I was talking recently with someone who was looking forward to becoming a father. He asked me, "Is it hard to learn how to be a good father? How did you deal with that change in your life?"

"One of the nice things about becoming a father," I said, "is that it happened one step at a time. First we got engaged, and then some time later we got married. During that time, talking about parenting helped prepare me mentally. A few months after our marriage, my wife became pregnant, and then we still had nine months before our child was actually born."

"Of course, having a new baby was a big change, but still there were many parenting tasks that came later. For example, discipline wasn't an issue for the first year, and it was two years before we had to help our son learn to get along with his new baby sister. Being a good father all at once would be impossible, but the Lord gives us a chance to learn slowly."

Most changes in our lives are gradual. An inch of growth may take a child half a year. It can take several years to learn to speak a new language or play a musical instrument. Two people can be married in a day, but the actual marriage of minds takes decades to accomplish.

Changes in our spiritual life are also gradual. They take place one step at a time, and spiritual growth will be easier if we know that it does not take place in a moment. It is an ongoing process. Jesus said,

"Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

Many passages in the Bible indicate that being born again spiritually will be just as much a step by step process as physical conception, gestation, birth, growth, and development. For example, Peter describes it in seven distinct steps:

"Add to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love." Only by completing this process can we be sure to enter the Kingdom of God. (2 Peter 1:5)

One reason why being born again must be a gradual process is that it involves a complete change of character. Paul describes it this way:

"If any one be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:5)

Rebirth involves new knowledge, new habits, new activities, new loves, and new awareness of the Lord.

New Knowledge

Rebirth does not take place through a blind leap of faith, but through gradual education, study and enlightenment. Jesus said,

"If you continue in My Word, ...the truth shall make you free." (John 15:3)

Truth is the tool of change, the means to a new life. Jesus said,

"Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3)

Instead of accepting dogmas without question we must make sense of the truth in order to be reborn. Being "childlike" does not mean being childish in our beliefs.

"In malice be children, but in understanding be adults." (1 Corinthians 14:20)

In one of His stories, Jesus describes a good person as one "who hears the Word, and understands it, and also bears fruit." (Matthew 12:23)

Most important of all is the understanding of God. If God's nature is a mystery to us, we can hardly say that we are born again, or that we are His sons. (Compare John 15:15.)

Knowing God goes hand in hand with being born from Him. (1 John 4:7)

"The pure in heart shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

When we are born again, God "shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6)

New Habits

Anyone who is in the habit of doing or thinking evil things is living the "old" life, and is incapable of the genuine goodness of the person who has overcome them.

"Can the leopard change its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil." (Jeremiah 13:23)

"He who commits sin is the servant of sin." (John 8:34)

Receiving the new life requires fighting against the old habits.

"Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die? ...Turn and live!" (Ezekiel 18:21, 31-32.)

"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doing from My eyes! Cease to do evil, learn to do good." (Isaiah 1:16.)

This kind of repentance cannot take place merely by praying for forgiveness. It requires a struggle, an ongoing battle to overcome the old ways of life. Paul called this a struggle between the "flesh" and the "spirit." (Galatians 4:29, Romans 8:7.)

It is a battle that requires our greatest effort -- "all your heart and all your soul and all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Eventually, through constant effort, God gives us such power over our habits that we no longer would think of doing something evil. When this time finally comes, we can be called "born again."

"Whoever is born of God does not commit sin.... He cannot sin, because he is born of God." (1 John 3:9)

"Whatever is born of God overcomes the world.... We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who is born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him." (1 John 5:4, 18)

New Activities

Along with new habits come new activities. A person who neglects to be useful cannot be born again, and cannot go to heaven. Jesus indicated that some Christians would not be saved because they lacked good works.

"Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, ' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens." (Matthew 7:21)

In one of His parables, Jesus told of some people who would go into everlasting punishment, not because they had lacked faith, but because they had failed to help people who were in need. (Matthew 25:41-46)

After death, the Lord "renders unto everyone according to his deeds." (Matthew 16:27)

A person who is born again is concerned for others, and orients his life around the work he can do to help others.

"Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead... A person is justified by works, and not by faith alone." (James 2:17, 24)

To be born again, you must "bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." (Luke 3:8) Service and usefulness are marks of the new life.

New Loves

Even more than faith and more than works, the power that causes a person to be born again is love. Peter tells us that we are reborn by means of loving and for the purpose of loving others.

