Born of God, Part I

John 1:12-13: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

We have established in our previous discussions that nothing but the grace of God could have brought us from our wretched condition of spiritual death under the bondage of sin into the present Christian life we now possess. Therefore, we are ready now to move on into the growth process of this new life in Christ and explore the role of grace in this growth. In this area, we will encounter the role of the active grace of God as it produces in us what God wants us to be and to do.

But first of all, the concept of who is growing, or who is this newly alive creature, must be clear in our minds. Growth begins with a new-born living creature. What is this newly born creature that has come into life or existence by the grace of God? That's an important question that many do not answer correctly in accordance with the word of God.

A healthy newly born creature is an entirely true and complete reproduction of the creature-kind or species of the creature that has given birth to it. By this I mean, for example, a newly born calf is a reproduction of the cow-kind because it was born of a cow. One does not expect a cow to reproduce a lamb. One expects a cow to reproduce a calf. In the same way, one does not expect a cow to reproduce an offspring that is partly lamb and partly calf, and for that creature to grow gradually in being more cow and less lamb until it eventually grows fully into a cow.

We see in the normal reproduction process in nature that every species reproduces after its kind. God did not create living creatures, as well as plants, to reproduce offspring that are different from their kinds or partly of their kinds and partly of other kinds.

Living creatures, including plants, are grouped into distinct kinds or species. And unless it is by man's interference, creatures of one species do not normally crossbreed with creatures of another species. A member of a particular species has the unique nature of its species and reproduces this nature in its offspring.

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:39-40: “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.”

The human race is of one species, the human species. Therefore, reproduction between races, tribes, and ethnic groups has nothing to do with cross-breeding between species. This principle of reproduction by species after its kind was established by God at the beginning of creation. Several Scripture passages in Genesis support that.

We read in Genesis 1:11-12: “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth’; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

We read also in Genesis 1:21: “So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Finally, we read in Genesis 1:25: “And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

These Scripture passages show us clearly that the order and principle of reproduction established by God in nature is that species were created in distinct kinds and should reproduce after their kinds. We will stop here for the first part on the topic, Born of God. But from what we have considered we should begin to get a clear answer to the question posed in the beginning regarding the nature of the offspring that is born of God. In the next part, we will examine closely how the Bible describes the process which brings about the new birth and to what extent God is involved in this reproduction.