CS Lewis said that Christ came not to simply make nice people; he came to make new people: “For mere improvement is not redemption…God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature.”
Many people think that deep down we are all decent people, and that what we need – and what religion offers us – is mere instruction (to make up for our lack of knowledge) or mere example (to make up for our lack of direction); but the gospel says our problem is much more drastic, and so the solution is much more radical. We aren’t just a little misguided and we don’t just need a little push in the right direction and we don’t just need a little extra motivation; rather, we are spiritually dead, and need new life. We need rebirth – a total, radical, inner renewal, and this is what Jesus gives us.