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The Miracle of Rebirth
By Paul Kroll
We were born to be reborn. You and I are meant to experience the greatest life change of all—a spiritual one. God has designed us so we can share or participate in his divine nature.
The New Testament speaks of this nature as being a divine solvent, with the power to dissolve the grimy layer of human sinfulness. And we all need to be spiritually washed because sin has besmirched every human being.
We’re all like old paintings covered with centuries of dirt. Like the master’s painting dulled by layers of dirty film, the residue of sin has marred the original intent of the Sovereign and Supreme Artist.
Work of Art Restored
The analogy of a grime-infested painting should help us better understand why we need to be spiritually cleaned and reborn.
One celebrated case of damaged art involved Michelangelo’s painted scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome’s Vatican Palace.
Michelangelo (1475-1564) began painting the Sistine Chapel at age 33 in 1508. In just over four years, he painted the almost 6,000 square feet of the ceiling with dozens of biblical compositions.
Among the scenes are events from the book of Genesis. One well-known scene is Michelangelo’s anthropomorphic depiction of God—his arm, hand and finger reaching out to the first man. Adam.
Over the centuries, the Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco (called fresco because the artist painted on fresh plaster)—became damaged and covered with grime. In time, Michelangelo’s fresco would have been destroyed.
To prevent this from happening, the Vatican commissioned experts to clean and restore the fresco. Most of the restoration of the paintings was completed in the 1980s.
Time had taken its toll on the master’s artistic creations. Centuries of dust and sooty grease from burning candles had marred the painting. Water from the Sistine Chapel’s leaky roof and other moisture also caused damage, badly staining the original works.
Ironically, perhaps the worst problem was caused by valiant attempts over the centuries to preserve the paintings! Varnishes composed of animal glues had been applied to the fresco to brighten its ever-darkening surface.
The temporary cure was worse than the disease. As the various layers of varnish deteriorated, they turned the painting on the ceiling ever more murky. The glues also tended to shrink and crinkle. In places, the glue fell away, pulling pieces of paint away as well.
The experts restoring the paintings worked extremely carefully. They applied the gentlest cleaning solvents to the fresco in gel form. When. the gel was gingerly removed by sponge, the grimy scum came with it.
A technological miracle occurred. The dull and darkened fresco sprang to life. Michelangelo’s figures were renewed. Now they radiated sparkling brilliance and life. Compared with its previous darkened state, the cleaned fresco appeared to be a new creation.
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| Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco receives new life as it emerges from centuries of grime. | ||
God’s Masterpiece
The restoration of Michelangelo’s fresco is an apt metaphor for God spiritually cleaning his human creation of sin.
God, the master artist, created us to be his treasured work of art. Humanity was created in God’s image, and was meant to receive the Holy Spirit.
Tragically, the dirt of our own sin has marred God’s creation. Adam and Eve sinned and received the spirit of the world.
We, too, have been spiritually defaced and defiled by the stain of sin. And why? Because all humans are sinful and have lived contrary to the will of God.
But God can renew us spiritually, and the life of Jesus Christ can be reflected by the light that shines out from us for all to see. The question is, are we willing to fulfill God’s purpose for us?
Most people are not. They still live darkened lives, covered and besmirched by the ugly stain of sin.
The apostle Paul described this world’s spiritually darkened condition in his letter to the Ephesian Christians. He said of their past lives: "You were dead in your transgressions and sins ... when you followed the ways of this world" (Ephesians 2:1-2).
We, too, allowed this polluting power to mar our nature. Thus, we have become blackened spiritually as Michelangelo’s fresco was veiled with soot and defaced.
That is why the most desperate thing we need is to have God’s nature dwelling in us. It is a cleansing agent that can lift off the scum of sin and make us spiritually bright and new.
Images of Renewal
The New Testament explains how we can be spiritually remade. It uses several powerful analogies to express this miracle. As Michelangelo’s fresco needed the grime to be cleaned away, we need to be washed spiritually. The Holy Spirit is a cleaning agent. It scrubs away the staining and tarnishing effects of our sinful nature.
In the words of Paul, speaking to Christians across the centuries: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). This cleansing is a saving act and is called by Paul "the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).
This removal, cleansing and cutting out of sin is also described by the metaphor of circumcision. Christians have their hearts circumcised. We could say that God mercifully saves us by surgically removing the cancer of sin.
This severing of sin—the spiritual circumcision—is a metaphor for the forgiveness of our personal sins. It was made possible by Jesus through his death as a perfect sacrifice for sin. Paul wrote: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins" (Colossians 2:13).
The New Testament uses the symbol of the cross to describe our sinful nature being neutralized. made ineffective and inert as our self is put to death. Paul wrote, "Our old self was crucified with him [Christ] so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin" (Romans 6:6).
If we are in Christ, the sin in the self (hence, the sinful self) is crucified or dies. Of course, the spirit of the world still attempts to cover our minds with the dirty garments of sin.
But the Holy Spirit protects us and enables us to repel the attractiveness of sin. We are freed from sin’s domination by Christ, who through the work of the Holy Spirit fills us with God’s nature.
The apostle Paul explains this act of God by the metaphor of a burial. In turn, the burial leads to a symbolic resurrection, which stands for the sinful "old person" now reborn as a "new person." Our new life is possible through Christ, who provides us with his continuing forgiveness and lifegiving power.
The New Testament likens the death of our old self, and our restoration and symbolic resurrection to a new life, to a new birth. We are reborn spiritually at the moment of our conversion. We are reborn, made alive and renewed by and through the Holy Spirit.