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, being born again...by the word of God." (1 Peter 1:22, 23)

John also makes it very clear that only those who love others can receive the new life:

"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death." (1 John 3:14)

"Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:7-8)

New Awareness of the Lord

We must take it upon ourselves to have faith, to fight the evil impulses within ourselves, to serve others, and to love others if we wish to be born again. Yet in all these things we need also to realize that it is the Lord who is working within us.

"You have also done all our works in us." (Isaiah 26:12)

"There are many forms of work, but all of them, in all people, are the work of the same God." (1 Corinthians 12:6)

In the process of rebirth we come to realize that it is the Lord working within us that enables us to work, believe, struggle, and love. These abilities are His merciful gift. He says,

"I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you...and cause you to walk in my statutes." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Patience

In order to be reborn we must renew our knowledge, habits, actions, loves and relationship with the Lord. All this takes time, even a lifetime. Just as childbirth and growth require patience and endurance, so does being born again.

"In your patience you will possess your souls." (Luke 21:19)

"Whoever endures to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10:22)

God will give eternal life to those who seek it "by patient continuance in doing good." (Romans 2:7)

We cannot expect to be born again in a single moment. Again and again, the Bible advises steadfastness and endurance if we wish to gain the promise of heaven.

"It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lamentations 3:26, 27)

For although it takes time, if we do our part, the Lord will certainly make it happen.

"Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." (Psalms 37:5, 7)

740. Called the devil and Satan, signifies because interiorly they were in evils and in falsities that are from hell. This is evident from the signification of "the devil and as being hell in respect to evils and falsities (of which presently). It means those who were interiorly in evils and the falsities thence, since those who are here meant by "the dragon" and are called "the devil and Satan," are not exteriorly such, but interiorly; for exteriorly ¹ they speak like men of the church, and some like angels of heaven, about God, the Lord, faith in Him and love to Him, and about heaven and hell, and they gather many things from the Word by which they confirm their dogmas; thus by these exteriors they are conjoined to heaven; and yet interiorly they are not affected by them, much less delighted with them, but are affected and delighted only with bodily and worldly things, even so that they regard heavenly things as comparatively of no account. In a word, they love above all things the things of the body and of the world, and heavenly things only as things serviceable; thus they make the things of the body and of the world the head, and heavenly things the feet. They are such because they make the life to be of no account, saying that faith alone saves, and not any good of life. Therefore they are devils and satans, for man is such as he is interiorly, and not such as he is merely exteriorly, except when he speaks and acts outwardly from the interior. Moreover, a man continues such after death; for such as a man is interiorly, such he is in respect to the spirit, and the spirit of man is the affection from which is the will and the life therefrom. From this it follows that those who make no account of the life are interiorly devils and satans, and they also become devils and satans when their life in the world is ended and they become spirits.

[2] They are called "the devil and Satan" because both "the devil" and "Satan" signify hell; "the devil" signifying the hell from which are evils, and "Satan" the hell from which are falsities; this hell is called "Satan" because all who are in it are called satans, and the other hell is called "the devil" because all who are in it are called devils. Before the creation of the world there was no devil or Satan who had been an angel of light and was afterwards cast down with his crew into hell, as can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heaven and Hell 311-316, under the head, "Heaven and Hell are from the Human Race").

[3] It is to be known that there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, namely, a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom (on which see in the work on Heaven and Hell 20-28). To these two kingdoms correspond by opposition the two kingdoms into which the hells are divided; to the celestial kingdom corresponds by opposition the infernal kingdom that consists of devils and is therefore called "the devil," and to the spiritual kingdom corresponds by opposition the infernal kingdom that consists of satans and is therefore called "Satan." And as the celestial kingdom consists of angels who are in love to the Lord, so the infernal kingdom corresponding by opposition to the celestial kingdom consists of devils, who are in the love of self; consequently from that hell evils of every kind flow forth. And as the spiritual kingdom consists of the angels who are in charity towards the neighbor, so the infernal kingdom that corresponds by opposition to the spiritual kingdom consists of satans, who are in falsities from love of the world, consequently from that hell falsities of every kind flow forth.

[4] From this it is clear what "the devil" and "Satan" signify in the following passages. In the Gospels:

Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1, seq.; Luke 4:1-13).

What is signified by the "wilderness," and by the Lord's "temptations" for forty days and forty nights, has been shown above n. 730. He is said to have been tempted "by the devil" to signify that He was tempted by the hells from which are evils, thus by the worst of the hells, for these were the hells that chiefly fought against the Lord's Divine love, since the love that reigned in those hells was the love of self, and this love is the opposite of the Lord's love, thus of the love that is from the Lord.

