In John 16 Christ is presented to us as the newborn child.
In His resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33). In John 16:20-21, the Lord Jesus says to the disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she brings forth the little child, she no longer remembers the affliction because of the joy that a man has been born into the world.” This woman is the whole group of the disciples, the child is Christ, and the birth is resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; Rom. 1:4). According to Acts 13:33, the Lord Jesus was born, begotten, in resurrection to be the Son of God with respect to His humanity. The Lord’s resurrection, therefore, was a birth. This means that when Christ was resurrected, He was born.
Although Christ was already the only begotten Son of God, it was still necessary for Him to be born in resurrection as the firstborn Son of God. In eternity Christ was the only begotten Son of God, in incarnation He was born of Mary to be the Son of Man, and in resurrection He had another birth to be the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29b). When Christ was born of Mary, He was born as a man, and His humanity had nothing to do with His being the only begotten Son of God. In other words, the human part of Jesus was not the Son of God. Therefore, it was necessary for this human part of Him to be born into the divine sonship through resurrection. Hence, Christ’s resurrection was a new birth for Him. In this birth the disciples were the travailing woman. After the Lord’s resurrection this “woman” had a newborn child—the resurrected Christ as the firstborn Son of God—and she rejoiced (John 20:20). In this sense Christ was a child born in resurrection. After His resurrection He was the “child” with the divine life and the human nature with both divinity glorified and humanity “sonized.” The disciples as the mother must have been very happy at the birth of this wonderful child.
Christ’s being the firstborn Son of God implies that He has many brothers and that He is the Firstborn among these brothers (Rom. 8:29). The birth that took place through Christ’s resurrection involved the birth not only of an individual but of a group, a group that includes the firstborn Son and the many sons of God. This indicates that through one birth, one delivery, many sons were brought forth. This resurrection was the birth of the corporate child—the corporate new man. Thus, 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” God regenerated us through Christ’s resurrection. We, as human beings, were all divinely sonized through His resurrection to be many sons of God to participate in His divine sonship. We are the many brothers of the firstborn Son of God in His resurrection. In resurrection, God begot a Son, Jesus Christ, and in resurrection God regenerated many sons. This shows us that the resurrection of Christ was a great delivery. In that same delivery the Firstborn was Christ, and this firstborn Brother had many “twins” to follow Him. In the unique resurrection Christ was born and we were regenerated; hence, we were His “twins” in the same delivery. This was a universal delivery of a corporate child, which included the Son of God as the Head and His many brothers as the Body. The firstborn Son of God is the Head, and His many brothers, sons of God, are the members of Christ. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection was the one universally big delivery of Himself as the firstborn Son and the believers as His many brothers, His millions of “twins.”
The birth of a new corporate child comprising Christ and His believers was the birth of the new man (Eph. 2:15). The Christ who returned in His resurrection was the newborn child to be the new man (Col. 3:10-11). The old man was created by God in Genesis 1 and 2, but the new man was born through the death and resurrection of Christ referred to in John 16. We were born into the old man, but we were regenerated into the new man. We should remember that before we were born into the old man, we had been already regenerated into the new man, since we had been regenerated before we were born according to 1 Peter 1:3. We do not need to try, struggle, or endeavor to be a new man. We are already a new man. We were a new man two thousand years ago. We should not look at ourselves. When we look at ourselves, we will see the old man and be disappointed. Rather, all of us should declare, “I am a part of the new man through the wonderful death and resurrection of the Son of God.” Through His resurrection He as the only begotten Son of God became the firstborn Son of God, and through His resurrection His many brothers were brought forth. Also, through His resurrection a new child was born, comprised of Christ and all His believers.