Sharing in the Nature and Life of God in Christ 2 The truth that people are able to share in the nature and life of God in Christ belongs only to the Christian faith. It is a fundamental truth in real Christianity. The religions of the world are based generally on human efforts to serve God according to their creeds or knowledge of good and evil. In this way, it is good to note that they all are based on various versions of the devils doctrine by which the first man was deceived in the Garden of Eden to believe that he could become like God by knowing good and evil. For instance, as a religious or moral code of good and evil for serving God and becoming like God, Judaism promotes the knowledge of the Law of Moses and the Gentiles or non-Jewish nations of the world promote the dictates of conscience and ethics. Only the Christian faith offers humanity the opportunity to partake of the nature and life of God in order to become like God and serve God pleasingly. Jesus Christ introduced this glorious truth when He taught the mysterious doctrine of the new birth to an old Jewish teacher called Nicodemus. As an indication that the knowledge of the truth of the new birth was totally absent in the Judaism religion, Nicodemus, an expert on Judaism, was baffled by it. For the first time as an old teacher in Judaism he was hearing that God had made provision for mankind to be able to enter His Kingdom and serve Him by sharing in His nature and life through the miracle of being born again of the Spirit of God. In fact, Jesus Christ emphasized that this was the only means by which anyone could be a part of the Kingdom of God. By being born again of the Spirit of God through accepting and believing in Jesus Christ one becomes an offspring or child of God sharing in the very nature and life of God in Christ. And so, it is absolutely important for everyone of us who desire to serve God to understand and experience what it is to be born again of God. God saves us to serve Him in His power and righteousness by sharing with us His nature and life when are born again of the Spirit. Only by this Divine birth we can enter the Kingdom of God and share in the nature and life of God and not by our human efforts to know and practice the doctrinal creeds and moral codes of our religion or to follow the dictates of our consciences. Ezekiel 36:25-27: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” John 3:3-7: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again.”
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:20:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015