Through “the new birth” we are what our Lord was by virgin birth: “the firstborn among many brethren” However, he is uniquely “the only-begotten” Son (Romans 8:29). It amazes us that Jesus is our Elder Brother, but we should not shrink from what the New Testament writers state quite clearly.
The more aware of this we are, the less conscious we are of our former sinful condition. As in Adam’s case, this condition was seen in vulnerability, in cover-ups, in fear of God’s displeasure, and in blame apportionment rather than in acceptance of his personal responsibility.
In God’s eyes we are “in Christ” and so are inseparable from our Lord Jesus. This being so, we are able to see ourselves as “sons [and daughters] of God”. We see this in10 recognizable ways:
1. We are “not of this world” (system) even as Jesus was “not of the world” (John 17:16). We are “in” it and no longer “of” it; but we are “in it to win it”! We were born again to win again and again!
2. We were “born from above” by the Holy Spirit that overshadowed Mary and enabled her to conceive. The difference is that we had to be “born again” to have the nature that Jesus had from birth. This nature is incapable of sinning (see #5.)
3. We are “new creations” in Jesus Christ, who is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14). The New Testament portrays each believer in Jesus as a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
4. We exercise our spiritual abilities the same way that Jesus did, which was in the power of the Holy Spirit. He said “I can do nothing of myself” [by my own power], and neither can we (John 5:19; 14:10). With God all things are possible, and His power in us means that for us also, nothing is impossible.
5. God’s “new creation” does not itself sin because its holy nature is identical to that of Jesus (1 John 3:9). If we do sin and confess that sin to God, we are forgiven immediately! (1 John 1:9)
6. We were separated from our old lives by a symbolic ‘burial’ in baptism. Jesus ‘died’ to his own will when baptized in water by John at the beginning of his ministry. We identify with his physical burial after being crucified with him (Romans 6:3), with him in his resurrection, and with having been “raised together with him” enables us to live the way that he did
7. First temptations to new believers arise in the form of questions aimed at raising doubts in us as to whether we really are who God says we are — and if so to prove it (Matthew 4:3, 6). We have no need to prove anything to anyone.
8. Our new identity is assured through our victory over such doubts and questions through our affirmations of the scriptures that dispel self-doubt and bring strong surges of authority that sweep aside demons, sickness and disease (Luke 4:14).
9. Our greatest challenge is to accept without hesitation that we are now the sons of God, and so share with the Firstborn Son the divine nature of our heavenly Father (1 John 4:17; 2 Peter 1:4).
10. With Jesus Christ as our role model, we do the works that he did. We do them responsively, effortlessly, and without conscious forethought or distractive second thoughts (Mark 11:23; Matthew 14:30).
What we truly believe takes us on ventures that connect us with the right people in the right places at the right times (Acts 8:5). God will lead us to some places we would not have chosen, and prompt us to “run” and connect with them, so that we can answer questions that puzzle them (Acts 8:30).