Ang ipinanganak ng laman ay laman; at yaong ipinanganak ng Espiritu ay espiritu (John 3:6).
We have a spirit, kaluluwa at katawan. The question you might ask yourselves is: am I carnal and do I live after the flesh? Sa ibang salita: 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. If you walk after the flesh, then the result will be bad. But if you life after the Spirit then the result will be good.
What a man sows, he will reap. Kung maghahasik ka sa laman, you will reap corruption and if you sow in the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting (Basahin din: What you sow, you will reap).
But let’s have a look at what Jesus meant by the new birth. What He meant, when He said, that you can only enter the Kingdom of God if you are born of water and Spirit. (Si Jn 3:3, 7)
If Jesus needed to restore the union, it means that union was there once, but was broken. Samakatuwid, we need to go back to the Hardin ng Eden 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.
Si Adan ay isang buhay na kaluluwa
Si Adan ay isang buhay na kaluluwa, born out of the Spirit. Siya ay kaisa ng Diyos. But after he sinned, ang hatol na kamatayan ay dumating sa kanya. And God said to him, that as he came from dust, and was dust, he also would return to dust.
Bago nagkasala si Adan, ang kanyang nangingibabaw na katangian ay espiritu, 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. lahat, na ipanganganak ng binhi ng tao, would carry the death. Therefore everyone, who is born on this earth is carnal, and is a prisoner of the sin nature. Walang ibinukod.
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:
Ngunit ang likas na tao ay hindi tumatanggap ng mga bagay ng Espiritu ng Diyos: sapagkat ang mga ito ay kamangmangan sa kanya: ni hindi niya makikilala ang mga ito, sapagkat sila ay nakikilala sa espirituwal (1 Mga taga-Corinto 2:14)
Ngayon ito ang sinasabi ko, mga kapatid, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; ni ang katiwalian ay namamana ng kawalang-kasiraan (1 Mga taga-Corinto 15:50)
Ang Diyos ay isang Espiritu: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 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:
Kung bakit, gaya ng pumasok ang kasalanan sa sanlibutan sa pamamagitan ng isang tao, at kamatayan sa pamamagitan ng kasalanan; at sa gayon ang kamatayan ay dumaan sa lahat ng tao, sapagka't ang lahat ay nagkasala (ROM 5:12)
Gaya ng nakasulat, Walang matuwid, hindi, hindi isa (ROM 3:10)
- Unregenerate man is unable to understand or receive the gifts of God
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: sapagkat ang mga ito ay kamangmangan sa kanya: ni hindi niya makikilala ang mga ito, sapagkat sila ay nakikilala sa espirituwal (1 Co 2:14)
- Without the new birth everything we do, ang bawat udyok at kilos ay nadungisan
Para sa mula sa loob, mula sa puso ng mga tao, magpatuloy sa masasamang pag-iisip, pangangalunya, pakikiapid, mga pagpatay, Mga pagnanakaw, kaimbutan, kasamaan, panlilinlang, lasciviousness, isang masamang mata, kalapastanganan, pagmamalaki, kalokohan: Ang lahat ng masasamang bagay na ito ay nagmumula sa loob, at dungisan ang tao (Mar 7:21-23)
- Unless we are born again we have no escape from the judgment of God
And you hath he quickened, na namatay sa mga pagsuway at kasalanan; Na noong nakaraan ay lumakad kayo ayon sa takbo ng mundong ito, ayon sa prinsipe ng kapangyarihan ng hangin, the spirit that now worth in the children of disobedience: Sa kanila rin tayong lahat ay nagkaroon ng ating pag-uusap noong nakaraan sa mga pita ng ating laman, pagtupad sa mga naisin ng laman at ng isip; at likas na mga anak ng poot, kahit sa iba (Eph 2:1-3)
