You Must Be Born Again

 

 

 

by Mihran Kulhanjian

 

Dearest Friends,

What is Regeneration?  Regeneration is the same as being born again. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) said Jesus.

 

Regeneration “being born again” (John 3:3), the repentance of sin begins once you are born again in the Spirit. Repentance after being born again is often neglected, or tossed to-the-side in many of today’s modern churches that distort the teachings of Jesus and the Bible and preach “free grace” method to salvation.  Free grace implies that you are justified by faith alone and repentance from sin is not required. Yes, God has offered us grace without conditions, but it is not “alone” in the sense of true salvation.  A true convert will want to obey God, please God and will want to turn from sin because God commands righteousness and a true believer realizes the sin in his life and the evil it is.  The greatest Commandment Jesus said was to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength (Luke 10:27). If we truly love God we will obey his commands. 

 

Being born again is an inward working of change and attitude, recognition and hatred toward sin, all sin. A false convert will not or does not repent. Thus, they truly do not believe in God or God’s word and are not truly “born again.”  And the Holy Spirit does not indwell in them; they have no faith, no belief.  Being born again (a supernatural work of God) is with our cooperation.  The Holy Spirit reveals God, the understanding of sin, and our regeneration, the turning from sinner to saint. The first word of Jesus to the Israelite's was “repent” (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15).  The first word of John the Baptist was “Repent”.  The last word Jesus said to the church was to “repent.” The seriousness of repentance is noted throughout the Bible. You must be born again (John 3:3); born from above. “Above” means born with the Holy Spirit of God in you. This is a mysterious act of God; it is supernatural in every way where the Holy Spirit will dwell in us when we cry out to God and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and we see and realize sin for what it is and who God is.  Sin is vile, it is the work of Satan, it is death and it is an abomination against a holy God.

 

Regeneration is a Work of God

Regeneration is a spiritual gift from God; it is a secret act of a rebirth of new spiritual life.  In John 3:3, Jesus calls this new birth being “born again.”  All must be born again to see the kingdom of God.  God is in charge of the rebirth in us.  In John 1:12-13 we are told “ But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  In the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:26-27 it was predicted:  

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

 

It is God the Holy Spirit that comes into us as being reborn in the Spirit [John 3:8], but it is also God the Father [Ephesians 2:5, cf. Colossians 2:13].  As a born again spirit, behavior, actions and desires change.  In accordance to growing and maturing, desires in the Spirit of God pleases Him. Saving Faith comes after being “born again” and it occurs almost immediately in the born again.  

 

Regeneration is Before Saving Faith

God does something to us so that we can believe and get closer to Him. Before we are saved by our faith we are regenerated. This time of saving faith can be immediate. We respond to God with repentance and with faith.  We are saved by faith not by being born again. It is by God's grace we are saved through our faith [Ephesians 2:8-9].

 

Being born again is the rebirth: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” [2 Corinthians 5:17]. After regeneration, our faith is brought forth where we have realized our sins and we begin to live in the spirit instead of the flesh.  We begin to think about God. We want to read the Bible. We want to learn about God and who He is. We want to tell others about God. We want to pray to God and have fellowship with Him. We want to meet and surround ourselves with other believers. We want to go to church and join a church to call home. We want to build knowledge in Christ. Usually, when we have been born again we know the time: the month, the day and perhaps the hour it came to pass.  Our attitude toward God and sin has changed—we have had a revelation.  We want to please God and live for God.

 

Regeneration Shows Proof of the New Spirit 

Being born again brings results into the lives of the regenerate. Spiritually, we are reawakened to a life which was formerly darkened. In 1 John 3:9 we know that “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” Also, in 1 John 2:29 we know, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” And In 1 John 5:18, we are told by John that the born again are protected from Satan and his demons:   “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”

 

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith”  [1 John 5:3-4].

 

The born again will know God through love. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” [1 John 4:7]. What kind of love is this?  Jesus told a story of the “Good Samaritan” which illustrates this kind of love when he explains about loving your neighbor. 

 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan [Luke 10:25-37]

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii [about two day’s pay], gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

This is the type of love we possess when we are born again.

 

You Will Know The Born Again by Their Fruits

 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.   Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 15-20).

 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” [Galatians 5:22-23]. A regenerate person will exhibit these fruits as he or she gets closer and closer to God.

 

J. I. Packer concisely explains Regeneration this way:

 

The concept is of God renovating the heart, the core of a person’s being, by implanting a new principle of desire, purpose, and action, a dispositional dynamic that finds expression in positive response to the gospel and its Christ, Jesus’s phrase “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5) harks back to Ezekiel 36:25-27*, where God is pictured as symbolically cleansing persons from sin’s pollution (by water) and bestowing a “new heart” by putting his Spirit within them.  Because this is so explicit, Jesus chides Nicodemus, “teacher of Israel,” for not understanding how new birth happens (John 3:9-10).  Jesus’s point throughout is that there is no exercise of faith in himself as the supernatural Savior, no repentance, and no true discipleship apart from this new birth.
     Elsewhere John teaches that belief in the incarnation and atonement, with faith and love, holiness and righteousness, is the fruit and proof that one is born of God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4).  It thus appears that as there is no conversion without new birth, so there is no new birth without conversion.
     Regeneration is monergistic:  that is, entirely the work of God the Holy Spirit.  It raises the elect among the spiritually dead to new life in Christ (Eph. 2:1-10).  Regeneration is a transition from spiritual death to spiritual life, and conscious, intentional, active faith in Christ is its immediate fruit, not its immediate cause. Regeneration is the work of what Augustine called “prevenient” grace, the grace that precedes our outgoings of heart toward God.  (J. I. Packer, Concise Theology, © 1993 Crossway)
 
*”Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

 

Summing Up the Results of Those Born Again:

  1. Belief that Jesus is the Christ
  2. A pattern of premeditated and willful sin will depart from the truly born again. Behavior, attitude and conduct toward sin changes.
  3. Love, care and well-being for others will be evident
  4. The temptations of the world will be overcome. Living in flesh passes and living in the Spirit matures.
  5. The born again are protected from the evil one
  6. The fruit of the Spirit will be present
  7. A maturing love and gratefulness for God the Father, the Son [Jesus, our Lord and Savior], and the Holy Spirit will be evident

 

 

“The Christian knows that the nearer he approaches God, the
more he becomes aware of his own sin.”
—John R.W. Stott