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Born Into Christ
08/17/2026
Born Into Christ
BORN INTO CHRIST An Expression of the Mysteries of the New Birth, the Bride, the Living Spirit, Marriage, and Victory Over Death There is a depth contained in the profession “I am born again” that is seldom considered. To be born again cannot simply mean that a person has changed religions, joined a church, accepted certain doctrines, begun reading Scripture, or undertaken a program of improved moral conduct. Jesus describes something supernatural: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” —John 3:6 If that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit, then the new birth represents an actual transition in government and identity. The person born of God has entered into something that did not originate with flesh and cannot properly remain governed by flesh. The great Christian adventure is therefore not an attempt to make natural man increasingly religious. It is the movement of man away from the independent government of the natural and into perfect oneness with the one Spirit of God. That movement affects our understanding of marriage, the Bride of Christ, the law, holiness, the purpose of spiritual instruction, the natural body, death, resurrection, judgment, and ultimately the throne of God. These are not unrelated subjects. They are different portions of one mystery. ⸻ THE MYSTERY WAS PRESENT FROM THE BEGINNING Genesis declares: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” —Genesis 2:24 This statement contains more than an instruction concerning ordinary human marriage. Adam’s relationship with Eve was unlike every ordinary marriage that followed it. Eve came directly out of Adam. God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, took from within him, fashioned the woman, and brought her to Adam. Adam then declared: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” —Genesis 2:23 In Adam’s case, that statement was not merely poetic. His wife actually came from him. She was fashioned from what had been within him. That cannot be said literally of an ordinary husband and wife today. A man’s wife was not physically taken out of his body. Ordinary marriage may symbolize the “one flesh” mystery, but Adam experienced something unique: his bride proceeded directly from himself. Yet Adam was not the culmination of the mystery. Paul calls Adam: “the figure of him that was to come.” —Romans 5:14 The one who was to come was Christ. And when Paul quotes Genesis concerning the man and his wife, he makes an extraordinary declaration: “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” —Ephesians 5:31–32 The mystery reaches beyond Adam. It reaches beyond natural marriage. It reaches to Christ and his Bride. As Eve came out of Adam, the Bride of Christ comes from the life and Spirit of Christ. Adam’s experience in the natural reveals beforehand something belonging ultimately to the spiritual. This is why the mystery cannot be understood merely by looking at flesh marrying flesh. The greater marriage is Christ and the Spirit-born Bride. ⸻ THE BRIDE IS NOT MILLIONS OF INDEPENDENT SPIRITS When speaking of the Bride, it is easy for the natural mind to imagine millions of individual believers gathered together and collectively being called Christ’s Bride. But the mystery goes deeper. There is one Spirit. There is one Body. There is one Bride. Paul writes: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” —1 Corinthians 12:13 And: “There is one body, and one Spirit…” —Ephesians 4:4 The Bride is therefore not ultimately an independent spiritual organism standing separately from God. The Bride exists within the one Spirit of God. The Father, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the eternal Spirit, and the Bride are not competing spirits. These titles express relationships and operations within the one Spirit. The Bride is therefore as inseparable from the one Spirit as the one Spirit is inseparable from God. The destination is not the creation of another God alongside God. It is perfect oneness within the one God. This is why Jesus’ prayer in John 17 becomes so profound: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee…” —John 17:21 And: “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” —John 17:23 The movement is toward oneness. Not independence. Not permanent spiritual separation. Oneness. ⸻ ROMANS 7 AND THE MARRIAGE THAT IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED Romans 7 is frequently used to speak about natural marriage. Paul begins: “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?” —Romans 7:1 He then describes a woman being bound under the law to her husband while that husband lives. If the husband dies, the former legal jurisdiction is terminated. But this natural illustration is not Paul’s destination. Paul tells us where he is going: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” —Romans 7:4 The believer has undergone a death. The former jurisdiction has lost its governing authority. And the believer is now married to another. That other is not another ordinance. That other is not another religious institution. That other is not another collection of commandments. That other is: “Him who is raised from the dead.” The believer has become married to the living Christ. ⸻ FROM AN ORDINANCE TO A LIVING SPIRIT This distinction is enormous. Under the former order, Israel was governed through law. That law