FAITH BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH

Rizal Avenue, Tuburan District Pagadian City

Pastor Eliseo Belotindos Mantos

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “BORN AGAIN?”

The new birth (also referred in the Bible as “regeneration”) is an act of God by which He
imparts spiritual life to the believer in Jesus Christ. It is the divine side of that change of heart,
which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. As such it is simultaneous with the other
aspects of this religious experience, such as justification, redemption, adoption, and
sanctification.
It is of the utmost importance that we have a clear understanding of this vital doctrine.
By regeneration we are admitted into the Kingdom of God (John 3:3-7). There is no other way of
becoming a Christian but by being “born again.” It is the door of entrance into the family of God.
Those who do not enter here do not enter at all.

THE NATURE OF REGENERATION

Regeneration is not baptism.
When the Ethiopian requested baptism, Philip pointed out that he must first believe with
all his heart (Acts 8:35-37). It was the act of believing, not the act of baptism, that saved the
Ethiopian. Paul assured the Philippian jailer that if he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ he would
be saved (Acts 16:31). If baptism and regeneration were identical, why should the Apostle Paul
seem to make so little of the rite (compare 1 Corinthians 4:15 with 1 Corinthians 1:14).
Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again if he expected to be admitted into the
kingdom of God (John 3:3). Nicodemus posed the question as to how a man could be born again
when he is old? Would it be possible for him to re-enter his mother’s womb and be born a second
time? (3:4). Perhaps he was being facetious. Even so, Jesus seized the opportunity to introduce
the contrast between physical and spiritual birth and the necessity of experiencing both to enter
the kingdom. He said, “Unless a man is born of water (physical birth) and the Spirit (spiritual birth),
he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (3:5). It is obvious that one must first be born physically
before one can be born spiritually. But why does the word “water” in this instance refer to
physical birth and not baptism? For the first nine months of an unborn baby’s life, it lives in a sack
of water (or amniotic fluid) in its mother’s womb). Physical or “water” birth comes first, as Jesus
makes clear; however, physical birth alone does not equip one to be a child of God (John 1:13).
Jesus said if one were only born of the flesh, one would always remain flesh. But if one is born of
the Spirit, one becomes Spirit (3:6). Only then can one have a personal relationship with God who
is Spirit. The transformation can only become a reality by experiencing a spiritual birth.

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 Some believe that being “born of water” is a reference to the Word of God. Ephesians
5:26 and Titus 3:5 are verses used to buttress this viewpoint. Metaphorically, being regenerated
is pictured in these verses as being cleansed by water.

Regeneration is not reformation

To reform one’s life is to go through a step-by-step process of improving one’s behavior.
Regeneration, on the other hand, is a supernatural act of God (James 1:18). It is a spiritual crisis,
a divine intervention. It marks the beginning of one’s eternal life. No one could justly condemn a
person for wanting to improve his or her life, but our very best efforts, unaided by divine
initiative, will not produce within us that change which alone is acceptable to God (Titus 3:5).

Regeneration is a spiritual quickening, a new birth.

By nature, humans are physically “alive,” but spiritually “dead” in trespasses and sins
(Ephesians 2:1). The new birth imparts a new spiritual life, the life of God, so that henceforth the
re-born person is as someone who has come forth from the dead – someone who has passed
from spiritual death to spiritual life (John 5:24).
When speaking to Nicodemus about the new birth, as we have noted, Jesus compared
the experience of being born again to physical or natural birth (John 3:3-8). At birth a child enters
a new sphere of existence. The child must accommodate himself or herself to new conditions.
Likewise, the one who is born again enters a new realm of life. The sins one previously relished
are now distasteful. There is a new set of values, a fresh hope and confidence, and an altered
mind-set (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Regeneration is the impartation of a new nature.

This new nature is really God’s nature (2 Peter 1:4; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). Christ
now lives in the believer, a truth of great mystery but of immense comfort as well (Galatians
2:20). As physical birth enables us to have the life (nature) of our parents within us, so spiritual
birth enables us to share in the life of God. We could not live in Heaven just as we are, with merely
our human life. To live in Heaven it is necessary to have the life of God within us.

THE NECESSITY OF REGENERATION

The sinful condition of humans demand it.
All humans by nature (physical birth) are born into the wrong family. Our Lord denounced
His enemies by declaring that their father was the Devil, and they enjoyed doing the evil things
their father did. “Like father, like son” (John 8:44).
This sobering truth implies that no one who rejects Jesus Christ can rightly claim God as
Father. A popular teaching today is that everyone is a child of God. Admittedly, God is the Creator

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of all, and in that sense He is the father of all, but only through regeneration does one become a
true child of God.
Being spiritually dead, the unsaved exist in a state of alienation from God (Ephesians
4:18). They are spiritually lost (Luke 19:10). And if they should die in such a condition they will
perish (1 Corinthians 1:18; John 3:16). Hence, humans must be born again to enter the family of
God.

God’s holiness requires a new birth.

If “without (holiness) no one shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14); and if holiness is not to
be attained by natural development or sustained by self-effort, then regeneration is absolutely
necessary. They change which enabled one to be holy, takes place only when one is born again.
To have the life of God, one must have the nature of God.

THE MEANS OF REGENERATION

If one is to be born again, one must give assent to a message. He must “believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ.” In his unsaved condition the sinner cannot impart spiritual life to himself or
admit himself to God’s Kingdom. But by His atoning death for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2),
Jesus paved the way for God to forgive those who repent and believe the gospel, to impart to
them eternal life, which is required for His Kingdom (John 3:16).
Personal faith in Christ as Redeemer is the condition of regeneration (John 1:12, 13). This
is the message of the Word of God, and only by subscribing to this Word, does one have hope of
being “born again” (1 Peter 1:23).
Jesus announced that the Holy Spirit acts as the agent in regeneration (John 3:5, 6). It is
the Spirit that brings conviction and opens the heart to receive the message of salvation. The
Spirit imparts spiritual life in the place of spiritual death, and turns humans from sin to God.

CONCLUSION
Some Christians know the precise time of their new birth. The resultant change was
dramatic because it came when they were older and perhaps after a prolonged life of sin. Those
who were brought up in a Christian home and professed faith in Christ at an early age may not
remember the exact time or place of their salvation experience. The details are somewhat vague.
In whichever one of these groups you may be, if you are trusting solely in Christ as Lord and
Savior, you may rejoice in the inner witness of the Spirit, and know that you are a born again
child of God (Romans 8:16).