The answer to the age old question about why we must be born-again dates back to the beginning of Creation and the Garden of Eden, where both the tree of knowledge and the tree of life once grew. The Bible states that, "Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,"(Genesis 2:9).
The tree of knowledge was not placed in the garden to tempt man; to the contrary, it was put there to give him a choice in his destiny. Through obedience, man could partake of the tree of life and live forever, or, through disobedience, he could choose to go his own way by partaking of the tree of knowledge. When partaking of the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve gained the ability to discern right from wrong, but, along with that knowledge, came an immediate spiritual death. And as a result, the physical death would then follow, because God would no longer allow man to continue partaking of the tree of life in his sinful state.
The Lord God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," (Genesis 1:26). God used the words "us" and "our" in reference to Himself, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all of which comprise the Trinity. The following Scriptures bear witness to the fact that Jesus (in His spiritual form) was with God when Adam was created. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God," (St. John 1:1-2).
God the Father is an Almighty consuming power possessing the ability to change into other forms whenever He wishes. Created man could stand in His presence only in the image he was created, which is without sin. Those who stood before God with sin in their lives were destroyed by His awesome presence, and, although God hates sin, He loves the sinner. God sent His Son into the world so that through His body and blood (the word) we might be justified in the faith by being reunited in fellowship with Him upon receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
God hates sin so much that He withdrew His presence from Mount Calvary when Jesus (for our sakes) took the sins of this world upon Himself. At that moment Jesus cried out, saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," (St. Mark 15:34)? The fleshly part of Jesus felt forsaken at that moment, but the spiritual part of our Lord then knew that His work was finished, which is why He then said, "It is finished," (St. John 19:30).
God divided himself into three Godheads in order to minister to us in our sinful state, without our being destroyed by His powerful presence. Through Jesus, God demonstrated His tremendous love by making it possible for each of us to be reconciled to Him. Through the Holy Spirit, God works in the hearts of all men, drawing them to Him, and it's only through His Spirit abiding within us that we can receive spiritual growth, and be brought back into His Holy presence.
When God said, "Let us create man in our image," He meant in the same sense that He is God over all the heavens, and cannot sin unto Himself. He would create man to be the god of his own life, and over all the earth. Before their fall, Adam and Eve could not sin; in fact, they had no concept whatsoever of good or evil. This is because they were created to inhabit a perfect world wherein there was no evil, and therefore no sin. Therefore, they could not sin, but, as god of their own lives, they could choose to disobey their Creator.
If the tree of knowledge had not been placed in the midst of the garden, Adam and Eve would not have been in control of their lives. Instead, they would have been like controlled subjects, much the same as our domesticated farm animals that have no choice in their destiny. Albeit, God said, "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth," (Genesis 1:26).
The word "dominion" means absolute ownership, proving that man was created to be in control of his own life, and the physical world as well. The Scriptures reveal that Adam and Eve had a much higher intelligence than those of us living in this age. This is because their brain was more attuned to the spiritual aspects of life than the physical, and I offer you the following Scriptures as proof:
"Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field," (Genesis 2:19-20). Adam was able to do this because he had the use of his entire brain, both spiritual and physical, which enabled him to know the personalities and characteristics of each species, enabling him to name them accordingly.
The last verse in the second chapter of Genesis states, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." I submit to you that they were not ashamed because they had the use of their entire brain, and two-thirds of it was attuned to the spiritual aspects of life. The part lost, as a result of disobedience, had to do with the spiritual aspects of man's descent. Notice that the greater emphasis was on the spiritual rather than the physical, which is why they were both naked, but were not ashamed.
The Scriptures shown in the following paragraphs reveal how man lost his spirituality. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made," (Genesis 3:1). The word "subtle" means skillful, ingenious, cunning, crafty, devious and wily. Now imagine the serpent being possessed by Satan. That should give you some idea what Adam and Eve were confronted with the day they were deceived into disobeying God. Notice that Satan was smart enough to deceive Adam and Eve, who had use of their entire brain; however, most of those making up Christianity today truly believe that Satan cannot deceive them! Something to think about isn't it?
Before the fall of man, the serpent was not a snake, as we tend to think. Remember, it was not until after the fall of Adam and Eve that God cursed the serpent, saying, "Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life," (Genesis 3:14). The serpent was apparently part of a group known as beast of the field before being reduced to a lower life form.
While you are reading about Adam and Eve, Satan may speak to you (through your mind) saying, "doesn't it insult your intelligence to believe that the serpent could actually speak to Adam and Eve, and they could understand what he was saying? You know that humans cannot communicate with animals!"
Satan plants such thoughts into our minds to create doubt, because he does not want us to accept God's word in the literal sense. But, he's right, man cannot communicate with other life forms today, and he's the reason why. Nonetheless, we must remember that Adam and Eve had the use of their entire brain, meaning both spiritual and physical, during their conversation with the serpent, and they could communicate with him.
"And he [Satan speaking through the serpent] said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden,"(Genesis 3:1). Satan asked that question because this was his first encounter with God's prime creation, and he was on a fishing expedition to find out how Adam's and Eve's minds worked, in hopes of gaining an advantage over them. "And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die," (Genesis 3:2-3).
After hearing the words, "lest you die,"Satan then knew that Eve was thinking of death in the physical sense rather than the spiritual, and that gave him the advantage he was looking for. He then responded, saying, "You shall not surely [immediately] die: for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil," (Genesis 3:4-5). Notice that Satan didn't outright lie to the woman, but he told her some half-truths, causing her to believe a lie, which is how he works to deceive us through deceived clergy persons today.
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. And that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise: She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband there with her, and he did eat," (Genesis 3:6). Their eyes were already open, which is how they knew the tree was pleasant to look upon. Nevertheless, the next verse states, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons," (Genesis 3:7).
Clearly, their disobedience cost them the loss of the spiritual part of their brain bringing about an immediate spiritual death for them. Suddenly, their attention is focused only on the physical realm of life, and now they are ashamed of their nakedness.
"And the Lord God said, Behold the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever," (Genesis 3:22). "So he drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," (Genesis 3:24). Then, we see an expression of God's great love for the now fallen man and his wife: "The Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed them,"(Genesis 3:21).
Now, because of their disobedience, we are all born into this world spiritually dead, with the use of only the physical part of our brain. The Bible states, "Wherefore, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that we have all sinned. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ" (Romans 5: 12 & 17).
Being born-again will not give us the use of our entire brain back in this life, but that will be achieved during the first resurrection when the Saints of God shall be changed into the very likeness of Christ. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit will use a small portion of that part of our brain to bring about a balance of spiritual power in our lives, if we continue in His word.
The same opportunities that were available to Adam and Eve are also available to us. The circumstances are somewhat different, but the opportunities are the same. Man is now the god of his own life (unknowingly following Satan) until he decides to turn to God; and Jesus is to us what the tree of life was to Adam and Eve, because it is only through Him that we can receive the gift of eternal life.
Jesus is the word of God, the way, the truth, and the life. He is also the tree of life from which His children can partake by simply reading the Bible. Through His word, God creates a spiritual awakening within us whereby we then become new creatures. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new," (II Cor. 5:17).