Being Born Again

We have emphasised that faith is the first effect produced in the soul by God’s Word because faith of this kind is basic to any positive transaction between God and any human soul. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). We see that faith is the first and indispensable response of the human soul in its approach to God.

“He who comes to God must believe.” (Heb. 11:6)

After faith, the next great effect produced by God’s Word within the soul is that spiritual experience which is called in Scripture “the new birth” or “being born again.” Thus James says concerning God:

“Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” (James 1:18)

The born-again Christian possesses a new kind of spiritual life brought forth within him by the Word of God received by faith in his soul. Similarly, the apostle Peter describes Christians as being “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23).

It is a principle, both in nature and in Scripture, that the type of seed determines the type of life which is produced from the seed. A corn seed produces corn; a barley seed produces barley; an orange seed produces an orange. So it is also in the new birth. The seed is the divine, incorruptible, eternal Word of God. The life which this produces, when received by faith into the heart of the believer, is like the seed – divine, incorruptible, eternal. It is, in fact, the very life of God Himself coming into a human soul through His Word.

John writes:

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9)

John here directly relates the victorious life of the overcoming Christian to the nature of the seed which produced that life within him – that is, God’s own seed – the incorruptible seed of God’s Word. Because the seed is incorruptible, the life it produces is also incorruptible; that is, absolutely pure and holy. However, this Scripture does not assert that a born-again Christian can never commit sin. Within every born-again Christian a completely new nature has come into being. Paul calls this new nature “the new man” and contrasts it with “the old man” – the old, corrupt, depraved, fallen nature which dominates every person who has never been born again (see Eph. 4:22-24).

There is a complete contrast between these two: The “new man” is righteous and holy; the “old man” is depraved and corrupt. The “new man,” being born of God, cannot commit sin; the “old man,” being the product of man’s rebellion and fall, cannot help committing sin.

The kind of life which any born-again Christian leads is the outcome of the interplay within him of these two natures. So long as the “old man” is kept in subjection and the “new man” exercises his proper control, there is unsullied righteousness, victory and peace. But whenever the “old man” is allowed to reassert himself and regain his control, the inevitable consequence is failure, defeat and sin.

We may sum up the contrast in this way: The true Christian who has been born again of the incorruptible seed of God’s Word has within him the possibility of leading a life of complete victory over sin. The unregenerate man who has never been born again has no alternative but to commit sin. He is inevitably the slave of his own corrupt, fallen nature.