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The terms born again and regenerated are fairly familiar to many people and are usually associated with becoming a Christian.
But what does it mean to be born again? Does it mean to have a fresh start to live a moral life? If that's the case, does a person who is already good, upright, and ethical even need to be born again?
In this post, we’ll look at what the Bible says about being born again.
Let’s look at the story of Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus was a moral man who was held in high regard in his community. He came to Jesus one night privately and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher.”
Nicodemus may have wanted Jesus to teach him how to improve himself even more so he could be perfect. But before Nicodemus could say anything else, Jesus told him in John 3:3:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus didn’t seem to have any moral or sinful problems. So this word may have surprised him. It might surprise us also, especially if we think only people who are obviously immoral or unethical need to be born again.
But it’s not only the sinful or immoral people that need to be regenerated. Every human being needs to be born again in order to receive the divine, eternal life of God.
No matter how noble, good, or upright we are, without being born again, we only have our human life; we don’t have the life of God. But God wants us to have His life. That’s why He created us.
So how can we have the eternal life of God? The Lord Jesus said we must be born anew, that is, born spiritually with the life of God.
When a baby is born, it’s born of its parents with the human life of its parents. To be born again, or regenerated, simply means we’re born of God with God’s life.
In John 3:6, Jesus explained to Nicodemus how this can be:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Note 2 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version helps us see what born of the Spirit is spirit means:
“The first Spirit mentioned here is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and the second spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration is accomplished in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s life, the uncreated eternal life. Thus, to be regenerated is to have the divine, eternal life (in addition to the human, natural life) as the new source and new element of a new person.”
Our human spirit is the deepest part of our being. It was created in a particular way by God with the ability to contact and receive Him. When we believed in Jesus, our human spirit was born of the divine Spirit. Now we have the life of God!
God doesn't want ethical people who don’t have His life. He wants human beings to become His children, begotten with His life.
Being born again has nothing to do with resolving to be a better person or turning over a new leaf. It has everything to do with being born of the Spirit in our spirit with the life of God.
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We can see more about regeneration in 1 Peter 1:3:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
The notes in the New Testament Recovery Version on this verse help shed further light on this wonderful matter. We’ll read just the first part of note 4 that explains what we gain through regeneration:
“Regeneration, like redemption and justification, is an aspect of God’s full salvation. Redemption and justification solve our problem with God and reconcile us to God; regeneration enlivens us with God’s life, bringing us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God.”
When we believe in Jesus Christ and all He did for us, our sins are forgiven, and we’re brought back to God. This was accomplished by Christ's redemption. We’re so thankful for this aspect of God’s complete salvation.
But that’s not all. By being regenerated, we’re enlivened with God’s life. Now the relationship we have with God isn’t an objective one, like that of a creature and its Creator. Being born again brought God's life into us, and because of that, our relationship with Him is a relationship of life, or an organic union.
This is not like two inanimate objects merely joined together by glue. Instead, our relationship with God is like the union of a branch in a vine. The branch is joined to the vine organically and shares the life of that vine.
The birth of a baby is a wonderful event. But it's only the beginning of the baby's growth and development.
In the same way, being born again is just the beginning of our Christian life. So what should we do after we're born again?
After being born, a baby’s primary need is to breathe and eat. A newborn doesn’t need teachings or textbooks on how to behave. It needs air and nourishment. As long as it receives the proper nourishment, it grows spontaneously, without any striving or effort. The baby simply breathes and eats, and thus grows through all the stages of life into adulthood.
It’s the same with our Christian life. Once we’re born again, our most important need is to spiritually breathe and be nourished so this new life in our spirit can grow. We can do this by praying, calling on the Lord’s name, and spending time in God's Word. As we grow, we’ll express the life of God more and more in our daily living.
We could only touch on this wonderful matter of being born again with God’s life briefly here. The New Testament Recovery Version contains a number of rich notes on this topic, including more on 1 Peter 1:3 and the following verses. If you live in the United States, we encourage you to order a free copy so you can read them and gain a fuller appreciation of regeneration.
