Lesson 4: The New Creation: Born of Elohim

I.       INTRODUCTION.. 
II.      THE NEW BIRTH.. 
A.     BORN OF THE FLESH.. 
B.     BORN OF THE SPIRIT. 
C.     BORN INTO ELOHIM’S FAMILY. 
III.    RECEIVING ETERNAL LIFE.
A.     WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?. 
B.     WHY YAHSHUA CAME. 
IV.    NEW CREATURES IN MESSIAH..
A.     NEW CREATION = NEW NATURE.
B.     INSTANT MATURITY?. 
V.     YAHWEH’S DWELLING PRESENCE. 
A.     THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD COVENANT. 
B.     THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW COVENANT. 
VI.    SUMMARY – THE MIRACLE OF THE NEW BIRTH

  1. INTRODUCTION
Yahshua came to relate man, who was lost in sin, back to the Father Elohim. He did this by shedding His own blood for our forgiveness and justification, thus making it possible for us to be born into Elohim's family. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of Elohim, even to those who believe on His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but (born) of Elohim" (John 1:12,13).
Any person who believes on the Lord Yahshua Christ as their Savior is a reborn person, born again out of death into life. The result of the new birth is a miraculous new creation, a creature made in the very image of Elohim in holiness, purity, and love.
This is the purpose behind the new birth: to take a sinful, "old creature," alienated to Elohim, and to recreate him into a righteous, "new creature," alive to Elohim and able to serve Elohim out of his heart, as Adam did before he fell.
  1. THE NEW BIRTH
Yahshua said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again" (John 3:7). This wasn't given as an option - it was a requirement. When Yahshua said this, He wasn't referring to a physical occur­rence, as Nicodemus thought (John 3:4). He was speaking of a spiritual occurrence, which would get people into the Kingdom of Elohim. Nicodemus was an aged and respected ruler of the Jews, and yet this position was of no avail to him spiritually. In Elohim's eyes, it makes no difference how important a person is or what a person owns, he has the same need as Nicodemus -  He must be born again!
In John chapter 3, Yahshua spoke of two births. One makes all people carnal and lost in sin, while the other makes them alive  to Elohim. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).

    1. BORN OF THE FLESH
Every person alive has been born of the flesh, and so has been ushered into the Adamic race by virtue of his physical birth. As such, each person is born in Adam's likeness and image (Genesis 5:3).
This is the first birth to which Yahshua refers when He says, "You must be born again." This physical birth places all men "in Adam," and thus under the curse of spiritual death (1 Corinthians 15:22). Because of this corrupted inward condition, all men must be born again before  they can enter Elohim's kingdom.


      1. The father of sin
The  sinful  nature which is in men who are not born again is in reality the nature of the devil. " ... the devil has sinned from the beginning" (I John 3:8). Yahshua told the Pharisees, "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning,  and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him" (John 8:44). The apostle John calls those who don't obey Elohim "children of the devil" (I John 3:10).


      1. In Adam vs In Messiah
When Adam sinned, he ceased to be a child of Elohim (as he was  created to be) and became a child of the devil because of the sinful nature which came into him.
This inward condition was passed on to all of Adam's descendants (except Yahshua), so  that all men are born under the authority of darkness - Satan's dominion. There is no neutrality with Elohim; one is either a child of Elohim or a child of the devil - there is no middle ground! If any man is in Adam and not in Messiah,  then he  is still an old creature, ruled and dominated by an inner nature under Satan's dominion.


      1. The Condition of the heart
Man's inward condition cannot be changed by any amount of good works or acts of righteousness. The Jews of Yahshua’s day  were under the delusion that their acts of piety and rituals of washings kept them spiritually pure. Yahshua said that what comes out of a man's heart (i.e. his innermost being) is what defiles him (Mark 7:20-23).
No matter how much you may polish up a rotten apple and make it look good on the outside, it is still rotten on the inside. This is how Elohim views men who are not born again, but who try to do good works (Matthew 23:27).
The inner wickedness is the result of a physical birth into the Adamic race (first birth); acts of righteousness won't change that condition any more than polishing the outside of a rotten apple will make the inside of the apple fresh and new.

