Being born again is used today to refer to our receiving the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. You may notice, however, that the Apostles of the Book of Acts never preached being born again as the entrance to salvation..

Being born again is not the point at which we accept Christ. Being born again describes the change that takes place throughout our discipleship. It is referring to the fact that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

The new personality consists of a new inner man and a new outer man. Much has been written by deeper-life teachers about the new inner man; perhaps not as much about the new outer man.

The new inner man is Christ in us. The new outer man also is Christ and will be a direct reflection of our new inner man.

The Kingdom of God is the new creation. Our first personality, the flesh and blood creation born from our earthly parents, will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It is corruption, being little more than an intelligent animal.

"The flesh profits nothing," as the Lord said.

When we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior we are born again, that is, the Life of God is implanted in us and begins to grow. As we follow the Spirit of God each day the body and blood of the Lord are fed to us. A new creature is formed from this "hidden manna."

Each day the first personality is struck down. Each day the new man is strengthened. We are born again, so to speak. As the new man is formed in us, a counterpart, an outer man, is formed in the Presence of God in Heaven. In the Day of the Lord the new outer man will be the new inner man. This is our eternal personality, the personality that we shall be throughout the countless ages to come.

We do not say it will be impossible to grow in Christ after we die. It seems probable to us that we shall. However certain basic aspects of character can be formed only in the furnace of affliction found in the earth—in particular the competence to rule.

If we do not follow the Lord as we should we may discover in that day that we have lost forever the opportunity to be of first rank in the Kingdom or to be as close to the Lord's Presence as we desire.

There is a wonderful, terrible justice in the fact that we shall reap precisely what we sow. If we have followed the Lord diligently, walking in stern obedience to our Father in Heaven, we will reap an abundance of eternal life and glory. If we instead sow to our animal appetites we will reap corruption and contempt in the form of a corrupt outward man.

Today—right now—the Christian is shaping his eternal personality. What he is becoming now as he follows Christ with more or less diligence will be revealed in the Day of the Lord. The body with which he is clothed will portray in itself what he has become in his inner personality. Grace and mercy will not enter at this point. The purpose of grace and mercy are not to change what we reap in the Day of the Lord but rather to help us today to sow seed that will result in the kind of reward we desire. (from The Creation of the Eternal Personality)