New Birth - Part 3

 Let's talk about the idea that you can/could have anything to do with your new birth, your being born again. Let's start off with an illustration. Suppose you are swimming in a pool at a family gathering. As you are swimming, your big brother, not seeing you, jumps in the pool and his knee hits the back of your head and knocks you out. You begin to sink and water enters your lungs. You are not breathing, and your heartbeat is weakening. Thankfully, you have two big brothers, and the second Big Brother (who is a certified Lifeguard) saw what happened and immediately dove in to assist you. He lifts you up out of the water and rolls you onto the pool deck. You are not breathing and your heart continues slowing down, then stops! Your Big Brother, always careful to respect your free will/free moral agency, asks you if you would like Him to begin CPR and use the automated external defibrillator (AED). Sadly, you are unconscious, and cannot hear His questions, nor can you reply to questions you cannot hear. And so, with tears in his eyes, but always respecting your free will, He refrains from applying CPR or using the AED. However, He does pray over you as your spirit goes back to its Maker. 

Insert here the sound of an LP record being scratched. 😉

The above illustration sounds absurd, doesn't it? But if you will think about it honestly, that is how the story would have to go if what pastors are telling us is true. Have you heard a preacher claim that God does not force salvation on you because He respects your free will so much that He won't give you salvation without you asking for it. What those teachers forget to tell you is that because of what Adam did, and without the Spirit of Christ in your heart, you are spiritually dead (And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Ephesians 2.1), and God cannot ask a spiritually dead person if he wants to be resurrected from the dead, because spiritually dead people cannot be attracted to God or the things of God, nor can they ask for anything from Him (Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 8.7). Most Bible teachers will teach one of these truths or the other (that God respects our free will, and that man inherits the condition of spiritual death from Adam), but will not teach both of them and make them harmonize as relating to how man is saved. Consequently, what they teach regarding free will (while ignoring the condition of man without Christ) results in the following when carried to its logical conclusion: When we received death because of what Adam did, our Big Brother would have had to simply leave us dead in order to respect our freedom of choice (never mind that we did not have any choice in what Adam did and how it affected us). 

OK, so lets see if we can harmonize all these points, using Scripture to support our teaching. We'll first retell the story in a way that is reasonable given all the known elements. We'll pick up the story where your Big Brother, who is a certified Lifeguard, has got you out of the pool and is kneeling beside you. As soon as He verifies that you are not breathing and your heart is not beating, He begins administering CPR, asks others nearby to call 911, and calls for the AED. Its been less than a minute since you stopped breathing, and only a few seconds since your heart stopped beating, so He is confident that He will be successful in reviving you! After He performs a few chest compressions, your heart starts beating again and you begin to cough up water. He rolls you onto your left side, as you blink your eyes and cough! NOW you have free will!!! And that's because the Lifesaver did something without regard to your free will. You did not ask to be made alive; you couldn't ask. He made you alive because of His will, not because of yours (Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1.13). Notice that, just like the person who has drowned, you being made spiritually alive (i.e., born again) has NOTHING to do with your free will!

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" Ephesians 2.4-6

New Birth - Part 2

In this second post in this series on the new birth, we will briefly address a mistake made by many, namely, the equating of the new birth with the experience of conversion. We'll start with definitions. Birth, is defined as the act of bringing forth offspring, it is the beginning of a life distinct from the parent, the beginning of a new identity. Conversion, on the other hand, when referring to the Christian experience, is defined as a change of beliefs, understanding, and intentions. Conversion occurs when a person who is spiritually alive (though they may not even realize that they are spiritually alive), though a spiritual baby, a newborn, experiences a change in their understanding of who they are and who they want to be, and thereby experience a significant spiritual growth episode towards growing up "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children" (Ephesians 4.13-14). Now, the beginning of a new life and the changing of a life are two different kinds of events. They are not the same event, nor are they two different ways of describing the same event.

The new birth is also referred to in the Bible as "quickening," "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;" (Ephesians 2.1). That's going from being dead to being alive! That's going from non-existence to existence! That's a new life! That's not a changed life. That's not a turning from evil. That's being resurrected from the dead! Did you know that you have been resurrected from the dead?!

The Bible also has more than one word for "conversion." It also refers to conversion as "turning," "Say to them: 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?' (Ezekiel 33.11). Some Bible versions use the words "be converted" in Acts 3.19, while others use the words "turn again," or "turn back," in place of "be converted." Both are correct because conversion refers to when a person recognizes their sinfulness, and their need for forgiveness, and their need to change direction in their life. 

Notice the condition of man before he is quickened. He is dead in sins. He is spiritually dead. He is no more than an animal seeking his own pleasure. Everything that has to do with God is absolute foolishness to him, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2.14). Now, if a spiritually dead man cannot receive the things of God, then please tell me how in the world can he be converted?! The truth is that he has absolutely no possibility of being converted, of repenting and turning from his evil ways, as he is spiritually dead and has no interest whatsoever in anything but his own pleasure. Before he can be converted, he must be quickened/raised from spiritual death into life/born again. Once he is born again, he will then be only a baby, spiritually; but he will be spiritually alive! Then, and only then, can he be interested in and encouraged to "repent and be converted," to turn from his evil ways (Acts 3.19). 

Before we can repent and be converted, Christ has to shine his Light in our hearts (John 1.9). He shines his Light in our hearts by Himself coming into our hearts! "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Colossians 1.27). The fact that Christ is in you means that you are spiritually alive! And since you are spiritually alive, you have been born again! And this had nothing to do with your will! It was done purely by the will of YAHUAH! 

"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1.13).