One of the benefits of doing a Bible study is the opportunity to look at familiar passages in other versions of the Bible. J. B. Phillips’ paraphrase of the New Testament looks at the idea of overcoming the world in this way: ‘God’s “heredity” within us will always conquer the world outside us. In fact, this faith of ours is the only way in which the world has been conquered. For who could ever be said to conquer the world, in the true sense, except the man who really believes that Jesus is God’s Son?’
Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring from its parents, through DNA. In the nucleus of each human cell, the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule is packaged into thread-like structures called chromosomes. Each chromosome is made up of DNA tightly coiled many times around proteins called histones that support its structure.
At conception, when the sperm cell joins with the egg cell, chromosomes from the mother and father are passed on to the child, with each sperm and egg cell containing 23 sets of chromosomes. When they join, they form a single cell called a zygote which has 46 chromosomes. Each parent contributes a full set of chromosomes, but the order in which these are contributed is random, meaning each child will be unique. Hereditary features include:
- eye colour
- colour blindness
- freckles
- whether you are left or right handed
- whether your earlobes are loose or attached to your face
- dimples
- cleft chin
- the ability to roll your tongue
When there are mutations to specific genes, genetic diseases occur (eg Down’s Syndrome, a developmental disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21) or cystic fibrosis (caused by a defective gene on chromosome 7 called CFTR). Clearly, we owe much to our genes, and in the same way that we are, in many respects, the ‘product of our parents’, so too the new spiritual birth gives us access to God’s nature. (2 Pet 1:3-4) John Stott reminds us that “The new birth is a supernatural event which takes us out of the sphere of the world, where Satan rules, into the family of God.” Eph 2:1-6 reminds us of what we were in the natural and how God’s mercy and love have given us access to God’s grace and mean that we are no longer slaves to sin (see Rom 6:4-14). We are new creations, transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life and residents now of a heavenly city! No wonder we can rejoice in our faith as the victory which not only overcomes the world but which has already conquered it, for Jesus has completed the work of salvation! (see Heb 10:12-14)