THE NEW BIRTH | AdventAI

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 22, 1857

THE NEW BIRTH.

(Concluded.)

We saw in our last that the birth of the Spirit affected the whole being, and not the affections and disposition only, and that it resulted in a spiritual body, and enabled those who experienced it, to be like the wind unseen in their movements; and since we find ourselves led to such conclusions on this subject, we naturally inquire, if there are any who have experienced such a birth as this, any in whose experience these facts are illustrated, to whom we may appeal as living examples of the teaching given us. Such an example we do find. He who came to bring life and immortality to light, and who declared himself to be the way, the truth and the life, has, not only in his teaching, but in his own experience also, made this subject plain before us. He is declared to be the first-born from the dead, [Col. i, 18; Rev. i, 5,] the firstborn of every creature, [Col. i, 15,] the firstborn among many brethren. Rom. viii, 29. And if he is the firstborn among many brethren, as this last text declares, it follows that his people, (his brethren, Heb. ii, 11,) will be born in like manner as he was; that is, by a resurrection from the dead: as we read again in 1 Cor. xv, 22, "Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming."

Having seen that the New Birth is a change which Christ experienced, he being repeatedly called "the firstborn," we at once see how necessary is the conclusion that this birth has no reference to conversion; for our Lord never was a sinner, and consequently had no need of conversion. Let every one put a pin in this fact. Christ experienced the New Birth; but Christ never was a sinner, and hence never was converted; therefore the New Birth is not conversion. This birth of the Saviour was predicted in Ps. ii, 7, as follows, "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Will any say that this refers to his natural birth? then hear Paul, and mark how he applies the prophecy: "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again: as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Acts xiii, 32, 33. To the same event the Prophet refers when he says, "Before she travailed she brought forth; before her pain came she was delivered of a man child?" [Isa. lxvi, 7:] then looking forward to the time when Zion’s children should all come forth, when they that are Christ’s should be his at his coming, he exclaims, "Who hath believed such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in a day? shall a nation be born at once?" Yes, is the implied answer; "for as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children." Yes: Paul says, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. xv, 52.

As the wind bloweth where it listeth, and we know not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth, so is every one, every individual, that is born of the Spirit—so was Christ after his resurrection. For we read that upon a certain occasion when the disciples were assembled with closed doors, suddenly the Saviour appeared in their midst. John xx, 19. And again when he accompanied the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, and had broken bread to them, he vanished out of their sight.

We have thus far seen that the resurrection is denominated a birth: we proceed to show that it is a birth of the Spirit. Says Peter, [1 Epis. iii, 18,] "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened [made alive] by the Spirit." "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Rom. viii, 11. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 1 Cor. xv, 44. "He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. vi, 8. "Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live." Eze. xxxvii, 12-14. "Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust; thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth." Ps. civ, 29, 30.

In these quotations it is plainly declared that the Spirit is the agency employed in the resurrection. By it Christ, who is the first fruits, was made alive from the dead; by it his people, represented by its entire harvest, will be made alive also. By it the "firstborn among many brethren" was quickened from the grave; by it these "many brethren" who will be the lastborn, will be quickened also.

There is another declaration of the Saviour’s which we wish here to notice: And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage; but they that are accounted worthy to obtain that world, and a resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Luke xx, 34-36. The expression, "children of this world" here evidently means all who live in this world, whether converted or unconverted; for, says the text, the children of this world marry and are given in marriage; and this is as true of the righteous as of the wicked; and it is certainly as right for the former to make use of the institution as it is for the latter. This then proves the application; and we see that persons, even though they may have experienced conversion, are still reckoned children of this world, in the text under consideration. But our Saviour carries us forward to a time when these same individuals, instead of being the children of this world, are the children of God. How is this change effected? Answer. By the resurrection; for by this event they are made equal unto the angels, and become the children of God by being the children of the resurrection.

Let us return again to John iii, and consider the design of our Lord’s instruction to Nicodemus. The disciples had conceived the idea that Christ was about to erect a kingdom and reign as a temporal prince in their midst. As he rode up to Jerusalem therefore, they spread their garments in the way, and shouted before him, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord; and he found it necessary to put forth a parable to correct their anticipations, "because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." Luke xix, 11, 37, 38. It was probably immediately after Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, [see John ii, 12, &c.] that Nicodemus came to him. He acknowledged him to be a teacher come from God. Jesus at once commences instructing him concerning the kingdom of God. He tells him in effect, that the ideas they were entertaining concerning the setting up of the kingdom of God, were wrong; that men in their present state of flesh and blood would not compose it; but that a great change must take place in them before they could enter into it; namely, they must be born again, or of the Spirit.

