Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth, know we HIM no more: Vs 17: Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.
I’d stated in Part 1, who better to tell the
story than expert witness Apostle Paul? A true witness of God, one who was on
the scene, suffered much persecution, one that experienced a supernatural
transformation from his old self to a brand-new
creation.
From Paul’s life and
scripture, you can clearly see a difference between the old man vs the new
man.
In part 1, I also stated how Paul talked about
two conditions that are necessary (unavoidable;
needful; not optional) for our entrance into the Kingdom of God, and living
in Christ, both of which are consequences of Christ dying for us and both are a
requirement: “regeneration”
and the “new birth”!
REGENERATION was spoken of in part
one, 2 Corinthians 5:17: If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; now I’m continuing part 2, with the NEW
BIRTH!
With “regeneration” and the “new birth”, there’s a “newness” being presented in each
phase. With “regeneration” there’s a contrasting of the “old man” and the “new
man”. With the “new birth” there’s a contrasting
of “spiritual life” with “spiritual death.”
St. John 3:4-9 (Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of the new birth): vs 3: Jesus
answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, “Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
But Nicodemus didn’t understand, and asked: vs 4: “How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”
· Vs 5: Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, “Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
This “birth” Jesus
is speaking of is “spiritual”. Born in Greek is genna’o, meaning to procreate (prop. of the father, but by
extension of the mother); to regenerate: begat; bear; bring forth; be
delivered; conceived.
1 Peter 1:23 states, “Seeing you
have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart
fervently: being born again, not
of corruptible (phthartos’)
[decayed; perishable] seed, but of incorruptible (aph’thartos)
[undecaying (in essence or continuance); immortal], by the word of God
which lives and abides forever.”
Remember what God said in Genesis 1:11-12: And God said, “Let the earth bring forth
grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after
his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth”: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb
yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed
was in itself after his kind:
and God saw that it was good.
So now, if we are “born
again” of “incorruptible seed”,
the Word of God, and we are, then that makes us also “incorruptible”. Luke
8:11, “The seed is the Word of God!” We too are the Word made flesh. St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. Vs 2: The same (hou’tos) [he (she or it), these; this man;
they; this woman; who] was in the beginning with God (that’s “us” His sons, male &
female):
Vs 14: And the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us.
Yes, this is speaking of Jesus, but we are also
included. Jesus was sent in the flesh at
the appointed time God had ordained,
so that He could deliver the creation back to the Father. We also came at the appointed time that He wanted us (His other sons) to be manifested
in flesh form.
· St. John 1: 11-13: He
came unto his own and his own received him not.
Vs 12: 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. Vs 13: “Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.”
One of the definitions of “born”
in John 3:3-5, is “regenerate”. Even Webster defines “regenerate” as
renewed or restored; to cause to be spiritually reborn; to be completely
reformed; to bring into existence again; form again; make new.
The first part of this word is “regene - rated”. The “gene” is the unit in the chromosome by which hereditary characteristics are
transmitted.
God sent us here in these flesh
bodies that we are living in, and we were made subject to the carnality of it, so that we could
conquer and overcome in these bodies through the “new birth” and be restored back to the place of dominion,
authority and power we had with Him in the beginning!
· Colossians 3:9-10: Lie
not one to another, seeing that you have put off the “old man” with his
deeds; and have put on the “new man”, which is renewed (renovated; new; fresh) in knowledge (recognition;
full discernment; acknowledgement) after the image (profile;
representation; manifestation) of him that created him.
You can see how “newness”
of the “old man” works like a hand in
glove in these two phases of regeneration
and the new birth.
This “birthing process”
Jesus spoke of in John 3:3 entails us “seeing the kingdom of God”, which has nothing to do with physical
eyesight.
· Luke 17:20b: The
kingdom of God comes not with observation: vs 21: Neither shall they say, lo here, or lo there! For the kingdom (basili’a) [royalty; rule; a realm]; (basileus’)
[foundation of power] of God is within you!
The Kingdom of God is not off somewhere up beyond the blue,
but His Kingdom (foundation of power)
is on the inside of you and me!! 1
John 4:4: Greater is he that is in
you, than he that is in the world.
Briefly, the “Kingdom of God” is a person, the Man Jesus
Christ. He was the power of God walking around on two feet.
Mark 11:1-11 (when He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, listen at
what came out of the mouth of the people):
· Vs 9: And
they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, “Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord”:
· Vs 10: “Blessed
by the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of
the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.”
Hosanna in the Greek means, “oh save”! It goes to the Hebrew Yasha’, meaning to be open, wide or free; be safe; save; savior;
deliver; salvation; avenged; rescue; victory.
Jesus was and is God’s “Kingdom”
and so are we (the sons of
God/male & female) now God’s “kingdom”
of kings and priests in the earth.
· Revelation 1:6: And
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and
dominion forever. [Also Revelation
5:10; 19:16].
