release of sinners from power of Sin or our old Adamic nature by the payment of the only ransom price acceptable to God, the precious Blood of His dearly Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why does a person need redemption? It relates back to the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis. Immediately after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, something cataclysmic happened. Everything changed. In a second, in a flash, Adam and Eve died spiritually and lost their spiritual connection with God. They lost the holy spirit of God within them. The nature of spiritual death replaced the nature of spiritual life. Sin poured into creation and corrupted the entire nature of Adam and Eve. Also by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, death infiltrated the human race. The seeds of physical death were planted in them, and their corrupted human nature would dominate them throughout their lives until they died. On that fateful day of disobedience, the dying process had begun, as Adam and Eve were mere mortals, embraced by sin and death. They were now free to make a world of their own choosing. They no longer could enjoy the intimate presence of God and the joy of close fellowship with Him. A curse settled in upon the earth and it still hangs over all the world like a dark cloud. Men and women became lost and alienated from the life of God and in great need of redemption. .
God’s first words after the Fall of Adam and Eve wonderfully reveal the heart of God about redemption. He could have deserted Adam and Eve and turned His back on them. He could have given up on them because of their rebellion and disobedience. But God called to Adam, “Where are you?” God was still seeking Adam, even in his sinful state and even after committing high treason against Him. What a God of love! What a God of mercy! What a God of goodness! Even in the midst of the ruin of God’s creation and the sentence of death on His children, God had a plan of redemption to bring men and women back to paradise. God came to the garden seeking fellowship with Adam and Eve, but because of their betrayal, He had to design and initiate His awesome plan of redemption. God deeply desired to rectify the enormous problem of sin because of Adam’s disobedience. The devil wanted to keep man forever in a state of death and destruction, unredeemed and crushed by the penalty of sin. God would not stand by and do nothing. God did not throw in the towel and say, “Kids, you are on your own now.” God would give hope even in man’s darkest hour, as He promised a Savior who would bring redemption, salvation, goodness, wholeness and righteousness back to the human race, and ultimately destroy the great enemy of God, the devil. The goodness of this legal plan of redemption is so great and magnificent that its riches and glory far surpass anything ever known in history. Truly it is the good news. A great separation and barrier now existed between God and men, women, and children. Adam had sealed the fate of the human race, and now the great cry was for a Redeemer, a Savior, and a Liberator. No matter how smart, how talented, how strong, how powerful, or how rich a person may be, no one could free themselves from the bondage of their birth nature of sin and their condition of spiritual death. No one can break free of the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death, without the Lord Jesus Christ, who would be the liberator, the deliverer, the conqueror, and the Savior from sin and death and all their evil consequences.
God revealed His ultimate plan of grace and redemption with the Seed of the woman, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, who by His death and resurrection made available the free gift of righteousness leading to acquittal from the penalty of sin and right standing again with God. The court of God legally pronounces the declaration of acquittal when a man or woman confesses Jesus Christ as their Lord and believes God raised Jesus from the dead. Sin and death reign in this world because of Adam’s one act of disobedience, but now through the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice, we can reign as kings in this life and the one to come.
What Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary is so magnificent, so awesome and so astounding, that it permanently crippled Satan’s kingdom and one day will obliterate every remnant of it from off the face of the earth. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most important event in all of human history, because he broke the curse of sin and death that hangs over the world like a dark cloud. He regained everything that Adam and Eve had lost on that tragic day in the Garden of Eden and so much more. He paid the price for the complete redemption and salvation of the soul of every person who comes to Him. This is the greatness of our redemption that God sent His only begotten Son and he paid the price to redeem us and bring us back to the family of God as a cherished son or daughter of God by the new birth. I Corinthians 6:19: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God’s.
