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great Spirit Being that is God.
What is spi rit life like? Few
seem to know. 1t is much more
than lead ing a "good" life–
maintaining high moral standards
in this world!
Jesus gave a plain definition of
spirit life to Nicodemus: "The
wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound, btit you can–
not tell where it comes from or
where it is going. So it is with
everyone born [Greek:
gennao]
of
the Spirit" (John 3:8, NIY).
Can anything be plainer?
If
you are born again, you must
have these qualities of the wind.
Are you invisible like the wind?
Able to move about at will?
If
you're not, then you are
not
born
again! This is confirmed in 1 Co–
rinthians 15:50, where the apostle
Paul stat es: "Now this 1 say,
brethren, that flesh and blood"–
that is what ·you are as a result of
your first birth from your moth–
er's womb-"cannot inherit the
kingdom of God."
Being born again is
not
just a
religious experience, falsely based
on an erroneous translation in the
King J ames Yersion, where we
read of being "born again" in the
present tense (l Peter
J
:22-23,
etc.). "Born again" there should be
t ranslated "begotten again" as it
correctly is in 1 Peter 1:3 ("hath
begotten us again"). Both are the
same Greek word .
Begotten
signi–
fies that we are beginning, at con–
version, a process that will eventu–
ally result in a new birth as spirit at
the resurrection when we inherit
eternallife and
see
God.
There
is
in this life natural emo–
tion when one repents, changes
one's life and is begotten of the
Holy Spirit of God. But that is not
being born again as a spirit being.
When the Corinthian church
repented of certain sins, the apos–
tle Paul was inspired to write of the
emotions accompanying this re–
pentance: "See what this ... [re–
penting] has done for you, how
serious it has made you, how keen
to clear yourselves, how indignant
[against sin], how alarmed, how
eager forme [and the teachings of
God], how
determined,
how
relentless! .
.. "
( 11 Corinthians
7:
JI,
Moffatt translation).
14
So we can see that repentance
does involve emotion, that you
do
definitely experience it when you
change from your previous way of
li fe to the
beginning
of a new way
of life aligned with God!
But that is only being begotten
of God now, while you are still
flesh in this natural life. Being
born again has to do with some–
thing far greater-being finally
composed of spirit and the full–
ness of the character of God.
Being born again is not a religious
emotional experience.
So then, with Nicodemus, you
ask, "How can these things be?"
When
are
we born again?
The answer is found in 1Corin–
thians 15:52. " In a moment,"
writes the apostle Paul, "in the
twinkling of an eye [i.e., instanta–
neously] at the last trump [when
Jesus Christ returns- Matthew
24:31; Revelation 11: 15]: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible
[Moffatt: "imperishable"] , a11d
WE SHALL BE CHANGED."
Those who are members of the
body of Jesus Christ, who have
God's Holy Spirit within them
now, who are begotten now (Rom.
8:9-11
)- they
will
bec~anged
into
immortal spirit beings- the new
birth, born again-at the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ when he
returns to this earth to set up the
government of God! People who
died in Christ as members ofGod's
Church will be resurrected from
the dead as immortal spirit beings!
What a fantastic, incredible
message that is contained within
the phrase "born again"!
This is Christ's teaching!
Apparently Nicodemus puzzled
at this, for after explaining what
- a spi rit is, Christ finally said:
"Truly, truly 1 tell you, we are
speaking of what we do under–
stand, we testify to what we
have actually seen- and yet you
refuse our testimony" (John
3:11 , Moffatt).
What about you? An under–
standing of your incredible poten–
tia( is available free in our booklet
Why Were You Born?
lt 's yours
for the asking.
o
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