The Bible speaks repeatedly of two realms—the realm of Spirit and the realm of flesh.
In the beginning we were brought forth, not made of a woman, but of the word of God (Hebrews 11:3; James 1:18) and in His image and likeness, and given dominion over all of creation (Genesis 1:26). We were Spirit being, one with our Father (who is Spirit) and lived in the realm of Spirit—the kingdom of God which is incorruptible.
But in Adam we began to entertain a sense of separation from our Father which made us afraid. We descended into a realm of “corruptible” flesh which Jesus referred to as “this world”—a realm that no longer reflected the realm created by God. All we could see was our distorted perception of God’s creation.
When we are born into this world “of corruptible seed” (James 1:23), we are “made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4), taking upon ourselves “flesh and blood” which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God” because corruption cannot inherit incorruption (1Corinthians 15:50). We entered the realm of mortality, the death realm, leaving the “way of righteousness” in which there is “no death” (Proverbs 12:28).
The good news of the Gospel is that God Himself descended into “this world” in the form of Jesus to “abolish death and bring life and immortality to light” (2Timothy 1:10).
Like the prodigal son, we can now return to the kingdom of heaven from whence we came. We can be “born again” “of the Spirit.” We can recognize, as Jesus did, that we are “from above,” “not of this world” (John 8:23), that although we all “died” in Adam, we have now been “made alive” in Christ (1Corinthians 15:22). We can humbly accept the free gift of righteousness without the law (Romans 3:21; 5:17), knowing that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).
The realm of flesh is a realm of matter governed by the laws of matter. The kingdom of God is a realm of Spirit, governed by the laws of Spirit and is not subject to the laws of matter—as Jesus repeatedly demonstrated. We must understand that the Spirit being that we truly are was never born. The body that was “made of a woman” and that is called by the name of Jackie is not who I am. It is but a distorted perception of my true body “not made with hands [of sperm and egg], eternal [not subject to death] in the heavens [the realm of Spirit] (2Corinthians 5:1). It is merely a vehicle of matter that I use to appear to this world of matter. It was “made under the law” and is therefore subject to death, in the same way that Jesus’ body was. But, like Jesus demonstrated, “I” (the “I” that I truly am) was never born (before Abraham was, I am—John 8:58), and I can never die (kill this body and in three days “I” will raise it up—John 2:19-21).
To “walk as Jesus walked” (1John 2:6) and do the works that He did (and said that we would do also—John 14:12), I must live in, and operate from, the Spirit realm, the kingdom of heaven.
And to do that I must know my origin, know that I did not originate in the womb of woman ( Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee—Jeremiah 1:5), that my origin is in my Father God:
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being. . . For we are also his offspring.
That is why Jesus said:
John 3: 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
As long as I believe I am “born of the flesh” I will “walk after the flesh” (Romans 8:4), minding the things of the flesh (v 5) “not subject to the law of God” (v 7) because I am “carnally minded” (vv 6-7), “living after the flesh” and experiencing death (v13). I have “received the spirit of bondage again to fear” (v 15), am no longer “led by the Spirit of God,” and, like Adam, I lose the knowledge that I am the son of God (Luke 3:38; Romans 8:14).
But when I realize that my origin is not in flesh, but in God, I know that I am “born of the Spirit” and that I am spirit. I understand that “the body is dead because of sin [the belief in separation from God which produced this mortal body]; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness [the righteousness of God which is a free gift]” (Romans 8:10). I am “spiritually minded” (v 6). My mind or “affection” is “set on things above, not on the things on the earth” because I know that the flesh and blood Jackie is “dead” and that my life “is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3). I am living from the within, looking at “the things which are not seen,” the original creation of God which is “eternal” (2Corinthians 4:18).
I understand that God Himself became “flesh and blood” in order to destroy the carnal mind of man which has the “power of death” and is “the devil,” thereby delivering me from the “fear of death” (which is the “spirit of bondage”) so that I could “receive the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:6, 15; Hebrews 2:14-15)—knowing that God is (and always has been) my Father because I am not born of flesh, but of Spirit!
(Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.)