The New Birth

By Dr. John E. Russell

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is 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." (John 3:1-8, NIV).

Introduction

In order to understand the new birth, let us examine the biblical and psychological approaches in defining human personality.

Harry Stack Sullivan, in his Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry, defines personality as the "relatively enduring pattern of recurrent interpersonal situations which characterized a human life." (Drakeford, Integrity Therapy, p. 45). This view implies that one's personality is a product of the way one has related to others over a period of time.

Freud postulated three aspects of the psyche: (1) the conscious, (2) the preconscious and (3) the unconscious. The conscious is that part of the mind containing material of which we are immediately aware. The preconscious is that part of the mind from which we can recall stored material at will. The unconscious is that vast storehouse of the mind from which one cannot recall material at will, but which has a profound influence over one's personality. [Calvin S. Hall, A Primer of Freudian Psychology (New York: The New American Library, A Mentor Book, 1954), pp. 54-57]. Of course, these are not actual parts of the brain, but rather psychological constructs to help explain functions of the psyche. Some see the unconscious corresponding to the human spirit. However, the writer sees the human spirit as the essential person, that exists on a deeper level and separate from the soul. (The soul includes the intellect and the emotions.)

The three levels of consciousness can be compared to an iceberg. The relatively small part of the ice above the water corresponds to the conscious. The preconscious corresponds to about the same size immediately submerged in the water. The unconscious corresponds to the largest part of the mind. The term "subconscious" is a less-precise term that includes both the preconscious and the unconscious.

As one leaves science and goes to the scriptures, he leaves relative knowledge and goes to absolute or revealed knowledge. Paul describes man as being spirit, soul and body:

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, NIV).

Many reverse Paul's order to"body, soul and spirit" due to having absorbed the world's values uncritically. We tend to be body and soul controlled rather than spirit controlled.

Paul further speaks of his body as "my body," as though it were a personal possession and not his essential person:

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:27, NIV).

Again, Paul says that he

. . .would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8, NIV).

Kenneth Hagin continues,

Then in 1 Cor. 14:14 we read, "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth. . . ." The Amplified Translation reads, "My spirit by the Holy Spirit within me prays. . . ." In verse eighteen Paul said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all." Paul used the terms "my spirit" and "I" interchangeably. [Kenneth E. Hagin, Man on Three Domensions (Tulsa: Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association, 1975), p. 8.]

Taking Paul's teaching and the general tenor of the New Testament, one can arrive at this definition of man: Man is "a spirit being who possesses a soul and lives in a body." (Kenneth E. Hagin, Man on Three Domensions, p. 7). With this understanding of man, the new birth can be examined in the light of man's responsibility and God's responsibility.

Man's Part: Trust Christ

The believer is not just a "forgiven sinner." He has been given the righteousness of Christ (legally) and he has been given a new nature (actually). Jesus described this inward change to Nicodemus:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is 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." (John 3:1-8, NIV).

Jesus, in his conversation with Nicodemus, implied that we have a responsibility in the new birth. It is obvious that we cannot give spiritual birth to ourselves, but we have do have a vital part. Jesus tells what our part is later in the same chapter:

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. (John 3:14-18, NIV).

Our part: One must simply believe in Christ.

Other New Testament writers teach about the new birth. Here are some quotations from Paul and Peter:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. . . . (Titus 3:5, NIV).

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23).

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV).

Therefore, it stands to reason that man cannot transform himself–his part is simply to trust Christ, that is, to exercise faith in Christ and repent.

Not only must one trust Christ initially, but he must continue to trust Christ.

God's Part: Inner Transformation

The Greek word Pneuma can be translated "spirit, wind or breath." The context determines how it will be translated. Also, if pneuma is not preceded by hagios (Greek, "Holy") or some other qualifying word or phrase, the context will determine whether the Holy Spirit is meant, or another spirit is meant (such as human spirit). In John 3:6, Translators indicate that the Holy Spirit transforms the spirit of man in the new birth. Other New Testament writers support this position.

The Holy Spirit continues to abide in the believer and the new Christlike nature is maintained in the believer by the Holy Spirit:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. . . . (Ephesians 1:13, NIV).

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16, NIV).

The Holy Spirit has the hard, complicated part in the New Birth–we have the easy, simple part!

What implication does the new birth have as far as self-esteem? There is a popular saying that communicates it well: "God don't make no junk!" The work of God in the human heart is a good work. One's essential being is changed in the new birth. That new nature is Christlike. It means that one partakes of the nature of God. If one really believes this, he will begin to talk and to act like a child of God and self-esteem will rise accordingly!

ASSIGNMENT: Confess aloud to yourself and friends, "I am a new creation in Christ Jesus!"

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