Salvation Summaries

What does it mean to be born again?

Most of us have heard the phrase “born again.” Sometimes we hear it used with reverence; other times in a mocking way.  Being born again is not something that should be taken lightly though, as Jesus requires this for anyone who wants to go to heaven. Let me repeat that. Jesus requires you to be born again if you want to go to heaven.  It’s that clear in the Bible.

The phrase “born again” is used only four times in the Bible; twice in the books of John and 1 Peter.  Understanding the big picture of what born again means is not difficult, though some churches vary in their views on how it takes place. I won’t dwell on the differences, but simply give you my take on how it’s done based upon a simple reading of the relevant texts, several of which are copied below.

• John 3:3-7 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

• 1 Peter 1:3-4 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

• 1 Peter 1:23-25 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

Let’s start with a review of the verses in John.

In verse 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. It’s interesting that Jesus’ comment was not an answer to Nicodemus’ question, since Nicodemus didn’t ask one.  We read in verse 2 (not copied above) that Nicodemus had simply approached Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus knew what had troubled Nicodemus though, and went right to the heart of his problem.

Also in verse 3, the Greek word for “again” is “above.”  Thus, Jesus is telling Nicodemus you must be born from above and not simply from below, or here, to see the kingdom of God (or go to heaven).

So then, how is a person born again, or from above?  Jesus tells us in verse 5: it’s by water and the Spirit.

Now, churches vary in how to interpret this phrase.  Some believe that the water in verse 5 refers to physical birth.  Others believe it shows the need for a person to be baptized with water to become saved.  Still others believe that the water is symbolic for spiritual cleansing that takes place when a person becomes a believer.  In my opinion, this verse alone does not tell us all we need to understand what Jesus means by being born of water and the Spirit.  But that’s OK, for there are other verses we can use to help us.

As an aside, let me share with you a pet peeve of mine.  It is when certain churches (or denominations) build a strongly held belief on a verse that, by itself, is unclear. For example, a church father, or founder of a church denomination, might be absolutely convinced that water in verse 5 means water baptism, and thus everyone who attends that church (at the time it was founded and for centuries later) is expected to believe this, even if other church fathers or founders of other denominations share a different view. While the early church fathers and mainline church denomination founders were great theologians with strong intellects, they didn’t always agree on how to interpret every verse (but that should not be too surprising, for there are more than 31,000 verses in the Bible!).  I prefer to review all verses that relate to a topic, and come to a conclusion from these rather than accept as fact all of the teachings of any one denomination, especially on verses that are not clear.  I do value, though, the main teachings of many denominations, since many agree on the main beliefs in the Bible.  OK, back to what it means to be born again…

In verse 6, Jesus refers to two types of births: one is of the flesh; the other is of the Spirit.  Here it seems pretty clear that the “flesh” refers to our physical birth, and the Spirit refers to our spiritual birth.  However, this verse doesn’t tell us how the latter is accomplished.  Is water baptism required?  Is spiritual cleansing required (and if so, then how is this done?)?  To help us answer this, we need to turn to 1 Peter.

According to 1 Peter 1:23, a person is born again “through the living and enduring word of God.” But pay special attention to verse 25, where Peter adds “And this is the word that was preached to you.” So here’s our answer.  The word of God that was preached to those who received Peter’s letter is the same word that Paul preached to many of those who received his letters; it’s the gospel message.  The gospel message has the power to save a person (and when a person becomes saved, they receive the Holy Spirit and are thus born of the Spirit).  We see this in Romans 1:16-17: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”  

Conclusion 

According to Jesus, a person must be born again in order to go to heaven.  If you are not born again, you won’t go to heaven. It’s that simple.

Being born again is not that complicated though. Every person on this earth has been born once; that is their physical birth.  A second birth must take place; this is a birth from above, and from God’s Holy Spirit.  Although Jesus says in John 3:5 that a person is born of water and the Spirit, we should not get “caught up” in trying to determine the exact meaning of “water” in John 3:5, for the following reasons:

• If the “water’ in John 3:5 refers to physical birth, that’s OK, for the other birth – the Spiritual birth – is all we need to worry about, and we know from other posts that a person receives the Holy Spirit (and thus has a spiritual birth) upon becoming saved.
• If the water in John 3:5 refers to spiritual cleansing, that’s OK too, for spiritual cleansing takes place when a person becomes saved; he or she is cleansed from all  sins and made into a new creation.
• If the water in John 3:5 refers to the need to be baptized by water to be saved, then we would need to look at all verses in the Bible on baptism and salvation to determine if this is how water should be interpreted.  But based upon my study of many salvation verses in the New Testament, and of those that relate to baptism, it would be incorrect to interpret verse 5 as requiring water baptism for salvation. Water is simply that – water; it has no special powers on its own, and can be given no special power by a priest or pastor.  There is certainly a place in the life of a believer to be baptized, but it is not essential for salvation. There are many, many verses about how a person is saved (John 3:16 is one I recently discussed), and it is clear from these that salvation is an act of grace by God to a person who hears the gospel, repents of his/her sin, and receives faith in the Lord Jesus.

If you want to be born again, hear the gospel message, believe it, realize you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, repent of your sins, and “come to Jesus” (which means to deny yourself, give your life to Him, and be willing to obey or follow Him regardless of the price you will pay for doing this).  God the Father, in his great mercy, and in His perfect timing, will grant faith and salvation to those who He draws to Himself and gives to Jesus.  The people He gives to Jesus are those who believe in Jesus, who “come to Him;” they are ones who seek Him with their whole heart, and call out to Him for their salvation.