Question #90

Question 90. What is the birth of the new self?

Answer: It is a sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ (a), and with love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works (b).

(a) Romans 5:1: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 14:17: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 57:15: For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

(b) Romans 6:10-11: For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

For your personal reflection:
Simultaneous to our seeing sin as God sees it – in all of its horror –  is the awakening of wonder, joy and gratitude for what God, in Christ, has done for us.  The Apostle Paul, communicating this incredibe action writes (Romans 5 – read the whole chapter), “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”  “We also rejoice” – to put it mildly.
Do you know the joy of which Paul speaks?
Does your heart delight in Christ?