Conducted by WILLIAM G. WIRTH, 5447 EL VERANO AVENUE, EAGLE ROCK, CALIFORNIA
If you have a question regarding Bible doctrine and Christian living, or on other subjects apropos to the field of the “Signs of the Times,” write out your question and send it in, preferably direct to Dr. Wirth. Anonymous questions will not be answered. Do not become impatient if your question is not answered immediately, for Dr. Wirth has scores of questions in waiting, and yours will be answered in order.
THE NEW BIRTH AND THE VICTORIOUS LIFE
Miss Ruby Alborley of Alabama asks for knowledge concerning the “new birth” and the “victorious life.”
To be “born again” (John 3:3) does not mean that the one who experiences this cannot sin, and that one would “have to be born again” should he sin, as the questioner states. We must remember the words of John: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8, 10.
What the new birth does mean is that the base of our lives is heavenly, that we are “born from above” (A. R. V., margin); that we are no longer directed by the evil one but by the Holy Spirit; that the tenor of our ways is toward loving righteousness and hating iniquity. “But ye did not so learn Christ; if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus: that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.” Ephesians 4:20-24. If, in our inherited sinfulness, we at times err from the path of divine rectitude, let us find comfort in the words: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
