Please be so kind as to write something about Christ's words to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born anew [from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God." What is it to be born of the Spirit? How can a man be sure that he is no longer carnal, but spiritual?
It certainly will not be expected that one short article will exhaust this great subject, or that it will at all explain how a man can be born again. The first birth is a mystery beyond the knowledge of the wisest man, (Ecclesiastes 11:5) and it cannot be repeated that the new birth will be any less wonderful; but we may know the fact, just as truly so we may know when a child is born into the world; or when the invisible wind blows. Without any pretense of giving any systematic study of the new birth, I will here simply note a few features.
Our Natural Inheritance
We well know that all we have by nature we inherit from our parents. Our dispositions, our various traits of character, even our features and our manner of walking and talking, are transmitted to us by birth. Sometimes a child has characteristics not found in either parent, but found in a remoter ancestor, but the fact remains the same--everything has been transmitted through the parents. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," (John 3:6) and "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption," (1 Corinthians 15:50) for "they that are in the flesh cannot please God," (Romans 8:8) because "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things cannot inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21)
It is not that God will not allow such ones to inherit His kingdom, but they cannot; they could not endure the atmosphere and surroundings. It would not be so difficult for a fish to live in the air, or a bird to live under water, as for a carnal man to live in the kingdom of the Spirit; his nature is not adapted to the conditions.
A New Nature
Yet, "It remains that some must enter therein." (Hebrews 4:6)
To this God has pledged himself by an oath, staking His own existence on the result. It follows, therefore, that all who enter therein must receive a new nature; and for this God has provided means that will produce the result as inevitably as the means provided for the first birth, and a great deal more surely, because there is no possibility of failure, since all depends on God, and human frailty is no factor in the product. Christ "came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:11-13) "[The] Divine power ... of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, ... has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:3,1,3-4)
God is, and of Him are all things. "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for You did create all things, and because of your will they were, and were created." (Revelation 4:11,RV) "In Christ were all things created, ... And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:16-17,RV)
The everlasting God has been "our dwelling place in all generations." (Psalm 90:1) "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life." (Job 33:4)
It is literally true that: "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
Establishing Connection with Eternal Realities
From the scriptures quoted in the last two paragraphs, it will be seen that in order to be born again, from above, instead of from beneath, it is only necessary to believe and hold fast to things that are, that is, to come consciously in touch with the eternal. Take the one truth: "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
This states our actual relation to God: we are in Him, in His bosom, just as truly as the unborn child is in the body of its mother. When the child is born, it has an independent existence, so far as its natural parents are concerned. They might die at once, and still it could live and flourish. This is because God lives, and He is the "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all." (Ephesians 4:6)
We can never have an existence independent of Him. Down to old age and gray hairs, and even throughout eternity, we must be in Him, if we exist at all. He lives for us, even as He died for us. He lives, in order that we may live.
No Independent Existence
Now this is a truth as regards all mankind; but it is necessary for us to realize it, in order for it to be at practical use to no. "We are His offspring," (Acts 17:28) whether we believe in His existence or not; but it is only as we cease declaring our independence; and do not try to live by and for our own will, and to manage ourselves, and submit unreservedly to God, that we become in the fullest sense "heirs of God." (Romans 8:17) "Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)
But, as shown in the parable of the prodigal son, as soon as we acknowledge ourselves to be His servants, wholly submissive to His will, He acknowledges us as His sons. Then a new relationship begins-new simply in that for the first time we know the reality of "That which was from the beginning." (1 John 1:1)
The All-Pervading Spirit
"[Christ] ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." (Ephesians 4:10)
The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the abyss in the beginning, and brought order out of chaos; and the same Spirit still fills all space, and is the power of cohesion even in the heart of the earth. (Psalm 139:7-10) When we acknowledge that in God we live, and move, and have our being; that He is our life; and that we do not belong to ourselves, and that as we did not bring ourselves into being, and have no power to continue our existence a single moment, we have no right to make any movement of our own will,--then we begin to know "the riches of the glory" (Ephesians 1:18) of our inheritance. The same Spirit that knit us together when we were "curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth," (Psalm 139:15) will make and keep us new creatures. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
It is in death that the everlasting union between us and Christ is effected. Our lives are forfeited; we cannot render to God that which is His due. But we may anticipate the execution of the death penalty. Instead of waiting until our life is taken from us by force, we may voluntarily deliver it up, even as Christ did His.