    1. BORN OF THE SPIRIT
When a man is born of the Spirit, it is his second birth (rebirth). Rebirth is simply the removal of the old, corrupted nature and its replacement with a new nature (Colossians 3:9,10).
How is one born of the Spirit?
Being born of the Spirit is a response to the Gospel of Yahshua Messiah. When a person who is not born-again hears the Gospel, he can do two things with it: reject it or accept it. The Gospel is that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Yahshua the Messiah, in the world that whosoever believed on Him, would not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
A person who is an unbeliever has a sinful nature that is contrary to Yahweh. Because of this sinful nature, the unbeliever commits sins all day long. The Word says that the wages of sin in death (Romans 3:23). The payment for committing sins is eternal death, a state of separation and torment away from the presence of Yahweh.
An unbeliever cannot stop committing sins by doing so called “good” works. Because he has a sinful nature, even the good works God sees as filthy rags. It’s like saying an apple is good to eat if it looks good on the outside even though the inside is rotten.
The only way for an unbeliever to get rid of his sinful nature and get right with Elohim is to be born again. When Yahshua started His ministry, he went preaching saying, “Repent and believe the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
What is repentance?
Repentance is the acknowledging of one’s sins before Elohim, confessing them, and turning away from them. Repentance is necessary for being born again. Without it one cannot be born again, and Yahweh will not accept a person who believes in His Son but does not want to get rid of his sin.
If an unbeliever hears the Gospel and rejects it, then he goes on living as an unbeliever and the wrath of God remains on him. But if he repents and believes it, he is born again and has eternal life.
Anyone who has been born of the Spirit (i.e., born again) has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24); he has been delivered from the authority of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Elohim's Son (the Kingdom of Elohim) (Colossians 1:13, Acts 26:18).
Rebirth does for man what all the false religions of the world can never do. These religions give numerous pious rules for conduct, but they can do nothing about a man's inward condition (Colossians 2:23).
It is this inward condition that keeps men out of Elohim's kingdom (Ephesians 2:3). Men are lost today not because of what they do, but because of what they are! (What they do is a result of what they are).


      1. Hearts of stone and flesh
Elohim promised the transformation of the new birth in the Old Testament. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). The "heart of stone" is the old nature; the new heart ("heart of flesh") and the new spirit are the new nature which come into a person when they are born again.
Israel habitually sinned and went away from Elohim because they had hearts of stone (Jeremiah 5:23; 7:24). Elohim knew that the only thing that would change their conduct would be to change their hearts (Ezekiel 11:19,20). This inward change is what occurs at the new birth. Instead of a stony heart which fights Elohim, we have been given a new heart and spirit which are alive to Elohim and desire to do His will.


      1. Instant and complete birth
Being born again is not a gradual process by which we work up to a certain level of development. The new birth is an instantaneous work of the Holy Spirit that occurs the moment we believe and have the Holy Spirit. As we have said, there is no middle ground with Elohim. You are either "in death" or "in life"; you are either a child of the devil or a child of Elohim.
There is no such thing as a child of the devil developing into a child of Elohim. You are either one or the  other - you can't be halfway in between. That INNER transformation from a child of the devil to a child of Elohim is complete the moment that you believe and have the Holy Spirit. The moment you are born again, you are perfectly delivered from Satan's authority, completely translated into Elohim's kingdom, fully a child of Elohim (Colossians 2:9,10).


      1. Incorruptible and imperishable seed
Not only is the work which the Holy Spirit accomplishes at the new birth instantaneous, but its results are eternal. "For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of Elohim" (1 Peter 1:23). We were brought forth (i.e., born again) by the Word of Truth (James 1:18), and that Word of Elohim abides forever (1 Peter 1:24,25).

