"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Unfortunately, they did not heed God’s words, but listened to Satan’s lies instead and forfeited their claims on eternal life. This tragic event is described for us in Gen. 3:4-6.

"Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."

We have to conclude that it was a matter of curiosity that Eve was even in the vicinity of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order for the situation to exist in the first place. She must have wandered into that part of the Garden to see the tree and the fruit that God had forbidden her and Adam to eat. When she did, Satan saw his opportunity. In the passage above we see that Satan clearly calls into question the divine prohibition against eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thereby attacks God’s credibility. The scene must have been similar to this—Satan, in the guise of a breathtakingly beautiful and shining creature waited for the opportunity to confront Eve alone in the garden. First, he engaged her in a pleasant conversation to gain her confidence, and when the right moment came, he deftly reached up and plucked one of the fruits from the tree. Smiling to himself, he blew his breath on it and polished it to a high sheen before offering it to the unwitting and naive woman before him. It was then that he began to weave his spell of deception.

"Isn’t it beautiful," he wheedled? "Look, I know that God told you that in the day that you eat this you will surely die, but he is lying to you. You won’t die and I will prove it. Tell you what, if I take a bite and don’t die, will you believe me? Will you take some of it too?" By this time Eve was so mesmerized that to even disagree with him was unthinkable. Having persuaded her that he was right, he sank his teeth into the fruit and with great pleasure chewed and swallowed it. With a sly grin he immediately offered a piece of the fruit to Eve, who, seeing no ill effects on Satan, accepted his offering, ate it and then offered some to Adam, who ate it also.

It was at that moment that everything changed. Having been accustomed to walking in the Garden and communing with God every day, they now hid themselves from Him in fear, guilt and shame for what they had done. "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." They were terror-stricken at the prospect of coming face-to-face with the One against whom they had rebelled. They could no longer look upon His holiness and therefore sought to escape from His presence. It was after the rebellion that God’s words proved true. They did not die physically for the Scripture declares that Adam lived to be over 600 years old. However, their actions proved beyond a doubt that in the day they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died spiritually! God removed His Holy Spirit from them and with it their potential for immortality. They no longer existed in the image of God and their minds became darkened to the spiritual knowledge and joy that was theirs before they disobeyed and sinned.

Seth Is Born In The Image and Likeness of Adam

In Gen 5:3 we read,

"And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth."

Notice that it says that Adam "begot a son in his own likeness, after his likeness . . ." Seth was born, then, not in the image and likeness of God, but in the image and likeness of fallen man, spiritually dead! Paul tells us in Romans 5:14,

". . . death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

In other words, death reigned or ruled over everyone from Adam to Moses because of Adam’s sin, even though they may not have sinned the same way that Adam did, i.e., by disobeying a specific command. Additionally, every man that is born following the creation of Adam is born spiritually dead and remains spiritually dead until regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The death that came in through Adam extended to all men who were to be born and reigned "from Adam to Moses" without the necessity of a law to do so. Had there never been another law written, every man born after Adam would be born spiritually dead and remain so without being "born again" or regenerated through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the transgression of the direct command of God Almighty brought spiritual death even when there was no written law. Spiritual death is not dependent on whether a code of law or a specific command exists. Spiritual death reigns through sin regardless of the situation.

How, then, is this dilemma corrected? It is corrected through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, which brings us to a "born again" condition.

Ye Must Be Born Again

A respected teacher in Israel came to our Lord by dark of night to speak with Him. Let’s look at the story in the Book of John, chapter 3, starting in verse 1.

"There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." ³Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Notice Jesus’ answer to him—"unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Jesus did not tell him that he could not enter God’s kingdom, but that he could not see it. The first requirement for "seeing" God’s kingdom is to be "born again." The Greek word used here is gennaô (ghen-nah'-o).^G1080 and does not mean "begotten" but procreated, born. Figuratively it connotes regeneration or being "born" again. Christ used it figuratively and spiritually in this case, not physically. The word "see", again, is the word eidô (i'-do).^G1492It is derived from the Greek word horaô (hor-ah'-o).^G3708

In other words, Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was "born again" he could not "see," i.e., he could not be aware of, behold, have knowledge of, look on, perceive, understand, mentally discern, or experience the kingdom of God! Jesus did not speak of an initial, physical birth here, but of a second, spiritual birth or a regenerative birth. Nicodemus, for all his prestige and education, thinking that Jesus spoke of a dual, physical birth, did not understand what Jesus said. He asked, "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 came back with a clear statement pertaining to the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Said He,

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’"

We see in this passage that Jesus adds something to the mix. Instead of just a spiritual birth, he speaks also of a birth by water –"water and the Spirit"—and substitutes the word "enter" for the word "see."

The word "water", according to most commentators, refers to water baptism. However, this is not necessarily the meaning offered here. There is the particular case of the thief on the cross to whom Jesus said, "I say to you today, you shall be with Me in paradise," and no water baptism was involved. There is also the case of the centurion Cornelius and his family who received the Holy Spirit and regeneration before they were baptized with water. There is the possibility that Jesus’ reference to water here means the "water" of physical birth, for a man must first be born physically before he can be born spiritually. Thus the saying, "the man who is born once dies twice, but the man who is born twice dies only once."