contained commandments, prohibitions, judgments, permissions, sacrifices, ceremonies, and ordinances. Those things were communicated and administered through men whom God appointed: Moses, priests, prophets, judges, and others. A person under that order was governed through an established covenantal structure. But the believer who has become dead to that former government is not simply transferred into another collection of ordinances. Paul says: “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” —Romans 7:6 The transition is therefore not simply: old rules to new rules. It is: letter to Spirit; external government to inward government; ordinance to living Husband. The Christian is married to someone who is alive. ⸻ THE HUSBAND SPEAKS Jesus promised: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” —John 16:13 Jeremiah prophesied concerning the new covenant: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts…” —Jeremiah 31:33 Then: “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them…” —Jeremiah 31:34 John writes: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you…” And continues: “the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie…” —1 John 2:27 This does not require us to destroy what God previously established through apostles, prophets, teachers, and other servants. What God established remains established. Their testimonies remain. Their experiences remain. Their works remain witnesses. But what was established through them does not establish a perpetual necessity for flesh and blood to stand between the believer and Christ. The historical teacher cannot become a permanent intermediary between the Bride and the living Husband. The believer is being directed toward knowing God personally through the Spirit of Truth. The Husband is alive. The Spirit is alive. And if the believer is truly married to a living Spirit, the believer must learn to hear the Spirit to whom he or she is married. ⸻ NATURAL MARRIAGE MUST THEN BE RECONSIDERED Jesus said: “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage.” —Luke 20:34 But Jesus also said concerning those belonging to him: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” —John 17:16 If a person has genuinely been born from the natural government of the world into Christ, then natural marriage cannot simply continue to be viewed through the assumptions of the world. The world teaches people to expect marriage. A person grows up anticipating that he will seek a woman. A woman anticipates that she will seek a man. People speak of needing somebody, finding somebody, falling in love, settling down, and satisfying the natural desires associated with marriage. But the born-again believer has entered another marriage. Paul says plainly: “that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.” Therefore, the question changes. It can no longer simply be: “Do I want a husband?” or: “Do I want a wife?” The question becomes: “What does my Husband, Christ, desire?” ⸻ NATURAL MARRIAGE IS NOT NECESSARILY FORBIDDEN—BUT IT MUST BE GOVERNED This mystery does not mean that Christ can never instruct a believer to enter natural marriage. The issue is not merely the existence of natural marriage. The issue is who governs it. If Christ, the living Husband, directs a believer into natural marriage, then the believer is not independently pursuing flesh. The believer is obeying Christ. But if Christ has not given that direction, the appetite of flesh cannot rightfully replace the government of the Spirit. The born-again believer should therefore not automatically pursue natural marriage simply because natural desire says: “I want somebody.” If you are married to Christ, then ask your Husband. ⸻ HUMANITY’S OBLIGATION TO GOD PRECEDES HUMANITY’S RECOGNITION OF GOD Someone may say: “But I entered my natural relationship before I knew Christ.” That raises the question of whether ignorance removes humanity’s obligation to God. Scripture says: “Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price…” —1 Corinthians 6:19–20 And: “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” —2 Corinthians 5:15 Human beings may enter the world ignorant of God. They may not recognize his claim. They may not understand holiness. But ignorance of the claim does not mean the claim did not exist. Humanity belongs under the holiness of God. The awakening of the individual to Christ does not create Christ’s claim. It causes the person to recognize the claim that was already there. ⸻ LUST CANNOT CREATE HOLINESS John writes: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” —1 John 2:16 James explains: “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin…” —James 1:14–15 Lust must not be reduced merely to sexual appetite. Lust may concern flesh. It may concern wealth. It may concern power. It may concern political advantage. It may concern recognition. It may concern security. It may concern social position. The underlying principle is desire operating independently of the government of God. Therefore, something does not become holy simply because human beings successfully established it. If something was established contrary to God’s holiness, its longevity cannot retroactively make God its author. ⸻ EZRA AND THE DISMANTLING OF WHAT HUMAN BEINGS ESTABLISHED Ezra 9–10 presents an important pattern. The people had entered marriages contrary to God’s established order. Those relationships had become substantial realities. There were husbands. There