Are Catholics Born Again?

It is a term used frequently in Evangelical and Protestant circles: born again. Almost as frequently, the term is used to question whether Catholics are saved or even Christians.

To properly understand what it means to “be born again,” it is necessary to place the term within the broader context of salvation. From there, it is possible to examine the biblical data for being born again. After that, we may inquire whether Catholics can be considered born again.

What Does It Mean To Be Saved?

It is not uncommon for Catholics to struggle with the question of whether they have been “born again”. Part of the reason for the difficulty lies in the fact that the question cannot be correctly separated from the larger context of salvation.

Owing to original sin, human beings no longer enjoy the grace afforded them by God previously. In our fallen state (literally fallen from grace), human beings are subject to pain, suffering, and death. Even worse, human beings are in danger of being eternally separated from God.

Salvation is nothing more than God’s continuous effort to repair and reconcile humanity with Himself and, thereby, save human beings from the eternal separation that is called Hell.

Since the term “born again” is often used as a synonym for being saved, the answer to whether Catholics are born again depends entirely upon the doctrine of salvation, as we cannot save ourselves.

The Process Of Salvation

To best understand the Church’s teaching on salvation, it is helpful to view salvation as a process encompassing three stages. The first step is justification. Justification occurs as a result of God freely offering His grace to us (Romans 5:20). Because of God’s grace, one becomes a child of God at his baptism. In being baptized, one dies to oneself and is born again(!) in Christ.

The second stage is sanctification. This is the process by which one grows in righteousness, and involves living according to the Spirit rather than the flesh (Galatians 6:7). This stage requires our cooperation with God’s grace. To live according to the Spirit is to engage in prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. As the word cooperation connotes free will, human beings are always in a position to reject God’s gift of grace.

The third and final stage is to persevere in God’s grace. Saint Paul puts it this way, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14).

Unlike Protestant theology, Catholicism asserts that salvation is not a one-time fixed event. Therefore, the Catholic response to whether we are saved can be stated thusly: I am already saved (Romans 8:24). I am also being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 2:15). I have the hope that I will be saved (Romans 5:9–10, 1 Corinthians 3:12–15). 

While the work of Jesus has made our salvation possible, the application of that salvation to each individual requires human cooperation with grace. That is to say that what is freely offered must be freely accepted, and this principle applies to God’s grace and the offer to save humans from the effects of original sin. And this requires that we be “born again.”

Answering Nicodemus

The term “born again” appears only three times (and this is dependent on which translation one uses) in Scripture. Most significantly, it appears in John 3:3-5 as part of a conversation Jesus is having with a Jewish teacher named Nicodemus.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”

What Nicodemus mistakes as a physical rebirth is actually a spiritual one. How can one be spiritually reborn, and does Catholicism provide the means to be so?

Are Catholics Born Again?

To be spiritually born again requires that we die to ourselves so that Christ may live within us (Galatians 2:20). This dying and rebirth is both symbolized and effected by the sacrament of baptism.

The use of water in baptism holds spiritual significance in both Judaism and Catholicism. The word water occurs over five hundred times in the Old Testament and is used to signify both creation and regeneration. However, it is water’s power to cleanse that makes it symbolic of baptism.

As Saint John Damascene writes, “Water, then, is the most beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and not only from the filth of the body but from that of the soul, if it should have received the grace of the Spirit”.  It is no coincidence then that Jesus speaks of “the living water” which refers to the Holy Spirit (John 4:10 and John 7:37-39). 

Within the New Testament context, baptism symbolized the death of the old self and the rebirth of a new life, to be manifested by faith in and obedience to God. It is Saint Paul who eloquently articulates this principle, “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in the newness of life.” (Romans 6:4). 

Baptism symbolizes this new birth, this being born again, that allows one to become an adopted child of God and a member of Christ’s body, the Catholic Church. For it is in baptism that we are cleansed from original sin, thereby reinstating our status as adopted children of God and heirs of heaven, a status lost at the Fall.

Conclusion

At the heart of this concept of being born again is the need to die to oneself. That is to say that we must die to our will in order to unite ourselves to the will of God. Catholics “die” in the baptismal water and are born again by being united to the One who rose on Easter Sunday.