HAVE YOU BEEN BORN AGAIN?
REGENERATION
In his book Waking the Dead, John
Eldridge reminds us that we are enchanted with stories of transformation.
• Beauty’s love turns the beast into a
handsome prince.
• Pinocchio becomes a boy.
• The Ugly Duckling becomes a swan.
• Luke Skywalker becomes a Jedi Warrior.
• Strider becomes King Aragorn.
• Neo becomes the One.
These speak to our heart
because we long to be more than we can be.
We long to be born again. It has
become very popular in certain circles to speak of being “born again.” What exactly does this mean?
The new birth is the bringing
forth of a new and divinely created life into the soul of the believer. When we speak of “generating” something, we
refer to bringing life to that thing.
Therefore “regeneration” speaks of the bringing of life to that which
had previously been dead.
THE NEED FOR THE NEW BIRTH
The very fact of regeneration
presupposes a spiritual death. I have
spent a lot of years in the Fire Rescue profession. And there is one important rule which I
learned. You do not bring someone back
to life unless they are first dead.
Performing CPR on a person who is still breathing and whose heart is
still beating is not helpful.
You were born as a son or a
daughter of Adam. This was an existence
of spiritual death. The only way of
escape was to bring new life to that dead existence. You need some supernatural CPR. God does not save you by cleaning up your old
life. Instead He declares you to be
legally dead. And then He starts over.
Knowing this, that our old self
was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he
who has died is freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7).
There is an identification
truth here. When Christ died on the
cross, you were legally considered to have died with Him. When He was buried and the tomb was sealed
with the stone, you were reckoned to be in the grave with Him. And when He arose from the grave, you were
declared to have risen with Him into a new life.
This is why Peter says that
our new birth is “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be
born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead. (1 Peter 1:3).
The new birth brings about a
living hope. That is a quality we
need. Everyone needs hope. I was talking recently to a man whose son had
been in a coma. It was uncertain whether
the boy would live or die. One of the
nurses came in and told him, “I don’t want to give you any hope.” She meant well but, at this point in the
process, he needed to hope. The good
news is that his hope was not without foundation, for his son soon awakened and
was restored to health.
If you have come to faith in
Jesus Christ, then you have been born again to a living hope. It is a hope of life that is rooted in the
resurrection of Jesus. He rose from the
dead and He gives to you a similar resurrection, raising you out of your former
manner of living to live your life in a new realm of existence.
THE DYNAMIC OF THE NEW
BIRTH
Jesus taught on the subject
of the new birth during a midnight conversation He had with a man named
Nicodemus. It must have been an
interesting conversation. On the one
hand was a Galilean carpenter-turned-rabbi.
On the other was a recognized religious leader of the Jewish religion.
3 Jesus answered and said
to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see
the
4
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a
second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus
answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the
Twice in this conversation,
Jesus repeats the words, “Truly, truly.”
It is not that Jesus had a problem with lying. It is that He wanted to get the attention of
Nicodemus and He underscored His words.
It is as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t miss this, Nicodemus!”
There is nothing more
important in your life than your standing and relationship before God. It is a matter of life or death. Indeed, it is a matter of eternal life versus
eternal death.
One of the ways in which you
can tell a real Christian is by the importance he places upon his spiritual
life. One who has a spiritual life will
necessarily begin to see the importance of cultivating that life. You can ask a person, “Are you a Christian?”
and if they become annoyed at the question, then it is more than likely that
they are not, no matter what they say or think.
1. A
Special Birth: “Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the
The
Greek text of this verse can be understood in one of two ways. It is an example of a homonym. There is a word here that has two possible
meanings. Usually, you can tell a
homonym from the context, but in this case, either meaning makes sense. The phrase “born again” can mean one of two
things:
• Born again.
• Born from above.
Which
meaning is intended here? Is Jesus
speaking of being born again or is He speaking of being born from above. I am not certain. Either one is doctrinally accurate. Either one fits the context of this verse.
|
Born Again |
Born from Above |
|
The reply of
Nicodemus indicates that he assumes Jesus is speaking of a second birth |
In verse 31,
Jesus speaks of how He who comes from ABOVE is ABOVE all. |
|
Focuses upon
the contrast with the physical birth. |
Focuses upon
the divine origin of our spiritual life. |
There
is another possibility. It is that this
is worded in such a way that we are to understand BOTH being in view. There are times when we speak in such a way
as to intentionally give a double meaning to our words.
People
today hear the term “new birth” and think it is speaking of a narrow segment
within Christianity. You hear people
say, “I am a Christian, but I am not one of those born-again Christians.” The truth we see here is that there is no
Christianity apart from the new birth.
2. A Natural Misunderstanding:
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He
cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?” (3:4).
Nicodemus
misses the point entirely. He does not
realize that Jesus is speaking of a spiritual birth. He thinks only in physical terms. He interprets the words of Jesus with a rigid
literalism.
There
are a lot of people who do the same thing today. They look at the prophecies of the Bible and
they see tanks and helicopters and nuclear missiles and credit cards. By trying to find physical and overly literal
fulfillments, they miss the spiritual truths that are so plainly taught.