It is said by some that Christ was giving instructions concerning a change that was necessary to "fit man for that spiritual worship which he came to establish." But such, we think, misapprehend entirely the intent of Christ’s teaching. It is concerning the kingdom of God that he wishes to instruct them; and unless that kingdom consists in the "spiritual worship" which Christ came to establish, this application is not correct. No Advent believer, however, will be willing to take the ground that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of believers, and was set up at Christ’s first advent; and that conversion is the birth of the Spirit by which we become members thereof. This is the view that still flourishes under the darkness of modern orthodoxy; but it cannot exist in the light of present truth. Doubtless the disciples well understood the nature of the worship of their Master; but it was concerning the kingdom that he wished to instruct them; because they thought that it should immediately appear.

We will now notice some other scriptures teaching the same thing. "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." 1 Cor. xv, 50. We are to have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled; therefore we must have pure and incorruptible bodies to possess it. 1 Pet. i, 4. Therefore "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;" [1 Cor. xv, 53;] or, as the Saviour says, "Ye must be born again." Paul says, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." 2 Cor. v, 1, 2. Again: "For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. iii, 20, 21. Then we shall indeed be fit subjects for the kingdom of God; then we shall be prepared for an incorruptible inheritance; then we shall be children of God, in the full sense of the term, being children of the resurrection, or a change equivalent thereto.

But is there not a sense in which we are the children of God now? Evidently there is. The Scriptures speak of a moral change which must take place here preparatory to the great and final change—the New Birth. The terms and expressions used to denote this change are various, but they all seem to center together upon one point; namely, faith in Christ.

Thus by faith we are now the children of God. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Gal. iii, 26. By faith we receive him as our Saviour; by faith we look for his second coming; by faith we anticipate a part in the first resurrection, and "bodies like unto his glorious body."

We are the children of God by adoption. "But ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Rom. viii, 15. "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. iv, 5. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will." Eph. i, 5. But the spirit of adoption is not the adoption itself: Paul tells us what that is as follows: "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; and not only they, but ourselves also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies." Rom. viii, 22, 23. "Now are we the sons of God; but it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John iii, 2.

But John, speaking of believers, says, "Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John i, 13.

How can this be reconciled with other scriptures? Very easily, we think, by considering the teaching of verse 12, by which we learn again how to become sons of God; that is, by believing on his name; for "as many as received him to them gave he power, (margin, right or privilege,) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." 1 Pet. i, 23, may here suggest itself as another text opposed to the position taken in this article: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." We must here notice the means by which this change, in the present tense, is said to be effected; it is by the word of God. This can be done in no other way than by receiving this word into the heart, and walking out by faith upon its promises. Hence we read again, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth," &c. Jas. i, 18. Men are employed to preach the word: accordingly we hear Paul saying to the Corinthians, "I have begotten you through the gospel." 1 Cor. iv, 15.

In regard to the tenses used in the expressions, "which were born" and, "being born," we are to remember that in the counsel of God, things that are not are spoken of as though they were. Rom. iv, 17. For instance, we are promised eternal life. Titus i, 2; 1 John ii, 25. While here we are only probationers for it; and yet we are frequently said to possess it in the present tense, just as plainly as we are said to be born again. "He that believeth hath everlasting life." John iii, 36. See chap. v, 24; vi, 47, 54.

We have passed over the first epistle of John, in which the expression, born of God, according to our translation, frequently occurs. It is said by writers of no mean authority, that these expressions in that book are incorrect translations, and should in every instance be translated, begotten of God. As such a rendering would clear some of those texts of all difficulty, and throw upon the others no serious obscurity, we are willing to submit that book upon these terms.

Here we have the firstfruits only of the Spirit, the earnest of the Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance; but then we shall enjoy a full possession; now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now we know but in part, but then shall we know as we are known; here we are cumbered with a vile body, but then we shall have a glorious body, fashioned like our Lord's; and when we begin to feel immortal vigor flowing through our veins, when we emerge from the grossness of our mortal state, to a higher life of immortality and glory, we shall feel indeed that we are born again, that we are quickened by the Spirit; and with new powers of being shall we extol the Saviour's saving mercy and boundless love.