[5] In Matthew:

The tares are the sons of the evil one; the enemy that soweth is the devil (Matthew 13:38, 39).

"Tares" signify the falsities of doctrine, of religion, and of worship, which are from evil, therefore they are also called "the sons of the evil one;" and as evil brings them forth it is said that it is "the devil that soweth them."

[6] In Luke:

Those upon the way are they that hear; then cometh the devil and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved (Luke 8:12).

And in Mark:

These are they upon the way, where the word is sown; and when they have heard, straightway cometh Satan and taketh away the word which hath been sown in their hearts (Mark 4:15).

Respecting this the term "devil" is used in Luke, and "Satan" in Mark, for the reason that "the seed that fell upon the way" signifies truth from the Word that is received in the memory only and not in the life, and as this is taken away both by evil and by falsity, therefore both "the devil" and "Satan" are mentioned; and therefore in Luke it is said that "the devil cometh and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved;" and in Mark that "Satan cometh and taketh away the word which hath been sown in their hearts."

[7] In Matthew:

The king shall say to them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil ² and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

Here the term "devil" is used because this was said of those who did not do good works, and therefore did evil works; for those who do not do good works do evil works; for the works they did not do are recounted in the preceding verses, and when goods are lightly esteemed evils are loved.

[8] The Lord calls Judas Iscariot:

A devil (John 6:70);

And it is said that the devil put into his heart (John 13:2);

And that after he had taken the sop satan entered into him (John 13:27; Luke 22:3).

It is so said because Judas Iscariot represented the Jews, who were in falsities from evil, and therefore from evil he is called a "devil," and from falsities a "Satan." Wherefore it is said that "the devil put into his heart," "to put into the heart" meaning into the love that is of his will. Also it is said that "after he had taken the sop Satan entered into him;" "to enter into him with the sop" meaning into the belly, which signifies into the thought, and falsities from evil belong to the thought.

[9] In John:

Jesus said to the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will to do; he was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth because there is no truth in him; when he speaketh a lie he speaketh from his own (John 8:44).

This describes the Jewish nation, such as it had been from the beginning, namely, that it was in evil and in falsities therefrom. "Their father the devil" means evil from hell, in which their fathers were in Egypt and afterwards in the desert; that they willed to remain in the evils of their cupidities is signified by "the desires of your father ye will to do;" that they destroyed every truth of the understanding is signified by "he was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth because there was no truth in him;" as "man" signifies the truth of intelligence, so "murderer" signifies its destroyer. Their falsities from evil are signified by "when he speaketh a lie he speaketh from his own;" "his own" signifying the evil of the will, and "lie" the falsity therefrom.

[10] In Matthew:

The Pharisees said of Jesus, He doth not cast out demons but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, If Satan casteth out satan he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? But if I in the spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come unto you (Matthew 12:24-26, 28).

Here the term "Satan," and not devil is used, because "Beelzebub," who was the god of Ekron, means the god of all falsities, for "Beelzebub" by derivation means the god of flies, and "flies" signify the falsities of the sensual man, thus falsities of every kind. This is why Beelzebub is called Satan. So, too, the Lord said, "If I in the spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come unto you;" "the spirit of God" meaning Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and "the kingdom of God" thence signifying heaven and the church that are in Divine truths.

[11] In the Gospels:

Peter rebuking Jesus because He was willing to suffer, Jesus turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan, thou art a stumbling-block, because thou savorest not the things which are of God, but the things which are of men (Matthew 16:22, 23; Mark 8:32, 33).

The Lord said this to Peter because in a representative sense "Peter" signified faith; and as faith is of truth, and also, as here, of falsity, Peter is called Satan, for as has been said "Satan" means the hell that is the source of falsities. "Peter" represented faith in both senses, namely, faith from charity, and faith without charity; and faith without charity is the faith of falsity.

Moreover, those who are in faith without charity find a stumbling-block in the Lord's suffering Himself to be crucified; therefore this is called a "stumbling-block." As the passion of the cross was the Lord's last temptation and complete victory over all the hells, and also the complete union of His Divine with the Divine Human, and this is unknown to those who are in the faith of falsity, the Lord said "thou savorest not the things which are of God, but the things which are of men. "

[12] In Luke:

Jesus said to Simon, Behold Satan demanded you that he might sift you as wheat. But I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; when, therefore, thou shalt be converted, strengthen thou thy brethren (Luke 22:31, 32).

