I am Born Again!
“When a person repents and receives Jesus as their Savior and Lord, He comes into their heart, saves them, forgives them, and gives them eternal life. We are saved by what Jesus has done for us on the cross, not by anything we can ever do (Ephesians 2:8–9).
When we become born again, God’s Holy Spirit comes to live in our heart. He gives us a new heart that loves God and that desires to please Him. Also, the Holy Spirit frees us from our bondage to sin, and gives us the power to overcome our sin. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, gives us the power to overcome our sin. We won’t be perfect until we get to Heaven, however. During the course of the rest of our life, the Holy Spirit transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ. This is called santification. Philippians 1:6 says: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” So what God begins in us, He carries on to completion. Then, when we die and go to Heaven, we are glorified. This means that the Holy Spirit perfects and completes His work within us. Glorification happens when we get to Heaven.
When a person is born again, there will be a change in their life. They will no longer be controlled by the sinful nature. Instead they will seek to please God. When someone is born again, they will see the fruits of the Spirit begin to happen in their life (Galatians 5:22–23). Also, there will be a general pattern of obedience and good works in the person’s life (1 John 2:3, Ephesians 2:10). Christians aren’t perfect, because we still sin sometimes, but if we are truly saved, there will be a change in our life.
Also, when a person is born-again, God places on them His seal of ownership (Ephesians 1:13–14), and we are eternally secure (John 5:24, 1 Peter 1:3–5)
Saved. Born again. Washed in the blood. Redeemed. Spiritually regenerated. An adopted child of God.
They have been born of the Spirit, or whatever you wish to call it. It is a gift, not a prize or a reward. You don’t deserve it, you cannot earn it, and you can never lose it.
Are all Christians “born again”?
In my personal experience, the primary reason people use descriptors like “born-again Christian” or “born-again believer” (my personal favorite) is simply because so few people know what the word “Christian” even means (including the totally sincere OP, not to put too fine a point on it).
Saved. Born again. Washed in the blood. Redeemed. Spiritually regenerated. An adopted child of God.
Whatever…they all speak to the same experience. And being a “Christian” is supposed to refer to the same experience.
The problem is that upwards of 70 percent of people who casually self-identify as Christian not only have never had that experience, but don’t even rightly understand it. So, it should surprise no one that the world has so little idea what the word “Christian” means.
For the record, not one of the following things makes you a Christian:
Believing that God exists.
Believing that Jesus exists.
Believing that Jesus is a great prophet, the biblical Messiah, or the Son of God. (Satan doesn’t believe Jesus is the Son of God, he knows it for a fact.)
Reading the Bible.
Going to church every Sunday and praying before every meal.
Giving 10 percent of your income to a church (don’t even get me started).
Striving to follow the precepts taught by Jesus in the Gospels (love your enemies, turn the other cheek, etc.)
I could list 40 more without breaking a sweat, but the point is made.
There is only one thing that makes anyone a Christian, or the rightful bearer of any of the related descriptors. And although it is actually quite simple, I am deliberately being verbose for the sake of clarity.
First, at some point a person hears and understands the message of the gospel, which is that God sent His one and only Son into the world to live a sinless life as a man in a body of flesh, die on the cross to pay sin’s eternal penalty, and be raised from the grave on the third day following His crucifixion.
The Holy Spirit convicts that person of sin, or makes them uncomfortably aware of the fact that their sin has spiritually separated from a holy, just, loving God. The resulting godly sorrow succeeds in prompting that person to humble their heart before God, change their mind about their sin and their need for a Savior, and ask in simple faith for the forgiveness that Jesus purchased for them with His blood.
At that moment, God forgives them of every sin they have ever committed or ever will commit, they have Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to them by faith, the Holy Spirit seals them until the day of their total and complete redemption, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in their spirit to continue to convict them of sin and gradually conform them to the image of Christ, and they have become a new creature in Christ.
They have been born of the Spirit, or whatever you wish to call it. It is a gift, not a prize or a reward. You don’t deserve it, you cannot earn it, and you can never lose it.
You. Are. Not. The. Same.
And since I’m not scoring any PC points anyway, I may as well point out that the Bible makes it 100 percent clear that there is no other way to be forgiven of sin and eternally reconciled to God. In other words, there is no other way to become one of God’s children. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” And he was either a liar, a lunatic, or He was telling us exactly how it is.
Jesus did it all. Not Muhammed. Not Buddha. Not Krishna. Not little green men from a galaxy far, far away.
The man Christ Jesus.
Now you have some understanding of what the word “Christian” means.
And the decision is all yours.
Choose well.
If you believe nothing I have said, that’s fine. Go in peace. I have nothing else to offer you.
It’s Christ or nothing.
The one unmistakable symptom of being born again is this tremendously strengthened personality, the same thing that atheists find so annoying.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matt. 13:18–23.
Even on being ‘Born Again,’ the choice to follow Christ (the Spirit responsible for this rebirth,) is still up to the individual, but it’s such a profound experience as to never be forgotten. The power of the spirit is conditional to the steadfastness of one’s faith, and wrong motivations are not blessed.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12: 1–11
As a part of God’s blessing come Spiritual Gifts:
12 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12: 1–11
St Paul explained the gifts of the Spirit to the Corinthians, and went on to show the key to Spiritual blessings:
(And yet I will show you the most excellent way.)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13: 1–13”
John 3:3 (AMP).
“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever} see and experience the kingdom of God.”
