2:Newly Born of the Holy Spirit: Part 2(EN)
In the first part, we looked at the word "washing of regeneration," the work of the Holy Spirit who gave "life" to us who were "dead," and looked at our nature as recipients of the Holy Spirit.
“16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.”
📖Galatians 2:16-17 KJV
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You have been made righteous by the faith "OF" Christ (verse 16 in the King James Version, expressed as "the faith of Christ", while Japanese version expressed as “the faith of (our) believing in Christ”). That faith of Christ comes as you listen to His message, and when you open your heart to that message and it comes in, then Christ comes in, faith comes in too, and it became or it will be your new birth. It is not a thing to feel, but a thing to know. You are born in the Spirit, which means you have God's life.
“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 walk in newness of life.”
📖Romans 6:4 KJV
You have been immersed and baptized into Christ. It is not water. Baptism by water is only a symbolic representation of a spiritual reality. It is being immersed in Christ. Your old identity=who you have been have ceased to function, and you have been transferred to a new being. From now on, you are "of Christ= belong to Christ”.
“29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
📖Galatians 3:29 KJV
“If you are Christ's” = this is the regeneration for you and Christ are one, and for true life is given to you. “Heirs according to the promise" = the promise that Abraham would be heir of the land (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:6-7; 17:4-8), and by that promise you too will become a son, God become your father, and inheriting the kingdom.
“13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
📖Romans 6:13 KJV
“10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
📖Ephesians 2:10 KJV
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You were dead, but you were made alive, and God produced you as His children, out of Christ. Jesus is the prototokos (Greek), the prototype (English), and the “genkei” archetype (Japanese). Therefore, the fact that you were created in Christ means that you are his workmanship, his product, for good works, because everything in Christ is made of goodness.
We did not do good works to get us into Christ. That is impossible. But because we are created in Christ, the good works that follow us, that naturally reflect Christ within, are good works. We do not do good works by effort, but Christ's nature manifests itself and makes them natural.
“23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
📖Ephesians 4:23-24 KJV
The source, the wellspring of goodness is Christ. The "good deeds" we strive for are false holiness. But true holiness is what God has already done in the new man. In the old covenant, holiness was a pretense. In the new covenant, it is spiritual.
“3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
9 and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”
📖Philippians 3:3, 9 KJV
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You are born of God in righteousness and holiness, and the new beings are coming from that God. Those people also make mistakes, but they do not want to stay there; they have a desire to get up and walk after God. Even if you fail to do good works after being born again, it does not cancel the fact that you are a new creation. It just means that the person is doing something that is not his or her true self.
Regeneration is not conversion, it is not repentance, it is not sanctification (being made holy), it is not justification (being made righteous), it is not an experience, but regeneration is a "birth." Birth is not an experience. It is the beginning of life and life path. We don't say, "The baby experienced birth”. It is the work of the one who gives birth. We were dead and unable to do anything, but God's life was revealed to us and we were given life. Nor does it mean "to be born again” actually. It is “re-generation” in English and it is "Saisei = re-birth" in Japanese Kanji(Chinese characters), but in reality, we are born anew.
“6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
📖1 John 5:6-8, 11-12 KJV
“The record” is a record of the fact that we have eternal life and that it can never be changed.
“5 even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”
📖Ephesians 2:5-6 KJV
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We are already seated "in heaven" because it’s written as "He made us sit together in heaven" in the past tense. So where is heaven? It is in Christ Jesus. Where is Christ? In you. Then where is heaven? In you in Christ! Heaven is in you now, and this spiritual heaven is the guarantee of the physical heaven we will inherit at the end time.
Your body is the temple (dwelling place) of the Holy Spirit. God the Father is God the Creator, the same One who is Jesus in redemption and salvation, and the same One who is the Holy Spirit in regeneration, and yet one God.
God took three forms because of the fall of man. To redeem for the sins of fallen man, God could not die as God, but had to become man, and thus became Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, needed to dwell in all people at the same time in order to perform the work of regeneration in their lives.
“16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
📖1 Timothy 3:16 KJV
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The immortal, eternal God dwells in a light that no one can approach, but God, desiring to save people, "the Lord said to my Lord (Psalm 110:1)," like saying so, God became Christ and appeared in the flesh. God took off His own divinity and put on the human form called Christ.
And we were clothed by the Holy Spirit with Christ in a mortal body, and we have life. God did not want to punish people, but He punished Himself for your sake. This is the "testimony," the proof that you have received and possess eternal life.
“3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
📖2 Peter 1:3-4 KJV
When you receive the Holy Spirit, to be partaker of the divine nature, God's character is at work in you.
"Partaker" means someone who is a part of something, so you are a part of God's character. Let us look at ourselves as God looks at us.
(From the tract distributed on Nov 12th, 2022)
