Begotten and Born Again - the Gift of Eternal Life Through the Holy Spirit of God
Question (child): Where did I come from?
Answer (parent): from daddy and mommy…
An inquisitive child might ask, where did mommy and daddy come from?... We’ll from grandma and grandpa… Where did they come from? And so on and so on until you get back to the beginning when God created the first man and woman. And so, physical humanity are the children or, or the creation of God made from the dust of the ground.
What is a Human Made of?
Physical humans are composed of mineral and chemical substances of earth (dust) plus animating bio-electrical impulses. Some people think that’s all there is… while others believe there is a spiritual component to humans. You and I fall into that second category… but there different ways that people understand a “spiritual component”.
You Do Not Have An Immortal Soul
One of the great false teachings of all time is that man has some sort of immortal soul… fallen or removed from its spiritual home, trapped inside a sinful body and seeking to get back to where it belongs through a life of good deeds or right thinking.
Many (perhaps most) people believe that once our physical body dies our immortal spiritual component continues on as a living conscious entity. This is not a concept gotten from scripture or revealed by God.
The Spirit In Man
According to God’s word man has a spiritual component BUT it too is temporary and when our flesh dies this spirit does not have life within itself, it has no conscious thoughts, no plans, no feelings… nothing… unless it is given life by the power of God. That gift of spiritual life is what we are here to discuss today.
Request your own copy of Why Were You Born? This booklet will help you discover what the scriptures actually say about God's plan for bring new children into His eternal family.
Rom 6:23 it is a gift we are given to us, made possible by Jesus Christ
I Tim 2:3-4 This is what God wants to happen
God’s whole purpose for creating humans is that they can take on this amazing, everlasting life. The physical flesh and blood that make up your existence now is really the first step in an incredible master process of creating… or “fathering” a whole new creation Ephesians 4:22-24
This regeneration/transformation is not just that you become a better you (although that’s in there)… no it’s a whole new thing, never seen before, not yet revealed to anyone or anything in creation Rom 8:13-23
The only way this can happen is through the power of the Holy Spirit within you.
God is Building A Family in His Own Likeness
The family relationship is the heart and core of God’s incredible plan for humanity
Gen 1:24-27 the Genesis description of creation is very careful to emphasize that every part of the created living world is made to reproduce according to its kind… trees reproduce trees, grass reproduces grass, birds reproduce birds, fish reproduce fish, giraffes reproduce giraffes… and please carefully notice that God (the US, the two divine beings we know as the Father and Jesus Christ) are producing something after their own kind, the God-kind if you will… and that something is man, woman, humanity!
Now, humans reproduce and have children (Gen 5:3) Adam has a son in his own likeness who he named Seth… and so physical human reproduction is part of God reproducing and multiplying… BUT its when the extra ingredient of the H.S. is added to the process that we see what God is really doing. Physical human reproduction is only the first stage.
As we read earlier in Romans 8… God’s Holy Spirit works with our spirit to make us Children of God. Something completely new… spirit born beings in His likeness and after His own kind.
Gal 3:26-27 You receive that spirit through baptism and the laying on of hands.
Is This Just a Figure Of Speech?
Are we truly to be God’s children or is it just a pretty picture meant to add a nice emotional touch to a metaphysical explanation of the creator and that which has been created? Is all this talk of Father and sons really only meant in the sense of God being the Father to the human race by virtue of creation?
If so then why not also call God the Father of all chickens, or rabbits? The Father of Trees…? Note: He also created angels and they are spoken of in one place as ”sons” (Job 38:7)… BUT His relationship to angels is very different that the relationship He desires to have with humans.
Heb 1:5 speaking directly about Jesus Christ BUT the comparison extends to us humans as well if you continue reading especially Heb 2:10-14
So, God as our father is not just a nice way of saying He is our creator. Its is a real and meaningful description of His purpose and plan for reproducing after His own likeness and kind.
Jesus Goes through the process first
Physically Conceived and Born (begotten):
Note: Jesus is totally unique… He is not just the first human to be resurrected and born of the Spirit (arianism). Jesus was/is a part of the God family before he was ever conceived. He was willing to put aside his power and glory taking the form of a man. He was conceived in the womb of a woman through the power of the Holy Spirit. God the Father was Jesus’ father even in the physical sense. Luke 1:35
Spiritually Conceived and Born:
Luke 3:21-22 Jesus was also begotten of God the Father to spiritual life through this same Holy Spirit. See also John 5:23.
Fullness of Sonship:
Upon His resurrection He returns to the eternal spirit life He had before.
Humans Follow The Same Path
Physically Conceived and Born (begotten):
Humans are not physically conceived by the Holy Spirit like Jesus Christ. We are all conceived in the flesh by our father and mother in a long chain that goes back to Adam and therefore to God. However, we do follow Jesus in being spiritually conceived by the Holy Spirit within us… and spiritually fathered by God.
Spiritually Conceived and Born:
This conception takes place when we are baptized when we follow in the path of Jesus and come up out of the water and receive the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us is a regeneration, a process of transformation, a re-birth… The Spirit opens up the word of God to us, it is actively at work in you… it convicts you of right and wrong and helps you grow and develop to transform into the likeness of God.
Fullness of Sonship:
Likewise, we receive full glory and redemption of our bodies which are transformed into spirit. Here too we are slightly different from Jesus in that He is returning to the glory He had before birth… whereas we will enter into glory and the “fullness of sonship” (translated adoption). For us it will be something completely new.
You Have Been “Begotten/Conceived” Again
I Peter 1:3-4, 23 – word SEED (spora) implies a germination, a conception that takes place in us.
John 3:3-9 (discuss: gennao, begotten, conceived, born, transformed, sonship, inheritance)
Those who have believed and are baptized are on a path to truly & literally becoming God’s children. Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit humans can begin a spiritual process of conception, birth, and entering into the fullness of sonship and receipt of our inheritance in the family of God… The family which rules over all things (which is probably why Jesus refers to KOG here… the rule of God).
Jesus is the First Among Many
Jesus laid out the path as an example. As a result He is considered the first… but as we read earlier HE is spoken of as only the first among MANY brethren, that is… many children in the Family of God. This has been God plan and purpose for creating humanity from the very beginning. Romans 8:29
We Will Be Like Jesus Christ
Jesus will always have a unique and pre-eminent status in the family. Not only is He the first among many brethren He has always been God and with God as the Word (see John 1:1,14). However, when it comes to character, substance or being of the God kind… well, let’s allow scripture to speak to us:
I John 3:1-3
Phil 3:20-21 – repeat kind after kind
Eph 4:13-16 – words and actions
Gal 4:19 – Paul & church members engaged in a process
Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, through the instruction and understanding from His Word the fullness of Christ is being formed in you. His holiness and righteousness can be formed in us so that we might truly be spiritually “fathered” by God… a reproduction or reproducing according to the God kind as we read in the beginning.
As Jesus Christ is in the likeness of God the Father with the same glory, power and character we can/will be like Christ and like the Father.
The truth of God’s purpose is so BIG, so AMAZING most people cannot really look this essential biblical truth in the eye… because of the implications it has for how we think, act, speak, our emotions our thoughts… everything.
But the truth is there in the pages of your bible and preached in the Church of God… this is the whole purpose and reason for everything.
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