# “This mighty change” by J.C. Ryle

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2012/11/13/this-mighty-change-by-j-c-ryle/
- Published: 2012-11-13T12:00:52-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“To possess the privileges of Christ’s kingdom, a man must be born again of the 
Holy Ghost. The change which our Lord here declares needful to salvation is evidently
no slight or superficial one. It is not merely reformation, or amendment, or moral
change, or outward alteration of life.

It is a thorough change of heart, will, and character. It is a resurrection. It 
is a new creation. It is a passing from death to life. It is the implanting in our
dead hearts of a new principle from above.

It is the calling into existence of a _new_ creature, with a _new_ nature, _new_
habits of life, _new_ tastes, _new_ desires, _new_ appetites, _new_ judgments, _new_
opinions, _new_ hopes, and _new_ fears. All this, and nothing less than this is 
implied, when our Lord declares that we all need a ‘_new birth_.’

This change of heart is rendered absolutely necessary to salvation by the corrupt
condition in which we are all, without exception, born. ‘That which is born of the
flesh is flesh.’ Our nature is thoroughly fallen.

The carnal mind is enmity against God. (Rom. 8:7.) We come into the world without
faith, or love, or fear toward God. We have no natural inclination to serve Him 
or obey Him, and no natural pleasure in doing His will.

Left to himself, no child of Adam would ever turn to God. The truest description
of the change which we all need in order to make us real Christians, is the expression,‘
new birth.’

This mighty change, it must never be forgotten, we cannot give to ourselves. The
very name which our Lord gives to it is a convincing proof of this. He calls it ‘
a birth.’ No man is the author of his own existence, and no man can quicken his 
own soul.

We might as well expect a dead man to give himself life, as expect a natural man
to make himself spiritual. A power from above must be put in exercise, even that
same power which created the world. (2 Cor. 4:6.) Man can do many things; but he
cannot give life either to himself or to others.

To give life is the peculiar prerogative of God. Well may our Lord declare that 
we need to be ‘born again!’ This mighty change, we must, above all, remember, is
a thing without which we cannot go to heaven, and could not enjoy heaven if we went
there.

Our Lord’s words on this point are distinct and express. ‘Except a man be born again,
he can neither _see_ nor _enter_ the kingdom of God.’ Heaven may be reached without
money, or rank, or learning.

But it is clear as daylight, if words have any meaning, that nobody can enter heaven
without a ‘new birth.’ A day will come when those who are not born again will wish
that they had never been born at all.”

–J. C. Ryle, [_Expository Thoughts on John, Vol. 1_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848711360?tag=toletaupanre-20)(
Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1869/2012), 86-87, 88. Ryle is commenting on John
3:1-8.

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