A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about one of the terms within Christianity that can be taken different ways. The term was “evangelical”, which some people understand negatively while others, myself included, consider it in a positive way. Today I want to dig, just a little, into a different term. One that also has its negative and positive understandings. That term is “born again.”
The basic idea underlying being born again comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1-8. Jesus is having a conversation with Nicodemus. In verse 3 John writes:
“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
Jesus then teaches Nicodemus what he is getting at, which is that true children of God receive spiritual life through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus emphasizes the absolute necessity of this spiritual birth in verse 7, saying:
“You must be born again.”
According to Jesus, being born again is not optional for entrance to the kingdom of God.
Negatively, there are people who come from Christian traditions where, for any number of reasons, the language of “born again” is not used, and the idea itself is not considered to be a central part of Christian belief.
Another way that born again can seem negative is when someone undergoes this new birth and then acts accordingly, especially as they show great enthusiasm in sharing the good news of Jesus with nearly everyone who crosses their path.
And the last negative that comes to mind is the person who is born again while in the midst of some sort of mess in their life, such as the jailhouse conversion. We hear that they have religion and we are immediately skeptical.
But, despite the perceived negatives…the truth of Jesus’ words remains. Being born again is essential to entering the kingdom of God. What does it look like to be born again? Paul helps us out in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where he writes:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
I take this to mean that we are the same people, and yet also not the same people. There has been a fundamental change in the way we perceive and relate to both God and the world. In writing on the nature of being born again Stephen Charnock asked what was for me a thought-provoking question: “Can any man live the life of God that does not care for the presence of God, either speaking to him, or thinking of him?”[1]
Being born again is a one-time thing. The old passes and the new comes. But living as someone who is born again is a life-long task. Later on the same page Charnock writes: “The new nature, being made up of an inclination to God, the proper language of that is “It is good for me to draw near to God.””
Being born again is a bit like living on a spiral, moving from the outside and drawing closer and closer to the center. Caring for the presence of God. Speaking to him. Thinking of him. Drawing nearer and nearer.
May this experience of being and living as one who is born again be true for you and for me.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Photo credit: https://almondemotion.com/2019/06/17/spiral/
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