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Though the term born again came into popular use in the twentieth century, it is not new. Jesus Christ used it nearly 2,000 years ago in a conversation with Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of the Jews in Jerusalem.
Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). Jesus declared in these few words the absolute necessity of spiritual transformation before one can enter the kingdom of God.

Our purpose here is to show from the Scriptures what born again means among Christians and how it is accomplished. Since Jesus spoke these words, multitudes of believers have experienced the change in their lives that the new birth brings. We invite you to experience it for yourself.

Definitions

The Greek term a-na-gen-na'o, translated "born again" or "born anew," is used twice in the New Testament. E. W. Bullinger states that anagennao means "to beget again, to bear again. It is used of the redeeming act of God; a new beginning of personal life" (Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, E. W. Bullinger, Zondervan Publishing House, 1976). Notice how the term is used in these two passages:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (vv. 22, 23).

Jesus discussed the subject of being born again with Nicodemus. He used the Greek words gennethe anothen, to express the idea that the "new birth" is a prerequisite to entering the kingdom of God. Nicodemus understood that a new birth must take place, but as the following conversation reveals, he thought it was a physical rebirth rather than a rebirth of the spirit:

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:4-8).

These texts speak of being "born anew," or born once more. We were born once physically, but we must be born a second time, spiritually. It is a new beginning, brought about by God's Holy Spirit from heaven.

James and Peter declared the reality of the new birth experience. James wrote, "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth" (James 1:18). Peter refers to the new birth as a participation "in the divine nature" (2 Peter l:4).

When is a Person Born Again?

People must be born again now - in this life! This new birth is a spiritual transformation; it is receiving the Spirit of God and of Christ as one's guide in thought and action. This is the beginning of a new life as a child of God. John recalls Jesus introducing the concept:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even 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 (John 1:12, 13, NKJV).

You will notice those who believed in His name were born of God - an accomplished fact, not an expected-to-happen-later birth. (The Greek verb form used here indicates a completed action.)

What is the New Birth?

Jesus referred to the new birth as being converted: "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3, NKJV). Believing His Word, repenting of sin, confessing that Jesus is the resurrected Messiah, and inviting and receiving God's Holy Spirit into our hearts mark the actual birth of our new spiritual being. Everyone who has received Christ as Savior and Lord has been born again. In reality that person has become a new creature through God.

Nicodemus was puzzled till Jesus explained that the new birth does not refer to our becoming a new person physically. To suppose being born again requires a physical change is to misunderstand as Nicodemus did. When we are born again, we look the same and our physical bodies remain the same.

Being born again is also called conversion, or a change of the spirit. Our attitude, outlook, and discipline are changed. Conversion refers to a spiritual change of the heart and mind:

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness (Romans 8:6-10).

Some teach that being born again refers to the resurrection, but that also is a misunderstanding. As seen above, if one has not been born again before the resurrection, he will not be resurrected with the righteous.

The new birth begins with belief on the name of Jesus and must result in receiving Him into our hearts.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even 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 (John 1:10-13, NKJV).

Those who are born of God become His offspring because the Spirit of God brings the change. Jesus concluded His dialogue with Nicodemus by giving the illustration of the wind, which may be heard and felt but is invisible.
Compare the explanations given by Jesus and Paul. In John 3:6, 7 Jesus said:

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, "You must be born again."

Romans 8:1, 5, 8, 9 is Paul's explanation:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. . . . Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what the nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. . . . Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

Paul understood and taught the new birth to be a now experience. John's reference to being born again also describes the behavior of a converted person who had experienced the authentic, spiritual birth.

If you know that he [Christ] is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him (1 John 2:29).

No one who IS BORN of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God (3:9).

See 1 John 4:7. John clearly refers to believers already being children of God, not just fertile ground in which the seed of the Word is growing.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1, 2).

A true disciple becomes renewed in desire, intent, motivation, and will, and his high standard of righteousness will be clearly visible. God's nature is imparted to His child, and he becomes sensitized to God's will. John indicates clearly that sin in the life of a Christian is incompatible, but he allows that unintended sin may occur. See 1 John 1:8, 9; 2:1, 2.
Only those spiritually born can know God:

For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4) .

It is not the willpower of man or woman that conquers the world but the power of God enabling those who have experienced the spiritual rebirth. Born-again sons and daughters are given the power to deal with the temptations of this evil age!

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one [Christ] who was born of God keeps him [the Christian] safe, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5: 18, 19).

That believers are children of God is not an obscure or subtle concept in the Bible. We become God's children by being born spiritually. Repenting of sinful participation in worldliness, the old person through conversion becomes a new person serving God. He becomes part of God's family. This happens only when the seed of the Word bears fruit as a new person.

