Thursday | 02 May 2024
On the day that Jesus was raised from the dead because of our justification, He appeared to His disciples, declaring to them, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ Joh 20:21. He then breathed on His disciples, saying to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ Joh 20:22. By this means, the disciples were born from above as sons of God. They became a new creation. 2Co 5:17.
Detailing the process of new birth, the apostle Peter explained that we are ‘born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever’. 1Pe 1:22-23. This is the word of the gospel that is preached by Christ’s messengers. 1Pe 1:25. We see that through the preaching of the gospel of peace a hearer is born again of the incorruptible seed of the Father. The seed, which is the word of God, is germinated in the heart of a hearer by the Holy Spirit, who is the life of the seed. Luk 8:11. 1Pe 1:23. Joh 6:63. The believer is born of the Zoe life of God and, by this means, receives the divine nature. 2Pe 1:2-4.
A newborn son of God then dies with Christ in baptism. Rom 6:3. Baptism is an action of faith that joins a believer to what Christ has already accomplished for them through His offering and suffering journey. That is, through baptism as a son of God, they are identified with the whole journey of Christ’s baptism through which their sonship works were finished; they were raised with Him on the third day; and they were waved before the Father as part of the sheaf of firstfruits. As sons of God with a heavenly body, they are hidden with Christ in God. Col 3:3. Sons of God are born sinless, and they remain sinless. We know this, for the apostle John declared, ‘Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.’ 1Jn 3:9.
Further Study:
JOHN 3
References:
Joh 20:21-22
So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’
2Co 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
1Pe 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, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.
1Pe 1:25
But the word of the LORD endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
Luk 8:11
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Joh 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
2Pe 1:2-4
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Rom 6:3
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?
Col 3:3
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
1Jn 3:9
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.