Am I Born Again?

A man wandered into the church halfway through a service, and when the preacher said something he approved of, he gave out a loud ‘Alleluia’.  At the coffee time after the service he smelt strongly of alcohol and his speech was slurred.  He wore a cross on his lapel.  During the discussion he said that he had been born again many years ago but he didn’t see anything wrong in his drinking habit.  Drinking was what he enjoyed.

The evangelist, Billy Graham was walking through a city one evening and saw a man probing up a lamppost.  He was clearly inebriated.  The man recognised Billiard called out,

“I am one of your converts!”

Billy replied,

“You my be one of my converts but you are clearly not one of Jesus Christ”

What does it mean to be ‘born again’?

The specific phrase "born again" is a New Testament term, most famously used by Jesus in his conversation with Nicodemus.

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3 

Jesus rebuked Nicodemus, a "teacher of Israel," for not understanding the concept.

“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[ gives birth to spirit.” John 3:5-6

Born of Water

What did Jesus mean by using the phrase ‘born of water’?  In arid lands such as the Middle East water means ‘life’.  Jesus describes himself as the ‘water of life’.  It is a metaphor for Jesus providing salvation eternal life, , and spiritual nourishment, symbolised by a life-giving spring that quenches the soul's thirst. In Jesus’ discussion with the Samaritan woman in the next chapter he said:

“. . . but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

Jesus used this same analogy later on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Each morning during this feast in Jerusalem a priest would fill a golden pitcher with water from the Pool of Siloam and would then lead a joyful procession up to the Temple, often accompanied by trumpets and singing. The water was then poured into a silver basin at the base of the altar.  The ceremony represented prayers for a good harvest in the coming year. It also held a spiritual meaning, connecting to prophecies of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or ‘living water’.  Jesus clarifies that this ‘living water’ refers to.

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John 7:37-39

The Spirit provides constant spiritual nourishment, guidance, and the power to live a new life aligned with God's will.  The imagery of ‘rivers’ of living water flowing from within the believer (John 7:38) suggests an abundant, inexhaustible supply. This spiritual overflow is meant not just for personal benefit but to be a channel of blessing, hope, and life to others in the world.

So born of water can mean ‘reborn as a follower of Jesus’

However in his discussion with Nicodemus he uses the word water in a different way, by using the word ‘of’:

“You must be born of water’. John 3:3

At this time everybody knew of the ministry of John the Baptist.  He had called people to come back to God, to repent and to show they meant to live a new life by being publicly baptised in or of water.  So in this context ‘born of water’ probably refers to a genuine turning back to God and being washed, both of our sins and of our unclean hearts.  Hence ‘water’ refers to my action of turning back to God to be cleansed.  Jesus teaches again and again that repentance, turning to trust and follow him is the door to eternal life.  At the end of this discussion with Nicodemus we read:

“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.” John 3:16

Jesus himself said:

““I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Born of the Spirit

What does ‘born of the Spirit’ mean?  The gift of the Holy Spirit is God’s action in each of his people.  He gives his Spirit to those who turn to Jesus Christ. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down and entered every follower of Jesus.  The Spirit empowered them to live for Christ boldly.  He radically leads us into a new lifestyle of holiness and evangelism.  The Scriptures are clear,

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9

No wonder Jesus said to this upright moral leader of men,

“You must be born again”

He indicated that Nicodemus should have known what this meant from his reading of the Hebrew scriptures.. The Old Testament teaches about this spiritual renewal in several key passages but the one Jesus was referring to was probably in Ezekiel.

The prophet Ezekiel speaks of a time when God will wash His people.  This is more than washing the guilt of their sin.  This cleansing also involves giving His people a ‘new heart’ and put a ‘new spirit’ within them, taking away their ‘heart of stone’ and giving them a ‘heart of flesh’.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:25-27

This spiritual transformation is the essence of what is called being "born again" in the New Testament.  The general principle that sinful humanity needs divine intervention to be in a right relationship with God is a foundational Old Testament concept. The only hope for a spiritually dead person is to be made alive by God, which is the core idea of the new birth.

