Becoming a Christian—experiencing the new birth in Christ—transforms each individual who embraces it. In his letter to the Ephesian Christians, the Apostle Paul explains this supernatural experience of being born again from above by accepting Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior.
In the second chapter of Ephesians, Paul makes it clear that while we “were by nature the children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3) and “dead in sins,” God “quickened us together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5). When we respond to the Holy Spirit’s convicting work, confess our sins, and accept Christ as our personal Savior, He regenerates us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
This miraculous process transforms believers—both Jew and Gentile—into “a new man” (Eph. 2:15). The Greek word Paul uses for “new” signifies a completely new and different kind of person.
After the coming of the Holy Spirit in a mighty way at Pentecost, these “new men” were indwelt with God’s Spirit in a never-before-experienced way. A supreme example of this transformation is the astonishing difference in the Apostle Peter. Before Pentecost, Peter was confused and uncertain; after Pentecost, he was commanding and confident, preaching powerfully to thousands.
It was as if Peter had stepped into a spiritual telephone booth and emerged wearing a spiritual Superman suit. The point is that after Pentecost, God created a new kind of man—one who did not exist before the Spirit personally indwelt twice-born believers.
Understanding this is critically important. Why? Because only such twice-born men and women can fulfill their biblical roles, especially in Holy Matrimony.
Only a twice-born man can consistently love his wife with agape love, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. Likewise, only a woman who has been born again from above can consistently submit herself under the spiritual leadership of her husband.
Being born again—a “new” kind of man or woman—should transform all our relationships if we are surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
Another spiritually significant relationship transformed by the Holy Spirit is the pastor–church member relationship. There are close parallels between the New Testament model for pastors and church members and the husband–wife relationship.
God instructs pastors through Peter not to “lord over” God’s flock but to be good shepherds who lovingly serve the people (1 Pet. 5:1-5). Correspondingly, church members are admonished to “submit yourselves” (Heb. 13:17) to their spiritual leaders who have “spoken unto you the word of God” (Heb. 13:7).
The phrase “submit yourselves” uses the same Greek verb—and in the same unusual middle or reflexive tense—as the one used for wives submitting to their own husbands “as unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:22).
Becoming a born-again Christian should change every relationship in our lives. God never commands us to do something that we cannot accomplish with His help. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to live transformed lives that honor God in all our relationships.
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/why-twice-born-men-and-women-needed-in-holy-matrimony.html