Exegetes, ministers, and commentators alike often misinterpret the verse that follows.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

This is often taken to mean that that which is born of Spirit is spirit essence, that is, non-fleshly. However, it is not talking about a change of state that transforms flesh to spirit essence. It addresses, rather, a change in character. Any birth from preexisting flesh produces only flesh. By this, I do not limit the fleshly birth to just the word sarx, meaning only the body as opposed to the soul or the spirit, but extend it to include human nature, the very make-up of the personality with all its foibles, passions, and morality in opposition to the Spirit. When a man is "born" of the spirit, his human nature is changed by the power of the Holy Spirit so that he becomes spiritual or, if you will, spirit. Thus the saying that that which is born of the spirit is spirit. God’s Spirit produces a spiritual rebirth resulting in a new nature and life, one that is pneuma, the opposite of sarx. This new nature and life enables us to enter the kingdom through the "inheritance" spoken of earlier. Though we do not receive this inheritance while still in the flesh, that is the earthly body, we do receive it at the resurrection when our change comes. Meanwhile we have been reborn spiritually and are members of the Kingdom of God, and are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to "see" the kingdom of God, that is, perceive, understand, and experience the Kingdom through the opening of our minds to the truth of God’s word.

Verse 8 is more often misunderstood and misinterpreted than the former, especially among those who still cling to the teaching of Herbert W. Armstrong.

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

This is taken to mean that anyone who is born spiritually has already undergone the transformation from flesh to spirit. However, it does not say "so is everyone who is spirit," but "so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Linski explains,

"The two clauses "Whence it comes" and "whither it goes" do not refer to the mere direction of the wind, north or south, east or west, for this anyone can know; but to the original origin and source of the wind, this vast mass of moving and often rushing air, and to its ultimate goal, where it piles up and stops . . . He (Jesus) does not say, "thus also is the Spirit of God." This is one of the numerous interesting cases . . . where the thought overlaps an intervening point and at once presents the final point. So here the intervening point is the fact and reality of the working of God’s Spirit. This is taken for granted because it is involved in the fact and reality of the result of this working, namely every man who is actually reborn of the Spirit . . . if the wind did not effect our senses, we should never know its blowing; if the Spirit did not produce reborn men, we should never know his presence and his activity. Thus the fact and reality of the wind that we hear in its activity and its effect illustrates the Spirit whom we observe in his activity and his effect (the regenerated man). Jesus takes only this one effect of the wind, the sound of it that we hear in the rustling breeze or the roaring storm. So also he matches it by only one effect of the Spirit, the regenerate man who himself knows the great transformation that has taken place within him, and whose transformation others likewise can observe and know" (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of John, pp. 242-243, parentheses added).

So when Jesus uses the illustration of the wind he is talking about the effects of the wind and when He compares it to the Spirit He refers to the effects of the Spirit in our lives, not that we become spirit the moment we are indwelt by the Spirit. It is the fact and reality of the Spirit dwelling in us that brings about a change and transforms us into a new creature having both the human nature and the Spirit nature. We are born again or regenerated to once again possess the nature and image of the Creator as it was in the beginning with Adam and Eve. We now have the potential for immortality living inside us. God gives it to us as a "down payment" or earnest money, if you will, toward immortality.

Paul tells us, in 2 Cor 1:21,

"Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, ²²who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

And again in 2 Cor 5:5,

"For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. ⁵Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee."

The word "guarantee" in these passages is the Hebrew arrhabôn (ar-hrab-ohn').^G728 In other words, God, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, gives us a pledge of security on our salvation and immortality because we have been regenerated spiritually, that is, born again.

Paul again tells us in Eph. 1:13-14,

"In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

The word "guarantee" here is the same word.

Finally, Peter tells us in 1 Pet. 1:22-23,

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever . . ."

The phrase "born again" here is rendered from the Greek anagennaô (an-ag-en-nah'-o).^G313 The preposition ana when compounded as a prefix in the word anagennaô, for example, often means (by implication) repetition, intensity, reversal, etc. So we have here, in the words "born again" something that is repeated or reversed. This repetition or reversal is the rebirth spiritually that we undergo in the flesh. It means that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our spiritually dead condition has been reversed to that of being spiritually alive and "born again" of the Spirit or "from above."

It is not a matter, then, of being "begotten" now and "born again" at the resurrection, it is a matter of being "born again" now and receiving our inheritance (the Kingdom of God) at the resurrection. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are born again of incorruptible seed, which leads to immortality. It is at the resurrection that the transformation from the corruptible flesh to the incorruptible spirit essence takes place. The "born again" condition while we are still in the flesh is our guarantee of eternal life (the life of the age to come) if we remain in the faith (Col 1:23; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 10:23),

"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."

Here again the word "born" is the Greek gennaô.^G1080We do not overcome the world after we are transformed into spirit, but while we are still in the flesh through faith.

Many of those who still cling to the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong maintain that they are not "born again" but merely "begotten." They may be right for they most certainly do not display the fruit of the Spirit when it comes to loving their brothers and sisters in Christ. Rather, they like to attach labels such as "heretic" or "Protestant" to those who disagree with them or believe differently than they do. They seem to be constantly at each other’s throats over doctrinal issues, maligning, backstabbing, libeling and slandering one another, or barring members from attending services because of disagreements or because some member attended one of their "enemies" services, etc. They seem to have the attitude of Diotrephes rather than the attitude of Christ in love for the brethren (3 John 1:8-10). They do not heed Paul’s words of admonishment in Gal. 5:13-15,

"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another."

They are certainly not unified in the faith and sometimes I wonder if they have God’s Holy Spirit and God’s love dwelling in them. I can only hope that they come to understand the truth.

Copyright © 2003 by Jesse Acuff