First Birth and Second Birth

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’ ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’ ‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things?’” (John 3:1–10, NIV)

    Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus revealing one of the most important truths in all of scripture that: WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN in order to enter into the kingdom of God (God’s camp). There very well may be no greater truth, other than the revealed truth of God himself. In order to grasp a better sense of the weight of this truth we need to know why Jesus choose to reveal this great truth to Nicodemus. Who is Nicodemus?
    Nicodemus was a Pharisee, the elite teachers and Theologians of Israel. Pharisees were the religious leaders and priests of the Jewish religion. Pharisees practiced THE LAW with precision like no other on earth. Pharisees were perhaps the best that mankind can be without God’s help. Pharisees were near human perfection—the best Adams possible. Nicodemus was not only a Pharisee but he was a member of Israel’s elite ruling party—the Sanhedrin. He was one of the seventy elite rulers of the Jewish faith. Nicodemus was one of THE Pharisees among Pharisees.


IT WAS TO THIS MAN THAT JESUS REVEALED THIS GREAT TRUTH:


“YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!”


     In other words, Nicodemus, at this point in time, was not going to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was one of the most knowledgeable among all men and women of “good” on earth and was still “Charam.” Nicodemus was still stuck in man’s camp. Nicodemus fell short just as Cain fell short—our best is not good enough!


“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his [God’s] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20 (ESV)

    God will not look upon the sacrifices of mankind’s best efforts—the fruit of his labor—the fruit of that which is already cursed. Adam’s spirit has been decreed by God to die and die it shall, no matter how good or how evil he or she may be. It is time now, perhaps, to believe God’s decree of death, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned . . .”  Romans 5:12 (ESV)
     At the famous “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus declared to the multitudes, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 5:20 (ESV)
    Without God’s help it is simply impossible to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. Therefore, there must be something wrong with the Pharisees form of righteousness. Jesus had much to say directly to the Pharisees. Jesus even gave grave warnings to the Pharisees concerning their form of righteousness. Jesus confronts them:

 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”   Matthew 23:25–26 (ESV)

    In the this passage Jesus brings up the analogy of a cup. The Pharisees simply cleaned the outside of the cup (themselves) through shear self-discipline and human effort alone. Jesus, however is saying that the OUTSIDE of the cup will get clean only as a result of the INSIDE of the cup getting clean. Jesus is concerned about the INSIDE of the cup, while the Pharisees were concerned about the OUTSIDE. Jesus used the word “hypocrites” to address the Pharisees. This is a very descript word. For in the Greek, “hypocrite” means “actor.” In other words, the Pharisees were putting on a fake show OUTWARDLY for the world to watch. They still remained only sons of Adam with mankind's nature (vs 25) "but inside they [Pharisees] are full of greed and self-indulgence."
     The Pharisees were religionists, meaning they surrounded themselves with the symbols of God and the knowledge about God yet they did not know God. Jesus addressed this:


"You [Pharisees] hypocrites [actors]! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”  Matthew 15:7–9 (ESV).


     Their rules, "commandments of men," suggested that through the knowledge of good mankind can indeed enter into the Kingdom of God. Yet Jesus is clearly stating that we must exceed their rules by a quantum leap by being Born Again with a totally new Spirit with a self-contained righteousness.  
    Religionists are pretenders who embrace symbol over God’s presence and the outward form over inward re-birth. When the spirit is renewed, new desires begin to develop naturally, new values grow, new thinking develops and with these new outward behaviors are the result. This all happens ORGANICALLY. We become a new creature and part of a new creation—God’s Camp!


