The New Birth (Part 2)

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Tuesday June 16, 2009

So what exactly happens when a person is "born again" ???

John 3:3-6 (NIV)
3. In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, NO ONE can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4. "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5. Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Jesus said "Spirit gives birth to spirit", so we know that the new birth happens in the human SPIRIT; not in the soul or the body.

Paul tells us that everyone who is in Christ is a "new creation":

2 Corinthians 5:17,18 (NIV)
17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation

According to verse 18, this "new creation" is FROM GOD! The apostle John confirms that we are "born of God":

1 John 5:1 (NIV)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is BORN OF GOD, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

From these verses we can easily see that when we are born again, we become a "new creation" in our spirit, and that we are "born of God". But what does that mean??

John 3:16 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Greek word for "life" here is "zoe". We received "zoe" when we got saved:

1 John 5:11 (NIV)
11. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life (zoe), and this life (zoe) is in his Son.

So what is this "zoe" we received in Christ?

John 5:25,26 (NIV)
25. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26. For as the Father has life (zoe) in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life (zoe) in himself.

"Zoe" is the very life essance of GOD! God the Father gave it to Jesus the Son, and according to 1 John 5:11, when we get born again, WE ALSO have "zoe"; the life of God!!

Notice above, in verse 25, that Jesus said "a time is coming AND HAS NOW COME when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live!! We know the "dead" He is talking about are the SPIRITUALLY dead, not the PHYSICALLY dead, because the whole subject of these verses is the spiritual life (zoe) that God the Father and Jesus the Son have, and that every believer has!!
Verse 26 starts off with "For...", so we know that these two verses are associated with eachother. That means the reason the dead will hear Jesus' voice will be because Jesus has "zoe": the life of God!! Those who hear will LIVE; they will receive "zoe"-- the life of God-- themselves!!

With that in mind, let's look at Romans 10:16-18

Romans 10:16-18 (NIV)
16. But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"
17. Consequently, faith comes from HEARING the message, and the message is heard through the WORD OF CHRIST.
18. But I ask: Did they not HEAR? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

The "voice of Christ" on this earth is OUR voices: the voices of believers who carry the Gospel!!

But getting back to "zoe", God gave us the Life of God so that He could put His Holy Spirit inside us!!

Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV)
4. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5. to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of SONS. 6. BECAUSE you are SONS, God sent the SPIRIT of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7. So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

1 John 3:1 (NIV)
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Ephesians 1:13,14 (NIV)
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, 14. who is a deposit guaranteeing our INHERITANCE until the redemption of those who are God's possession-- to the praise of his glory.

It is because we have "zoe" (the Life of God) in us that God was able to put His Holy Spirit inside us, so it is because we have "zoe" in us that we are "Children Of God"!! We have the nature of God our Father in our human spirits now, instead of the nature of satan, that is in every unbeliever:

John 8:43,44 (NIV) (Jesus speaking)
43. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Here we see Jesus telling His followers (verse 31 tells us He was talking to "the Jews who had believed him") that they belonged to their father, THE DEVIL!!! That's because nobody was born again yet, since Jesus had not yet arisen from the dead.

So it is BECAUSE we are born again, born of the Spirit with the Life of God (zoe), that we are now CHILDREN of God!!

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your Word, that tells of Your plan of salvation. Help me to communicate the true Gospel in love; not ashamed of it's simplicity.
In Jesus' Name, Amen

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out the Daily Word Archives at:
http://www.jimseekamp.com

To subscribe to the Daily Word, send an email with the subject "SUBSCRIBE" to mailto:dailyword@jimseekamp.com

If you wish to unsubscribe, please send an email with the subject "UNSUBSCRIBE" to mailto:dailyword@jimseekamp.com

To have Jim Seekamp speak at your church or group meeting, email him at: jimseekamp@jimseekamp.com