Yesterday, in my post about repentance, I mentioned the words “Born Again.” These words can sometimes be a stumbling block to people. They tend to carry a great deal of baggage because they aren't really understood.
Today, I'd like to share a couple of verses that I hope will help us understand what it means to be “born again.”
We know from John 3:3 that being “born again” is necessary. “In reply, Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'” But what does it really mean to be born again. If we have to do it, how do we do it? Here are some verses to help you understand this better...
John 5:24 - “'I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” If you must be born again, and by hearing Jesus' word and believing God who sent him, we have eternal life, then by doing this, we must be born again! So according to John 5:24, hearing the words of Christ, and believing, brings about this re-birth.
1 Peter 1:22-23 - “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, 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.” Hearing the Word of Truth, the Scriptures, the Word of God, purifies us. And by believing and obeying that Word we are born again.
James 1:18 – “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” Again, it sounds like being born again happens through the word of truth, which is reading and obeying the Scriptures
Colossians 2:13 - “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcised of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” We were dead, now, through Christ, we are alive!
Romans 6:4 - “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” This speaks not only of our new life, our re-birth through faith in Christ, but also of the need for repentance. We life a new life through Christ, we don't return to the old...
I hope that in reading these passages, you can better understand the phrase “born again”. More importantly, I hope that you realize that because of your faith in Jesus, you already are “born again” and don't need to fear that term any more!
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