Born This Way

*** WARNING!! THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO REMAIN IGNORANT OF BIBLICAL TRUTHS! IT IS NOT A POPULAR TEACHING! IT IS NOT A “FEEL GOOD” MESSAGE! IT SHOULD BE READ BY THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT GOD IS THE RULER OVER ALL THINGS AND THAT WHAT HE DECREES WILL COME TO PASS! IT SHOULD BE READ BY THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THAT GOD’S WORD IS TRUTH, NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY OR HOW LONG CERTAIN THINGS HAVE BEEN TAUGHT IN THE CHURCH! PLEASE KNOW THAT I POST THIS AT THE RISK OF PUSHING AWAY EVERYONE, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY, BUT THE TRUTH MUST BE PROCLAIMED! THANK YOU! ***

One of the most difficult things for people, especially Christians, to realize is the fact that mankind is no longer created in the image and likeness of God. We hear this thrown around all the time. People, especially preachers, say things such as, “I am created in God’s image,” or, “God created us in His image so we should be able to be more like God,” or some such foolish thought. However, I am going to show us all why this is a false statement and why the words of Jesus to Nicodemus are so radically important to every generation.

We will start at the beginning. Take a look at Genesis 1:26-27.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 

This is pretty straightforward. God created Adam and Eve (the first man and woman from whom all the rest of mankind came forth) in His image and after His likeness. I will not go into the whole story, but we know that in Genesis 3 Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She then took of the fruit and gave some to Adam, who was there with her. This is how sin, and death, entered into the world.

We know that, according to the Genesis account, Adam and Eve had two sons named Cain and Abel. These two sons offered sacrifices to God and Abel’s was more pleasing to God than was the sacrifice which Cain made. Cain then rose up and killed his brother and God cursed him for his sin. Then something extraordinary happens. Look at what the Bible says in Genesis 5:1-3.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female, he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 

Do you see what it says there at the end of verse three? It says that Adam fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image. What does this mean? It means that Seth was born in the image and likeness of Adam, not the image and likeness of God. Adam, though he was created in perfection, became corrupt by his sin. Therefore, anyone that he fathered would then be born in that sinful image and likeness of Adam.

Throughout all the generations of humanity we have been bearers of the image and likeness of Adam. This is the curse of Adam’s sin which we all have to bear. The Apostle Paul put it like this in Romans 5:12-14

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 

One of the biggest problems we face in our world today is that people like to blame their sin on their birth. I hear this kind of thing all the time here in the United States. People who have anger problems will excuse it by saying, “I can’t help it. I’m part (Irish, Scottish, insert random Native American tribe who might be known for getting angry a lot.)” In fact, there is a whole group of people out there today who claim that their sinful lifestyle should be acceptable because they were, “Born this way.” There is just one small problem with their claim. Jesus will not accept their, “I was born this way,” excuse for their sinful lifestyle because He had a conversation with a man that came to Him at night. Look at the beginning of this conversation in John 3:1-7.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”

Jesus made it abundantly clear that there is only one way to enter into the Kingdom of God: through a new birth. This new birth is the beginning of the restoration of a person back to the image and likeness of God. It is not the finality of that restoration, only the beginning. The finality will come on the day that the person no longer dwells in the flesh that has been corrupted by sin and is glorified in the presence of Christ.

I will not deny that those who live in unrepentant sin are indeed, “Born that way.” However, those who have surrendered to Christ as their Lord and Savior have experienced a new birth. They have been “Born again” as Jesus described in John chapter three. The problem lies at the feet of those who are unable, or unwilling, to make the distinction.

People in the church, and entire churches, have compromised on the necessity of being born again. Instead of confronting sin they embrace it and welcome it with open arms. There are entire denominations of the church who have fallen away from the truth of the Word of God in this area. They no longer recognize the need to be born again and simply accept anybody and everybody based on what they say. They have twisted the Scripture so badly that they no longer recognize sin when it is staring them in the face.

Yet Jesus made it clear that those who are not born again will not see the Kingdom of God. He was telling Nicodemus, and anyone who would read John’s words in the future, that anyone who is found still bearing the image and likeness of Adam would not be welcome into His presence. We must be born again and start the transformation from the image and likeness of Adam into the image and likeness of God. Otherwise, we will spend eternity facing the full wrath of God for the sin that we bear.

So, while certain groups of people champion the cry, “I was born this way!” we must tell them, again and again, “Yes! And that is why you must be born again!”