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Born Again

Jesus said, "unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". He did not mince words when He told us how to get to heaven. There were no" if's, and's or but's"! This was the discourse between Nicodemus and the Lord at the beginning of John Chapter 3:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:1-8 ESV).

When Jesus spoke in the scripture above, He knew that He would die, be buried and be resurrected. Our precious Savior was literally, physically born again after being crucified. He also knew that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and that on the Day of Pentecost, Peter would preach obedience to the Gospel; the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:14-37) and that there is only one response:

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).

Jesus was literally or physically born again. For us though, we only have to be symbolically or figuratively re-born. So in John 3:3-5, He used born of the water to mean the symbolic form of His actual burial i.e. baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and born of the Spirit to be the symbolic form of His resurrection, that is, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Jesus made it so simple for us to be born again, just like Him!

What happens after we are born again?

There are many scriptures that describe what becomes of us here on earth when we experience the new birth. Here are a few:

Of course, we are saved:

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (g2834 - paliggenesia) , and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5).

Eternal life beckons us:

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory (1 Corinthians 15:55)?

We become sons and daughters of God:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

We become new creatures:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Our new self is created after the like likeness of God:

To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV).

We have living hope:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).

In an analogy to planting seed and watching it grow, our new seed in re-birth is not corruptible:

Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23 NKJV).

We will walk in newness of life:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4 ESV).

We are born into the body of Christ - the Church.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV).

We will love our brothers and sisters in His Church:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him (1 John 5:1 ESV).

We have the ability to grow by the Word of God:

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).

Personally, I find it hard to believe why anybody would forsake Jesus by not being born again.