The Bible Says You Must Be Born Again
You should non be surprised at my saying, 'You lot must be born again.' John iii:7
Y'all've probably heard the phrase, "You must be born again," during a sermon. But what does this hateful exactly?
When Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and fellow member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to Jesus with questions about His teaching and the nature of salvation, Jesus provided the perfect synopsis of the Gospel, which included ane of the nearly important metaphors and doctrines of the Christian faith. "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), ' no 1 tin run into the kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John three:three, bold emphasis added).
At the time, the idea of being "born again" confounded the inquisitive Nicodemus, who asked, "how can someone be born when they are sometime? Surely they cannot enter a 2nd fourth dimension into their mother'southward womb to exist born!" (John 3:4). Though educated in matters of the Old Testament and Jewish law, Nicodemus struggled to grasp the deeper meaning of Jesus's words. He was not alone. Many have wrestled with the spiritual truths of Jesus's teaching and the implications of Christ's call to discipleship in their lives. So what does information technology really mean to be born again and what does this look like for Christians and those called to follow Christ?
Start, let's read this poetry in context: Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you lot, no one tin see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their female parent'due south womb to exist born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no i tin can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives nascency to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Y'all should not be surprised at my saying, 'Yous must exist born again.'(John three:3-7)
What Did Jesus Mean by 'You Must Be Built-in Again'? (John three:vii)
When Jesus said nosotros must be "born again" He was not referring to any kind of literal or physical rebirth. He used the term "reborn" to assert our need equally individuals to be redeemed and spiritually transformed, refashioned, and remade through God's saving grace and His eventual death on the cantankerous. To explain this concept to Nicodemus, Jesus connected His mission on earth to an Old Testament story that Nicodemus would have been familiar with.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," Jesus said, "even so must the Son of Man exist lifted up; then that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." (John 3:fourteen-15)
Jesus was of class referring to Numbers 21 and the plague of peppery serpents that spread through the camp of Israel every bit a result of their frequent complaining and lack of organized religion. To salvage those infected, Moses was instructed by God to place a bronze serpent on a flagpole at the centre of the camp. All who looked upon the bronze serpent would be miraculously healed from the poison coursing through their veins (Numbers 21). The indicate of comparison Jesus was making to Nicodemus was that, at our core, we too are corrupted past the deadly poisonous substance of personal sin. As the apostle Paul writes, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23, bold emphasis added). Unfortunately, the consequences of this sin are spiritual decease and eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23).
Thankfully, as God provided a way out for the Israelites, He provided the perfect Savior and healer through His Son, Jesus Christ. As the bronze serpent was raised upwardly to save the children of Israel, so Jesus Christ was raised on the cross to exist our saving grace. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "but God demonstrates his own love for u.s. in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for united states." (Romans five:8)
He went on to contend that, "because of his bang-up love for united states, God, who is rich in mercy, made u.s.a. alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you take been saved." (Ephesians 2:4). Jesus made it clear: to enter the kingdom of God and experience true transformation, forgiveness, and healing, complete renewal and regeneration are required. The poison of sin is as well peachy to overcome by any quick fix or homo antidote. We must exist born again.
According to Matthew Henry, "corruption and sin are woven into our nature; we are shapen in iniquity, which makes it necessary that the nature exist inverse. It is non enough to put on a new coat or a new face up, only we must put on the new human being, we must be new creatures."
Jesus argued that we must start over and be "born once again" into a new life "of h2o and the Spirit." (John iii:v)
Several passages of the New Attestation repeat this idea.
"He saved us, non on the basis of act which we accept done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ." (Titus 3:5-6)
"If you know that He is righteous, y'all know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." (1 John two:29)
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused the states to be born once again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (i Peter 1:iii)
The Bible makes it clear. You must exist born over again, in order to exist saved.
How Are Christians Born Once more?
It'southward of import to affirm what the Bible says about conservancy and that Christians are Not born again by their own piece of work or claim. Different many world religions, salvation is not obtained by anything we practise but rather what Christ does in united states of america. We are not capable of saving ourselves from our sin, nor are we able to buy our style into heaven.
