Re: Our Spirit and God’s. You said we’re born with our spirit attuned to the Spirit of God. I understand that Jesus commanded us to be born again (in the spirit). Why do we need to be re-born when God had already formed our spirit during conception? Is our original attuned spirit inferior to the required ‘born-again’ spirit?
It’s like this. When we’re born our human spirit is attuned to the Spirit of God. That means God’s will and our will are the same. As we mature, our sin nature, something we were born with, begins progressively asserting itself, causing us to go against God’s will. Before long our sin nature becomes stronger than our spirit.
Until we reach the age of accountability our behavior is not counted against us. But at the age of accountability we become responsible for our actions and since our sin nature is in control we’re soon destined for death, because death is the punishment for sin. By confessing our sins and asking Jesus to forgive us, the death penalty is canceled and we become born again to eternal life. Then God sends His Holy Spirit to help our spirit regain control of our behavior.
But the sin nature doesn’t just go away. For as long as we live we have to consciously decide who’s going to guide our behavior, the Holy Spirit or our sin nature. Sometimes we choose one and sometimes we choose the other. God knew this would be a problem for us, so when we become born again He forgives all the sins of our life, even those we haven’t committed yet (Colossians 2:13-14). This way He can guarantee that the gift of eternal life will always be ours (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Therefore, when we sin after being born again He doesn’t count it against us, but against the sin nature that dwells within us (Romans 7:18-20).