What Is A Born Again Christian?

What do Christians mean when they say that they’ve been born again? What does being born again mean?

Natural Birth

If you are reading this, then you obviously went through a birth process, whether it was an emergency C-section surgery or just a normal birth-canal birth. The Bible speaks about a specific time to be born and an exact time to die and that we all have an appointment with death and after that comes the judgment (Heb 9:27). Solomon wrote that there is “a time to be born, and a time to die” (Eccl 3:2) and we have no more control over those times any more than we had a choice in the matter of when and where we would be born and to which parents. We know that “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed” (Job 14:5). A person who is born again dies only once but a person who is not born again dies twice. One death is the physical death and the other is eternal destruction (Rev 20:12-15) so we could put it this way, just as the late pastor Adrian Rogers did, “If you’re born twice you’ll die once but if your born only once, you’ll die twice.”

Spiritual Birth

Jesus explained what the spiritual birth is like and Who the source of this birth is when “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” (John 3:1-2). We might expect Jesus to agree with Nicodemus that He did come from God and that nobody can do such miracles (signs) “unless God is with him” but Jesus seems to go off in another direction saying “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Nicodemus didn’t understand this so he said “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, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:4-5) and “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” (John 3:6-7).

Born from Above

Jesus made some very important points in John chapter three. First of all the words “born again” are from the Greek words “gennaō” (birth) and “anōthen” (from above) so John 3:3 says “unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Not only can they not enter the kingdom (John 3:5), they can’t even see the kingdom (John 3:3)! Also, Jesus indicates that the Spirit by which we are born from above has as its source, God, so the person who is born again has been born from above and it is fully a work of God. The spirit is like the wind, being invisible to the naked eye. We can see the effects of the wind but not the wind itself.

New Creations

When we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, suddenly we can understand spiritual truths found in the Bible “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1st Cor 2:11). God’s Spirit allows us to become new creations in Christ Jesus just as Paul wrote “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2nd Cor 5:17). Who is the source of this new life? God says through Ezekiel “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezk 36:26) and the old man or woman dies and is “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” (Rom 6:4). In this new life in Christ we “put on the new self [and are] created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24) and are given new desires, not those of the flesh, but empowered by God’s Spirit to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Conclusion

I needed heart surgery because my heart was desperately wicked and deceitful (Jer 17:9) and that’s exactly what the birth process from above does. It gives us a new heart with new desires to please Christ and a conviction by the Spirit of God to avoid sin. We are not sinless but we do sin less! It becomes natural for us to live in accordance to biblical principles and we grow in grace, knowledge, and holiness. All of this is because we have been born again or really, born from above by God Himself. All Christians have been born again or they are deceived and headed for the second death and are no Christian at all (Rev 2:11). You will recognize if they are born again or not by their fruits (Matt 7:15-20).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.