Are We "Born Again" While Still In The Flesh?
Posted May 6, 2004
[Updated to fit TOA Module October 10, 2010]
Hello, Mr. Vinson!
I've been busy studying the Word, and I have three questions. Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again. Is a man born again before the resurrection? So many people say, not only are they saved, but they are born again. "I'm a born again Christian." And is devoting oneself to a Christian lifestyle pleasing to God when there are so many different 'systems' of religions? And just what is religion to God? Since I've been studying from your lessons, I've had friends who won't dare bring up anything from the Bible around me because God's true Word challenges their man-perceived teachings. Most of all, GOD'S WORDS are SPIRIT. The explanations my friends give me concerning the Scriptures are CRAZY. Even my Pastor canceled our Bible study yesterday on the topic of "free will." He told my husband his lesson is ready, but he had to get his wife to order a book he couldn't find. I'm assuming this book will back up his 'free will' beliefs. My pastor is going to show me (from a book, not the Bible) that 'man has free will.' And you would think he would be able to prove his free will theory from God's Words ... the Bible. He's getting ready to explain to me man's free will from another man's point of view. Wow! Mr. Vinson, I haven't been to church in three weeks. I'm ready to come out of her, but I don't know how. I love my pastor and his wife like family. Upon leaving, I know they will take it personally as my family was the first to join his church. I don't mean to hurt their feelings, but sooner or later, I WILL MOVE.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to answer my many questions.
F______
Hi F______,
Yes, we are to be "born again" as Christ told Nicodemus. It is a spiritual conception. The Greek for 'born' and 'conceived' are identical. Here is how Christ describes it:
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it [through a spiritual rebirth] bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world [Now, in this age] shall keep it unto life eternal.
Read these verses in John again:
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Now read this:
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now; [not later, but now] are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom,' but it is equally true that you cannot inherit the kingdom until you have overcome flesh and blood. We have been given a new birth spiritually, NOW. But we still have to experience the putting off of this flesh, this "body of this death."
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
A "living soul" is "the body of this death."
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [Christ in us now] was made a quickening spirit.
Death always preceeds judgment! "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and [spiritually] die" there can be no judgment. But the truth is that judgment IS on the house of God:
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Now this scripture should take on new meaning to you:
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
If we are being judged now, then we must already have died (to the flesh).
Now you know why Paul said:
2Co 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should [right now] walk in newness of life.
Yes , it is scripturally accurate to say that we are right now 'born again sons of God.' But it is not scripturally accurate to say that we have been, in the past 'saved.' It is scripturally accurate to say that "he that endureth to the end shall be saved."
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect [Greek-mature] but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [Greek- Are being matured], be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto youb>.
Salvation is a process. Read my e-mail on this subject, The Steps To Salvation.
Just what is religion, you ask?:
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
How many sermons are preached on that topic?
I remember feeling exactly the same as you are feeling about physically 'coming out of Babylon.' When I finally did quit attending the World Wide Church of God, I did not even remember that Christ had said that as few as two constitutes fellowship and that He would be in their midst. It seemed that all I could remember was the scripture that had always been mentioned in the church services:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
I actually went back to several protestant churches over a ten year period. I finally came to see that God did not intend for me to assemble with Babylon. We must all be carried away into Babylon as part of "these things happened unto them and they were written for our admonition," but eventually God calls His "few chosen" out of Babylon.
Be patient. God is doing His work in your life on His own time table.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
I hope this has answered your questions.
Mike
