The Necessity of the New Birth

The new birth is necessary before a person can believe in Jesus Christ. To understand why, an examination of what the Bible teaches regarding the fall of man into sin and its consequences is necessary. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden he sinned against God and died spiritually (Gen. 2:17). As the first man, Adam represented all mankind before God. When Adam fell, mankind fell. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). One aspect of the curse that sin brought upon all mankind was a change of man’s heart from being good, holy, and upright to being evil, unholy, and corrupt. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). A brief examination of the biblical teaching regarding unregenerate man will prove that regeneration is necessary before a person is enabled to believe in Jesus Christ, and that regeneration is something that only God can accomplish.