We also strongly encourage you to read chapter 3, “The First Experience of Life—Regeneration” in The Knowledge of Life. This excellent book on a believer’s experience of the life of God provides invaluable help. You can download this free e-book from anywhere in the world here.
When the love of the Lord Jesus first touched us and we repented and confessed His name, a deep joy we’d never known before filled our hearts. What a joy it was to be forgiven and born again! God wants all His children to continue to rejoice in His wonderful salvation for their whole lives. This should be the normal experience of every believer, as we see in 1 Peter 1:8: “You exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.”
We’ve experienced such a wonderful salvation, and now we have access to all the riches of Christ. We should be overflowing with unspeakable joy. But while we can never lose our eternal salvation, we can sometimes lose the joy of our salvation. How does this happen? Let’s look at two possible causes.
Although we’re saved, we all still sin, fail the Lord, and disobey Him. The sins we commit cause us to lose our joy. After we sin, we feel that something’s wrong; we sense a barrier that’s come up between us and the Lord. Isaiah 59:2 tells us,
“Your iniquities have become a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
Our sins separate us from God because God is righteous; He can’t tolerate sin. This is why even a small transgression creates a barrier between us and God. Big or small, our sins cause us to lose the joy of our salvation.
Romans 8:9 tells us clearly that “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” When we received the Lord Jesus as our Savior, He not only redeemed us, but He also came to dwell in us as the Spirit. Now we’re no longer alone; we have another Person living in us, and He has His own thoughts, feelings, and preferences. Whenever we go along with the Lord who lives inside of us, He’s happy. And when He’s happy, we’re happy.
In Ephesians 4:30, Paul says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.” Note 1 in the New Testament Recovery Version explains what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit:
“To grieve the Holy Spirit is to displease Him. The Holy Spirit abides in us forever (John 14:16-17), never leaving us. Hence, He is grieved when we do not walk according to Him (Rom. 8:4), that is, when we do not live according to the principle of reality with grace in the details of our daily walk.”
Let’s say, for example, we want to go to a certain place. But when we think about going, we feel uneasy. This feeling tells us that the Lord doesn’t want to go there. Though we may try to reason that it’s really okay, the uneasy feeling won’t go away; the Lord Jesus simply doesn’t want to go there. But say that instead of agreeing with the Lord and obeying Him, we go anyway. By not walking according to Him, we grieve Him and make Him unhappy. And it’s impossible for us to be happy when He’s grieved.
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As Christians, our joy can sometimes seem very elusive. We may even find ourselves crying out as David did, “Lord, restore to me the joy of Your salvation!” What can we do to recover our joy in such times, and how can we avoid losing it in the first place?
Just as a delicate flower is maintained and nurtured by the proper soil, water, and sunlight, our joy is preserved by the right conditions. Here are four healthy habits that can provide the right conditions to maintain our joy.
1. Confess our sins quickly
Whether our sins are small transgressions or serious offenses, we must confess them to the Lord. This includes grieving the Spirit. Whenever our conscience makes us aware that we’ve sinned, we shouldn’t wait to confess to the Lord. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We confess, and God is righteous to forgive us and cleanse us. When the problem of sin is dealt with and our fellowship with Him is restored, we experience the joy of salvation once again.
Learning to confess our sins without delay is a good habit to develop. There’s no reason to wait. The sooner we confess our sins and failures to the Lord, the sooner we can enjoy sweet fellowship with Him once more.
2. Take in God’s Word as our spiritual food daily
We all know how grumpy and irritable we can be when we haven’t eaten and are physically hungry, or even undernourished. We experience the same thing spiritually when we haven’t been eating. If we spend time daily to delight ourselves in His Word, the words we feed on become the gladness and joy of our heart, supplying us throughout our day.
Eating physical food is an enjoyment to us, but eating the Word of God brings us true and lasting inner satisfaction. A daily habit of taking in God’s Word as our spiritual nourishment will help us maintain our joy in God’s salvation.
