O le mea e fanau i le tino o aano; Ma o le mea e fanau mai i le Agaga o le agaga (Ioane 3:6).
We have a spirit, agaga ma le tino. The question you might ask yourselves is: am I carnal and do I live after the flesh? I se isi faaupuga: does my flesh direct my steps and actions? Or do I live after the Spirit, and does my spirit direct my steps and actions?
You can live after the flesh or you can live after the Spirit. Afai e te savali i la le tino, then the result will be bad. But if you life after the Spirit then the result will be good.
Le mea e luluina e le tagata, na te selesele mai. If you sow in the flesh, you will reap corruption and if you sow in the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting (Faitau foi: O le mea e te luluina, e te selesele).
But let’s have a look at what Jesus meant by the new birth. What He meant, when He said, that you can only Ulu atu i le Malo o le Atua if you are born of water and Spirit. (Jn 3:3, 7)
If Jesus needed to restore the union, it means that union was there once, but was broken. O lea la, we need to go back to the Faatoaga o Etena to understand the necessity of the new birth.
Throughout human history we see, that people chose the way of the flesh; walking in obedience to the devil, instead the way of the Spirit; walking in obedience to the Father. This started already in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve chose the carnal tree of knowledge rather than the holy tree of life. Because they desired and chose the carnal tree above the holy tree of life, God was compelled to pronounce the sentence of dead upon them.
O Atamu o se tagata ola
O Atamu o se tagata ola, born out of the Spirit. Sa tasi o ia ma le Atua. But after he sinned, o le faasalaga oti na oo ia te ia. And God said to him, that as he came from dust, and was dust, he also would return to dust.
A o le'i agasala Atamu, o lona uiga autū o le agaga, but after he became disobedient to God and sinned, his predominant characteristic was flesh.
That sentence of death, that carnal disposition, was passed on to the entire human race. Tagata uma, O ai o le a fanau mai i le fatu o le tagata, e tauave le oti. Therefore everyone, who is born on this earth is carnal, and is a prisoner of the sin nature. E leai se tasi e le aofia ai.
How do you enter the Kingdom of God?
Because we are carnal and carry the sin nature, we cannot enter in this status the Kingdom of God:
Ae e lē talia e le tagata faaletino mea a le Agaga o le Atua: Aua o latou valea ia te ia: E leai lava se mea na te iloa ai, Ona ua latou iloa faaleagaga (1 Korinito 2:14)
O lenei ou te fai atu, Uso, e le mafai ona fai mo latou tofi le Malo o le Atua i le aano ma le toto; leai se leaga o le suli o mea o le mafaufau (1 Korinito 15:50)
O le Atua o le agaga: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (Ioane 4:24)
What is the necessity of the new birth?
Now you see the necessity of becoming born again. Only by the new birth can we receive eternal life and enter the Kingdom of God.
This spiritual life can ONLY be achieved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the catalyst that brings us to an encounter with the Holy Spirit, who regenerates us, so that we are born into the heavenly realm just as you were once born into the earthly realm.
Necessity of the new birth emphasised in other places
The necessity of the new birth is emphasised in other places:
- The universal results of sin demands it:
O le mea lea, E pei ona tasi le tagata e faia le afi i le lalolagi, Ma Oti i le Agasala; Ma o lea ua tufaina ai le oti i tagata uma, aua o na agasala uma (Roma 5:12)
E pei ona tusia, E leai se amiotonu, Leai, e le tasi (Roma 3:10)
- Unregenerate man is unable to understand or receive the gifts of God
A o le tagata natura le talia o mea a le Agaga o le Atua: Aua o latou valea ia te ia: E leai lava se mea na te iloa ai, Ona ua latou iloa faaleagaga (1 Co 2:14)
- Without the new birth everything we do, o lagona uma ma amioga ua faaleagaina
Mo mai totonu, mai le fatu o tagata, faagasolo mafaufauga leaga, mulilua, faitaaga, fasioti tagata, Tofts, matape'ape'a, mativa, pepelo, tu'inanau, O se mata leaga, upu leaga, mimita, valea: O nei mea leaga uma e oʻo mai i totonu, ma faalumaina le tamaloa (O le 7 7:21-23)
- Unless we are born again we have no escape from the judgment of God
And you hath he quickened, O ai na oti i sauaga ma agasala; Lea i le taimi ua ou savali ai ua e savali ai e tusa ma le ala o lenei lalolagi, E tusa ai ma le perenise o le mana o le ea, the spirit that now worth in the children of disobedience: I latou foi na matou i ai ma matou talanoaga uma i taimi ua tuanaʻi i le tuʻinanau o o matou aano, Faʻataunuʻuina o manaʻoga o le aano ma le mafaufau; ma sa i ai i le natura o le toalima, e pei foi o isi (O le Efeo 2:1-3)
