The term �Born Again� is one of the most used phrase among present day religious people. Yet, if asked what the term �Born Again� means, ninety percent of the world�s church members could not give a clear explanation. The vital importance of this study is shown in that Jesus said, �Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God� (John 3:3). Here Jesus i saying that TO BE BORN AGAIN IS TO BE SAVED. Bein born again is the plan of salvation that Jesus authored at Calvary. It is imperative that we understand what is required for us to be born again! All agree that when Jesus went to the cross, he brought in the means of salvation for everyone who will accept it. But what really happened at Calvary? What can it do for me? How do I accept what was done there in my own personal life?!...... http://www.endtime.com/urgent-questions/ what-do-yo u-mean-born-again Looking for a church in your area? Please message me
Being Born again, means a person has been given a new nature By God through the Holy Spirit.
You can NOT make yourself to be born again. Jesus explained this to Nicodemus.
All of mankind is born TOTALLY spiritually DEAD, and has a will that is enslaved to sin.
What happens is that at some point in the Earthly life of each one of God's chosen people, God will have them hear about Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will literally MAKE THEM COME ALIVE SPIRITUALLY.
Then, since that person now has a new nature, and of course new desires, they will NATURALLY WANT to repent and accept Jesus, and they do!
You can not make yourself to be born again, this is TOTALLY by the mercy of God (Eph.2:8,9) You also cannot make yourself to be UN-born again, because God is the one who decides whom He will save (Romans 9).
So, being born again, literally means the Holy Spirit of God regenerating a totally spiritually DEAD person, and making them come alive spiritually.
Thanks for your reply,I agree that the Holy Spirit has to regenerate a person,and I would say this is the will of the Lord,not the will of man.
Instead of saying born again, for there have been many people calling themselves born again.
Sports personel,TV personel,and even chatholics who call themselves born again catholics.
Could we not as belivers in Yeshua call ourselves being Born from above instead.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Please PJ,no more criticism without Scripture.
Your opinions are like peoples armpits,everyone has them and they can really stink.
Agape' and Charis:
St.George
PS:
PJ,though the Lord does not force His will upon us,yet He does ,impose His will upon us.
Ask Peter:
John 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
And Paul:
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Please look up the word impose,before ranting and raving against James,myself and others.
The literal translation of John 3:3 is: ". . . except anyone is born from above he cannot (to) see the kingdom of God." In other words, in order to understand the kingdom of God a person has to be Born from above. This is not about literally seeing the kingdom with your eyes or eventually when you "go to heaven" The Kingdom of God is all around us all the time from eternity to eternity. You cannot understand it if you are not Born from above.
I prefer saying "born from above". Born again is not a very good translation and leads to crazy interpretations. We are born of the Spirit of God. The things of the Spirit are revealed by the Spirit. They cannot be understood without His revelation to us and without His life in us.
I do not agree that to be "Born again is to be saved". Salvation is a three step process. It involves Justification, Sanctification and Glorification. Spiritual birth through the work of Father by the Spirit reveals the Kingdom of God to us so that we have understanding of the things that are of the Kingdom. When we put our faith in this revelation then we are Justified. Without the revelation we cannot be Justified and without Justification we cannot learn to live in the Kingdom, that is we cannot be Sanctified.
In a moment we experience revelation, hear a calling and respond. In a moment we are Born from above, given vision to understand the Kingdom and are made a part of it because of our faith in it. In a moment we are given the ability to have faith by the Spirit of God and in a moment we are made to believe and in the same moment we choose to believe. In a moment we are changed from being blind to the things of God to being filled with them.
Regardless of whether you believe God has caused us to believe or we have chosen to believe we actually experience both in the same moment and we are changed because we are born from above.
To be honest, I'm not sure why someone would have difficulty understanding the concept of being born again. If these church members are actually saved and are reading their Bibles, then I would think God would grant them the wisdom to understand something that is so, um, basic...
If they're not saved, then our focus shouldn't necessarily be on helping them to understand the meaning of a phrase...
I worded that last bit rather poorly... What I mean is that if I'm witnessing to someone, I try to avoid using lingo. I'm not going to get caught up in explaining lingo to someone and get distracted from "the main plot."
I would like to give God's definition of being born again.
1 Peter 1:23 �Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24 �For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25 �But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
This is accomplished when a person's heart trust in God's word by faith alone, nothing more.
Romans 3:28 �Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Galatians 2:16 �Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. {there goes water baptism, sabbath keeping, communion and whatever else a man can do with his flesh is all for nothing.}
A person becomes justified by an operation done by God alone which by the way hasn't a thing to do with fleshly ordinances for salvation is a free gift.
Colossians 2:12 �Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 �And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 �Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Ephesians 2:15 �Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Romans 5:15 �But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 �And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 �For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 �Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
The bottom line is that salvation is a free gift from God if we put our trust in what Christ did for us at Calvary and our salvation is all done by The lord through a spiritual operation for God sees a born again believer buried and risen with Christ and having the perfect righteousness accounted to his account just as Abraham was justified by faith.
Romans 6:4 �Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 4:3 �For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Faith is so simple, it is a stumbling block to the majority of man for most wannt to do some kind of good works for their salvation when God has said that is impossible.
Romans 3:23 �For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 5:12 �Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
In conclusion a person can't not understand or know God's will within His word unless that person is given spiritual discernment from God after they are born again.
1 Corinthians 2:13 �Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Most of man's religion is based philosophy and tradition and false doctrines for God says so and I believe it.
Colossians 2:8 �Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
