Adam was created by God not born of God; Christ was born of God not created by God. Are we Christians born of God or created by God?
Some people claim that they believe in the entire Bible but not in the Christians’ regeneration. They say that regeneration is for the Jews and that Christians are created anew but not born again. However, the Bible says that Christians are born of God and also created anew by God. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” First Peter 1:3 says that God “regenerated us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” This reminds us that there is a begetting of the flesh and a begetting of the Holy Spirit. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.” Whenever regeneration is mentioned, we are reminded that we once had Adam’s life; whenever the new creation is mentioned, it reminds us not to think of the old things but only of Christ.
We are a new creation in Christ. While this refers to our position, it also includes our experience. Position and experience are different, but they cannot be separated. Positionally speaking, the believers in Corinth were sanctified and justified. But experientially speaking, they still had jealousy and strife. Even though it is right to say this, if we separate position from experience, we may forget what Christ has accomplished and pay too much attention to our own experience. The more we pay attention to our own experience, the less experience we have. If our eyes behold Christ, we will be transformed into the image of the Lord. We must not look at ourselves but at Christ; only then will we have real experience. What does it mean to live in ourselves? Living in ourselves is turning to ourselves and thinking about ourselves. When we turn inward and think about ourselves, we immediately live in ourselves. Being humble is to not think about ourselves. It is not to think less about ourselves because when we think less about ourselves, we are still thinking about ourselves. Our union with Christ is not only a union in position but also a union in life. (The same is true with our union in Adam.) Whosoever looked upon the brass serpent experienced its effectiveness (Num. 21:9). Whosoever looks upon Christ only will experience victory.
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