were wives. There were children. There were households. There were emotional attachments. Time had passed. Nevertheless, the fact that these arrangements had become deeply established did not place them beyond God’s authority. They were required to separate. There was tremendous sorrow and weeping. But the principle remained: God is not required to preserve something merely because human beings have established it. Time cannot sanctify disorder. Human comfort cannot overrule divine holiness. Human investment cannot make God the author of something contrary to him. If God requires that something cease, then God retains the authority to require its cessation. ⸻ “WHAT GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHER” Jesus said: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” —Matthew 19:6 The critical words are: “God hath joined.” Human beings cannot act independently of God’s holiness and afterward make God the author of their action merely by declaring that he joined it. The deeper mystery concerns what God himself joins. And the incorporation of the Gentiles into Christ provides a powerful manifestation of this principle. ⸻ GOD JOINED JEW AND GENTILE For generations Israel had been separated from the surrounding nations under divine direction. But when God chose to bring the Gentiles into the same spiritual Body, the former boundary could not legitimately be maintained against God. At Cornelius’s house, the Holy Ghost fell upon Gentiles. Peter recognized the significance: “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” —Acts 10:47 Later he explained: “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us… what was I, that I could withstand God?” —Acts 11:17 God had acted. God had joined. Man could not withstand God. Paul says Christ: “hath made both one…” and had created: “in himself of twain one new man…” —Ephesians 2:14–15 Then Paul reveals the mystery: “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body…” —Ephesians 3:6 This is the greater joining. God incorporates people into Christ through one Spirit. What God spiritually joins into himself cannot legitimately be separated by human resistance. ⸻ THE NATURAL BODY AS CONCUBINE AND SERVANT There is another mystery that helps explain the believer’s present condition. The natural body should not be confused with the Bride itself. The Bride belongs to the one Spirit. The natural bodies through which that Spirit presently operates occupy the position of servants—concubines unto the Lord. The pattern can be seen through Sarah and Keturah. Keturah bore Abraham six sons. Her productivity was undeniable. Yet Scripture identifies her as Abraham’s concubine. After Sarah’s death, Genesis says: “Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.” —Genesis 25:1 Yet 1 Chronicles 1:32 can still identify Keturah as Abraham’s concubine. The two descriptions coexist. That provides a pattern for understanding the believer. The born-again person can participate in the Bride identity through the one Spirit while simultaneously recognizing the natural body as concubine and servant. The body may perform tremendous works. It may preach. It may labor. It may sacrifice. It may suffer. It may accomplish many things in service to God. But bodily productivity does not change the body’s natural status. Just as bearing Abraham six sons did not erase Keturah’s concubine distinction, the amount of work performed through a natural body cannot make natural flesh the eternal Spirit. The flesh remains servant. The Bride is Spirit. ⸻ DEATH CHANGES STATUS Sarah’s death precedes Genesis identifying Keturah as Abraham’s wife. This introduces another important mystery: death changes status. The born-again believer has undergone a death. The old man is crucified. The carnal government is put to death. The person is born of Spirit. Thus, spiritually, the believer participates in the wife/Bride identity while still inhabiting a natural body possessing its servant/concubine condition. Ultimately, however, even that natural body awaits transformation. Paul declares: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed…” —1 Corinthians 15:51 And: “this mortal must put on immortality.” —1 Corinthians 15:53 The servant body is not the final condition. Transformation awaits it. ⸻ DEATH IS AN ENEMY This brings us to one of the most consequential mysteries. Paul says: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” —1 Corinthians 15:26 That statement establishes death’s identity. Death is an enemy. Death should therefore not be transformed by religious tradition into the believer’s friend. Death is not something that should be glorified merely because human beings have become accustomed to its presence. It is an enemy. And Christ has confronted that enemy. Paul says: “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” —Romans 6:9 Christ says: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore…” —Revelation 1:18 Christ has passed through death and emerged victorious. ⸻ THE VICTORY OF CHRIST AFFECTED OTHERS Christ’s resurrection was not merely a private victory concerning his own body. Matthew records: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose…” and: “came out of the graves after his resurrection…” —Matthew 27:52–53 The victory of Christ immediately manifested consequences beyond Christ himself. Those whom death had held were released. This raises a profound question: If...
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