What does it mean to be born again?

 

1. In the Words of Jesus
The term ‘born again’ only appears in the New Testament and was first referred to by Jesus himself, this is captured by the apostle John in the below verse:

John 3:3 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

At the time John recorded this passage, Jesus was speaking to a man called Nicodemus who is described as a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. The Pharisees were a group of Jewish religious leaders who followed the Law of Moses, the Jewish religion at that time and the Council was a group of various, publicly esteemed Jewish religious leaders of the day.

Nicodemus had approached Jesus one night (John 3:2) and had admitted that he believed Jesus had come from God. Jesus’ response to this admission is quoted above in verse three.

This response sort of flummoxes Nicodemus as in verse 4 he asks this: “How can someone be born when they are old.” And exclaims that it is impossible for someone to enter their mother’s womb a second time to be born!

Now what Nicodemus didn’t understand at this stage was that Jesus wasn’t referring to a physical rebirth but rather a spiritual one. This is explained below in section 2.

2. Man’s Two Birth’s
The best place to start in this explanation, is of course with the words of Jesus himself.

John 3:5-7 (NIV)

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

In verse 5 above, Jesus speaks of being born of water and of the Spirit – two different births. Let’s look at these two very different births.

A. The Physical Birth
When the Bible refers to man as being ‘born of water’ it is referring to man’s physical birth. When we pop out of our mothers’ wombs not long after her waters have broken. This in no way refers to the waters of Baptism. Water baptism is something completely different and a topic with which we will be dealing with in another article in this series. So physical birth is the first birth but the most important birth to all mankind is the second birth which is a spiritual birth.

B. The Spiritual Birth
The spiritual birth is where a person becomes born again. Because it is a spiritual birth it is only, and can only be orchestrated by God, through Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is nothing that we can ever do for ourselves or that anybody else can do for us – not even our parents.

In essence we, as human beings, are first and foremost spiritual beings. After God uniquely created Adam and Eve (Genesis 2), and, in their creation and after, He had breathed life into them, he enabled them to procreate by coming together in sexual union. And in this miraculous process, the Spirit of God is interwoven within each human being at the time of conception. Just as God breathed life into Adam so His breath (spirit) is miraculously instilled into each living foetus. It is the Spirit of God that gives us life.

John 6:63 (NIV)

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

But, now here’s the rub, because of the sin of Adam, way back in the garden of Eden, every human being that has ever been born from them and after them, is born in sin and therefore man’s spirit is dead to God. This is a spiritual death and spiritual death is not the same as our physical death, spiritual death is separation from God. It is man’s sin that separates him from God. Everybody has sinned and is thus dead to God, therefore we can have no fellowship with Him as God is free of sin and will not have fellowship with it. This is confirmed in the below scripture:

Isaiah 59:2 (NIV)

But your iniquities have separated

you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

so that he will not hear.

Now, as I mentioned above, we have all sinned and if we say we haven’t, we are telling lies – porky pies! The below scriptures in the New Testament confirm this:

Romans 3:23-25 (NLT)

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,

1 John 1:8-10 (AMP)

8 If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us. [His word does not live in our hearts.] 9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose]. 10 If we say that we have not sinned [refusing to admit acts of sin], we make Him [out to be] a liar [by contradicting Him] and His word is not in us.

If you have ever told a lie you have sinned! If you have ever taken anything that doesn’t belong to you, you have sinned. If you have ever spread gossip, you have sinned. When you swear and use foul language, you are sinning! And so on.

It is our sin that separates us from God, which is spiritual death, and, because of this sin, it is the spirit of man that needs to be born again – renewed. This has nothing to do with our physical, natural birth from our mother’s womb, it is purely a spiritual awakening.

3. What do we have to do to become born again?

All we must do to become born again is confess that we are sinners and repent (repent means to turn away from) of our sins from the heart, and before God in the name of Jesus and ask Jesus to come and live in our hearts and be our Lord and Saviour.

We have to believe from our hearts that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died on the cross as an atonement for our sins and to accept him as our Lord and Saviour and submit our lives to him and to follow him and all his ways (as laid down in the Bible) daily.

We do this by praying a simple prayer that will go something like this:

Dear Lord Jesus, I confess before you that I am a sinner and I repent of my sins before you. I ask that you forgive me for my sins and ask you to come into my heart to be my Lord and Saviour and to fill me with your Holy Spirit and to help me to walk a Christian life according to your teachings in the Bible. I believe, Lord Jesus, that you died for my sins, and I believe that God raised you from the dead! Amen.

Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Now, once you have prayed this prayer you come into the kingdom of God and have an immediate spiritual family of brothers and sisters all over the world, with God as the Father!

If you have just prayed this prayer, the best thing for you to do at this stage is to get yourself into a local fellowship with fellow believers, that is start going to a local Church that preaches the gospel of Jesus and believes the entire Bible is the Word of God. And after this I would encourage you to start reading and studying the Bible for yourself and start a prayer life of your very own and become involved in the life of the local fellowship you have chosen to be a part of!

Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour is the only way by which man can be born again and receive everlasting life in heaven. You can’t get to heaven by calling yourself a good person, or doing good things, or by giving money to charity or by doing charitable work or by praying to Mother Mary or by going to Church every Sunday. You can only enter heaven by way of accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and repenting of your sins as mentioned previously in this article.

