What does it mean to be Born Again?

And [he] brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).

As I mentioned in my previous post (August 23) it had recently come upon me that the words of John 3:3 are probably the most important words in the Bible, and that everything else is either God’s preamble to them or commentary on them. (That is an over-simplification I admit; nonetheless it still contains an essential core of truth.) But I left the post dangling with several unanswered questions, “What does it mean to be born again; or how can I know for certain I am born again; or what are the qualities of this second birth?”

This installment is an attempt to answer those questions. But first let me say that millions and millions (probably billions and billions!) of words have been written already on answering these questions, beginning with the apostles Paul, John and Peter, progressing through the apostolic and patristic church to the Reformation where these questions and their answers were reformulated and then on into our own time right up to where you and I are right now: this little insignificant online journal. Here I wrestle with these questions and others like them not to make myself out to be an expert. Far from it; this journal is my way of grappling (I love that word!) with these ideas; engaging with God through His Word, coming to some sort of personal understanding and then recording what I have found so that it might be of some small value to someone else. I make no pretense (as I have said elsewhere) to authority. I’m just a weary foot-soldier trying to understand what it means to experience the unmerited favour of God.

So now that is out of the way, we can proceed.

What does it mean to be born again?
The words quoted from the verses at the head of this post are from the incident that occurred when Paul and Silas were in prison together. When an earthquake struck and the jail fell apart, the jailor, in absolute terror for his life, asked the two prisoners, now free, how he might be saved (presumably because Paul and Silas were now free and unharmed). I don’t think the jailor was asking them how he might attain to eternal salvation; that was almost certainly the last thing on his mind at the moment. He was probably just frightened of the authorities who would undoubtedly punish him with torture and death for losing his prisoners. So the answer he got from Paul was more than he could ever have expected.

In any event, the important thing (in the context of this article) is the statement by Paul that to be saved eternally, the jailer must place all his trust and hope in Christ. This is what it means to be born again. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And in a way it is easy, nothing could be easier: no struggle, no effort, no rules to obey or tasks to accomplish; nothing that is but a total and absolute willingness to give yourself away to this person Jesus. But we have this dilemma: according to Scripture, we are dead in our sin; dead not sick, dead not impaired. There’s the rub, you see. How does a dead person do anything, even make a choice to surrender himself to someone he cannot see, hear or touch? Obviously he can’t. Lazarus could not bring himself back to life. Jairus’ daughter could not, nor could the widow’s son. But Jesus could and did. He brought them all back from the dead by His power, and He resurrected Himself after three days and three nights in the grave, proving that death had no ultimate power over Him but also that it has no power over those who have given themselves into His keeping.

So it is essential to give yourself to Christ without reservation. But by this I don’t mean intellectually. Many people think that because they agree with the main doctrines found in the NT and that they live basically good, moral lives in keeping with such ordinances as the Decalogue, and that they give generously to the Church (they may even tithe) and that they read their Bibles regularly, and that they volunteer in the sandwich ministry or do visitations, that they are Christians. No, they are Christians if, and only if, they have been born again, born not of the flesh but of the Spirit (of Christ). The new birth belongs to the Spirit; it is His handiwork alone. The new birth is unnatural and has nothing to do with life in the here-and-now and no amount of rule-keeping can make one a Christian.

We know from Scripture that two prerequisites to the new birth must be met: repentance and belief or faith. But both of these must come from outside us. They are alien to our very being and cannot be self-generated (in spite of what our Arminian brothers like to believe). So, we come back to Jesus’ words in John 1:13, “…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” God and only God is responsible for our rejection of sin and our believing embrace of Christ as the single and sufficient Saviour. This mysteriously profound repentance and faith are characteristic of the new birth.

Having said all that, don’t make the mistake of assuming that I’m an antinomian and that I don’t believe in a life of obedience to Christ and his law. I do; just not as a result of any merit or righteousness in myself. I can’t earn my way into Heaven. Rather, the perfect and finished work of Christ enables me, while the indwelling of His Holy Spirit urges, encourages and empowers me, to accomplish acts of obedience and law-keeping. But even then, if I am not compelled to keep the—often inconvenient—law, why do it? Because I love Jesus, that’s why. I’m grateful for what He has done for me and a thankful heart is a glory to God. God saved me so that I would be thankful to Him. And this is the whole purpose of the new birth. It’s not for us. We don’t deserve it. Christ didn’t come to earth to save sinners as much as to be obedient to God’s will. And what is God’s will? It was, is and ever shall remain, that He should be glorified and in that glory, enjoyed.

