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WHATISMAN?
(Continued from page 30)
specially call (John 6:44) and give
bis Spirit.
The Spirit-begotten Christian
now has, conditionally, tbe presence
of eternal Iife within bim (or her)
througb a portion of the Spirit from
tbe Father. But tbis does not mean
he is an immortal spirit being. He is
not yet composed of God's Spirit. He
is now an " heir" of God (Rom. 8:16-
17)-not yet an inberitor or a pos–
sessor, not yet "born again." But, if
the Holy Spir it dwells in us, God
wi ll, at Christ's return to earth as
King of kings, give us immor tality
by bis Spirit that dwells in us (Rom.
8:11 ) .
Now just as in human reproduc–
tion th e impregnated embryo,
which later becomes a fetus, is not
yet born, but must be nourished for
a period of time through the human
mother, so the begotten Christian
is not yet born into the God family.
The d ivine life has merely been
begotten.
lt
must now
grow!
Why We Must Grow Spiritually
Included i n God's purpose for
creating man is the development of
righteous, spirit ual character with–
in him. Notice again what God said
in Genesis 1:26: " Let us make man
in our
image.
..."
The original
Hebrew bere indicates far more
than merely the form and sbape of
God - his ou tward l i keness.
" Image" also refers to
mind
and
character!
God intended for man–
to whom he gave the gift of a think–
ing, reasoning mind-to ultimately
have the very mind and character
of
GOD!
God's purpose in creating man is
to
reproduce himself
with tbe per–
fect spiritual character only God
possesses. Ma n was therefore
created in God's own image and
likeness, bis own form and shape
with a mind similar to bis, so God
could begin to
develop
the very
character of God in him.
Just as the human body and
brain gradual ly begin to form dur–
ing the gestation period in human
reproduction, the righteous and
holy character of God must begin
to forro and
grow
once one is begot–
ten by God's Spirit
(11
Pet. 3: 18; I
Pet. 2:1-2).
40
Obviously, one cannot become
absolutely perfect in character until
the resurrection, when God will
complete the process by giving
each begotten human a new, per–
fect spirit body with perfect- sin–
less (I John 3:2, 9)- nature that
will be like C hrist 's and the
Father's. But in the meantime, God
wants bis Spirit-begotten chi ldren
to
grow
in bis spiritual character
daily by obeying bis command–
ments and overcoming and rooting
sin out of their
lives- growing
toward
that spiritual perfection!
Such perfect, holy and righteous
character cannot be created by fiat.
Jt must be developed, and that
requires time and experience. God
gives mortal man time in which to
learn that only God's way of life
brings real peace, happiness and a
joyful, abundant life. Men will have
learned that sin causes only heart–
ache, misery, sulfering and deatb.
Those whom God calls will have
seen tbe results of Satan's way of
life and rejected it, and will have
been developing, with the help of
God's Spirit, God's own boly, righ–
teous character unt il their change
to sinless immortal life!
We become spiritual "embryos"
when, upon receipt of the Holy
Spirit, we are begotten of God.
And to grow spiritually, we must
take in
spiritua/
nourishment. Just
as the embryo in a mother's womb
must be nourished witb life-giving
food througb the placenta, so we
must be nourished by the Word of
God. "The words that
1
speak unto
you," said J esus, "they are spirit,
and they are life" (John 6:63).
Those words are recorded in the
Bible-and J esus said we are to live
by every word of God (Matt. 4:4).
We drink in these life-giving words
from the Bible through reading,
studying and meditating (thinking)
on wbat we read .
Spiritual character development
requires time and comes largely by
experience- by putting the Word
of God into practice in our daily
lives. One builds the righteous
character of God as one comes to
discern, through God's revelation
in the H oly Bible, right from
wrong- the true values from the
false-tru t h from error , t h en
chooses the rigbt and rejects the
wrong and, with the belp of God's
Holy Spirit,
resists
the wrong and
OOES
the right.
This growing in spiritual knowl–
edge and spiritual character is a
gradual process that continues the
rest of one's life.
I n addition to Bible study, ear–
nest prayer is absolutely necessary.
You absorb spiri.tual nourishment
through personal , daily contact
with God. When you study the
Bible, God is talking to you. When
you pray, you are talking to him.
Y
ou get to really know God in this
manner, just as you become better
acquainted with people by conver–
sation.
God's Church is tbe spiritual
" mother" of all who have been
begotten by God's Holy Spirit. God
has set bis called and chosen minis–
ters in bis Churcb to "feed tbe
fiock" so the individual members
may
grow spiritua//y
(Acts 20:28).
Christ has given bis ministers the
responsibility to instruct, teach and
counsel tbe members of tbe Churcb
(Eph. 4:1 1-15). So j ust as a human
mother feeds her begotten cbild
within her womb tbrougb the pla–
centa and umbilical cord , God's
children are nourished with spiri–
tual food
within the true Church.
And as the human mother car–
ries her unborn baby in that part of
her body where she can protect it
from physical barm, the function of
God's Church is to also protect the
begotten chi ldren of God from spir–
itual harm- the false doctrines of
fal se ministers who a ppea r as
C hrist's representatives, but who
actually represent Satan and his
way
(11
Cor. 11 :13- 15).
Finally, when resurrected from
the dead or changed from mortal
fiesh to immortal spirit at Christ's
return, the incredible human poten–
tia) will have blossomed into reali ty
for those who were called by God
and begotten by bis Holy Spirit. We
will have been
BORN
into the divine
family of God possessing ·the
fu /1-
ness
of the very character of God!
Now we see clearly the great
purpose the C reator God had in
making man
UNIQUE
among all bis
physical creations. Mortal man has
within bis reach the glorious reality
of attaining to the resurrection of
the dead, and receiving immortali–
ty- forever being a part of the uni–
verse- ruling family of God.
o
The
PLAIN TRUTH