Ce qui est né de la chair est chair; et ce qui est né de l'Esprit est esprit (John 3:6).
We have a spirit, âme et corps. The question you might ask yourselves is: am I carnal and do I live after the flesh? Autrement dit: 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. If you sow in the flesh, you will reap corruption and if you sow in the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting (Lire aussi: Ce que tu sèmes, tu récolteras).
But let’s have a look at what Jesus meant by the new birth. What He meant, quand il a dit, that you can only enter the Kingdom of God 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. Donc, we need to go back to the Jardin d'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.
Adam was a living soul
Adam was a living soul, born out of the Spirit. Il était un avec Dieu. But after he sinned, the death sentence came upon him. And God said to him, that as he came from dust, and was dust, he also would return to dust.
Before Adam sinned, his predominant characteristic was spirit, 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. Tout le monde, qui naîtrait de la postérité de l'homme, would carry the death. Par conséquent, tout le monde, who is born on this earth is carnal, and is a prisoner of the sin nature. Il n’y a personne d’exclu.
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:
But the natural man receive not the things of the Spirit of God: car ils sont une folie pour lui: il ne peut pas non plus les connaître, parce qu'ils sont spirituellement discernés (1 Corinthiens 2:14)
Now this I say, frères, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption (1 Corinthiens 15:50)
Dieu est un Esprit: 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:
pour cette raison, comme par un seul homme le péché est entré dans le monde, et la mort par le péché; et ainsi la mort s'est propagée sur tous les hommes, pour cela, tous ont péché (ROM 5:12)
Comme il est écrit, Il n’y a pas de juste, Non, pas un seul (ROM 3:10)
- Unregenerate man is unable to understand or receive the gifts of God
Mais l'homme naturel ne reçoit pas les choses de l'Esprit de Dieu: car ils sont une folie pour lui: il ne peut pas non plus les connaître, parce qu'ils sont spirituellement discernés (1 Co 2:14)
- Without the new birth everything we do, every impulse and action is defiled
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adultères, fornications, meurtres, Thefts, convoitise, la méchanceté, tromperie, lasciveté, an evil eye, blasphème, fierté, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man (mars 7:21-23)
- Unless we are born again we have no escape from the judgment of God
And you hath he quickened, qui étaient morts dans leurs offenses et leurs péchés; Où autrefois vous marchiez selon le cours de ce monde, selon le prince de la puissance de l'air, the spirit that now worth in the children of disobedience: Entre lesquels aussi nous avons tous eu notre conversation dans le passé dans les convoitises de notre chair, satisfaire les désirs de la chair et de l'esprit; et étaient par nature les enfants de la colère, même comme les autres (Eph 2:1-3)