Notice how Romans 8:1, 14, 16, 17 refers to a spiritual awareness and to the fact that we are children of God.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God, are sons of God . . . The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

If we are God's children, then we will share in the resurrection glory. We become His children by being born anew. If we have not been born anew, then sharing in His resurrection is impossible.

How are We Born Again?

Several events are essential in the process of the new birth.

HEARING THE WORD OF GOD

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:13, 14).

FAITH

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (v. 17).

Faith is simply believing the gospel when it's heard. Faith is a condition of mind, heart, and will. As a Christian takes on the nature of God, the Holy Spirit works in his life to transform a former stranger into a child of God. A person who hears but fails to believe the gospel will not be transformed. He will not be born again without believing in the Son of God!

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see . . . And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:1, 6).

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18, NKJV).

Faith in Jesus depends on hearing the Word of God. It is the foundational doctrine of Christianity and a fruit of God's Spirit. Faith is evidenced by a newborn child of God.

REPENTANCE

Jesus Christ came to call sinners to repentance. Mark gives us the introduction to His whole ministry: "'The time has come,' he said, 'The kingdom of God is near, repent and believe in the good news!'" (Mark 1:15). This repentance comes from feeling the guilt of disobeying God; it is a spiritual sensitivity to our separation from God because of sin. Repentance results in a strong desire to remove our sins, to be at peace with God and united with Him as His children.

Repentance is a deeply personal experience that affects the entire being. A person must be so humbled of heart, so crushed in spirit, that he completely surrenders to the Spirit of God working in him. Repentance is much more than feeling sorry, depressed, or downtrodden: It means to be conscience-stricken, filled with self-reproach, to the point of resolving to change one's direction toward God rather than away from God.

This is the one I [God] esteem: he who is humble and contrite of spirit, and trembles at My word (Isaiah 66:2b).

The carnal mind at enmity with God acknowledges its sinful condition, but acknowledgment alone produces no change in life's direction. Jesus, in Luke 13:3, 5, sounded the warning twice for penetrating effect:

"Unless you repent, you too will all perish."

James shows clearly the type of mental and emotional condition typical of the true penitent in James 4:7-10:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you . . . Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

In summary, repentance involves

1. acknowledgment, from the heart, of sin and guilt

2. confession to God of sinful thoughts, words, actions, and neglects

3. genuine surrender of a person's spirit to His Spirit to change his lifestyle

4. a longing for union with God, to be His child

5. recognition of need for transformation from Satan's rule to the Lordship of Christ

BAPTISM

Paul refers to being a new creature in Christ and shows why Christ commanded us to be baptized.

Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin (Romans 6:3-7).

To the hearing, believing audience, Peter said, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

Water baptism is the symbolic ordinance that gives evidence of faith and repentance. It represents burial of the dying sinful nature and resurrection to new life, born again with a spiritual nature. Baptism is appropriate only after a person expresses faith and has repented of his sinful nature. The act itself does not put those sins to death, but it indicates what God already has accomplished in the penitent's life. It is a statement to others that the believer now belongs to God, has committed himself to a new way of life and is a new creature - that he has been born again.

Faith motivates a person to redirect his lifestyle toward Jesus Christ. Repentance means he is tired of and finished with his old sinful way of life. Faith and repentance prepare the believer to be transformed into a child of God by His Spirit. Water baptism witnesses to others that a person has died to sin and is now alive to God. It is done by immersion, symbolizing death and burial. It declares a death of the old ways (James 4:17) and requires being born again to a new life.

Finally, baptism signals that one enjoys a new, uncondemned condition before God. "And this water symbolized baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:21).

RECEPTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

New Christians are promised they will be filled by God's Holy Spirit (the Counselor Jesus promised, John 14:15-17a), which enables them to follow the Word of God, obey Christ as Lord, and overcome the world. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will choose to obey God, because the Spirit empowers us to be obedient (Acts 5:32). God's Spirit inspires the newborn to godly attitudes, motivations, directions, purposes, and goals. With full commitment to Christ as Lord, Christians can confidently fulfill their spiritual responsibilities.

It is this experience in receiving God's Spirit that gives reality to the "new birth."

Evidence of the New Birth

A person born of God will live righteously, demonstrate brotherly love, and overcome the world. He will forsake his old, erroneous sinful ways.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus compares being born again to the wind blowing. A person cannot see the means by which he is born again, but he can observe the effects of it in the new life! Jesus said that His people are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. The old ways of sin are gone.

Years after Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again, Paul explained in several of his letters the practical results of experiencing the new birth:

The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:7-9).

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3:9, 10).

When is a person born again? The moment belief in Christ results in the Holy Spirit bringing conviction, confession of one's faith in Christ, and submission to Christ as Savior and Lord through repentance and conversion.

The time to be born again is now! It remains for us to believe and to let God do His work of transformation in us as we repent, are converted, and walk in a new life.

Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the The New King James Version, copyright © 1982, 1983, by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee. Used by permission.