You hear the term, born again very often, but how is a person born again and how do you know if you are?
First Birth
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Everyone has been born physically in a natural birth, but there is another birth that the Bible talks about called, being born again. When a child is born, the child didn’t know about it in advance, didn’t check with his/her parents, didn’t ask to be born, didn’t choose the date and place to be born or even their parents, so it is likewise when a person is born of God. To begin with, all men and women are dead in their sins (Eph 2:1-5), so they cannot choose God as we’re all born to die from the moment of birth, being enslaved by sin and headed for judgment (Heb 9:27). But, as we shall read, God steps in supernaturally to cause us to be born again as the Apostle John and the Apostle Peter puts it.
Second Birth
Being “born from above” is a foundational Christian doctrine from the Gospel of John, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be “born from above” (in the Greek) to see the kingdom of God. It signifies a spiritual rebirth and a transformation of our inner life by the Holy Spirit. John 3:3-7 specifically speaks about being born from above, so can we take any credit for our own natural birth or our own spiritual birth? Did we choose to be born or the time and place? No! Since it’s kept in heaven for us, who can touch it?! It’ll be there waiting for us because it’s permanent (can never perish, spoil or fade). However, all glory must go to God, for salvation is fully a work of God (Jonah 2:9; Acts 4:12). John not only writes about being born again as an entry point of a Christian’s conversion experience, but also a life of transformation in the Spirit. A new birth creates a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).
Forced Labor
[2]I cannot count the number of people who plead with me to tell people they must be born again. Jesus tells all that we must repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15), and when we believe, we are born again. The late pastor Adrian Rogers once said, “If you’re born once, you’ll die twice, but if you’re born twice, you die once.” What did he mean? If you only have a physical birth, you’ll die a natural death and the “second death” is for eternity (Rev 20:12-15, 21:8), but to tell someone “You better be born again” is like telling someone to do something that they humanly can’t! Only God can cause the second birth (born again). We can’t talk someone into it or pressure them into making a decision. Only the Spirit of God and the Word of God shared by a person of God can birth a child of God. And if you’re born again, not even death can separate you from God (John 10:27-28; Rom 8:37-39).
The Command to Repent
It’s a little of a paradox to me, humanly speaking, because the Jesus warns us that we must repent and believe or perish, but then the Bible teaches that God grants repentance. How can we reconcile these two? We really don’t need to because both are true. Baptism is still commanded, just as everyone is commanded to repent (Acts 17:30). It’s not, “I will save you freely, now just finish it by getting baptized or by repenting of your sins…otherwise you won’t be saved.” It is more like God giving us His Spirit after we trust in Christ, and then we begin desire to repent of our past sins and past life. We turn away from sin and turn to God in obedience. God’s Spirit convicts us of our sins and shows us our need for the Savior. God grants all of this ability to us…including our ability to want to repent in the first place
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God Grants Repentance
The Gentiles didn’t figure out that Jesus was the Savior and then decided to repent. Scripture teaches that it was to “the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18). He writes to Timothy that “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 2:24-25), and if God grants them repentance, “they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Tim 2:26). Otherwise they, like us, would have been dead in our sins and unable to repent. We’d have as much of a chance as Lazarus resurrecting himself. He needed Jesus! So do we! God grants us repentance. That repentance shows up in a changed life, and we only then are we able to escape from the devil’s snare that formerly held us captive. Unless God had granted us repentance, we would still be in Satan’s grip, but thankfully, God demands that we repent but God grants us the ability to repent.
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Conclusion
Being “born again” is also mentioned in 1 Peter 1:23 and probably 1 John 3:9 but also relates to being “born anew” or “born again.” In 1 Peter 3, 23, the Greek verb ἀναγεννάω is used, which means “to be born anew,” signifying a “new birth.” In 1 John 3:9, the Greek verb is γεννάω, which means “to bring forth birth” or “to be father of.” Here are more Scriptures on the new birth if you’d like to read more on this subject (John 3:3-7; 1 Pet 1:23; 2 Tim 2:23-26; 1 John 3:9).
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Here is some related reading for you: How You Are Chosen by God, Born of God, Sought by God and Kept by God [5]
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.