In Exodus 12, God makes clear that a foreigner who chooses to follow God's commands and keeps the Passover becomes "native born" among the Israelites. This idea of a spiritual change in status, making an outsider an insider by faith, provides a conceptual parallel to the New Testament's spiritual new birth. 

So to be born again is not just having our sins forgiven, it is a radical change where we start a new life living as God wants with Jesus is controlling;

Being ‘born gain’ is not only taught in John’s record of what Jesus said and did.  James, the brother of Jesus also said,

“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James 1:18

Here the ‘new birth’ describes what happened to Christians when they first accepted God’s authority over their lives.  This authority, or word, is found both in Jesus himself, for he is called ‘the word’ (John 1:1- 2) and in the word of God, the Bible.  Rebirth is not just ‘wiping the slate that lists our sins’ clean, it means the beginning of a completely new life.  Bad habits such as anger, lying promiscuity, drugs, slander become a thing of the past.  True Christians will begin to become the ideal that God intended when he created the world.

The apostle Peter begins his first letter with this concept:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” 1 Peter 1:3-4

Again this ‘new birth’ is clearly when the Christian life begins.  It starts when he become followers of Jesus but gives us great confidence for the future.  Peter recognises that people can have a spurious faith, but the tests of it being genuine are that we really love Jesus, are willing to suffer for him and his people and yet are fulled with joy:

“. . . even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls..” 1 Peter 1:8-9

Peter doesn’t say that we will receive salvation but that we are receiving salvation - our present lives are in the process of being changed.

He then goes on to explain other consequences of being ‘born again’.

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23-24

Those who are ‘in Christ’ will try to live godly lives that are in accordance with what he teaches us in his word and were demonstrated by the life of Jesus.  It will mean that the Christians will come together as a team and will ‘love one another deeply’.  No Christian should ever separate themselves from other Christians in a bible teaching church.  They will revere and study the Scriptures because these are the “living and enduring word of God’.  The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote about this new life Christian have embarked on:

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Becoming a Christian is only the beginning, we have both been washed of our sins but also our hearts have been washed so that we long to live as jets wants.

A permanent new life

A further evidence of this new birth is that Christians keep living  for Christ until we die when we will meet our Lord face to face.  This need to remain in Christ is vital if we are to be saved.  The following are some Scriptures that emphasise it is not the beginning that matters it the the continuing.

“All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.” Psalm 25:10

“I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants -  but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.” Psalm 85:8-9

“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children - with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.” Psalm 103:17-18

To believe in God means to love him and fear him.

“But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live?” Ezekiel 18:24

“If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done.” Ezekiel 33:13

“I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions.” Ezekiel 36:19

“This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.” Zechariah 6:15

Salvation cannot be given because of how we have lived but how we live will show whether we have been saved.  We serve the same God as the Jews and his demands have never changed.

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. . . . In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” Luke 14:27-33

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

“ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:6-9

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John 15:10

John, who repeatedly emphasised Jesus’ teaching that we are saved by believing in Jesus, here explains what belief means - to hold to his teaching, to his word as our guide and to him as our Lord for life.

“ But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation - if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:22-23

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by he Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13

“But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” Romans 11:20-21

“By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:2

For any to turn their backs on the living God will be eternally fatal.  Meaningless belief is a great problem.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. . . .Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16-25

The responsibility to live as God wants is ours.  Our salvation is dependant on our remaining in the service of Christ.  Without his protection there is no salvation. The following are just some Bible verses emphasising that it is only by continuing to live with and for christ that we will be saved.

“And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” Hebrews 3:6

“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” Hebrews 3:14

“. . . he (Jesus) became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Hebrews 5:9

“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” Hebrews 10:38

“. . . the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” James 1:6-7

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.” 2 Peter 1:10

“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.” 2 Peter 2:21

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. . . .  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. . . . They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” 1 John 2:15-19

“To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7

“Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” Revelation 21:7

The decision is ours.

BVP