The second great truth is the new birth brings justification. “Justification” is a legal term similar to a verdict from a judge, where by a judicial act, God declares that all the demands of the law have been completely satisfied and fulfilled for the believing sinner by the righteous act of Jesus Christ. Justification changes forever the judicial standing of a person before God from being dead in trespasses in sins to being completely righteous in Christ and completely free from the death penalty of sin. You have been judged and found righteous. You have been acquitted, found not guilty, and restored to a right relationship with your heavenly Father. You have been declared legally innocent and pronounced forever righteous because of the blood of Christ. This is a permanent state for the Christian believer, as this declaration of righteousness can never be repealed, overturned, or declared null and void. There is no double jeopardy, where a person would be tried for the same crimes again in a court of the law. The court of heaven, with God as the righteous judge, has forever pronounced a verdict to His entire creation that you have been made the righteousness of God, completely justified, free from the bondage and penalty of sin, and able to boldly stand in His presence without any sense of sin, condemnation, guilt, or unworthiness. This verdict has been sealed in the blood of Christ, and no satanic power can overthrow it. You can also stand in the presence of the devil and his entire kingdom in absolute victory, knowing that you have been completely delivered from the power of darkness. The devil is under your feet and has no authority anymore over you, because Jesus Christ forever crushed and paralyzed the evil one from hurting, harming, or ruining your new life in Christ. Now that is a verdict worth talking about! It is the foundation of the gospel of Christ that we proclaim to the world. I Corinthians 6:11: 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Romans 4:25, Romans 5:1,2: He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
The third great truth of the new birth is righteousness. What is the biblical definition of righteousness? Righteousness is the God-given ability to stand in the presence of God without any sense of guilt, condemnation, shame, or unworthiness and to stand in the presence of Satan without any sense of inferiority, weakness, fear, or cowardice. Righteousness is to be legally brought into a right relationship and standing with God that will last forever. Righteousness is part of our salvation in Christ and rests upon God’s act of justification, where he legally declared us free from the penalty of sin and judicially delivered us from everything that stands in the way of us being declared righteous. II Corinthians 5:21 (KJV):For he (God) hath made him(Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus Christ was our complete substitute for sin and the consequences of sin, and we have been made the righteousness of God in him. The word “made” in the Greek means: to bring into existence, to begin to be, to become, and implies origin through a special agency. It signifies the entrance into a new condition. We now have become a new creation and entered into a new condition of righteousness. God alone has brought into existence our new life of righteousness, and He has given to us His actual righteousness, which becomes just as much a part of us as our leg or arm. We are the righteousness of God! What a liberating truth to know that we are now in full and legal possession of the righteousness of God as a living part of us. We can live, move, and breathe in this glorious righteousness every moment of the day. Righteousness restores everything Adam lost in the Fall and allows us to enter into an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. Righteousness reinstates a person into right standing in the literal presence of God with full rights and privileges, as a child of God. In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the literal presence of God (in the Holy of Holies) in the Temple on the Day of Atonement. The children of Israel and Judah could not enter the Holy of Holies into the presence of God. When Jesus Christ cried out, It is finished” on the cross and took his last breath, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was completely torn from the top to bottom, signifying that through Jesus Christ all barriers to the presence of God have been removed. Jesus Christ made available a new and living way of righteousness, where a man, woman, or child can have 24 hours a day access to the throne of God and stand in His wonderful presence. Access to God’s throne room is never closed, never blocked, and never limited for the Christian believer. Ephesians 3:12 (Amplified):In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence)of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear).
Eric Ludy: For God so wants you, For God so loves you, For God so yearned to set you free that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ And Jesus Christ lived the life you couldn’t live yourself He lived in perfect righteousness without the spot of sin upon Him. And then, in your place, He died your criminal’s death, He took the just punishment that was rightfully yours to bear, and He bore the wrath of God that your sin deserved . . .God so wants you, God so loves you, God so yearned to see you free. That He sent His Son who suffered for you. He died for you. And His death legally absolved you from the penalty of your sin. His death annulled the power of the flesh in your life. His death offered you liberty from the controlling faction of the Law of Sin and Death. His death set you free from the power of darkness, it finished the legal work of justice and wrath and accomplished the perfect work of righteousness That whosoever looks upon this Perfect Justifying, Redeeming, Purifying, Cleansing, Forgiving, Sanctifying work with confidence in its merit to save, will be saved by it. It’s a promise. But you must look upon it and declare that Christ’s work is the work that saves. You must believe that what He accomplished is for you, and that He intended it for you, and that He meant to save you. You must know your need to be saved. You must recognize that without this saving work, you cannot be saved. God so wants you, God so loves you, God so yearned to see you free That He created a means by which you could be rescued. That means is Himself. He is the Rescue Vehicle. And to get inside this Rescue Vehicle, known as the person of Jesus Christ, all you must do is believe. Faith is the only access. Faith is the only way inside Jesus. And Jesus is the only means by which a man or woman might be savedand brought safely unto the Father in Heaven. When you believe, you are brought inside the strong tower of Jesus. You are hemmed inside His Rescuing Clothing (known as Righteousness)…you too are brought to the Cross IN Him by faith, and the old life you once lived is crucified. And when He went to the grave two thousand years ago, you too go to the Grave, and your old behavior, your old manner of living is buried and no longer visible to this world. And when He rose from the dead, so you too rise from the dead unto a new life in Him, and the life you now live in your body is a life lived by faith that He manages and directs. And when He ascended to be with the Father, you too ascend to the Father. You are brought near to the Father in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is not your work, your goodness, your morality that brings you into such a sacred and holy place -but rather, His work that does it. And faith in His work is what allows you to draw near with full assurance. God so wants you, God so loves you, God so yearned to see you free That He has brought you near by the merit of His Son’s shed Blood on the Cross. He has given you access by faith in Christ, into His very Throne Room of Grace. And in this Throne Room is everything that you could possibly need for life and godliness -everything you could possibly need for obedience, triumph, love, and right action. The Power of God has made available to you the Power of God. He has made His very Life accessible to you, that it might come and indwell you, fill you, operate you, empower you, and love and live in and through you. By Faith you have been clothed in Christ’s work that His work can continue on earth in and through your body.
Never forget my friend the wonders of the new birth and the magnificent truth that you are a son or daughter of God by birth with His incorruptible seed within you, sealed with the holy spirit, fully sharing in His divine nature and redeemed, justified and made righteous. Nothing on earth could ever compare to this new birth that is ONLY available through Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross and His resurrection.