The “new birth” causes
us to “see” (know) the kingdom. SEE in the Greek is ei’do,
meaning to know by perception; consider;
have knowledge; understand; to discern clearly. This discernment is not with the natural eyes
but with the “eye of the mind” or the “spiritual
eye”.
· Matthew 6:22 states, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore, thine eye (spiritual vision) be
single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
The first word “light”
in this verse is photeinos’, meaning lustrous (shining; brilliant; glorious); transparent
(easily seen or understood; to detect; obvious) or well illuminated
(give light to; make clear; explain; to inform). Then it goes to the word “phos”, meaning luminousness; fire. This is
light as reaching the mind; making known one’s thoughts. But
the natural (sensitive; mortal;
irrational) man receives 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).
We can now understand how the definition of “see” and “light” denotes “knowledge”. Therefore the “new birth” is inclusive of us letting the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus
(Philippians 2:5), so that we can come to know
our Heavenly Father and be totally led by His Spirit in all we do.
Hosea 4:6: My people are
destroyed for the lack of knowledge.
Knowledge is “light” and part
of the “new birth” process. It’s
the truth of God’s Word that is going to free
His people (John 8:32) from the bondages of the enemy. So the same “light” that God Himself is (1 John 1:5), we must and are become that same “light” because of the new birth! You are the light
of the world (Matthew 5:14).
When Matthew 6:22 is fulfilled in us and our “eye” (spiritual vision) becomes single (folded together; united as one) with
Christ’s mind, then the latter part of that verse will be manifested in
us: “thine
whole body shall be full of light”!
This word “light”
is from the root word leukos’,
meaning (“light), “white”! Why is the “light” “white”? That’s because it is the righteousness of God manifested in and through us His people!
· Revelation 19:7: Let
us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come (present tense), and his wife hath
(already) made herself ready: Vs
8: And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white (radiant;
bright; light): for the fine linen is
the righteousness of saints.
Our being “born
again” has made us the “righteousness
of God” through Christ!
· 2 Corinthians 5:21: For
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him!!
Back to John 3:3-5 (Jesus talking to Nicodemus in relation to the “new birth”):
· Vs 5: Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Being born of the water:
This “water”
is not baptism in H2O. I’m not knocking water baptism because it’s a
type of “burying the old man” and “resurrecting the new man”! But
this “water” Jesus is speaking
of is “the Word” itself.
In Ephesians 5:25-33 (speaks of duties of husbands –
but it’s a great mystery concerning Christ and the Church):
· Vs 25: Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
vs 26: That he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, vs 27: That he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish.
We are sanctified and cleansed through the “washing of water by the Word”
(Ephesians 5:26), but it’s the “blood”
that redeems us (Hebrews 9:22): Without
shedding of blood, is no remission.
Being born of the Spirit:
The Spirit of God is God’s pneu’ma
or His very breath that we
must inhale or “breathe in”!!
· John 4:24: God is Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Spirit is the Greek root word pneu’ma,
meaning a current of air; wind; breath.
And in Hebrew it’s ru’wach, wind, breath.
This “wind” or “breath”
is not just a mere current of air or the oxygen that we breathe in this earth
realm, but it’s the very “breath” of
God Himself that has His blood in it that gives us “life”. Leviticus 17:11:
The life of the flesh is in the blood!
This is the “same
breath” that was “breathed”
into the man Adam in Genesis 2:7
that made him a living soul! It was the same “breath” that was “breathed”
in the valley of dry bones that gave
them life (Ezekiel 37:1-14)! This
is the same breath that Jesus breathed into the disciples in (John
20:21-22) When he had said, “As the
Father hath sent me, even so send I you, he breathed on them and said
unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost”!
This is the “same breath”
that was “breathed” into those
that were in the upper room (Acts 2).
This is the “same breath”
that is still being breathed into
God’s people as He sends out His messengers with the Gospel of the Kingdom as
it is being preached and taught by His Spirit, and it will continue forever!!
And remember what John said in Matthew 3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but he that comes after me
is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and
with fire!
Fire does one of two things, it purifies or consumes! If we receive God’s Word and not just be
hearers but doers, His Word will burn out of us everything that’s not like God
and make us like Him. But if we fight
against His Word, that same Word that would purify
and cleanse us will consume us! Hebrews
12:29: Our God is a consuming fire. So let us love God and walk in obedience to
His Word so that it will purify us and bring us into the “new birth”!
So to become “a
brand new man” we must progress through “regeneration”, being transformed from the “old man” into the “new man”, and “be born again”, being translated
from “spiritual death” into “spiritual
life”!
Jesus has delivered us from “sin and death” so that we can walk in newness of life!
· Romans 8:2: For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death:
· vs 6: To be carnally minded is death, but
to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Colossians 3:9-10 says, Seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man,
which is renewed (refreshed; revived; restored; replenished) in knowledge after
the image of him that created him: vs
12-14: Put on therefore as the elect
of God holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if
any man have a quarrel against any: even
as Christ forgave you, so also do you.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of
perfectness.
This is what it takes to be “a brand new man”!!
Evangelist Brenda
Hansley