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Man: The Dwelling Place of God: Chapter 4. The Once-born and the Twice-born

By A.W. Tozer


      CLASSIFICATION IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT of all tasks. Even in the realm of religion there are enough lights and shades to make it injudicious to draw too fine a line between men and men. If the religious world were composed of squares of solid black and solid white classification would be easy; but unfortunately it is not.

      It is a grave error for us evangelicals to assume that the children of God are all in our communion and that all who are not associated with us are ipso facto enemies of the Lord. The Pharisees made that mistake and crucified Christ as a consequence.

      With all this in mind, and leaning over backwards to be fair and charitable, there is yet one distinction which we dare make, which indeed we must make if we are to think the thoughts of God after Him and bring our beliefs into harmony with the Holy Scriptures. That distinction is the one which exists between two classes of human beings, the once-born and the twice-born.

      That such a distinction does in fact exist was taught by our Lord with great plainness of speech, in contexts which preclude the possibility that He was merely speaking figuratively. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," He said, and the whole chapter where these words are found confirms that He was speaking precisely, setting forth meanings as blunt and downright as it is possible for language to convey.

      "Ye must be born again," said Christ. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." This clear line of demarcation runs through the entire New Testament, quite literally dividing one human being from another and making a distinction as sharp as that which exists between different genera of the animal kingdom.

      Just who belongs to one class and who to the other it is not always possible to judge, though the two kinds of life ordinarily separate from each other. Those who are twice-born crystallize around the Person of Christ and cluster together in companies, while the once-born are held together only by the ties of nature, aided by the ties of race or by common political and social interests.

      Our Lord warned His disciples that they would be persecuted. "In the world ye shall have tribulation," He said, and "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

      These are only two of many passages of the New Testament warning of persecution or recording the fact of harassment and attack suffered by the followers of the Lord. This same idea runs through the entire Bible from the once-born Cain who slew the twice-born Abel to the Book of the Revelation where the end of human history comes in a burst of blood and fire.

      That hostility exists between the once-born and the twice-born is known to every student of the Bible; the reason for it was stated by Christ when He said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." The rule was laid down by the apostle Paul when he wrote, "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now."

      Difference of moral standards between the onceborn and the twice-born, and their opposite ways of life, may be contributing causes of this hostility; but the real cause lies deeper. There are two spirits abroad in the earth: the spirit that works in the children of disobedience and the Spirit of God. These two can never be reconciled in time or in eternity. The spirit that dwells in the once-born is forever opposed to the Spirit that inhabits the heart of the twice-born. This hostility began somewhere in the remote past before the creation of man and continues to this day. The modern effort to bring peace between these two spirits is not only futile but contrary to the moral laws of the universe.

      To teach that the spirit of the once-born is at enmity with the Spirit of the twice-born is to bring down upon one's head every kind of violent abuse. No language is too bitter to hurl against the conceited bigot who would dare to draw such a line of distinction between men. Such malignant ideas are at odds with the brotherhood of man, says the once-born, and are held only by the apostles of disunity and hate. This mighty rage against the twice-born only serves to confirm the truth they teach. But this no one seems to notice.

      What we need to restore power to the Christian testimony is not soft talk about brotherhood but an honest recognition that two human races occupy the earth simultaneously: a fallen race that sprang from the loins of Adam and a regenerate race that is born of the Spirit through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

      To accept this truth requires a tough-mindedness and a spiritual maturity that modern Christians simply do not possess. To face up to it hardly contributes to that "peace of mind" after which our religious weaklings bleat so plaintively.

      For myself, I long ago decided that I would rather know the truth than be happy in ignorance. If I cannot have both truth and happiness, give me truth. We'll have a long time to be happy in heaven.

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See Also:
   Preface
   Chapter 1. Man: The Dwelling Place of God
   Chapter 2. The Call of Christ
   Chapter 3. What We Think of Ourselves Is Important
   Chapter 4. The Once-born and the Twice-born
   Chapter 5. On the Origin and Nature of Things
   Chapter 6. Why People Find the Bible Difficult
   Chapter 7. Faith: The Misunderstood Doctrine
   Chapter 8. True Religion Is Not Feeling but Willing
   Chapter 9. How to Make Spiritual Progress
   Chapter 10. The Old Cross and the New
   Chapter 11. There Is No Wisdom in Sin
   Chapter 12. Three Degrees of Religious Knowledge
   Chapter 13. The Sanctification of the Secular
   Chapter 14. God Must Be Loved for Himself
   Chapter 15. True Faith Is Active. Not Passive
   Chapter 16. On Taking Too Much for Granted
   Chapter 17. The Cure for a Fretful Spirit
   Chapter 18. Boasting or Belittling
   Chapter 19. The Communion of Saints
   Chapter 20. Temperament in the Christian Life
   Chapter 21. Does God Always Answer Prayer?
   Chapter 22. Self-deception and How to Avoid It
   Chapter 23. On Breeding Spotted Mice
   Chapter 24. The Unknown Saints
   Chapter 25. Three Faithful Wounds
   Chapter 26. The Wrath of God: What Is It?
   Chapter 27. In Praise of Dogmatism
   Chapter 28. What Men Live By
   Chapter 29. How to Try the Spirits
   Chapter 30. Religious Boredom
   Chapter 31. The Church Cannot Die
   Chapter 32. The Lordship of the Man Jesus Is Basic
   Chapter 33. A Do-It-Yourself Education Better Than None
   Chapter 34. Some Thoughts on Books and Reading
   Chapter 35. The Decline of Apocalyptic Expectation
   Chapter 36. Choices Reveal - and Make - Character
   Chapter 37. The Importance of Sound Doctrine
   Chapter 38. Some Things Are Not Negotiable
   Chapter 39. The Saint Must Walk Alone

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