How can I know for certain I am born again?
In many Reformed circles, this question is a bit of a hot-potato. On the one hand, we have those who say, and with some justification, that to think we are saved and to take pride in it as something to boast about, is presumptuous at best and very sinful at worst (because it may or may not be true). There are several warnings against this kind of presumption in the NT such as, (Psalm 5:5; Isaiah 13:11; Romans 2:4 ). Over against this is the Holy Spirit’s testimony in our hearts and minds that God has promised that those He saves, He saves eternally. This is the Doctrine of Assurance (also called the Perseverance of the Saints as it is expressed in the traditional Five Points of Calvinism—I prefer the term Preservation of the Saints, as it is more God-centered. That is, we are eternally saved because of God’s preservation of us in that condition and not because of our own perseverance in it.)

Many people have written about assurance, but for my money, no one can beat JC Ryle. On the subject of assurance of salvation, Ryle had this to say (in small part):

“I lay it down fully and broadly, as God’s truth, that a true Christian…may reach such a comfortable degree of faith in Christ, that in general he shall feel entirely confident as to the pardon and safety of his soul—shall seldom be troubled with doubts—seldom be distracted with fears—seldom be distressed by anxious questionings—and, in short, though vexed by many an inward conflict with sin, shall look forward to death without trembling, and to judgment without dismay. This, I say, is the doctrine of the Bible….my answer, furthermore, to all who dislike the doctrine of assurance, as bordering on presumption, is this: it can hardly be presumption to tread in the steps of Peter and Paul, of Job and of John [referring to scriptural passages Ryle had just been discussing]. They were all eminently humble and lowly-minded men, if ever any were; and yet they all speak of their own state with an assured hope. Surely this should teach us that deep humility and strong assurance are perfectly compatible, and that there is not any necessary connection between spiritual confidence and pride.”

What are the qualities of this second birth?
The qualities of the second birth must perforce be qualities we have in common (to a limited degree) with Christ and given or bestowed on us by His Holy Spirit through our continuing sanctification. The best known summary of these qualities is from the letter to the Galatians and is known as the “Fruit of the Spirit.” There are many other such lists. One, from the Letter to the Romans which I have recently been studying, is “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17).

It is important to note that these qualities are all moral qualities. It is in this sense that we are imitators of Christ after the new birth. It is God’s moral will that we should emulate and be obedient to, with thankful hearts as well as minds; and this because He has enabled us to do so.

Let me just clarify that these qualities are not something to be bought and sold. They are not commodities to be traded and exchanged. They are not adopted as life-style choices. They are not anything we can generate from our own effort. Rather, they are the evidence—the fruit as it were—of a life radically changed from the inside out by God and Him alone.

So pray—if you are one who cares—pray with all your heart, mind, soul and strength for this repentance unto faith, this new birth from above, this incomparable gift from almighty God, for He is able to save even the worst of sinners. And if you think that describes you, Dear Reader, if you know yourself to be the worst of sinners, then you are very close to the Kingdom of God “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (Isa 55:6).

Soli Deo Gloria.

Postscript
This post and the one before it are dedicated to the memory of a man by the name of Murdo Mackenzie. He, more than anyone else, was my spiritual tutor and mentor when I was young and wandering in the wasteland, before I knew anything of God’s saving grace. Murdo and his wife took a liking to me when I was still young. They would give me milk and cookies and would have me in their home as often as I wanted. They had no children of their own and perhaps that was the reason they seemed to like me. Murdo was a great Christian and evangelist and every time I went to his house I knew I was in for some gospel preaching. Sometimes we would argue. Sometimes I just sat and listened. His favorite passage was John chapter three and his favourite verse was the third verse. Perhaps that is why it is among my favourites as well. I know that Murdo and his wife are both with the Lord and it is going to bring us all great joy to meet again with one another in our Father’s house. I’m sure they’ll have the heavenly equivalent of some milk and cookies waiting for me on the kitchen table. I can hardly wait!