Jesus' Birth and the New Birth

There is a great deal of difference between the incarnation of the Lord Jesus and the two births that the saints experience.

Jesus taught Nicodemus that he would never see the Kingdom of God unless he was born again by the Holy Ghost.

We have no control at all over either our physical or spiritual births. We cannot begin them, and we cannot obey any commandment to enter into them. They are imposed from without.

Only the Holy Ghost can raise up a person dead in sin to new life. Jesus was not giving an exhortation about what we must do, but rather was pointing out the truth that only the Spirit can give life to poor dead sinners.

The Spirit's actions cannot be seen, cannot be predicted, cannot even be discerned. He is like the wind blowing where He will, and so too is the new birth imparted to God's people.

Regeneration is completely out of our hands. God's mercy determines whom He will love and raise from the dead.

But when the Holy Ghost comes upon us, then we can believe, and the Spirit of Christ imparts life, and makes us sons of God by adoption. We then have the same spirit as the only begotten son in His humanity has.

But the birth of Jesus was very different. It was by water and by the Spirit all at once. Christ was never spiritually dead in sin, so He never had to be born again. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost without sin.

When the Holy Ghost regenerates us, He is conforming us to the image of Christ, making us alive with the Spirit of our elder Brother.

Thus, the virgin birth of Jesus is no greater miracle than the new birth given to any poor sinner.

How can these things be? The Angel said it best: with God, nothing is impossible!