Yaong ipinanganak sa laman ay laman; at ang isinilang sa Espiritu ay espiritu (John 3:6).
We have a spirit, kaluluwa at katawan. The question you might ask yourselves is: am I carnal and do I live after the flesh? In other words: does my flesh direct my steps and actions? Or do I live after the Spirit, and does my spirit direct my steps and actions?
You can live after the flesh or you can live after the Spirit. If you walk after the flesh, then the result will be bad. But if you life after the Spirit then the result will be good.
What a man sows, he will reap. Kung maghasik ka sa laman, you will reap corruption and if you sow in the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting (Basahin mo rin: What you sow, you will reap).
But let’s have a look at what Jesus meant by the new birth. What He meant, when He said, that you can only pumasok sa Kaharian ng Diyos if you are born of water and Spirit. (Jn 3:3, 7)
If Jesus needed to restore the union, it means that union was there once, but was broken. Kaya nga, we need to go back to the Halamanan ng Eden to understand the necessity of the new birth.
Throughout human history we see, that people chose the way of the flesh; walking in obedience to the devil, instead the way of the Spirit; walking in obedience to the Father. This started already in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve chose the carnal tree of knowledge rather than the holy tree of life. Because they desired and chose the carnal tree above the holy tree of life, God was compelled to pronounce the sentence of dead upon them.
Si Adan ay isang buhay na kaluluwa
Si Adan ay isang buhay na kaluluwa, born out of the Spirit. Siya ay isa sa Diyos. But after he sinned, ang hatol na kamatayan ay dumating sa kanya. And God said to him, that as he came from dust, and was dust, he also would return to dust.
Bago nagkasala si Adan, ang nangingibabaw niyang katangian ay espiritu, but after he became disobedient to God and sinned, his predominant characteristic was flesh.
That sentence of death, that carnal disposition, was passed on to the entire human race. Lahat ng tao, sino ang isisilang sa binhi ng tao, would carry the death. Therefore everyone, who is born on this earth is carnal, and is a prisoner of the sin nature. There’s no one excluded.
How do you enter the Kingdom of God?
Because we are carnal and carry the sin nature, we cannot enter in this status the Kingdom of God:
Ngunit ang likas na tao ay hindi tumatanggap ng mga bagay ng Espiritu ng Diyos: sapagkat ang mga ito ay kamangmangan sa kanya: ni hindi niya sila makilala, dahil sila ay espirituwal na nauunawaan (1 Mga Taga Corinto 2:14)
Ngayon ito ang sinasabi ko, mga kapatid, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; ni ang katiwalian ay hindi nagmamana ng kawalang kasiraan (1 Mga Taga Corinto 15:50)
Ang Diyos ay Espiritu: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)
What is the necessity of the new birth?
Now you see the necessity of becoming born again. Only by the new birth can we receive eternal life and enter the Kingdom of God.
This spiritual life can ONLY be achieved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the catalyst that brings us to an encounter with the Holy Spirit, who regenerates us, so that we are born into the heavenly realm just as you were once born into the earthly realm.
Necessity of the new birth emphasised in other places
The necessity of the new birth is emphasised in other places:
- The universal results of sin demands it:
Dahil dito ay, gaya ng sa pamamagitan ng isang tao ay pumasok ang kasalanan sa sanlibutan, at kamatayan sa pamamagitan ng kasalanan; at kaya ang kamatayan ay dumaan sa lahat ng tao, sapagkat na ang lahat ay nagkasala (Rom 5:12)
Tulad ng nasusulat, Walang matuwid na tao, wala na, wala ni isa (Rom 3:10)
- Unregenerate man is unable to understand or receive the gifts of God
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: sapagkat ang mga ito ay kamangmangan sa kanya: ni hindi niya sila makilala, dahil sila ay espirituwal na nauunawaan (1 Co 2:14)
- Without the new birth everything we do, bawat tulak at kilos ay nadungisan
Sapagkat mula sa loob, sa labas ng puso ng mga tao, ituloy ang masasamang kaisipan, mga pangangalunya, mga pakikiapid, mga pagpatay, Mga Pagnanakaw, pag iimbot sa pag iimbot, ang kasamaan, panloloko, kahalayan, isang masamang mata, kalapastanganan, pagmamalaki, kalokohan: Ang lahat ng masasamang bagay na ito ay nagmumula sa loob, at dudumi sa lalaki (Mar 7:21-23)
- Unless we are born again we have no escape from the judgment of God
And you hath he quickened, na patay sa mga pagkakasala at kasalanan; Na sa panahong nakaraan ay lumakad kayo ayon sa takbo ng sanglibutang ito, ayon sa prinsipe ng kapangyarihan ng hangin, the spirit that now worth in the children of disobedience: Sa kanila rin tayong lahat ay nagkaroon ng ating pag uusap noong mga nakaraang panahon sa mga pagnanasa ng ating laman, pagtupad sa mga hangarin ng laman at ng isipan; at likas na mga anak ng poot, kahit na tulad ng iba (Eph 2:1-3)
