When we are born again by believing into Christ, we are born of the Spirit in our human spirit (John 3:3-6, 8). Just as our body as flesh is born of the flesh of our parents, our human spirit is reborn of the divine Spirit. Of our three God-created parts—body, soul, and spirit—it is our spirit, our deepest part, that matches God, who is Spirit, that we may receive Him, be born of Him, and joined to Him in spirit (Gen. 2:7; 1 Thes. 5:23; John 4:24; 2 Tim. 4:22).
First Corinthians 15:45b speaks of the life-giving Spirit, and in John 6:63 we read, “It is the Spirit who gives life.” This life is zoe (in Greek), the divine, eternal life, which is different than our natural human life. The phrase the Spirit of life in Romans 8:2 indicates that the Spirit is life. Thus, when the Spirit gives us life, He gives us Himself because He is life. We receive the Spirit of life into our spirit, and He joins and mingles Himself with us to be one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17). As a result, our spirit becomes life (Rom. 8:10)! Therefore, in regeneration we truly become God’s reproduction, His children.
John 1:12-13 tells us, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those…who were begotten…of God.” We become children of God because we have received the very life of our Father, as any genuinely begotten child has. We are not merely adopted children with no relationship to God in life. It is an unchangeable fact that we have received the life of God in our new birth, and based upon this fact, no one can refute our claim to be His children. In other words, we have “the authority to become children of God”, and we are (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1-2)!
By our spirit being born of the Spirit, we have “received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15b). Moreover, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God” (v. 16). We are men begotten of God, born anew as God-men, those who have God’s divine life in addition to our human life. Although we never share His Fatherhood or Godhead, we are nonetheless His kind as His genuine children. Praise Him for His marvelous design to beget many children by regenerating them with His life as the Spirit in their spirit!
Further Reading:
Witness Lee, Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life, Chapter 4 (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
Witness Lee, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation: “The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit,” Chapter 1 (Print).
Holy Bible Recovery Version, all verses mentioned in this post and their corresponding footnotes (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
(Most references in the Further Reading can also be viewed on www.ministrybooks.org.)