Lokho okuzelwe yinyama kuyinyama; Futhi lokho okuzelwe nguMoya kungumoya (UJohane 3:6).
We have a spirit, umphefumulo nomzimba. The question you might ask yourselves is: am I carnal and do I live after the flesh? Ngamanye amazwi: 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. Uma uhamba emva kwenyama, then the result will be bad. But if you life after the Spirit then the result will be good.
Okuhlwanyelayo umuntu, uzovuna. If you sow in the flesh, you will reap corruption and if you sow in the Spirit, you will reap life everlasting (Funda futhi: Okuhlwanyelayo, uyakuvuna).
But let’s have a look at what Jesus meant by the new birth. What He meant, when He said, that you can only Faka umbuso kaNkulunkulu 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. Ngakho-ke, we need to go back to the Insimu yase-Edene 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.
U-Adamu wayengumphefumlo ophilayo
U-Adamu wayengumphefumlo ophilayo, ozelwe ngoMoya. Wayemunye noNkulunkulu. But after he sinned, Isigwebo sentambo safika kuye. And God said to him, that as he came from dust, and was dust, he also would return to dust.
Ngaphambi kokuthi u-Adamu wona, Isici Sakhe Esibaluleke Kakhulu Kwakungumoya, 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. Wonke umuntu, owayezazalwa enzalweni yomuntu, would carry the death. Ngakho-ke wonke umuntu, who is born on this earth is carnal, and is a prisoner of the sin nature. Akekho okhishwe ngaphandle.
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:
Kepha umuntu wemvelo akatholi izinto zoMoya kaNkulunkulu: ngoba bangubuwula kuye: futhi akakwazi, Ngoba baqonda ngokomoya (1 AbaseKorinte 2:14)
Manje lokhu ngikusho, bazalwane, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; futhi nenkohlakalo futhi ayikulidla ifa ukungomaphansi (1 AbaseKorinte 15:50)
UNkulunkulu Ungumoya: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (UJohane 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:
Ngalokho, Njengoba indoda eyodwa isono sangena emhlabeni, nokufa ngesono; ngakho-ke ukufa kwadlula kubo bonke abantu, ngoba bonke bonile (Rom 5:12)
Njengoba kubhaliwe, Akekho olungile, cha, hhayi eyodwa (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: ngoba bangubuwula kuye: futhi akakwazi, Ngoba baqonda ngokomoya (1 Ukukhanywa 2:14)
- Without the new birth everything we do, yonke imifutho nesenzo kuyangcoliswa
Ngoba ngaphakathi, enhliziyweni yabantu, qhubeka imicabango emibi, ukuphinga, ubufebe, ukubulala, Ukweba, ukuhaha, ububi, inkohliso, ukuxega, iso elibi, ukuhlambalaza, ukuziqhenya, ubuwula: Zonke lezi zinto ezimbi zivela ngaphakathi, futhi ungcolise indoda (Mar 7:21-23)
- Unless we are born again we have no escape from the judgment of God
And you hath he quickened, Obani ababefile eziphambekweni nasezonweni; Lapho edlula khona ngesikhathi esidlule lapho uhamba khona ngokwesifundo saleli zwe, NgokweNkosana Yamandla Emoya, the spirit that now worth in the children of disobedience: esake sakhuluma phakathi kwabo sonke ngezinkanuko zenyama yethu, ukufeza izifiso zenyama nezengqondo; futhi ngokwemvelo babengabantwana bolaka, njengabanye (Efe 2:1-3)