    1. BORN INTO ELOHIM’S FAMILY
When a person is born again, he is born into the family of Elohim, and Elohim becomes his Father. "See how great a love the  Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of Elohim; and such we are" (1 John 3:1). We are children of Adam by our first birth, but we are children of Elohim by our second birth, because Elohim has caused us to be born again (1 Peter 1:3).
Yahweh, before the foundations of the world, had wanted a family, children who would love and serve Him out of a sincere heart. That is why He created Adam; Adam before the fall was a child of Yahweh. But when Adam fell, spiritual death passed on all men, and man could no longer be a child of Yahweh, because he was no longer like Yahweh in his heart.
But when a man is born again, his stony heart is replaced with a new heart. This new heart, which is a result of the working of Elohim's Spirit, is in the likeness of Elohim and  " ... has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth" (Ephesians 4:24).


      1. Born in His likeness and love
One can see from simple observation that children bear the physical and emotional characteristics of their parents. The same is true of those who have been born of Yahweh. The children of Elohim bear the characteristics of their Father in Heaven, because their inner natures are like Elohim.
Elohim's supreme attribute is Love. The Bible says, "Elohim is Love"  (1 John 4:16). This is also the  main spiritual attribute of His children. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from Elohim; and everyone who loves is born of Elohim and knows Elohim. The one who does not love does not know Elohim, for Elohim is Love" (1 John 4:7,8).
Loving one another is not what causes a person to be born again; believing on the Lord Yahshua Messiah brings about that change. But anyone who has been born again manifests this attribute of Love, because Elohim is Love, and His children will show forth the same characteristic. "We know that we have passed out of death into life (i.e., been born again), because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14).


      1. We are children of Yahweh
Everyone who is born again is in a privileged position as a child of Yahweh. Yahweh has called us into a family relationship with Himself and placed His Spirit within us so that we can say, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15). Abba is an Aramaic word meaning "father" and is used by little children when they speak to their fathers (in other words, Abba = Daddy).
In this way the Spirit of Elohim in us is constantly reminding us that we are Elohim's children. "And because you are sons, Elohim has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6). Because we are born of Elohim, we have Yahshua as our elder brother and Lord; He is called the "first-born among many brethren" (Romans 8:29), and we are among those brethren.
Please try to read all referenced verses.
  1. RECEIVING ETERNAL LIFE
In John 5:24 Yahshua describes the transformation of the new birth as "passing out of death into life" (see also 1 John 3:14). When we were born again, we were born out of death and into  life. The death we were born out of is spiritual death - the result of Adam's separation from Elohim, who is the source of all  life. The life which we were born into is the Life of Elohim, or Eternal Life.
Elohim sent His Son into the world to give us Eternal Life (John 3:16). We received that Life by believing and accepting Yahshua as our Savior (John 6:47). The moment we believed, Elohim imparted His Life to our inner man, recreating us and causing us to be born again from death unto Life.
Even as Adam became alive when Elohim breathed into him the breath of Life, so we too became spiritually alive when Elohim breathed into us His Eternal Life (1 Corinthians 15:45).

    1. WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?
Elohim is the source of all life (Psalm 36:9; Jeremiah 2:13). He is called "the Living Elohim" (Psalm 42:2; 1 Timothy 3:15) because He existed before anything else existed, and He was alive before anything had life. As the Living Elohim, eternal and self-existent, Elohim has absolute Life in Himself (John 5:26), and thus He is the source of all Life.
Eternal Life (the Life of Elohim) is the nature of Elohim. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). When we became partakers of Elohim's nature (2 Peter 1:4), we became partakers of Eternal Life.


      1. Eternal life vs. "endless existence"
Eternal Life mustn't be confused with "endless existence." All men have endless existence, even those who don't believe on the Lord Yahshua. Those who don't believe do not have eternal life, but they will exist for eternity separated from Elohim (Matthew 25:41,46), a state we can call eternal death (see below).
The word “eternal” refers to duration of existence. The “life” in eternal life refers to the quality of that existence. Eternal Life is the nature of  "the Living Elohim." The result of having that nature is that we spend eternity in union with Elohim, the source of Life.
Eternal death, on the other hand, refers to an eternal existence separated from Elohim. (2 Thessalonians 1:9, Revelation 21:8).
Please try to read all referenced verses.


      1. When eternal life begins
When thinking of Eternal Life, some people suppose that it begins when they get to heaven. They believe that Eternal Life commences only after they have passed through "the Pearly Gates."
But the Bible says that those who believe have this Eternal Life now. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son, in order that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Eternal Life is imparted to us the moment we believe and accept the Lord Yahshua as our Savior. "He who has the Son has Life!" (1 John 5:12).
Please try to read all referenced verses.

    1. WHY YAHSHUA CAME
"The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Elohim didn't send Yahshua into this world to start a new religion, or to establish a new code of ethics. Yahshua came from the Father to give man life, the life he had lost through Adam's fall.
New religions and codes of ethics have never done anything to deliver men from bondage,  because they can't do anything to change a man on the inside. Only Christianity imparts to man a supernatural element - the Life of Elohim.
When a person receives the Life of Elohim, it changes him or her; it alters his or her conduct and personality. When he believed,  Paul was transformed from a violent persecutor of the church into an earnest Christian; Elohim's Life came into him (Acts 9:1,2,20,21).  No sinner is so lost that the Life of Elohim won't bring about a change. No case is incurable.
Receiving Eternal Life is the most miraculous event that can ever take place in any one's life. When Elohim imparts His own nature to you, He is giving birth to a new creation.
  1. NEW CREATURES IN MESSIAH
When a person is in Adam, that person is dead (i.e., the person’s spirit is dead to  Elohim, because in Adam all die [1 Corinthians 15:22]). But when that person turns to the Lord and is born again, he is in  Messiah. Paul said that he recognized all believers as being in Messiah and not in the flesh (i.e., in Adam) (2 Corinthians  5:16).
"Therefore if any man is in Messiah, he is a new creature; the  old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Any born-again believer is a new creature; his spirit, or inner man, has been recreated, and the old nature that he received from Adam at birth has been done away with.
The term "new creature" refers to the result of the radical transformation that takes place when a person is reborn. This transformation occurs in a person's spirit.
A person's body is not born again (it will be redeemed when Yahshua returns [Romans 8:23]); neither is his mind born again (it must be renewed [Romans 12:2]). No, it is a person's spirit that is transformed instantaneously by the power and the Life of Elohim. The inner man becomes a new creature the moment a person believes.

    1. NEW CREATION = NEW NATURE
Adam's sin resulted in mankind receiving a sinful nature. This is the nature which drives men to sin and causes them to obey the impulses of Satan. This is the nature which makes people, "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). The effect of the new birth is that this sinful nature is done away with and is replaced with a new nature.
So completely new is this thing which Elohim works in us, that the scriptures say we are "new creatures." We are not old creatures whom Elohim has "fixed-up" enough to stand in His presence. Elohim didn't "fix-up" our old nature; He destroyed it on the cross (Romans 6:6). He then put within us a  new nature. This nature is not corrupted by sin but  is moved  at the impulse of Elohim's Spirit.


      1. Created in His image
This new nature within us is nothing like the old nature. The old nature is corrupted and driven by sin. The new nature is created in the likeness of Yahweh Elohim, in all His righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
When we receive this new nature, it means that we have become partakers of Elohim's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Thus, all the holy and righteous attributes of Elohim are resident within us in the new creature  (the new man).
We are children of our Father Elohim, because Elohim has caused us  to be inwardly recreated in His very image; our spirits are endued with all of His righteousness and holy characteristics.


      1. Complete re-creation
The work of our inward re-creation is complete (Colossians 2:9,10). Elohim has already done all that He'll ever need to do within us to make us new creatures. Paul does not say that believers are "becoming" new creatures, but rather that they  already are new creatures.
If a person is not a new creature, then that person is not in Messiah, nor is the person a child of Elohim. Only new creatures can claim the privilege of being called "sons of Elohim." Thus, anyone who is born again is now a new creature. This is a present-tense reality, not a future-tense expectation.

