TWICE-BORN MEN by Allen Walker

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U. S. A. · Nov 11, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 44.

TWICE-BORN MEN

By Allen Walker

The Necessity of the New Birth

ALLEN WALKER

The depravity of human nature makes the new birth a necessity to salvation. So long as the tree is corrupt, the fruit will be evil. Man has no control over this nature any more than the tree has control over the kind of fruit it bears. The fruit will be regulated by the nature of the tree.

The most hopeless thing a person could undertake is to produce “the fruit of the Spirit” while still in a carnal and unregenerate state. The impossibility of such an undertaking is set forth in Jeremiah 13:23 in the following challenging language: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” The reason why the leopard cannot change his spots or the man his color is that they have no control over the law of nature that imparted the spots or the color. Only a divine miracle could remove the spots and change the color. The reason a man cannot make himself good or order his conduct aright is that the law of nature which makes him inherently bad and the fruits of conduct evil is just as uncontrollable as the law that imparts to the man his color and to the leopard his spots. Only a divine miracle can alter the situation and transform the nature.

UNREGENERATE NATURE

Speaking of the time when he was “in the flesh” (Romans 7:5), or controlled by the impulses of unregenerate nature, Paul said, “That which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.” Again, “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” Romans 7:15, 19. This shows that there is no such thing as mind control of the unregenerate nature. The strongest resolutions and determinations or exertions of will power can never hold in check the impulses of the unconverted state. “O Lord,” says the prophet, “I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23. Man is not only incapable of cleansing himself from the pollutions of the past. “Though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God.” Jeremiah 2:22. Man may boast that he is “self-made” and speak of his “self-improvement,” but could he at that moment see himself as God sees him, he would, like the ancient lepers, cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” There are many who are priding themselves on their good health, when a diagnosis would reveal that some internal malady (of which they are entirely ignorant) will soon send them to the grave. In a spiritual sense this is true of multitudes.

FRUITS ACCORDING TO NATURE

When Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” He was speaking of the law of nature. What He meant was that “like produces like.” Or, as taught in the first chapter of Genesis, each is to “bring forth” “after his kind.” In the first birth there is imparted to us a nature that is poisoned with the seeds of sin. This nature is corrupt and its fruits are evil. In the second birth the same law works. In the second birth, when we are “born of the Spirit,” there is the impartation of a nature that is divine because the Holy Spirit, which produces this nature, is divine. As in the first birth we become partakers of the nature of our parents, so in the second birth we become “partakers of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4. Then the fruits of this new nature will be “the fruit of the Spirit.” There can be no such thing as a physical life without a physical birth. There can be no such thing as a spiritual life without a spiritual birth. The first birth is of blood, of the will of the flesh, of man, but those of the second birth are born of God. (John 1:13.) Just as our earthly father imparts to us his nature, so does our heavenly Father supernaturally impart to us His divine nature. It is a miracle of grace, which is supernatural and beyond the comprehension of the human mind.

Just when does this miracle occur? It occurs at the moment the individual receives Christ into the heart. There has never been a conversion apart from the receiving of Christ into the life. In John 1:12, 13 we find that “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Then to believe on His name is to receive Him; and when this occurs, the miracle of regeneration takes place. At the instant of this miracle there may be no extreme emotional sensations, but there does come real faith in Christ followed by “joy and peace in believing.” Romans 15:13.