Peter told Christians, "He [God] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). Note that the phrase "‘has given" is past tense. This tells us we are changed at the beginning of our Christian lives.
Upon conversion, we have God dwelling in us. Because of this, we have been re-created.
We now have Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Father dwelling in us (John 14:15-23). When we are converted or born again—spiritually renewed—God comes to live in us!
When the Father works in us, or the Son does or the Holy Spirit does, it is God working in us. God is inspiring, sanctifying, changing us. And we receive this empowerment through conversion and rebirth.
How Christians Grow
Of course, newly born Christians are still, in the words of Peter, "like newborn babies." They must "crave pure spiritual milk" to give them nourishment to mature spiritually (1 Peter 2:2).
Peter explains that born-again Christians will continue to grow in understanding through time, becoming more mature spiritually. They will "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).
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Adam sinned, The Bible introduces Adam as the first created human. The New Testament shows we have the same life as Adam did, in the sense that we are earthly, mortal or physical as he was (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). Yet, Genesis says Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. Being created in the image of God helps Christians understand the salvation they have through Jesus Christ. Originally created in God’s image, Adam and Eve sinned and became sinful. The first created humans fell for sin, and a spiritually damaged world was the result. Sin has defiled and besmirched us all. But the good news is that we can be forgiven and made new. God redeems us from the penalty of sin—death—through the saving work of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus reconciles us to God by wiping out the effect of human sin, which separated the Creator from his creation. As our High Priest, Jesus Christ sanctifies us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ sacrifice for sin eliminates the barrier of sin that originally broke the relationship between humanity and God. More than this, Christ’s work through the Holy Spirit makes us one with God, saving us in the process. Paul wrote, ‘If, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" (Romans 5:10). The apostle Paul contrasts the consequences of Adam’s sin and Christ’s forgiveness. In the beginning, Adam and Eve allowed sin to be introduced. They fell for sin’s false promises. Thus, sin and its consequences invaded the world and captured it. Paul explains that judgment followed the sin of Adam. The world was led into sin, and all humans sin, dying in the process of time. Not that others died for Adam’s sin or that he genetically transmitted sin to his offspring. (Of course, the physical consequences of sin do affect future generations.) As the first person, Adam was responsible for the beginning of an environment in which sin was allowed to flourish. Adam’s sin became the basis and springboard for future human action. In the same way, by a single act, Jesus’ sinless life and willing death for the sins of humanity made it possible for all to be spiritually reconciled and reunited with God. "If, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man," wrote Paul, "how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ" (verse 17). God reconciles sinful humanity to himself through Christ. And more than this. As we are empowered by Christ through the Holy Spirit, we are spiritually born again—from above—as God’s children. Jesus, when referring to the future resurrection of the just, said that God "is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Mark 12:27). However, the people he referred to were not alive, but dead. Yet, because God has power to bring about his purpose—to resurrect the dead—Jesus Christ said they were as good as alive. As the children of God, we look forward to the resurrection to life at Christ’s return. We are also made alive now, and live in Christ. The apostle Paul encourages us, "Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). |
Peter is not saying greater technical knowledge of the Bible will make us better Christians. He is telling us that we need to acquire a greater spiritual awareness of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. "Knowledge" in the biblical sense includes the application of knowing to doing. It involves learning and personally applying that which makes us more Christlike.
While Christians grow spiritually, it is not in the sense of human "character development." Neither is Christian growth the result of receiving more and more of the Holy Spirit the longer we live in Christ.
We do grow, though, through the work of the Holy Spirit already in us. By grace, the character of God is imparted to us.
We are sanctified in two ways. First, we are sanctified or set apart when we receive the Holy Spirit.
This aspect of sanctification happens all at once and is made possible by the atoning work of Christ for sin. However, we are also progressively sanctified as Christ dwells within us, equipping us for the worship and service of God.
But we already have the nature or "character" of God upon conversion as Jesus Christ lives within us. We receive the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit when we repent and place our faith in Jesus Christ.
As our Christian lives progress, change takes place. We learn to better submit to the enlightening and encouraging power of the Spirit we already have.
God in Us
Christ lives in us fully through the Spirit if we are reborn spiritually.
Think what this means. Humans can be transformed by the act of Christ living his life by the Spirit in them. God shares his divine nature with humans. That means a person who is a Christian has been made into something entirely new.
"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation," Paul explained. "The old has gone, the new has come!"
Christians reborn of the Spirit take on a new image within—that of God our creator. Their life is to exhibit this new internal spiritual reality. That is why Paul could tell Christians: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).
We should not, however, think that this means Christians do not sin. Yes, we are suddenly changed or transformed, in the sense that we have been reborn by receiving the Holy Spirit. However, there is still something of the "old man" or "old woman" about us.
Christians still stumble and sin. But they don’t habitually practice sin. They must continue to be forgiven and purified by Christ. Thus, spiritual renewal is a continuing process throughout the Christian life.
Life of the Christian
We become more Christlike as we live according to God’s will. We, like Paul, must be willing to die daily to sin and yield to God’s will in repentance.
As we do, God continues to wash away our sins in the sacrificial blood of Christ. We are made spiritually white in the bloody garment of Christ, representing his sacrifice for sin. God’s grace allows us to live in spiritual holiness. When we do, Christ’s life is reflected by the light that shines out from us.
A technological miracle transformed and restored Michelangelo’s tarnished. and marred paintings. But God performs a much more astonishing spiritual miracle with us. He does more than repair our damaged spiritual state. God makes of us a new creation.
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