Here, too, "Peter" represents faith without charity, which faith is the faith of falsity, for this was said to him by the Lord just before he thrice denied Him. Because he represented faith therefore the Lord says, "I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not;" that he represented the faith of falsity is evident from the Lord's saying to him, "when, therefore, thou shalt be converted, strengthen thou thy brethren." As the faith of falsity is like chaff before the wind, it is said that "Satan demanded them that he might sift them as wheat," "wheat" meaning the good of charity separated from chaff. From this it is clear why the name "Satan" is here used.

[13] In the same:

I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven (Luke 10:18).

Here "Satan" has a similar signification as "the dragon" who was also seen in heaven and was cast out of heaven; but properly it is the "dragon" that is meant by the "devil," and "his angels" that are meant by "Satan." That "the angels of the dragon" mean the falsities of evil will be seen in a subsequent paragraph. "Satan falling down from heaven" signifies that the Lord by Divine truth, which He then was, thrust all falsities out of heaven and subjugated those hells that are called "Satan," like as Michael cast down "the dragon and his angels" (of which above, n. 737).

[14] In Job:

There was a day when the sons of God came to stand by Jehovah, and Satan came in the midst of them. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking through it. And Jehovah gave into the hand of Satan all things belonging to Job, but he was not to put forth his hand upon Job; also afterwards that he might touch his bone and his flesh (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7).

That this is a composed history is evident from many things in this book. The book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, full of correspondences, according to the mode of writing at that time, but yet it is an excellent and useful book. The angels at that time were called "sons of God," because "sons of God," the same as "angels," mean Divine truths, and "Satan" infernal falsities. And as the hells tempt men by falsities, as Job was afterwards tempted, and as infernal falsities are dispersed by Divine truths, it is said that "Satan stood in the midst of the sons of God." What the rest signifies will not be explained here, since it must be made clear in its series.

[15] In David:

They put upon me evil for good, and hatred for my love; appoint Thou a wicked one over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand (Psalms 109:5-6).

This, like most things in the Psalms of David, is a prophecy respecting the Lord and His temptations; for He above all others endured the most frightful temptations; and as He in His temptations fought from Divine love against the hells, which were most hostile to Him, it is said "they put upon me evil for good, and hatred for my love;" and as infernal evil and falsity prevail with them it is said "appoint thou a wicked one over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand;" "to stand at the right hand" signifying to be wholly possessed, and "Satan" signifying infernal falsity with which he was possessed.

[16] In Zechariah:

Afterwards he showed me Joshua the great priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary; and Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, even He who chooseth Jerusalem; is not this a brand delivered out of the fire? And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and thus stood before the angel (Zechariah 3:1-3).

What this involves can be seen only from the series of things that precede and follow; from these it can be seen that this represented how the Word was falsified. "Joshua the great priest" signifies here the law or the Word; and "he stood before the angel clothed in filthy garments" signifies its falsification. This shows that "Satan" here means the falsity of doctrine from the Word when it is falsified; and as this began to prevail at that time, Zechariah saw "Satan standing at his right hand;" "to stand at the right hand" signifying to fight against Divine truth. Because it is the sense of the letter of the Word only that can be falsified, for the reason that the things in that sense are truths in appearance only, and those who interpret the Word according to the letter cannot easily be convinced of falsities, so Joshua ³ said, "Jehovah rebuke thee," as above n. 735, where is explained what is signified by "Michael disputed with the devil about the body of Moses, and Michael said to the devil, The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 1:9). Because the truth of doctrine from the Word which has been falsified is here meant, it is said, "Jehovah who chooseth Jerusalem; is not this a brand delivered out of the fire?" "Jerusalem" signifying the doctrine of the church, and "a brand delivered out of the fire" that there was but little of truth left.

[17] In these passages in the Old Testament "Satan" only is mentioned, and in no place the devil, but instead of the devil the terms "foe," "enemy," "hater," "adversary," "accuser," "demon," also "death" and "hell," are made use of. From this it may be clear that "the devil" signifies the hell from which are evils, and "Satan" the hell from which are falsities; as also in the following passages in Revelation:

Afterwards I saw an angel coming down out of heaven having the key of the abyss and a great chain upon his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall lead the nations astray. And the devil that led them astray was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:1, 2, 7, 8, 10).

But what "demon" and "spirit of a demon" signify may be seen above n. 586.

Footnotes: