Jesus Says Must Be Born Again
You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must exist born again.' John 3:vii
You've probably heard the phrase, "You must be born over again," during a sermon. But what does this mean exactly?
When Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to Jesus with questions nigh His pedagogy and the nature of salvation, Jesus provided the perfect synopsis of the Gospel, which included 1 of the most important metaphors and doctrines of the Christian faith. "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), ' no ane tin encounter the kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John 3:three, bold emphasis added).
At the time, the idea of being "born over again" confounded the inquisitive Nicodemus, who asked, "how tin someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their female parent'south womb to be built-in!" (John 3:4). Though educated in matters of the Old Testament and Jewish police, Nicodemus struggled to grasp the deeper meaning of Jesus'south words. He was not lonely. Many take wrestled with the spiritual truths of Jesus'southward teaching and the implications of Christ'south call to discipleship in their lives. So what does it really mean to be born once again and what does this look like for Christians and those called to follow Christ?
First, let'south read this poesy in context: Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell y'all, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are former?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a 2d time into their mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of h2o and the Spirit. Mankind gives birth to flesh, simply the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should non be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born once more.'(John iii:three-7)
What Did Jesus Mean by 'You Must Be Born Again'? (John three:seven)
When Jesus said we must be "built-in again" He was not referring to any kind of literal or concrete rebirth. He used the term "reborn" to affirm our need every bit individuals to be redeemed and spiritually transformed, refashioned, and remade through God'south 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 accept been familiar with.
"As Moses lifted up the ophidian in the wilderness," Jesus said, "yet must the Son of Man be lifted upward; and so that whoever believes will in Him take eternal life." (John 3:14-15)
Jesus was of class referring to Numbers 21 and the plague of fiery serpents that spread through the camp of State of israel as a result of their frequent complaining and lack of organized religion. To save those infected, Moses was instructed by God to place a bronze serpent on a flagpole at the eye of the military camp. All who looked upon the bronze serpent would be miraculously healed from the toxicant coursing through their veins (Numbers 21). The point of comparing Jesus was making to Nicodemus was that, at our core, nosotros as well are corrupted by the deadly poisonous substance of personal sin. As the apostle Paul writes, "all have sinned and autumn brusk of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23, bold emphasis added). Unfortunately, the consequences of this sin are spiritual death and eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23).
Thankfully, as God provided a fashion out for the Israelites, He provided the perfect Savior and healer through His Son, Jesus Christ. As the bronze serpent was raised upward to save the children of Israel, and so Jesus Christ was raised on the cross to be our saving grace. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "but God demonstrates his own love for u.s.a. in this: While nosotros were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans v:8)
He went on to argue that, "because of his corking honey for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians two:4). Jesus made it articulate: to enter the kingdom of God and feel true transformation, forgiveness, and healing, consummate renewal and regeneration are required. The toxicant of sin is too swell to overcome by any quick set or human antidote. Nosotros must be born again.
According to Matthew Henry, "corruption and sin are woven into our nature; nosotros are shapen in iniquity, which makes information technology necessary that the nature be changed. It is not enough to put on a new coat or a new face, but nosotros must put on the new man, we must be new creatures."
Jesus argued that nosotros must start over and exist "born again" into a new life "of water and the Spirit." (John 3:five)
Several passages of the New Testament echo this thought.
"He saved us, not on the footing 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, yous know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." (1 John ii:29)
"Blest be the God and Begetter of our Lord Jesus Christ, who co-ordinate to His great mercy has caused us to exist born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:three)
The Bible makes information technology clear. You must be born over again, in society to exist saved.
How Are Christians Born Again?
Information technology's important to affirm what the Bible says most salvation and that Christians are NOT built-in again by their own work or merits. Unlike many world religions, salvation is non obtained by anything nosotros do but rather what Christ does in usa. We are not capable of saving ourselves from our sin, nor are we able to buy our fashion into heaven.
" For past grace you take been saved through organized religion; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, and then that no one may boast." (Ephesians two:8-9)
True Christians must take the foundational truth of the Gospel, that is, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross, was buried, and rose again iii days later. In doing then, He alone interceded before God on our behalf, paying the ultimate price for our sin once and for all so that we might be saved (Hebrews 7:25).
"And at that place is conservancy in no ane else; for in that location is no other proper name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts iv:12)
Jesus said it best in His conversation with Nicodemus: "for God so loved the world, that He gave His merely Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, only have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to approximate the globe, but so that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:xvi-17). Human wisdom may claim that there are many paths to God and heaven. Jesus, however, speedily dispelled this lie, saying, "I am the style, and the truth, and the life; no 1 comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
Those who wish to be built-in again must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected. They must acknowledge that they have sinned and are in demand of saving. They must confess their sin and take the complimentary 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 united states of america our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John one:9)
What Is the Significance of 'You Must Be Born Again'?
In response to Nicodemus'south defoliation about the meaning of being born again, Jesus answered, "truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is built-in of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the mankind is flesh, and that which has been built-in of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5-6)
The one who is born once more exchanges the corrupt, sinful life for a new life born from in a higher place. That person receives a fresh start in the form of forgiveness, eternal conservancy, and spiritual renewal. Without, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. The campaigner Paul writes, " if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Paul also writes in his letter to the Galatians that, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, merely Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the mankind I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself upward for me." (Galatians 2:twenty).The ane who is built-in again is freed from the shackles of sin and death. 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 exist washed away with, so that we would no longer exist slaves to sin; for the one who has died is freed from sin." (Romans 6:6-vii)
The campaigner John also argued that, " no one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God." (1 John 3:9). Does this mean that we will 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 volition all the same make mistakes. We are non perfect. However, upon being born again, sin and the things of this world no longer hold mastery over us, for Christ overcame sin and the world, nosotros have been born anew in Him (one John 5:1-iv).
In doing so, those who are born again are given a new middle, a new mind, and eventually a new body in eternity, distinct from the polluted, corrupt things of this world. As it is written, " do non be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your listen, then that y'all may prove what the volition of God is, that which is proficient and acceptable and perfect."(Romans 12:2). Nicodemus's inability to sympathise what Jesus meant by being "born once more" proved Jesus's bespeak perfectly.
To the earthly mind, the spiritual wonders of God and eternity oft seem like foolishness. Understanding can only come from a spiritual transformation and re-forging of the mind through Christ (one Corinthians ii:16). According to Matthew Henry, "the natural human must become a spiritual human, before he is capable of receiving and understanding them." The i who is built-in 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 than 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 can never perish, spoil or fade." (1 Peter i:4). This inheritance, Jesus argued is our eternal treasure and reward (Matthew vi:19-21).
As it is written in volume of Jeremiah, "y ou will seek me and find me when y'all seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:thirteen). And discover Him Nicodemus did. Nicodemus may accept come up to Jesus in private, but he, like many, would eventually ostend his conventionalities in Jesus publicly. He too would be born again and fabricated new through Christ's work on the cross, proving that Christ came and died for all and that "whoever volition phone call on the proper noun of the Lord volition be saved." (Romans 10:13)
Farther Reading
What Does "Born Again" Hateful? Why Did Jesus Say "You Must Be Born Once more"?
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