Being born again

Everything in the kingdom of God begins for us with the new birth.

Unless we are born again we will not understand the things of the kingdom. They will remain a mystery to us. We will not see the kingdom.

Jesus made the new birth an imperative. He said it more than once, “You must be born again!” This word ‘must’ means it is necessary, it is needful. Without the new birth we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. See how John relates this teaching.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:1-8

To be born again is to be born of God, born of the Spirit (John 1:12-13). How then are we born again? Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has made the way clear for us to be saved, and salvation is another aspect of being born again.

Natural and spiritual

We are born of our natural parents, and born of God through the Holy Spirit. Being born of water means to be born of human parents. Being born of the Spirit means being born of God. Born again. Natural and spiritual. Earth meets heaven.

Being a human is the main prerequisite for being born again. We have to be born the first time to be born again.

If Jesus says we must be born again, there is no choice in the matter, and we can’t dismiss it in any way. We need to come to Him and receive the offer of salvation which will empower the new birth.

Peter explains how we can be born again.

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because

“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the LORD endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:22-25

We are born again through the Word of God, by hearing and responding to the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is the good news that God has sent His Son Jesus to save us. The gospel is the power of God onto salvation to those who believe (Rom.1:16).

The gospel has the dynamic that empowers faith in the hearer, because ‘faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom.10:17).’

When we hear the truth that Jesus paid the price of our sin to deliver us from the powers of darkness and we respond with faith in the Word, we can call on the Lord and we will be saved, we will be born again (Rom.10:13).

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Being born again is a key doctrine for the Body of Christ. No one can understand the things of the kingdom unless they are born again. Jesus instead that we be born again.

Church attendance alone is not enough. Doing good works is not enough. Being a nice person is not enough. It’s a question of birth and inheritance.

We need to be born again.

_{Photo by David Bartus for Pexels}