When
we look at Nicodemus, we see a religious leader, a man of wealth and intellect
and power and influence. He comprises
all of the morality of the Pharisees and combines it with an
openness and a compassion. Yet
with all of his accomplishments, he has not even come to the starting point of
real spiritual life. He is not even a
baby. He has not yet been born. There is a lesson here. If you want to have a relationship with God,
you have to start over. You must be
completely new.
3. A
Spiritual Contrast: That which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit
(3:6).
Nicodemus
has made the mistake of confusing that which is flesh with that which is
spiritual by nature. These two are not
to be confused. Accordingly, Jesus
continues to explain the contrast between the physical birth of which Nicodemus
has spoken and the new birth that is of the Spirit. In effect, He says that each gives birth
after its own kind. This is not a new
concept to Nicodemus. The first chapter
of Genesis repeats again and again how things are created to produce after
their own kind.
And the earth brought forth
vegetation, plants yielding seed AFTER THEIR KIND, and trees bearing
fruit, with seed in them, AFTER THEIR KIND; and God saw that it was good.
(Genesis 1:12).
And God created the great sea
monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed
AFTER THEIR KIND, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was
good. (Genesis 1:21).
And God made the beasts of the
earth AFTER THEIR KIND, and the cattle AFTER THEIR KIND, and everything that
creeps on the ground AFTER ITS KIND; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis
1:25).
Even
when it came time for Adam and Eve to bear children, we read that this same
principle continued to be in effect.
When Adam had lived one hundred
and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according
to his image, and named him Seth. (Genesis 5:3).
Adam
and Eve were created in the image of God.
They were designed to be like God.
That does not mean God has two arms and two legs or that He is merely a
glorified man. It does mean that man has
been created to be God’s representative on planet earth and that he has been
invested with a stewardship over the planet.
Man has been given to assume the role of rulership over the world. There is a sense in which he stands in the
role of being God to the world.
Furthermore,
God is described in the Bible as having personality, emotions, intellect and
will. The fact that we share in those
might reflect other ways and means in which we are also in the image of
God. That pattern was distorted when
Adam sinned. Sin affected every part of
his life. His personality became
self-centered. His emotions became
subject to sin. His intellect became
clouded. His will fell under the bondage
of the flesh.
This
same distortion of God’s image has been passed on to Adam’s descendants. Adam’s children were not make
in the image and likeness of God. They
were born in Adam’s own image and likeness.
They were polluted by the effects of sin in the same way that Adam
reflected this polluted image. His
descendants gave rise to a fallen race.
|
God is the Perfect Image |
→ |
Adam made in God’s Image |
→ |
Adam sinned |
→ |
Adam’s children born in his
sinful image |
It
took the work of a second Adam to restore us to the image and likeness of
God. Just as the condemnation had come
upon all the world through the sin of a single man, so
also through the obedience of a single man has come salvation to all.
45 So also it is written,
"The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a
life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural;
then the spiritual.
47 The
first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is
the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also
are those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).
The
first Adam was given life and became a living soul. The last Adam gave life to the world by
laying down His own life. The first Adam
sinned by eating of the fruit of the tree.
The last Adam obeyed by dying upon the tree. The first Adam brought condemnation and death
to all who bore his image and likeness.
The last Adam brings justification and life to all who enter into union
with Him.
It
is through Jesus Christ that man is able to return to the place of a true and
even better pattern of the image of God.
4. A
Mysterious Example: The wind blows
where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes
from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (3:8).
Jesus
brings out an illustration of the new birth.
The reason for this illustration is because Nicodemus is having problems
understanding that which he has never seen or experienced.
Jesus
uses the example of the wind. It is not
only a fitting example, but it is also a play on words as the term for “wind”
and the term for “spirit” are identical in both Greek and Hebrew. Why does Jesus use this play on words? I think it is because He wants to make a
comparison. He wants to paint a picture
of the work of the Spirit and He does this by picturing the work of the wind.
Try
to look at the wind. You cannot see
it. You do not know from where it
comes. You do not know where it is
going. But you believe it is there. Why?
Because you see how it affects the physical world around you. You see the leaves swirl. You see sailboats move across a churning
sea. You see these evidences of the wind
and they convince you that the wind is at work.
That
is what the new birth is like. You
cannot see it. You do not know from
where it comes. But you can believe it
is there when you see how it affects those who have partaken of it.
I
have had the opportunity to pilot both a motorboat as well as a sailboat. Piloting a motorboat is easy. You just start the motor and point the boat
in the direction you wish to go and you go there. A sailboat is different. It does not carry its own power. It relies on the wind. When the wind blows, the sailboat goes. If the wind does not blow, the sailboat does
not move. The pilot’s task is not to
generate more wind; it is only to do what is necessary to catch the wind and to
be moved by the wind.
The
spiritual life is like that. We cannot
turn it on and off. But we can allow
ourselves to be moved by the Spirit when it does blow.
Moses could not produce a
burning bush, but when he was confronted by that manifested presence of God, he
was able to allow it to change him. How
about you? Has the Spirit of God been at
work in your life? Are you different
today because of the blowing of God’s Spirit in your life? If it is not, then don’t try to fake it. You will be like the little boy who spreads
his sails and then blows to make the sound of wind. Don’t settle for cheap sound effects. Spread the sails of your faith and then look
for the Lord to move you with His Spirit.