I am going to be very contentious here, so please listen carefully to the words.
Scripture states quite categorically, that until a man is already born again, he will never understand the message of Christ and the cross!
This biblical truth is completely bulldozed out of the way by most churches, most evangelist groups and most Christians. They don't want to believe it, because it removes the 'raison d'etre' of almost all they believe and do.
Read the following verse very slowly, word by word, and then contemplate what it tells us!
1Cor1v14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In the Greek, "natural" is psychicos, meaning the mental processes or soul based thinking.
Thus it is utterly impossible for the human mind alone, the psyche, to receive the things of God. To understand the things of God, we first need our spirit to be made alive to God by His Spirit.
That is why
until a man gets "born again" the cross will always remain a nonsense to him.
Paul expounds even further.-
1Cor1v18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
"Those who are perishing" is a reference to men who are at present spiritually dead. Thus before a man can understand the cross, he must already have the Spirit of God inside him to make sense of it.
ie. New birth comes first, then the cross.
So how does a man get born again if not by knowing Christ on the cross?
Again Paul gives the answer.-
Romans1v18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
To suppress the truth, they must already know that truth!
19because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
God has revealed himself to all mankind, sufficient for them to surrender.
20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
From creation onwards, the invisible eternal God has been known and understood in every heart. There will be no excuses before the final Judgement seat of Christ.
The moment a man responds to God in his heart, he receives new birth by the Spirit of God. No doctrine, no theology, just you and the Holy Spirit, the revealer of God.
The choice of response is always man's, but like Phaoroah, the longer we reject what we know to be true, the harder our heart becomes.
How dare you say I wasn't saved. I knew the Lord, I heard him speak to me . I heard him say that nobody was "good" in their own right, but He had made a way for us. He also said that he lived in my heart not a building. All of which I learned was true when I read the bible many years later.
In the Greek original, Jesus did not say
"I am he", but simply
"I am", one of the names of God.
If anyone doesn't believe in the "I am" creator God, they will certainly die in their sins.
Even though the Jews at that time didn't understand who Jesus was, most already believed in the "I am" .
Everything that God did to save mankind is predicated on Jesus's death on the cross. But our new birth is not down to knowledge of that sacrifice. However, if we want to walk in spiritual freedom in this life, understanding the message of the cross is essential for those who are in the process of salvation, which Paul makes clear includes himself.
Testimony of the cross is the main armament in our spiritual warfare against Satan and his demonic horde. Rev12 makes that abundantly clear.