" For past grace you have been saved through religion; and this is non of yourselves, it is the souvenir of God; not a result of works, and then that no ane may boast." (Ephesians two:8-ix)
True Christians must have the foundational truth of the Gospel, that is, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross, was buried, and rose over again three days later. In doing so, He solitary interceded before God on our behalf, paying the ultimate toll for our sin once and for all and so that we might be saved (Hebrews seven:25).
"And there is salvation in no one else; for in that location is no other name nether heaven that has been given amid flesh by which we must exist saved." (Acts four:12)
Jesus said it best in His conversation with Nicodemus: "for God so loved the globe, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but accept eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the earth to gauge the globe, but so that the earth might be saved through Him." (John 3:xvi-17). Human wisdom may claim that at that place are many paths to God and heaven. Jesus, nevertheless, quickly dispelled this prevarication, maxim, "I am the style, and the truth, and the life; no i comes to the Father except through Me." (John fourteen:6)
Those who wish to be born again must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cantankerous and was resurrected. They must admit that they have sinned and are in need of saving. They must confess their sin and take the free gift of salvation offered through Jesus Christ. As it is written, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive the states our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i:9)
What Is the Significance of 'You Must Be Built-in Again'?
In response to Nicodemus'southward confusion about the pregnant of being born again, Jesus answered, "truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been built-in of the mankind is mankind, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5-half-dozen)
The one who is built-in over again exchanges the decadent, sinful life for a new life born from to a higher place. That person receives a fresh start in the form of forgiveness, eternal salvation, and spiritual renewal. Without, he cannot enter the kingdom of sky. The apostle Paul writes, " if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the sometime things passed away; behold, new things have come up." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Paul as well writes in his letter to the Galatians that, "I take been crucified with Christ; and information technology is no longer I who alive, simply Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by religion in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians two:20).The one who is born over again is freed from the shackles of sin and expiry. Paul laid it out in this way, "knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him (Christ), in order that our body of sin might be done away with, and then that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for the one who has died is freed from sin." (Romans six:half-dozen-7)
The apostle John likewise argued that, " no 1 who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, considering he has been born of God." (1 John three:9). Does this mean that nosotros volition never sin or make mistakes? No. Jesus paid the price for our sin. Through His death, our previous life of sin has been crucified with Him (Romans 6:10). We will all the same make mistakes. Nosotros are non perfect. Nonetheless, upon being born once again, sin and the things of this earth no longer hold mastery over us, for Christ overcame sin and the world, we have been born afresh in Him (1 John 5:1-4).
In doing so, those who are born again are given a new centre, a new mind, and eventually a new torso in eternity, distinct from the polluted, corrupt things of this world. As information technology is written, " do not be conformed to this world, merely be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may bear witness what the will of God is, that which is good and adequate and perfect."(Romans 12:2). Nicodemus's inability to sympathize what Jesus meant past beingness "born over again" proved Jesus'south point perfectly.
To the earthly mind, the spiritual wonders of God and eternity oftentimes seem similar foolishness. Understanding can just come from a spiritual transformation and re-forging of the mind through Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). According to Matthew Henry, "the natural human being must become a spiritual homo, before he is capable of receiving and understanding them." The one who is born again is transformed from the inside out. Their desires change, their attitudes and actions are reformed, and their life begins to produce new fruit, born of the spirit (Ephesians 5:22-26).
More importantly, Jesus paid the price for our sin so that we might become "children of God" and heirs to His kingdom, welcomed, "into an inheritance that tin never perish, spoil or fade." (1 Peter 1:4). This inheritance, Jesus argued is our eternal treasure and reward (Matthew six:nineteen-21).
As it is written in book of Jeremiah, "y ou will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your eye." (Jeremiah 29:13). And find Him Nicodemus did. Nicodemus may have come to Jesus in individual, but he, like many, would eventually confirm his belief in Jesus publicly. He likewise would be born over again and made new through Christ's work on the cross, proving that Christ came and died for all and that "whoever volition telephone call on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans x:thirteen)
Further Reading
What Does "Born Again" Mean? Why Did Jesus Say "You Must Be Born Again"?
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