These ones are born not of blood (the physical life), nor of the will of the flesh (the will of fallen man after man became flesh), nor of the will of man (the will of the man created by God), but of God, who is the source of life and the fountain of life (v. 13). God is the source of life. He is also the fountain of life that flows. In John’s writings he describes God as the flowing One. Eventually, the Triune God flows out as the river of the water of life, and this flow reaches all the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem on the four sides to satisfy and nourish the entire city (Rev. 22:1). God as the fountain flows out as the spring in John 4:14. The Lord gives us the water of life which becomes in us a spring of water gushing up into eternal life.
Not many Christians have paid full attention to regeneration as they should. Our being born of our parents was our first birth. Then one day we received Christ because of His light, and we were regenerated. We had another birth. But I would ask: Of these two births which one receives more of our attention—the first birth of our parents or the second birth of God? We should not pay attention to our first birth. We should remember only one birth, our regeneration. Day by day, we should not forget that we are children of God, born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Today we believers in Christ know who our Father is. We respect our second birth, the birth in which we were born of the very God.
The children of God are God-men born of God.
We are regenerated of God the Spirit to be spirits—gods (John 3:6b) belonging to the species of God to see and enter into the kingdom of God (vv. 3, 5). John 1 tells us how we received the authority to be the children of God. Then John 3 speaks of regeneration again. Verse 6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” We are the flesh and born of the flesh in our natural life. But we were born of God the Spirit to be spirits, gods. That which is born of a cow is a cow. That which is born of a horse is a horse. We are born of the Spirit, and the Spirit is God. John 4:24 tells us clearly that God is Spirit. Because we are born of God the Spirit, we must be gods in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. If we do not believe that we who are born of God are gods, then what are we? That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Our second birth caused us to enter into the kingdom of God to become the species of God. The animals and plants have their particular species. We are born of God, so we are gods belonging to the species of God. We should always remember that we are God-men belonging to the species of God. A God-man does not quarrel with others. This is an intrinsic-study of the Word of God.
Regeneration is the first step of Christ’s organic salvation. The washing of regeneration purges away all the things of the old nature of our old man (Titus 3:5). This washing is an organic saving. Without regeneration’s washing, there would be layers of the old creation in our being. Perhaps some would feel that they are not of the species of God, but of the “species” of the Americans. This species should be washed away. We need to see that regeneration as the first step of Christ’s organic saving is to wash away the layers of the old creation of our old nature.
We must not forget that we are God-men belonging to God’s species. As God-men born of God and belonging to God’s species, we cannot speak to our spouse in a loose way. A husband must be a God-man, living as a God-man. To be merely a good man is far away from God’s good pleasure. We need to see that we are God-men, born of God and belonging to God’s species. This is the beginning of the God-man living.
God loves you. God has a good pleasure to make you the same as He is. He is God, so you must be God also. A God-man living is God living. This kind of teaching is much higher than the teaching concerning how to be holy or victorious. In my early days as a believer, I saw many books on how to live the Christian life, but these books did not really reveal the way. How can you be holy? You can be holy by living a God-man life. How can you be victorious? It is only by living a God-man life. Never forget that you are a God-man, born of God and belonging to God’s species.