Acts 4:11-12 (NIV)

11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

4. What happens to me when I am born again?
Well, I’m pleased to say that there is no downside to being born again. In fact, we receive many benefits from God once we become born again. The main benefit being that we will have everlasting life! Our salvation is a gift from God, we can’t earn it buy it or do good works for it!

Let’s have a look at some of these benefits:

a. We receive everlasting life.

John 3:16 (NIV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

b. We receive forgiveness of our sins.

1 John 1:9 (NIV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

c. We have the right to call ourselves sons and daughters of God.

John 1:12-13 (NIV)

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

d. God will answer our prayers when we ask in the name of Jesus and with the right motives.

John 14:13-14 (NIV)

13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

When we pray and ask God for things in Jesus name, our motives need to come from a pure and selfless heart and not just for self-gain and selfish ambitions.

James 4:3 (NIV)

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

e. God will meet all our needs.

Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

f. We will receive God’s peace in our lives.

John 14:27 (NIV)
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

g. He will create in us a desire to serve Him and to serve others by doing His will as we walk in faith.

James 2:17 (NIV)

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

h. We are a new creation, and our sins are forgiven.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

5. What will happen to me if I am not born again?
Well, this is the bad news and I mean really bad news! If you are not born again, you will spend eternity in hell, which is spiritual death – eternal separation from God and His eternal love, no matter how good a person we may consider ourselves to be!

John 3:3 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

The above verse says it very clearly, you will only see the kingdom of God, which is eternal life, if you are born again. If you are not born again, you will not see the kingdom of God which means you go to hell from which there is no escape!

If you are not for God, then you are against him, and thus you belong to the devil and unless you repent and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour – be born again - you will be consigned to hell for eternity, just as the devil is. If you are not for God, then you are against Him – there is no middle road!

Matthew 12:30 (NIV)

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Matthew 13:41-42 (NIV)

41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Five Basic Steps That a New Believer Should Take Towards Spiritual Maturity

1. Repent and be baptized
Scripture tells us that once we have repented and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we need to be baptized in water.

Acts 2:38 (NIV)

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In order for you to be baptized it would make sense for you to join a local Church – a local fellowship of

2. Join a local fellowship of believers – a local Church
God created us to be social beings just as he is, and to help each other in our daily Christian walk. God’s Church is not a building but rather each and every individual born-again Christian together - that is the Church, you and I and all our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ across the world.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching..

Romans 12:5 (NIV)

so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

1 Corinthians 12:12 (NIV)

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

3. Read/Study the Bible Daily
The aim of our Christian walk is to be increasingly conformed to Christ’s image. In other words, to become increasingly like Jesus daily. This is a process, and one of the keyways that will help us in this walk is to read and study the Bible as often as we can as Jesus is the Bible in the flesh. The more we read the Bible and do what it tells us, the more we will become like Jesus.

John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

James 1:22 (NIV)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

4. Pray
Prayer is talking to God. It is impossible to form a meaningful relationship with anybody if you don’t talk to them. You can’t get to know anybody if you don’t talk to them. You can’t ask anybody for help if you don’t talk to them to let them know you need help! You build relationship with people by talking to them. It is the same with God. When you talk to Him, He will talk to you!

The best example we have of building this kind of relationship with God is our Lord Jesus. Let’s examine this statement by what the scriptures tell us of Jesus praying!

Luke 5:16 (AMP)

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray [in seclusion].

Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Luke 22:32 (NIV)

But I (Jesus) have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

So, here we have three of many examples from the Bible where Jesus went to God the Father in prayer. God is the source and fountain of all knowledge and power. We can ask him for anything as long as we ask with the right motives in our hearts.

James 4:3 (NIV)

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Prayer should be selfless, pure and from the heart and not designed for self-gain (self-change, yes!) and pleasure.

God created us to worship Him in Christ Jesus and prayer is one form of our worship of God that is guaranteed to build a strong and healthy personal relationship with Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 5:7 (NIV)

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

5. Be responsible for Your Own Walk to Christian Maturity
Nobody can walk your Christian walk for you. Your progress in your walk to spiritual maturity lies squarely upon your own shoulders. If you keep your eyes on Jesus and not on man, if you are quick to repent of sin and even quicker to forgive those that sin against you, then you will be well on the road to maturity.

Be obedient to what the Bible teaches, walk in faith and put the Bible teachings into practice in your daily life. Being a born-again Christian is not a part time job, it is a fulltime, lifestyle commitment!

James 1:22 (NIV)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

God chose you to be his child and in Christ Jesus you have the power through the Holy Spirit to overcome any obstacle the world throws at you! God chose you to serve Him here on earth and to be a channel of blessing to others!

John 15:16-17 NIV)

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

John 16:33 (NIV)

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

You will not have a trouble-free life as the above scripture explains, but you will overcome any obstacle in your path if you keep your eyes upon Jesus and not on man. You will experience miracles in your own life and in the lives of your loved ones and you will see miracles in the lives of your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus!

To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise! For he alone is worthy!

Jesus, the Name above all names!