We continue looking at authority. We have established that all authority is from God. Last time we saw that the root meaning of authority in Hebrew means to overpower or prevail, and in Greek, it means connected to the right source or out of the I AM.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power(authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
The word “power” is the Greek word Exousia. This verse literally says that we are given authority to become His children when we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. We have already seen that one of the meanings is to be connected to the proper source. Being born again is more than just receiving forgiveness for your sins. It is more than just having eternal life. When we understand that it also includes us being connected to the right source, we will understand what God intended to sustain us. He is our life and our source each day.
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
You were in God’s plan from the beginning. Before God created anything, He already saw your life – Psalm 139. God has always seen man as being connected to Him. We were created by Him, for Him, and His purposes. We were never supposed to be disconnected or separated from God. The horror of sin is that it severed us from God, our very source. Sin separated us from the life of God. If you are not connected to God you have no life in you. To get life, you must have the Son – 1 John 5:12. When we sinned, we got disconnected from God and connected to the wrong source. We all sinned and fell short of the glory of God – Rom 3:23.
It is natural for sinners to sin because they are connected to the father of sin. They can only produce from the source that they are connected to. Death brings forth death. The wages of sin is death – Rom 6:23.
What happened when we got born again?
First, you became a new creation. The born again experience does not try to fix your old nature or your old man. It recreates you into a new creation, a God creation, a creation that is severed from their past sins.
2 Cor 5:17 I am a New Creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
This newly created being is now united with God again. Not only have you been connected with God again, but He also allows us to become participants in His divine nature.
Eph 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
2Pet. 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Here is where it all comes together. Because we are now connected with the proper source, sharing in God’s nature, He gives us the authority to be His children. We get what we need from Him. He sources our needs and connects us with Him to demonstrate what it looks like to be children of God.
When I got born again, my old man died. I was crucified with Christ, and I am not living anymore. His life is pulsating through me. He is living His life in and through me.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ is living through me. The life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God.
In closing, let’s see what this verse says. Remember that I am no longer living. I was crucified with Christ. He is living His life in me. If I am dead and He is alive, who’s faith is working in me? It is His faith. Some translations replaced the word “His” for the word “in.” Then it reads, “I live by faith in the Son of God.”
It is not us believing in Him. It is Him believing in us because He knows and understands the power of the Life of Christ. The authority is what God gives because our source is Christ. I love how Paul defends the faith in the book of Acts.
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Next week we will look further into the authority of the believer.