3. Speak to the Lord in prayer all the time
When we come to the Lord, we don’t need to kneel down and solemnly recite a formal prayer. We can simply open our hearts and speak to the Lord Jesus in a personal way. At any time, day or night, we can talk to Him. In John 16:24, the Lord Jesus says to “ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be made full.” Speaking to Him in prayer about everything brings us joy. We can even pray by simply calling upon the name of the Lord.
By opening to the Lord in prayer every day and throughout the day—not only at set times or during major life events—we strengthen our loving relationship with Him. By staying in fellowship with Him, we maintain our joy.
4. Fellowship with other Christians regularly
Having fellowship with other Christians also helps us maintain our joy in the Lord, since one of the greatest joys of the Christian life is to come together with others who love Jesus.
Concerning the believers’ fellowship, in 1 John 1:3-4 the apostle John shows us that genuine Christian fellowship is not a duty or a ritual but a matter of joy:
“That which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write that our joy may be made full.”
Gathering with other believers to read the Bible, speak about Christ, and praise the Lord refreshes us, encourages us, and makes our joy full.
May we endeavor to build up these healthy habits in our daily lives. By confessing our sins, feeding on God’s Word, speaking to the Lord in prayer, and getting together to fellowship with other Christians, we can maintain an overflowing joy in our Christian lives.
For more on this subject, you can read chapter 2 of Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1, a book that has helped thousands of believers. You can download this e-book for free from anywhere in the world here.
Did you know the Bible tells us that our Savior God desires all men to be saved? This includes you.
But you may wonder, Why do I need to be saved? You might even think, I’m not so bad. I don’t need saving.
Actually, every person needs to be saved because we’re all fallen human beings. Without exception, we’ve all committed sins. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This means every human being is a sinner, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or educational level.
God must judge sinners because He’s holy and righteous. Although God created us and loves us, He can’t simply overlook our sins; His righteousness requires Him to judge us. So under God’s judgment, today our sins separate us from God; then after we die, we’ll suffer perdition for eternity. This is why we need to be saved!
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Because of God’s immense love for us, He made a way for us to be saved. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place. On the cross, Jesus as the sinless Lamb of God bore the judgment for all of mankind’s sins. As proof that Jesus’ death on the cross was accepted for our redemption, God raised Him from the dead.
Today Jesus Christ lives in resurrection, and He is now a life-giving Spirit. All who believe in Him are forgiven and washed from their sins. All separation from God is removed, and they’re saved from eternal judgment. In addition, they’re regenerated—that is, born again with the life of God. So many marvelous things happen when a person is saved!
So how can you be saved?
On God’s side, He’s done everything necessary to save us. On our side, the Bible says we must repent and believe to be saved.
To repent simply means to have a turn, or change, in our mind. Before we’re saved, we live apart from God, and our thoughts are against Him. So to repent means we turn away from everything else to God. We acknowledge we’re sinners, and that we need to be saved.
In addition, we must believe in Jesus as our Savior who died in our place and shed His blood to obtain forgiveness for our sins. God’s heart of love extends His salvation to us, but we in turn must receive it by believing.
In the Bible, Romans 10:9-10 says:
“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.”
To be saved, you must openly confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. This means you have the deep conviction that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all, and you say it out loud. You confess Jesus was not an ordinary man but the Son of God who was incarnated as a man; lived a perfect, sinless life; and died on the cross for your sins. Furthermore, you must believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead. Then He as the life-giving Spirit will enter into your spirit; you’ll be forgiven of all your sins and be born again with His eternal life.
You can receive God’s gift of salvation by simply praying this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I repent and turn to You right now. Thank You for bearing my judgment and shedding Your blood on the cross. Thank You for dying for me and forgiving me of all my sins. I confess that You are Lord! I believe You rose from the dead. I receive You as my Savior and my life. Come and live in my spirit. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
If you prayed to receive the Lord Jesus, visit this page. Order a free study New Testament here.
