Two-in-One

TWO-IN-ONE

You must be born again

(John 3:3)

Does the idea of a second birth seen impossible to you?  If so, you are in good company.  Nicodemus, to whom Jesus spoke these words, was a Hebrew scholar of the highest religious order in Jerusalem, yet he had never heard of such a concept.  After all, it is completely contrary to the human way of thinking.  

How can a man be born when he is old? 

Can he enter a second time into his mother's 

womb and be born? he asked Jesus. 

(John 3:4)

To understand what Jesus was talking about, it is helpful to go back to the beginning of time, to the creation of Adam, the very first human:

the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 

breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

and man became a living being 

Genesis 2:7)

This passage is familiar to most of us; so familiar, in fact, that it is easy to miss an important fact.  Adam, the forerunner of us all, was created in two separate steps.  First there was the body.  For it, God chose a destructible material - dirt. There was the body but it had no life in it at that point.  

Then God, the eternal Being, breathed His own breath into the body and the man came to life.  Since God is eternal, His breath in the human's body is also eternal.  A two-in-one person, both destructible and indestructible.  These two elements are often referred to as the outer (physical) being and the inner (spiritual) being. So, although the outer (physical) body is subject to death, the inner (spiritual) person will live in eternity.

It is this inner being to which Jesus was referring when He spoke to Nicodemus about being born again:

Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, 

he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh,

and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit 

(John 3:5-6)

Everyone who is familiar with the birth process of a human baby is acquainted with the water that accompanies it. The fluid-filled sac in which the unborn child grows, breaks during the labor process, and water gushes out.  This is the water which Jesus referred to as the birth of the flesh.  It is part of the physical  birth.

What about the second birth -- being born of the spirit?  How does that take place?  Jesus went on to explain it this way:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 

even so must the Son of man be lifted up, 

that whoever believes in Him should not perish 

but have eternal life.  

For God so loved the world that He gave His only 

begotten  (born-to-Him) Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish

 but have everlasting life...

he who believes in Him is not condemned, 

but he who does not believe is condemned already, 

because he has not believed in the name of the only 

begotten (born-to-Him) Son of God 

(John 3:14-16,18)

Belief in what Jesus did for us when He allowed Himself to be crucified, buried, and resurrected to life, is what is required for the second birth - birth of the inner (spiritual) person.  It was part of God's plan from the beginning to provide a way for imperfect humans to be restored to a personal relationship with Him.  And it is all because He loves us so much that He carried out His eternal plan and made it available to everyone who is willing to trust Him and be born again.  What a wonderful, loving Father God He is!

Lord, sometimes we can't understand

all the wonders of Your plan;

how You chose to bring about

new life to the inner man.

But all we really need to know

is written in Your Word.

Help all to read it and believe

the things they've seen and heard.

Bring redemption deep within

to all who seek Your face.

Give them peace and joy and love,

and all their guilt erase.

Glenda Collins Inman