|
Why we need to be born again - understanding ourselves
Having said the above, we can piece together other reasons from Scripture as to why we need new birth, and thus come up with a model of the human condition.
Firstly, Paul says that the flip side to God's desire for us to experience life to the full is that those who live according to the fallen evil desires of the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21), because God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5); God hates sin and sin cannot stand in His presence.
Secondly, Paul describes sin as a 'principle', or 'virus', that lives within our flesh (Romans 7:20), and that is why we die physically (Romans 8:10). This sin principle is intricately connected to acquisitiveness or covetousness (cf Romans 7:7,8), rooted firmly in just fulfilling the desires of the flesh or 'stomach' (Philippians 3:19) apart from reason and concern for others. Thus there is a direct link between 'sin' and 'fulfilling the desires of the flesh' (cf James 1:14-15). Sin only comes into existence when we fulfill our fleshly desires with no reference to what is for the good of others - ie selfishness versus love - and it doesn't require a command to define what that good is (cf Romans 5:12-14). Furthermore, once it has come into existence, being a mind-state actively fed by our flesh desires, it can only be destroyed through 'death' and renewing of the mind.
Thirdly, it seems that our bodies were always subject to decay, or entropy, since creation, and that the tree of life was originally given as some sort of antidote to this physical decay (Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:22).
This being said, we can posit that whilst God was responsible for the principle of death, we cannot say that He was responsible for our 'fall', where our consciences were awakened to the experiential knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:7,22). For although God gave the command to not eat, it seems that He also had endowed Adam with the ability to exercise faith, that is, to believe or not believe His word. God created Adam with the ability to choose, to have faith, to obey - that is, with a free will. It seems that He also had endowed Adam with the Holy Spirit (cf Genesis 2:7 and John 20:22) When Adam was offered the forbidden fruit by his wife, he had the choice to listen to God or listen to his wife, and he chose the latter. That was sin. It was at that point that I would say he "grieved the Holy Spirit" who had been given to him, suffering the pain of death in his spirit (note that the text does not say specifically that he 'died spiritually' or that the Holy Spirit was taken from him), and was also then kicked out of Eden and no longer able to eat of the tree of life, thus condemned to physical death.
In summary, then, I would say that the first humans were created as soul creatures in physical bodies subject to decay, but also designed to be endowed with the Holy Spirit, given when God pleased (cf John 3:5-8), so that when it came to decision making in their wills they would also be able to 'consult God' and make decisions based on faith instead of just fulfilling the desires of the body! They also had access to the tree of life so that the decay principle within them could be overcome. Hypothetically also, their children would also have had the same 'composition', and it still would have been God's prerogative as to when He would have filled them with His Spirit.
But once Adam knowingly transgressed what He knew to be true, a new situation dawned. Whilst humans still had exactly the same composition as Adam, they no longer had access to the tree of life, thus being condemned to physical death from birth, and it also seems that God only chose to impart His Holy Spirit on select individuals as part of His great purpose. But since Jesus Christ and His resurrection, ascension, and pouring out the Spirit, it has been God's will that the Holy Spirit is given to all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation. Now we are restored to a state exactly like Adam, able to walk in His Spirit and thus experience an inner fullness of joy, yet still subject to physical death - but that will be overcome finally when Christ returns!
Thus the necessity of new birth is that it "completes our creation", enabling us to walk with God and thus also with others. And as we abide in the Holy Spirit and take up our cross daily, we don't fulfill our bodily desires in a purely selfish fashion as we used to previously. It is only at our deaths and/or when Jesus returns that there will be a new body, transformed, and no longer subject to decay, and the Holy Spirit within us is the guarantee that this will happen (cf Eph 1:13,14). (Note that Jesus expected Nicodemus, as a teacher of Israel, to understand this spiritual dynamic in human existence - see John 3:9-10)
Further reflection on the above leads me to posit something more concerning the nature of the human spirit and will. Based on God's great command to us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength indicates most probably that the terms 'heart', 'spirit', and 'will' are interchangeable. This would then makes excellent sense of Ezekiel 36:26-27, where somehow God's Spirit comes in to be an 'energetic friend' of our wills, helping us to choose from our heart His ways. If this division of humankind is correct, it would therefore mean that our soul really only comprises the mind and emotions, and that our hearts or wills are the spirit aspect of our being, becoming hardened or 'dead' as we disobey the word given to us!! Consider the following diagrams:
|
|