This is no mere figure of speech; for to give up our lives, our own will and ways, involves often a greater struggle and greater pain than to consent to go to the gallows or the stake. As soon as we do that, God has unhindered and unlimited control. We have yielded up our lives to the law, and we are reconciled to God; because the sin-offering has been made and accepted.
The True Sin-Offering
What is the true offering for sin? "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Wherefore when He came into the world, He said, Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a body have You prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do your will, O God." (Hebrews 10:4-7)
A man may give his thousand sheep; but the sheep have not sinned, and even if they had, they are not the man himself, and so cannot take away his sin. He may even give his firstborn for his transgression; but even the fruit of his body is not his body; and his sins have been done in the body. Therefore nothing less than himself, his body, can be of any value in putting away his sin.
Will this do it? Certainly, because this body of mine, that body of yours, every body in the world, is Christ's own body. Each individual body was made for the Spirit of Christ to occupy. "What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Our bodies were formed for Christ to dwell in and do the will of God; and the proof that He can do it is given in that the Spirit of God took possession of the virgin Mary, doing to her according to His will, and in the body that was prepared Christ did the perfect will of God. What He has done, He can do, for He is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)
When we offer ourselves to God, we are really offering the body of Christ, which is accepted; and we can say, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
Our knowledge of "the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20)--the everlasting power that works in every created thing,--and our trust in it, makes this a reality. If we believe the "exceeding great and precious promises," (2 Peter 1:4) the new birth is accomplished by the Lord himself; for by believing we receive Him who gives us "power to become the sons of God," (John 1:12) heirs,--partaking of His nature each moment, just as from our earthly parents we inherit their nature once for all.
Transformed by a New Mind
Now we may better understand the following verses: "For God has concluded [shut up] them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God I how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been Hiscounselor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." (Romans 11:32-36) "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)
The mind is the measure of the man. It was the mind that was in Christ Jesus, that made Him an acceptable sacrifice. (Philippians 2:5-9) The Word, which was in the beginning with God, and was God, became, flesh, and dwelt among us, (John 1:1,14) and therefore He has "power over all flesh." (John 17:2)
When we have in us the mind that was in Christ, which takes place as soon as we give the Word free course in us, it controls our flesh. Then we are no more in the flesh, but in the Spirit. The body of flesh exists, it is true, and is still sinful and corruptible; but the Spirit is sufficiently strong to control it, and do His own will in it and through it, keeping all its passions and evil desires perfectly in check. Thus the natural body is compelled to serve the Lord as completely as the spiritual body will.
Our Assurance
How then shall we know of a surety that we are born again? "The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (Romans 8:16) "He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself," (1 John 5:10) because believing on the Son, as we have seen, (John 1:12) is receiving Him into the soul.
The difference between the natural man and the spiritual man, then, is simply this: In the carnal man, the flesh controls the mind, while in the spiritual man the mind controls the flesh. It is impossible for any mind but that of God to control the flesh and its impulses. Our own minds, our will, are but the mind and will of the flesh, and are powerless.
The flesh would, and often does, make us believe that our desires are the will of God; our passions cloud our intellect; but we need not be deceived. If we are sincere in our submission to God, desiring that His will, and His only, shall be done in us, we shall "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2)
When the mind of God is our mind, God's Spirit using our brain as the instrument of His own thought,--the mind will surely control the body, and we shall have come "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)
The next step in the transformation will be the changing of "the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:21)
This will be at the coming of the Lord. Then there will be no more inconvenience; but we shall have a body which will offer no resistance to the will of God. Now, however, are we sons; and God will demonstrate His mercy and His power, and vindicate His righteousness before all the universe, by demonstrating that He can work that which is good and well pleasing in His sight (Hebrews 13:21) in a corruptible body as well as in an incorruptible one.--Present Truth, June 20, 1901.