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The Daily Word of Righteousness
An Examination of Current Teaching, #37
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God Children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:12,13)
To be born again means merely to take the "four steps of salvation."
To take the "four steps of salvation" is to be oriented to the Divine program of salvation. This is not the same as being born again.
You may notice that the Apostles, as recorded in the Book of Acts, did not preach being born again.
We have made being born again synonymous with being saved. This is not scriptural. Being born again has to do with seeing and entering the Kingdom of God. The expression is seldom used in the New Testament never once by the Apostle Paul.
To be born again is to have Christ conceived in us and then grow to maturity in us. It is not the same as placing our faith in the blood atonement or declaring Jesus is Lord. It is the planting of Divine Life in our personality.
We are using the term loosely today. For example, a politician claims to be "born again." Yet it is evident from his life that Christ has not been formed in him. What he means is that he has made a statement of faith while in a Christian church. He probably has no idea of what it means to be born of God, or that he is supposed to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow the Lord Jesus in order that what has been conceived in him may come to full stature.
The parable of the sower reveals to us that the Word of God is as a seed. It may fall on hard ground. It may fall on softer ground and then be choked out or wither from the sun. It bears lasting fruit only when sown in an honest and good heart of a person who patiently walks with Jesus year after year.
To be born of God is to have the Divine Nature formed and living in us.
But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (Luke 8:15)
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:57)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, (Galatians 4:19)
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. (Galatians 6:15)
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (I Peter 1:23)
To be continued.