By
Shelby G. Floyd
1 Peter 1:22-25
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
NIV
I have just lived to see the new birth of our fifth and sixth great grandson. The physical new birth of a child is one of the great wonders of life and blessing from God. An even greater wonder is how Almighty God can take a sin-laden person and give that person new life spiritually, with the promise of everlasting life to come.
In a conversation with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, Jesus stated that there must be a radical change before he could enter the kingdom of God. In highly figurative language, Jesus spoke of this radical change under the figure of a new birth. “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 mother’s 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” (John 3: 3-5 NKJV). Continue reading “The New Birth”