    1. INSTANT MATURITY?
Man is a triune being, made up of spirit, soul, and body. A man's spirit is that which contacts and responds to Elohim (John 4:24); it is sometimes called the "inner man" (2 Corinthians 4:16) or "the hidden person of the heart" (1 Peter 3:4). The soul includes a man's mind and emotions. Both of these entities (spirit and soul) reside in a body. Although the term "soul" is sometimes used to include both spirit and soul (distinguishing them from the body), the scripture clearly makes a distinction between them (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). They are not one and the same.
When a man is born again, it is his spirit which becomes a new creature, undergoing an instantaneous change. This is not a process. The transformation of the spirit occurs the moment a man believes that Yahshua is Lord. The same cannot be  said, however, about the mind and the body.
As we have already said, a man's mind doesn't get born again, and neither does his body (until glorification when believers get new bodies). The mind of a believer must be renewed, and his body brought under control.
Please try to read all referenced verses.


      1. The need to conform
Paul calls upon each of us to be "transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Romans 12:2). He speaks of this transformation occurring as we gaze at the new creature we have become on the inside (2  Corinthians  3:18). In Ephesians Paul refers to this outward transformation in conformity to the inward man as "growing up in Him" (Ephesians 4:14,15).
It is important for us to realize that being a new creature in Messiah (which is what we are) does not mean "instant maturity" in our outward walk. It does mean that all the power and potential for that walk has already been placed within us by the new birth. We don't  need to beg Elohim to make us new; He's already done that. We need to begin walking in the light of what Elohim has already accomplished within us.


      1. The need to control
No matter how mature a Christian gets in his walk, he will always have to control the appetites of his body. The mighty apostle Paul (hardly one you would call immature) said that  he buffeted his body and kept it under control (I Corinthians 9:27). The body (sometimes referred to as the flesh) must be controlled and can be controlled when a believer allows his re-created inner man to dominate his body.
  1. YAHWEH’S DWELLING PRESENCE
Not until righteousness has been established within us and we have been re-created (born again) can Elohim fulfill His heart's desire to fellowship with us and indwell us through the person of the Holy Spirit. The culmination of righteousness and the new birth is the Father and the Son coming into believers and remaining (abiding) in them (John 14:23).
The Holy Spirit cannot cohabit with sin. So man had to be inwardly reborn, made a new creature. The Holy Spirit could then come and dwell within us. "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Elohim ... " (1 Corinthians 6:19). With Elohim's Spirit indwelling us, we can have sweet fellowship with Elohim and with His Son, as Yahshua promised: " ... I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

    1. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD COVENANT
Under the Old Covenant Elohim's Spirit did not indwell men as He does in the New Covenant. This would have been impossible, since sin had not yet been removed. Elohim anointed believers in the Old Covenant by having His Spirit "come upon" them (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 1 Samuel 16:13). In this way Elohim's chosen men and women were anointed and empowered for service as Elohim's Spirit "came upon them."

    1. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW COVENANT
In the New Covenant Yahweh gives to every believer (not just a few) the indwelling presence of His Spirit. Any person who is born again (a new creature) has Elohim's Spirit living inside him. It is the Spirit of Elohim who assures us of our redemption. "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of Elohim" (Romans 8:16). In fact, if a person does not have the Spirit of Elohim dwelling inside, he is not saved: "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, he does not belong to Him" (Romans 8:9).
Every born-again believer has Elohim's Spirit residing inside him. When a person is justified before Elohim by the blood of Yahshua and becomes a new creature, then Elohim can come and live inside that person. We don't need to go to Jerusalem’s Temple to worship Yahweh and experience His presence. We can now worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:20-23) wherever we are because our bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. HalleluYah!
  1. SUMMARY – THE MIRACLE OF THE NEW BIRTH
The New Birth is totally the work of Elohim through the Holy Spirit; the only part which we play in it is to believe on the Lord Yahshua Messiah. This miracle of transformation which occurs on the inside of all who believe, is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion or form of belief in the world. Other religions try to alter a man's conduct sufficiently to bring about a change of his heart. But faith in Yahshua Messiah alone will bring about a change in a man's heart, and only this change will alter his conduct.
The New Birth does not occur as a result of works, but as a result of faith in Messiah; it is not a work of the flesh, but a work of the Spirit. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:5).