NewLifeInChrist
Member
John wrote...
Jesus said...
What does it mean to be born of God?
When a person puts his full trust in Christ for salvation, Jesus not only forgives his sins, but He excercises his power of creation to create a life that did not exist before. God gives birth to that new living person from out of His Spirit, and the one who is birthed by God literally becomes God's offspring and joins the other children of God as a member of His household.
What is the nature of the children of God?
Jesus explained that the new life created when the Spirit gave birth to it is spiritual in nature, not physical. He contrasted the physical lives that we obtained when our mothers gave birth to us from out of their wombs with the spiritual lives we obtained from God when He gave birth to us from out of His Spirit. As we share the human nature of our earthly mothers who gave birth to us, so too we share the divine nature of our heavenly Father who gave birth to us. Peter extolled the glories of us sharing the nature of God when he wrote about the "exceedingly great and precious promises" that have been given to us for the purpose that we may be "partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pe 1:4).
Is it important to differentiate between our human nature and our divine nature?
Yes. Many aspects of our relationship with God and our walk with Him can not be properly understood without differentiating between what we inherited from Adam through physical birth and what we inherited from Jesus through spiritual birth. For example, when John wrote, "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 Jn 3:9), he was not writing about the whole man (i.e., our human nature and our divine nature in one package), he was writing about the divine nature that we received as a result of God giving birth to us. Our divine nature is not corruptible by sin because He stays at the center of it and He cannot be corrupted. One day we will shed the flesh with its corruption, but our spirits which are right with God will continue with Him forever after our physical deaths.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn 1:10–13)
Jesus said...
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (Jn 3:6)
What does it mean to be born of God?
When a person puts his full trust in Christ for salvation, Jesus not only forgives his sins, but He excercises his power of creation to create a life that did not exist before. God gives birth to that new living person from out of His Spirit, and the one who is birthed by God literally becomes God's offspring and joins the other children of God as a member of His household.
What is the nature of the children of God?
Jesus explained that the new life created when the Spirit gave birth to it is spiritual in nature, not physical. He contrasted the physical lives that we obtained when our mothers gave birth to us from out of their wombs with the spiritual lives we obtained from God when He gave birth to us from out of His Spirit. As we share the human nature of our earthly mothers who gave birth to us, so too we share the divine nature of our heavenly Father who gave birth to us. Peter extolled the glories of us sharing the nature of God when he wrote about the "exceedingly great and precious promises" that have been given to us for the purpose that we may be "partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pe 1:4).
Is it important to differentiate between our human nature and our divine nature?
Yes. Many aspects of our relationship with God and our walk with Him can not be properly understood without differentiating between what we inherited from Adam through physical birth and what we inherited from Jesus through spiritual birth. For example, when John wrote, "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 Jn 3:9), he was not writing about the whole man (i.e., our human nature and our divine nature in one package), he was writing about the divine nature that we received as a result of God giving birth to us. Our divine nature is not corruptible by sin because He stays at the center of it and He cannot be corrupted. One day we will shed the flesh with its corruption, but our spirits which are right with God will continue with Him forever after our physical deaths.
