THE NEW BIRTH
by Rod
We hear much today about the new birth. Many people say they are “born again Christians.” They do not seem to understand that one cannot be a Christian at all unless he has been born again. How can one be born again? That is, how does one become a Christian? What does the Bible say?
The Bible
speaks of the new birth in John 3:1-13. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a ruler of the
Jews, came to Jesus. Nicodemus was both
a religious man and a good man. He knew
that God had sent Jesus into the world because he had seen the miracles which
Jesus did. Nicodemus was looking for the
Jesus knew
what Nicodemus was thinking and answered by saying: “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God.” “To see” the kingdom is to be a part of it and
to enjoy its blessings. Nicodemus was a
Jew. He had become a part of the
The kingdom
which Jesus came to establish was a spiritual kingdom. Jesus later told Pilate, “My kingdom is not
of this world” (John
Jesus further said to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” This means that there is only one way that one can enjoy the blessings of the kingdom and that is by being born again.
Jesus said
that one must be born of (1) water, (2) the Spirit. In a human birth two things are necessary:
(1) the father who begets, (2) the mother who brings forth. Jesus is using the physical birth into a
human family to explain the spiritual birth into the
In the new birth, the Holy Spirit begets. The seed is the Word of God. Notice these words: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18) Again let us read a familiar Scripture, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit into unfeigned love of the brethren, see that he love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:22-23).
The Word of
God is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians
But how is
one born of the water? This is done by
baptism. When one hears and believes the
Word of God, he obeys the Word by being baptized in water in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew
28:19,20) This baptism is a burial
in water (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). It is for the remission (forgiveness) of sins
(Acts
We have
seen that to be a Christian, it is necessary to be born again. If one had been born again, he is in the
Word begets faith in the human heart and the believer responds by being baptized for the remission of sins. Thus he is born of water and the Spirit and has thereby entered the kingdom.
Reader
friend, what about you? Are you
saved? Are you in the
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