Growing In Godliness Blog
“What It Means To Be Born Again”
Categories: Author: Paul Earnhart, Forgiveness, Holy Spirit, Jesus, SalvationWhat It Means To Be Born Again
By Paul Earnhart
Nicodemus, the great Jewish rabbi, must have been shocked when Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.” (Jn. 3:7) There was nothing Nicodemus was prouder of than his first birth. He was born as a descendant of Abraham. He might well have described himself as another Jewish rabbi did: “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.” (Phil. 3:5) What better birth could a man have?
Jesus, of course, was not speaking of another physical birth. He was speaking of a figurative new birth. It was another way of saying that Nicodemus would have to make a completely new beginning. The first birth of Nicodemus determined his family relations, his nationality, his cultural heritage, his language, and even to a great degree his goals and values. All of these would have to become new for him. Many people talk of being born again without realizing the significance of the expression. The fact is no matter what a person may have experienced, if these changes have not taken place in their life, they have not been born again.
“How can a man be born when he is old,” Nicodemus asked? (Jn. 3:4) Perhaps you wonder that, too. Jesus answered the question, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (Jn. 3:5) The Holy Spirit changes the spirit of mankind. Jesus said, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (Jn. 3:6) This is accomplished through the word of God which the Spirit has given. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:23 that Christians have been born again through “the word of God which lives and abides forever.”
But there is another part of the new birth. Jesus said that one must be born of water and the Spirit. The only act the New Testament describes involving water is water baptism. When the Spirit has changed the inner man, the outer man must be washed in the water of baptism. Have you been born of the water and the Spirit?
