|
Jesus said "You must be Born Again"
Read Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus.
John 3:1-21
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform
the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb
to be born!"
5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[ b] gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You[c] must be born again.'
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?
11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept
our testimony.
12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.
15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed
in the name of God's one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done
through God."
In Christianity, born again refers to a "spiritual rebirth" ( of the human soul, contrasted with the
physical birth everyone experiences. The origin of the term "born again" is the New Testament: Jesus replied, 'Very truly
I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.'"[ It is a term associated with
salvation in Christianity.
Throughout most of Christian history, to be "born again" was understood as spirtiual regeneration via the
sacrament of baptism. This is still the understanding in Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy. However, beginning
with the Reformation, being born again is predominantly understood by Protestants (Episcopalians and Lutherans are
two notable exceptions to this understanding) to be an experience of conversion symbolized by water baptism, rooted in commitment
to one's personal faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
When a person accepts Jesus as the Messiah and receives the Holy Spirit, a radical "change of heart" (Ezeliel
36:26) occurs. This change is marked by the fruits (Mathwe 7:16-20) of an intense aversion to sin and passion for obedience
to the commandants ofJesus Christ, as outlined in the Christian scriptures. Many associate the term "born again" with the
revelation of a new concept, or an experience of conversion, defined as mental assent to the acceptance of Jesus Christ as
one's personal Saviour, though this experience or mental assent is not alone sufficient to merit Christian salvation but rather
repentance, the aforementioned "new birth" of the Holy Spirit, and faith in Jesus Christ’s propitiation for sins.
The Oxfordox English Dictionary, finding examples going back to 1961, defines the adjective
born-again as:
Of, pertaining to, or characterized by (an experience of) new birth in Christ or spiritual renewal; of a Christian:
placing special emphasis on this experience as a basis for all one's actions, evangelical.
|
