The Radical Change Upon the New Birth
There is nothing as profound as Christian conversion brought forth by regeneration from the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:1–8). Being void of the Holy Spirit is the natural state of a person (Jn 14:17). A child is conceived in the womb without the Spirit present in his or her soul. Biologically, a new life is manifesting in the flesh. The soul in this physically animated person is dead, however (1 Cor 2:14; Eph 2:1–3). A dead soul is the product of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3). “You shall surely die,” was the promise of God to Adam and Eve for their disobedience to God’s Word/Law. They did.
The natural state of humanity, for most people in every generation, is spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). The Bible says that humanity, without God in the world (Eph 2:12), is dead in sin and dead to God. The things of the Spirit of God are spiritually appraised (1 Cor 2:13); therefore, if one does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit, he cannot understand God’s revelation to man (the Bible), so this man judges the wisdom and power of God to be foolishness (1 Cor 1:18, 24).
Dead souls, if they have been appointed to life (Acts 13:48), must be born again (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). This means they must be born of more than the flesh; they must be born of God the Spirit (1 Jn 3:9; 4:7). The spiritual new birth is called a “new creation” and the regenerated soul is called a “new creature” in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). This newness of life to the soul is literally life from the dead (Jn 6:63; Rom 6:4; 11:15).
He that is now spiritual has the life-giving Spirit of God (Jn 6:63; 1 Cor 2:15), as a new resident in his soul. The Spirit entered this man’s dead soul (Spirit baptism), as the beginning of His good work of sanctification (Phil 1:6; 1 Pet 1:2). The initial washing of regeneration made this man’s soul alive (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). Alive in Christ means one is alive to God. God has resurrected the dead soul (regeneration), and now the life of God abides in the soul of the born again.
One can discern from this that there is an inseparable union with Christ (Gal 2:20; Eph 2:16; Col 1:13), as the Spirit of Christ enters, abides, and never leaves the sinner who is now a saint (Heb 13:5). To be a saint means the Holy Spirit has added the new believer to membership in Christ’s church (1 Cor 12:13). Christ’s holy church is a community of believers in Jesus who are set apart from the world.
The whole world is under the power of the evil one (1 Jn 5:19), Satan, who carries the titles “god of this world” (2 Cor 4:4) and “ruler of this world” (Jn 12:30; 14:31; 16:11). He is the dark lord over enslaved humanity (Jn 8:34; Rom 6:6, 16–20). Dead souls in dying bodies are the majority composition of humanity. As slaves to sin, the course of this world leads to death and then to the second death in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15).
The radical change of the new birth is the only catalyst to disrupt a man’s journey on the wide way of destruction (Mt 7:13–14). Dead souls do not seek after God and this transformation (Rom 3:10–12). Like a dead branch grafted into a living vine, so is the dead soul conjoined with Christ and made alive (Jn 15). This union is the work of God the Father, who necessarily draws the elect sinner to the cross and to Jesus (Jn 6:44). By His own will and choice (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 9:15–16), the Vinedresser picks up the dead branch (soul) and positions it into the living Vine (Christ).
Jesus’ earthly ministry, especially the miracles He performed, teaches us how profound this change is in a person’s life. It is like a deaf man being made to hear, or a blind man given his sight (Jn 9). The dumb man speaks even as the lame man walks (Jn 5). The diseased person is healed, and the demon possessed person is exorcised of his nemesis (Mt 8:16).
Christians recognize the magnitude of this life change, especially adult converts to the faith. Immersed in a life of sin, you were washed, you were sanctified (1 Cor 6:11). Now justified (declared ‘not guilty’) before God, the work of the Holy Spirit is to conform the saint to the likeness of Jesus Christ, the holy One (Rom 8:29). This is the Christian life.
Sanctification is not a perfected work of the Spirit in this life because the saint remains in his or her body of sin until death. Glorification of the body and soul is the promise fulfilled at the resurrection to life on the day of Christ’s second advent (Jn 5:28–29; 1 Thess 4:13–5:11). Like a stone being cut to size for its place in a massive cathedral, so is the child of God growing up to his or her place in the Temple of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:20–22). This is why the Bible calls Christians, “living stones” (1 Pet 2:4–5).
Holiness is produced by God’s Spirit and God’s Word (Jn 17:17). It is God’s gracious work to make His people holy even as He is holy (1 Pet 1:15–16). Each Christian experiences God’s grace in sanctification as God deems appropriate. Therefore, spiritual gifts are different in allocation, and spiritual fruit will vary, too. All of it is evidence of God at work.
Because the child of God is walking by the Spirit on the narrow way of a holy life (Gal 5:16, 25), she will become increasingly different from the unbelievers around her. Her mind will be upon heavenly things that are spiritual (1 Cor 2:16; Col 3:2). Her heart affections will be revealed by her words. She speaks of the One she loves to glory in (Gal 6:14). Jesus has loved her (1 Jn 4:19), and it is her delight to tell others of the extent of that love. He died for her so that she would be forgiven of her sins and brought into the family of God.
The natural man is blind to most of the Christian’s radical change from the new birth. That which he detects is mostly an irritant to him. He, too, must be born again if he is to see and enter the kingdom of God (Jn 3:1–8). If not, it was God who reprobated him in eternity past (Rom 9:22). Faith in Christ is a gift of God and not all have been given faith (Jn 10:26; 2 Thess 3:2). In the same way not all have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 10:45), which means not all will understand the Bible as God’s written Word of divine revelation.
In conclusion, we have a small sampling of the many changes that occur when the Spirit causes a person to be born again. The Bible encourages us to ask for the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:13). If you have never made your request known to God, then, I also encourage you, for if you ask, you shall receive (Mt 7:8), and that will mean big changes for you.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 20, 2022