“You must be born[1] again[2]”


     We accept the first miracle of life (our original first birth) without question and hardly without notice. We balk as preposterous the second miracle of re-birth (new-life) as impossible. We accept the first life as fact yet declare the second birth as “mystical” then neatly dismiss it. Is not the first birth mystical as well? We casually step over the miracle of life as “a given.”
     Who on earth has unraveled the mysteries of our first life as we already know it? Science (latin “scientia” meaning knowledge, a knowing) explains the origin of the life through the process of evolution? The best science can say is that “in time” through “chance” it produced itself. The word “chance” sounds much like the word “mystical” in it's meaning. What’s the difference between mystery and mere chance? Is the word “chance” really acceptable as the scientific explanation?  Yet, we all accept life as “normal” and “mere fact” and move on with other more important matters.
     If God is in fact the “Creator” and “Life-giver,” the miracle of the second birth should be just as acceptable and normal as the first birth. And just as deliberate!

Adam’s Spirit and Christ’s Spirit

    The apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome reveals the truth about the nature of being “Born Again.” Paul begins with the truths of the first birth:

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—”  (Romans 5:12, NIV)

    In this verse Paul is describing the plight of Man’s Camp. We are all born in this camp with the first birth from our earthly mother and father. Paul confirms the truth that was declared in the beginning that ALL IN ADAM WILL DIE! This is the truth of CHARAM (dedicated to destruction).
    Paul further describes the nature of the spirit of this first birth, namely—SIN. Our spirit became SIN when Adam separated from God. SIN is the state of SEPARATION FROM GOD. In other words, a life (spirit) that is separated from God’s life (Spirit) will reveal a nature that is also separated from God’s Life. The separated life will exhibit a life that is unlike God. This stands to reason. A spirit/life disconnected from God’s Spirit/Life will exhibit the NOT GOD LIFE. Therefore, if God is truth, mankind will be the liar; if God is love, mankind will be hate-filled; if God is life-giving, mankind will be life-taking (murderer); if God is faithful; mankind will not be faithful (adulterer); if God is giving, mankind will be the thief. The Ten Commandments, that is—The LAW, is the very nature and glory of who God IS! Mankind is not God—mankind has become SIN (the NOT God). Because all of mankind lives in this state, we all manifest the nature of sin; however, some, as we will soon see, are extremely good at covering up this nature. Sinning is the manifestation of the STATE-of-SIN (sin—separation). Sin and all of mankind is condemned to death and destruction.


The opposite of sin is RIGHTEOUSNESS.


     In verse 17 of this same chapter of Romans Paul transitions from the first birth to the second birth:

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace [the gift] and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17, NIV) 

    Now that Paul has established that the first birth (man’s camp) will die, he now parallels this bad news with the Good News of God’s GIFT. This gift is God’s SON—Jesus Christ. Jesus' Spirit is the righteous life[3] and with the receiving of His Life to live His life in and through us (in place of Adam's life) we receive a new spirit., that is, we receive a good and righteous Spirit—the Holy Spirit. We are born into God’s Camp. We begin to grow from babes in Christ into the full stature of Christ[4] in due time[5]. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s Spirit (more will be said about this latter). This parallelism of the two lives (first birth—second birth) is further revealed in verses 19 and 21: 

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19, NIV) 

“so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace [the gift] might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21, NIV)

    This truth of being born again was very real and had a driving presence in Paul’s life. This was Paul’s greatest desire. Everything written by Paul in all of his letters issues forth this great and enduring desire:

Philippians 3:8–11 (ESV)  "Indeed, I count [presently] everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count [presently] them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having [presently] a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,[Paul was a Pharisee] but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like [presently] him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”




[1] γεννάω (gennaō); from γέννα (genna) (descent, birth); to beget, to bring forth:—bear(1), bearing children(1), became the father of(4), became … father(1), begotten(4), bore(1), born(41), Child(1), conceived(1), father(37), Father(1), gave(1), gives birth(1), produce(1).[1] 
[2] ἄνωθεν (anōthen); from 507; from above:—above(5), again(2), all over(1), beginning(1), long time(1), top(2).[2] 
[3] Colossians 2:9 (ESV) 9 “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” 
[4] Romans 8:28–29 (ESV) 28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” 
[5] 1 Peter 5:6 (ESV) 6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time [or—in due time] he may exalt you,”