The New Birth
Have You Been Born Again?
Years ago a woman named Susan called me and asked if “my church” studied the Bible. I told Susan that was a strang question. Of course we study the Bible. A major part of our worship service was devoted to a study of what the Bible said, and both Sunday services were preceded by a 50 minute Bible. She was amazed. She said at the church she attended, their Sunday services were more program or show, where the preacher seemed more interested in entertaining and making people feel good than teaching Bible. I told Susan that, while we hope everyone is happy with their life, our object was rather to study God’s word and worship him according to the pattern, then I invited her to come to services. The next Sunday, Susan and her husband Sam were there with their two kids.
The next Tuesday night we began a Bible study. I asked them what their religious background was, and they said they had all been raised Catholic, but they were now born again Christians. I asked them if they knew what that term meant and where it was found in the Bible. They all looked at me in total surprise. It had never occurred to them that they might not be “born again.” They were told at the church that they had been attending that by accepting Jesus as their personal savior, they would be born again Christians. They had done so and expected the promised result to follow. But they did not know where the Bible talked about being born again and had never seen the passage to study it. So that is where we began.
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto 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, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! (John 3:3-5).
Obviously, Jesus was not talking about the physical natural process of birth being repeated. Nicodemus’ incredulous tone in his questions indicated that he knew that. But he did not understand what Jesus was talking about.
The new birth begins with being begotten again. In the physical realm, we know what begins the birth process. When a woman conceives, a man begets, and the birth process begins. Christians have been begotten again. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Christians are begotten again by God, but what is the seed that God plants in the womb of the heart to begin this process? How does the second begettal begin? “… having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth” (1 Peter 1:23). The seed of the second begetting is the Gospel – the eternal word of God.
To merely receive the word and accept its truth is not to be born again. The child is conceived by his mother in the womb, but is not born until 9 months later. There must be a growth and preparation for life outside the womb. When one believes, he has been begotten, he is ready to be born, but he has not been born again. Faith merely begins the process. Hopefully, the process does not take 9 months. It may only take a few minutes, but when one believes, he must then be told what to do about that faith. The gestation period for the Jews on Pentecost was only as long as it took for Peter to finish his sermon and answer their believing question, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). If there is to be success and entrance into the eternal kingdom is to be achieved, there must be a union of faith and obedience (Heb. 3:18-19). The New Birth does not occur when one believes, but as a result of that belief. What was Jesus talking about when he said, “Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God?”
Jesus explains the New Birth in John 3:5: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!” Now consider the context of his answer. Nicodemus asked two questions – questions not designed to contradict, but to provoke to further discussion. In effect, the questions of Nicodemus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” and “can he enter a second time into his mother's womb?” were intended to get Jesus to elaborate on what sort of a birth Jesus was talking about and by what means it occurred. He knew Jesus was not talking about being born physically, yet the first question addresses this notion. He knew it was not necessary or possible to enter his mother’s womb, but the second question has this frame of reference.
When Jesus answers, he answers in keeping with the questions of Nicodemus. He says that one must be born of water. He is not speaking of physical birth, but contrasting the means of the New Birth with the means of the first – his mother’s womb. The New Birth takes place in water, the water of baptism. This fits so well the purpose of baptism and is consistent with other figures used to describe it. In Romans, for instance, we are told that we are “buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4). Paul said also, “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17). But how does one get into Christ? “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). The new birth takes place in water, when one is baptized and his sins are washed away (Acts 22:16).
But what sort of a birth is that? It is not like any physical birthing process on the planet. That is because it is not a physical birth. It is a spiritual birth. That is what Jesus meant when he spoke of being born of the spirit. He was not speaking of some special dispensation or new operation of the Holy Ghost. He was talking about starting over. We are new creatures because of the passing of sin, so now we live life differently, free from sin and all of its fearful reference points – like death (Heb. 2:14-15).
Jesus makes reference to the fact that it is the inner man that is reborn in this birth of the spirit in verse 6. In verse 8 he says, “The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” A spiritual birth is no more seen than the wind, but as the effects of the wind can be seen on a flag or the limbs of a tree, the effects of the New Birth can be seen in the changes made in the new life of a Christian.
Is there a new or mystical element to the teaching of Jesus? The new element has to do with baptism, which was not a part of the Old Law. But when Nicodemus asks for further explanation in verse 9, Jesus responds, “Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?” (vs. 10). Nicodemus should have understood that the New Birth Jesus said was a condition for entering the kingdom is Repentance. Repentance is made effectual when past sins are washed away, freeing one to live anew in Christ (Rom. 6:4-7).
If you have not been baptized, you have not been “born again.” If you have been baptized, but you have not repented of your sins, you have not been born again, either. What was the command of Peter on the day of Pentecost? “And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
The New Birth is Repenting and being Baptized so that we might live the new life that God has patterned for us in his word, the New Testament.
