New DNA

Titus 3:5
What separates us from the other religions of the world is the spiritual re-birth of those who are born again. Some try to split Christianity into two camps: the Christian and the Born-Again. They theorize that the Christian believes in treating others well and being a good citizen, tolerant and wholesome, while the Born-Agains are fanatics who evangelize others and take hard-line stances. In truth, they are not mutually exclusive. Jesus said that we cannot see the kingdom of God, “Except a man be born again” (John 3:3). Any separation of the two is a result of man influencing true Christianity with his own devices.

Paul said that we are saved according to the mercy of God, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done” (Titus 3:5). This excludes the idea that true Christianity is found in doing your best or in being your best. He also mentions the “washing of regeneration”, introducing us to a concept that is crucial to the understanding of the transformative powers of faith in Christ.

The Greek word for ‘regeneration’ is “paliggenesia”, meaning, “spiritual rebirth, renovation”. It is the New Covenant version of Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus, “you must be born again”. Nicodemus found the idea impossible, as no one could re-enter their mother’s womb and start over again, but of course Jesus was referring to a spiritual rebirth.

Even the world warms up to the idea of someone being “reborn”. An actor can fall out of Hollywood’s favor, drop to rock bottom, reform and make a comeback picture and the tabloids will say that they have been “reborn”. People love these kinds of stories and they are quite common. While the world has their own version of “born again”, for the believer it excludes trips to rehab, Botox and plastic surgery. For the saint it is being born again “of spirit” (John 3:6).

Paul’s use of “regeneration” speaks of us becoming a completely new person, “by the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit in us turns us into someone completely different. It could be said that when you are born again, the Holy Spirit gives you a new DNA sequence, one in which you have the desires of your new Father instead of your old.

I am not insinuating that we have an actual new set of DNA when we are saved, but I do believe that all of the old passions and desires that were passed onto us from our earthly families are no longer relevant whenever the regeneration of the Holy Ghost takes place in our life. If your earthly father had a drinking problem, then it is stands to reason that you have a propensity to want to drink and to be dominated by drinking. However, your heavenly Father has no such problem, and He has transformed you and “re-gened” you into the image of His Son. We can no longer blame our heritage for our problems, for we have a spiritual heritage that stretches all the way to Calvary.

If you are not walking in the fullness of your new spiritual identity, then it is because you are not fully awake as to who you really are in Christ. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, so walk whole and free!

New DNA

Titus 3:5
What separates us from the other religions of the world is the spiritual re-birth of those who are born again. Some try to split Christianity into two camps: the Christian and the Born-Again. They theorize that the Christian believes in treating others well and being a good citizen, tolerant and wholesome, while the Born-Agains are fanatics who evangelize others and take hard-line stances. In truth, they are not mutually exclusive. Jesus said that we cannot see the kingdom of God, “Except a man be born again” (John 3:3). Any separation of the two is a result of man influencing true Christianity with his own devices.

Paul said that we are saved according to the mercy of God, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done” (Titus 3:5). This excludes the idea that true Christianity is found in doing your best or in being your best. He also mentions the “washing of regeneration”, introducing us to a concept that is crucial to the understanding of the transformative powers of faith in Christ.

The Greek word for ‘regeneration’ is “paliggenesia”, meaning, “spiritual rebirth, renovation”. It is the New Covenant version of Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus, “you must be born again”. Nicodemus found the idea impossible, as no one could re-enter their mother’s womb and start over again, but of course Jesus was referring to a spiritual rebirth.

Even the world warms up to the idea of someone being “reborn”. An actor can fall out of Hollywood’s favor, drop to rock bottom, reform and make a comeback picture and the tabloids will say that they have been “reborn”. People love these kinds of stories and they are quite common. While the world has their own version of “born again”, for the believer it excludes trips to rehab, Botox and plastic surgery. For the saint it is being born again “of spirit” (John 3:6).

Paul’s use of “regeneration” speaks of us becoming a completely new person, “by the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit in us turns us into someone completely different. It could be said that when you are born again, the Holy Spirit gives you a new DNA sequence, one in which you have the desires of your new Father instead of your old.

I am not insinuating that we have an actual new set of DNA when we are saved, but I do believe that all of the old passions and desires that were passed onto us from our earthly families are no longer relevant whenever the regeneration of the Holy Ghost takes place in our life. If your earthly father had a drinking problem, then it is stands to reason that you have a propensity to want to drink and to be dominated by drinking. However, your heavenly Father has no such problem, and He has transformed you and “re-gened” you into the image of His Son. We can no longer blame our heritage for our problems, for we have a spiritual heritage that stretches all the way to Calvary.

If you are not walking in the fullness of your new spiritual identity, then it is because you are not fully awake as to who you really are in Christ. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, so walk whole and free!

Forget Who You Used to Be

Acts 3:14

The old adage, “Forgive and forget” is easier to say than it is to do. It is even more difficult when the person that we need to forgive is ourselves, and the deed that we need to forget is of our own doing. We are truly our harshest critic. This is probably because we think of ourselves almost constantly, while the others who are criticizing us think of us no longer than it takes to cut us down.

The Apostle Peter must have spent some sleepless nights over his failure during Jesus’ final night prior to the cross. Peter had claimed that he would never deny the Lord, only to have Christ tell him that he would do that very thing 3 times in one night. Peter probably felt that Jesus did not know quite how much that he loved the Lord, and that surely, he would prove the Master wrong. Sure enough, at the crowing of the morning rooster, Peter had said that he did not even know Christ and the darkness of denial set into his conscience.

Not long after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter decides to forget the whole ministry thing and go back into the fishing business. It was his occupation before Jesus came along and convinced him that he could fish for men, but his failure and his cowardice caused him to feel completely inadequate for such a commission, so fishing became his lifestyle once again. Then, as always, came Jesus, blessing Peter with a miracle of fishes and feeding him breakfast in the natural and in the spiritual. “Feed my sheep” was Jesus’ command to Peter, and not one word was uttered about his denial or his excursion into the fishing profession.

This forgiveness washes the condemnation away from Peter, and equips him to receive the wonderful empowerment of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, leading him to preach a sermon that day that wins 3000 people into the new church. With that fire still fresh in his heart, he preaches again in Acts 3, this time to the Jews of Jerusalem, saying, “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you” (Acts 3:14).

Look closely at his accusation towards the Jews. “Ye denied” could be considered a dangerous way to start a sermon, considering that Peter is known as the disciple that denied the Lord. Some might say, “How dare he preach to someone else about denying the Lord when he did the same thing!” Others would cry, “Hypocrite!” upon hearing such a sermon. Yet Peter shows no hesitation in his accusation, going so far as to tell them that they “killed the Prince of life” (verse 15).

Jesus’ feeding of Peter on the beach in John 21 was His washing away the guilt and condemnation from Peter’s heart. It is necessary that these be removed by the blood of Jesus, for there are many situations and settings that the believer will enter into that he or she needs a clean conscience in order to be a true light for Christ. Guilt will cause us to close our mouths when we should open them, and to open them when they should remain closed. Peter could preach the truth because Peter was living the truth, and he had forgotten who he used to be.

He says it so well in his little epistle, when talking about believers who lack the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, “He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). Peter forgot who he used to be, and by that same Spirit, so can you.