Spiritually if we have not experienced the new birth in Christ Jesus, we are among the walking dead: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). As a result of man’s sin there are three aspects of death. In the garden of Eden, death separated man from God spiritually; God said to Adam and Eve; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2: 17). As a result of sin, man was separated from God, this is the spiritual death. In natural death, we die and have no consciousness, no awareness, no capacity to do anything; this is physical death. In the final death, we are separated from the mercy and grace of God forever; this is eternal death.
Born in sin
We are born in sin, and in sin did our mother conceive us (Psa. 51: 5). Therefore we must be born again. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus. “That which is born of flesh (human parents) is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit (of God) is spirit” (John 3:6).
Remember Jesus was born of a human parent; he was born of a woman named Mary. He was then baptized and was born again of the spirit, for the spirit of God descended upon him (Mark 1:10). Sin separates us from the spirit of God but through the death of Christ Jesus, and his conquering of sin and death, we can be born again to a new and vigorous spiritual life.
How can we be born again?
To be born again means a new birth, a regeneration of one’s mind, soul and spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again (from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
What does it mean to be born (from above)? Why is it so important to be born again? Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4). This was an appropriate question asked by a learned teacher. Any intelligent person probably would ask the same question. However, Nicodemus would not understand because he held a natural outlook and the natural man cannot discern the things of God.
Jesus answered, “Except a man is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Jesus never told us to do anything here on earth that he did not do himself. We can read about the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3: 13-16. Jesus told John it was to “fulfill all righteousness.” In other words he was saying, “I bear the nature that must be denied and eventually changed. My baptism is part of the work I was sent to accomplish.”
Restoration to God
Sin separated man from God spiritually and resulted in his being driven from the presence of God. The only way back to God is to confess our sins and die to the flesh through baptism. By doing this we are showing the world that we are putting away the carnal things of this world that separate us from God and we are coming up a new creature born again into this world – this time as a willing faithful child of God. Our new life is influenced daily by the Word of God and will be guided by the wonderful example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One