Jesus Said You Must Be Born Again
Y'all should non be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' John 3:seven
You lot've probably heard the phrase, "Y'all must be built-in 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 about His teaching and the nature of salvation, Jesus provided the perfect synopsis of the Gospel, which included ane of the most important metaphors and doctrines of the Christian organized religion. "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), ' no i tin encounter the kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John 3:3, bold emphasis added).
At the time, the idea of beingness "built-in again" confounded the inquisitive Nicodemus, who asked, "how can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother'due south womb to exist born!" (John three:4). Though educated in matters of the Erstwhile Testament and Jewish law, Nicodemus struggled to grasp the deeper meaning of Jesus'due south words. He was not alone. Many have wrestled with the spiritual truths of Jesus'southward instruction and the implications of Christ's call to discipleship in their lives. So what does it really hateful to exist built-in over again and what does this wait similar for Christians and those called to follow Christ?
First, allow's read this verse in context: Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no 1 can run across the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be built-in when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a 2d fourth dimension into their female parent'due south womb to be built-in!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, simply the Spirit gives nativity to spirit. Y'all should not exist surprised at my proverb, 'You must be born once more.'(John 3:3-7)
What Did Jesus Mean past 'You Must Exist Born Over again'? (John 3:7)
When Jesus said we must exist "born again" He was not referring to any kind of literal or physical rebirth. He used the term "reborn" to affirm our need as individuals to exist redeemed and spiritually transformed, refashioned, and remade through God'southward saving grace and His eventual death on the cantankerous. To explain this concept to Nicodemus, Jesus connected His mission on earth to an Sometime Testament story that Nicodemus would have been familiar with.
"Equally Moses lifted upward the serpent in the wilderness," Jesus said, "nonetheless must the Son of Man exist lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." (John three:14-fifteen)
Jesus was of class referring to Numbers 21 and the plague of fiery serpents that spread through the camp of Israel as a result of their frequent complaining and lack of faith. To save those infected, Moses was instructed past God to place a statuary serpent on a flagpole at the center of the military camp. All who looked upon the bronze serpent would be miraculously healed from the poison coursing through their veins (Numbers 21). The bespeak of comparing Jesus was making to Nicodemus was that, at our cadre, we likewise are corrupted by the deadly poison of personal sin. Every bit the apostle Paul writes, "all take sinned and autumn short of the celebrity of God." (Romans three:23, bold accent added). Unfortunately, the consequences of this sin are spiritual death 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. Every bit the bronze serpent was raised up to save the children of Israel, so Jesus Christ was raised on the cross to be our saving grace. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "merely God demonstrates his own beloved for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for u.s.." (Romans five:8)
He went on to argue that, "considering of his great love for u.s., God, who is rich in mercy, made usa alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—information technology is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians two:four). Jesus made it articulate: to enter the kingdom of God and experience true transformation, forgiveness, and healing, complete renewal and regeneration are required. The poisonous substance of sin is too great to overcome by any quick fix or human antidote. We must exist built-in 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 be inverse. It is non enough to put on a new coat or a new face, only we must put on the new man, nosotros must be new creatures."
Jesus argued that we must first over and be "born again" into a new life "of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5)
Several passages of the New Testament repeat this idea.
"He saved the states, non on the footing of human action which we have washed in righteousness, just according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon u.s.a. richly through Jesus Christ." (Titus 3:5-vi)
"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." (i John 2:29)
"Blest be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His not bad mercy has caused us to be born over again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:three)
The Bible makes it articulate. You must exist born once again, in order to exist saved.
How Are Christians Built-in Again?
It'due south of import to affirm what the Bible says nearly salvation and that Christians are Non built-in once more by their ain work or merits. Unlike many world religions, conservancy is not obtained by anything we practice but rather what Christ does in us. We are non capable of saving ourselves from our sin, nor are we able to purchase our way into sky.
" For past grace you have been saved through organized religion; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; non a result of works, and then that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
True Christians must accept the foundational truth of the Gospel, that is, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cantankerous, was buried, and rose again three days later. In doing so, He alone interceded before God on our behalf, paying the ultimate price for our sin once and for all then that we might be saved (Hebrews 7:25).
"And at that place is conservancy in no i else; for at that place is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind past which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Jesus said information technology best in His conversation with Nicodemus: "for God then loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not transport the Son into the world to guess the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:xvi-17). Human being wisdom may claim that at that place are many paths to God and heaven. Jesus, yet, speedily dispelled this prevarication, proverb, "I am the fashion, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Male parent except through Me." (John 14:6)
Those who wish to exist born again must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected. They must acknowledge that they have sinned and are in need of saving. They must confess their sin and take the free souvenir of salvation offered through Jesus Christ. Equally information technology is written, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, and then that He will forgive the states our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
What Is the Significance of 'Yous Must Be Born Once again'?
In response to Nicodemus's confusion about the pregnant of existence born again, Jesus answered, "truly, truly, I say to yous, unless someone is built-in of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been built-in of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:v-six)
The i who is born again exchanges the corrupt, sinful life for a new life born from above. That person receives a fresh start in the grade of forgiveness, eternal salvation, 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 up." (two Corinthians 5:17)
Paul likewise writes in his letter to the Galatians that, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who alive, just Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians ii:20).The 1 who is born once more is freed from the shackles of sin and expiry. Paul laid it out in this manner, "knowing this, that our one-time self was crucified with Him (Christ), in order that our torso of sin might be done away with, and so that nosotros would no longer exist slaves to sin; for the one who has died is freed from sin." (Romans 6:6-7)
The apostle John besides 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 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 vi:10). We will still make mistakes. We are not perfect. However, upon being built-in again, sin and the things of this world no longer hold mastery over us, for Christ overcame sin and the earth, we take been built-in afresh in Him (one John 5:1-4).
In doing so, those who are born once more are given a new center, a new mind, and somewhen a new body in eternity, distinct from the polluted, corrupt things of this world. As it is written, " do non be conformed to this globe, but exist transformed past the renewing of your mind, so that yous may prove what the will of God is, that which is expert and acceptable and perfect."(Romans 12:two). Nicodemus's inability to understand what Jesus meant by being "born again" proved Jesus's betoken perfectly.
To the earthly mind, the spiritual wonders of God and eternity ofttimes seem similar foolishness. Understanding tin just come from a spiritual transformation and re-forging of the mind through Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). According to Matthew Henry, "the natural man must become a spiritual man, 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 v:22-26).
More than importantly, Jesus paid the cost for our sin and so that we might become "children of God" and heirs to His kingdom, welcomed, "into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." (ane Peter 1:4). This inheritance, Jesus argued is our eternal treasure and reward (Matthew 6:19-21).
As it is written in volume of Jeremiah, "y ou will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13). And observe Him Nicodemus did. Nicodemus may accept come up to Jesus in individual, but he, like many, would eventually ostend his conventionalities in Jesus publicly. He besides would be born again and made new through Christ'south piece of work on the cross, proving that Christ came and died for all and that "whoever will phone call on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13)
Further Reading
What Does "Born Again" Mean? Why Did Jesus Say "You Must Be Born Again"?
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